Download Skeletal Notes Social Psych

Social Psychology
 Define:
Focus Areas: (See “Overview”)
 Development and expression of attitudes
 Attributions (self and others)
 Causes of antisocial / social behavior
 Presence / actions of others influence our behavior
Social Cognition
 How people think about themselves and others
o Plays a significant influence on attitudes and attributions
Attitude Formation and Change
 What is attitude?
 Primary focus of advertising / marketing:
o Mere Exposure Effect:
Attitudes and Behavior
 Is attitude necessarily a predictive model of behavior? Explain:
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 Inconsistency between an individual’s thoughts and actions creates uncertainty,
discomfort
 Most common reactions to cognitive dissonance:



 Provide one specific hypothetical example of cognitive dissonance:
Compliance Strategies (How we get others to comply with our wishes)
 Define each of the following:
 “Foot in the Door” phenomenon:
 “Door in the Face:”
 Norms of Reciprocity::
Attribution Theory: Explanation of the cause of the events, issues around us…
 Dispositional (“person) attribution:
 Situation attribution:
 Stable or unstable:
 Types of attribution:
 person-stable attribution
 person-unstable
 situation-stable
 situation-unstable
 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: (Pygmalion Effect)
Attributional Biases (error in explanation of cause due to bias)
 Fundamental Attribution Error:
 Is it really fundamental?
 Difference between individualistic and collectivist cultures?
 False consensus effect:
 Self-Serving Bias:
 Just-world belief
Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination
 Stereotypes:
 Prejudice:
 Discrimination:
 Specific difference between prejudice and discrimination?
 In-groups vs. Out-groups
 Tendency to view out-groups as more homogeneous, or the same (out-group
homogeneity), and to view in-groups as more diverse
 Explaining prejudice
 In-group bias

Modeling:
Combating Prejudice
 Contact theory: contact between hostile groups reduces animosity if working together
on one goal
 must benefit all and necessitate participation of all = superordinate goal
 Robbers Cave Study
o Basis of experiment:
Aggression and Antisocial behavior:
Two types of aggression
 Instrumental: when aggression is used to secure an end (goal)
 Hostile aggression: simply angry or upset; acting out of aggression
 Frustration-Aggression theory:
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment:
Prosocial Behavior (helping behavior)
 Bystander effect (diffusion of responsibility) :
o (Kitty Genoevese: murdered in NYC 38 people saw it and did nothing
Attraction
 Factors influencing attraction: similarity, proximity, reciprocal liking
 Passionate love:
 Compassionate love:
The Influence of Others on Behavior
 Social facilitation:
 Social impairment: the presence of others impair performance if task is difficult
 Conformity:
 Asch experiment:
o class setting: questions
o Confederates all gave obvious incorrect answer / individual would follow suit
30% of time (70% at least once during trials)
 Likelihood of conformity does not increase with increase in group size
 Milgram Experiment (1974)
 Classic obedience study
 “Teacher / student” / faked electric shock for each incorrect answer / buttons: 15 up to
450 volts

 Points to consider: % decreased if could see face, would never be admitted today,
experimenters were told that if shock were real, confederates would have been killed
(profoundly disturbing)
 Stanford Prison Experiment (Philip Zimbardo) Read “A Prison By Any Other Name”
and provide brief overview of study and its results: (see website)
Group Dynamics
 Rules / expectations of behavior for any group are referred to as “norms”
 Social loafing:
 Group Polarization:
 Deindividualtion:
 Groupthink: