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Social Psychology
 Social
Psychology looks at both intrapersonal (attitudes,
persuasion, social cognition, cognitive dissonance) and
interpersonal (relations with others, group dynamics, social
influence, interpersonal attraction) phenomena
 Discovering Psychology - The Power of the Situation
Attribution Process and Theory
 How we attach meaning to other’s
behavior, or our own, is called
attribution
 Attribution theory (Fritz Heider)
People naturally see cause and
effect relationships and seek to
explain behavior
Attribution Process and Theory
 Attribution theory (Fritz Heider)

Dispositional versus situational attribution
Fundamental attribution error (others)
Self-serving bias (also defensive attribution) self only
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Actor-observer effect
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Why were you late for class? Why was Jimmy late for class?
Why did you fail the Psych test? Jimmy?
Just-world hypothesis
Cognitive Dissonance
 Cognitive
dissonance The tension
caused by holding two contradictory
ideas
simultaneously.
Includes
attitudes and beliefs, and actions
 The theory of cognitive dissonance
proposes that people seek to reduce
dissonance by changing their attitudes,
beliefs, or behaviors, or by justifying or
rationalizing their attitudes, beliefs, and
behaviors in order to seek cognitive
consistency (Festinger)
Cognitive Dissonance: Attitudes and Actions
 According to Leon Festinger we seek cognitive consistency by
bringing our attitudes closer to our actions called theory of cognitive
dissonance or balance theory
 Tedious task experiment $$ (Festinger)
 Festinger CD
A(ttitude)-B(ehavior) Problem – To what extent do behaviors affect
attitudes? Can one predict the other?
Cognitive Dissonance and Behavior

Role playing Subjects in a role often begin to “become” the
role. Behavior affects attitudes and reduces dissonance (e.g.
role playing – “I’m a teacher, dad, scholar…”)
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Zimbardo prison pathology experiments
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Foot-in-the-door theory The tendency for people who agree to
a small request to comply later with a larger one (cheating,
lying, drug use, torture…it’s a slippery slope!). Reduces initial
dissonance. Milgram experiment
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Effort justification the tendency to find something more
attractive if you have to work hard to achieve it, Examples?
Role Playing and Zimbardo
• Zimbardo prison experiments
• Role playing and deindividuation and
situational influences
•ZimbardoPE
•Zimbardo DN
•The Stanford Prison Experiment
Deindividuation
 Deindividuation into a group results
in a loss of individual identity and a
gaining of the social identity of the
group. Examples?
 Anonymity
 Diffused responsibility
 Group size
The Lucifer Effect: Abu Ghraib
Daily Show Zimbardo
Social Influence and Conformity &
Obedience
 Conformity influences the maintenance
of social norms and allows society to
function smoothly
 Behavior is contagious, modeled by one
followed by another. We follow behavior of
others to conform
 Other behaviors may be an expression
of
compliance
authority
(obedience)
Conformity
toward
Obedience
Social Conformity (Asch)
 Asch’s conformity experiments
 Asch study
 What are the factors which affect
degree of conformity?
 Normative social influence v.
Informational social influence
Reasons for Conformity
Normative Social Influence Results from a person’s desire to gain
approval or avoid rejection. Public compliance, but doubt. Number,
strength and immediacy. Asch Conformity Studies
Two polar bears are sitting in a bathtub. The first one says, "Pass the
soap". The second one says, "No soap, radio!" (anti-humor – false
and negative understanding)
ConformityCC
Reasons for Conformity
 Informational Social Influence Look
to group
judgments
to
make
accurate
 Also called social proof occurs
most often when
 The situation is ambiguous.
 There is a crisis. We have no
time to think and experiment.
A decision is required now!
Other Types of Conformity Phenomena
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Chameleon effect
Mood linkage (emotional or
social contagion)
Suggestibility
Obedience to Authority
 The Milgram Experiments
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Milgram Video
The Power of the
Situation
Social Obedience (Milgram)
 Results and Explanations for Milgram’s Obedience to Authority
experiments
 Socialization (normative influence)
 Foot in the door phenomenon
 Perception of legitimate authority
 Diffusion of responsibility
 Inaccessibility of values
 Lack of social comparison
 Physical and psychological buffers (proximity, depersonalization)
 Ethicality of the experiment?
Social Identity Theory and Prejudice
 Social Identity Theory
Identity is formed through the groups to
which we belong. We are motivated to improve the image and
status of our own group in comparison with others (Tajfel)
 Categorizing people (including oneself) into ingroups or outgroups
affects perceptions, attitudes, and behavior
 We join any group readily and go out of our way to make our own
group look better than others (source of prejudice and
discrimination) Tajfel and Social Identity Theory
Social Identity Theory and Prejudice
Group Dynamics and Prejudice
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Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment (1961)
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Realistic Conflict Theory Limited resources lead to conflict
between groups and result in prejudice, discrimination and
stereotypes within a society

In Group homogeneity and Out Group bias (basis of
stereotype and prejudice). Stages: 1) In Group formation 2)
friction and competition and 3) integration
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Superordinate goals
Contact hypothesis
GRIT
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PsyBlog: War, Peace and the Role of Power in Sherif's
Robbers Cave Experiment
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice is an unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a
group and its members. Prejudice underlies the behavior of
discrimination
Components of Prejudice
1.
2.
3.
Beliefs (stereotypes)
Emotions (hostility, envy, fear)
Predisposition to act (to discriminate)
Social, Emotional and Cognitive Roots
of Prejudice
 Social inequality, social division
and emotional outgroup and
ingroup bias
 An outlet for blame, anger and
resentment Scapegoat Theory
 Just world phenomenon
Unconscious Prejudice

Prejudice works at the conscious and [even more at] the
unconscious level. Prejudice is more a knee-jerk response than a
conscious decision which then results in behavior (discrimination)
 Implicit Association Test
Discrimination – A Class Divided
Group Dynamics
 How does the presence of others
influence individual behavior?
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Social loafing
Social facilitation
Group polarization
(incestuous amplification and
risky shift) not groupthink
Deindividuation
Groupthink (rationalized
conformity) and mindguard
Groupthink and Mindguard
 Groupthink When the norms for
conforming in a homogeneous
group become so strong, and
members are highly concerned
about maintaining unanimity, that
they fail to critically evaluate their
options and consequently make
a poor decision
 Examples...Iraq invasion, Bay of
Pigs, Challenger disaster…
 Role of mindguard
Bystander Effect
 Bystander
intervention
v.
bystander
apathy/effect
(Kitty
Genovese)
 First demonstrated by Darley and Latane (1968) Participants are
assigned to alone or group condition (comprised of
confederates). A crisis situation is staged; a person getting
injured, a person having a seizure...How do participants react?
 Consistent Results: The presence of others inhibits helping…
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Diffusion of responsibility/social loafing
Pluralistic ignorance
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Bystander intervention
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The Psychology of Helping
 Altruistic and Prosocial behavior
 Social norms theory States that much of people’s behavior is
influenced by their perception of how other members of their
social group behave
 Social
exchange theory An economic-social theory that
assumes human relationships are based on choice and costbenefit analyses
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Social benefits
If one partner's costs begin to outweigh his or her benefits, that
person may leave the relationship, especially if there are good
alternatives available
Theory of Social Comparison
 Theory
of Social Comparison
(Festinger) Humans gain information
about themselves, and source selfesteem, by comparison to others

Upward
social
comparison
Individuals compare themselves
to others who are “socially better”
to view self more positively
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Downward social comparison A
defensive tendency to evaluate
oneself in comparison with others
whose troubles are more serious
than one's own
Persuasion and the Elaboration
Likelihood Model
 Persuasion can be divided into two
separate processes based on the
"likelihood of cognitive elaborations,"
that is, whether people think critically
about the content of a message, or
respond to superficial aspects of the
message and other immediate cues
 Central and
persuasion
peripheral
routes
to
The Psychology of Aggression
 Bio-psychosocial model
 Biological Sources/Causes (brain, hormones, genetics,
evolutionary - instinct theory)
 Psychological sources
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Social scripts
Observational learning and reinforcements
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Psychology of Attraction
 Factors affecting attraction
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Proximity/propinquity – mere exposure effect
Primacy (first impressions)
Physical attractiveness (facial matching)
Similarity
Complementarity (not dissimilarity)
Reward theory of attraction/social exchange
Intimacy
 Theories of interpersonal attraction – reinforcement, equity and
cognitive consistency (balance)
 Passionate v. companionate love (Sternberg’s triarchic
includes?)