Social Psychology

1. 7 Social Psychology

2. Module 18Social Influence

3. Learning Objectives • LO 18.1 Do people act differently in different situations? • LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • LO 18.3 How do group dynamics influence behavior? • LO 18.4 How can an individual change a group's behavior?

4. Social Psychology and Social Influence LO 18.1 Do people act differently in different situations? • Social psychology – the scientific study of how a person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others. • Social influence - the process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individual.

5. Conformity and Compliance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Conformity - changing one's own behavior to match that of other people. • Consumer psychology – branch of psychology that studies the habits of consumers in the marketplace. • Compliance - changing one's behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change.

6. Figure 18.1 Matching Lines in Asch's StudyParticipants in Asch's famous study on conformity were first shown the three lines on the left. They were then shown the line on the right and asked to determine which of the three lines on the left it was most similar to. Which line would you pick? What if you were one of several people, and everyone who answered ahead of you chose line 3? How would that affect your answer? Source: Adapted from Asch (1956).

7. Four Ways to Gain Compliance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Foot-in-the-door technique - asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment.

8. Four Ways to Gain Compliance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Door-in-the-face technique - asking for a large commitment and being refused, and then asking for a smaller commitment. • Norm of reciprocity - assumption that if someone does something for a person, that person should do something for the other in return.

9. Four Ways to Gain Compliance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Lowball technique - getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment. • That's-not-all technique - a sales technique in which the persuader makes an offer and then adds something extra to make the offer look better before the target person can make a decision.

10. Obedience LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Obedience - changing one's behavior at the command of an authority figure. • Milgram study - “teacher” administered what they thought were real shocks to a “learner.”

11. Task Performance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Social facilitation - the tendency for the presence of other people to have a positive impact on the performance of an easy task. • Social impairment - the tendency for the presence of other people to have a negative impact on the performance of a difficult task.

12. Task Performance LO 18.2 How does the presence of others affect an individual's behavior? • Social loafing - the tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when working with others on that task.

13. Group Interaction LO 18.3 How do group dynamics influence behavior? • Groupthink - kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned.

14. Group Interaction LO 18.3 How do group dynamics influence behavior? • Deindividuation - a person's loss of his or her sense of self caused by the stimulating feeling of being in a group combined with the lack of responsibility that comes from being in a crowd.

15. Group Interaction LO 18.3 How do group dynamics influence behavior? • Group polarization - the strengthening of shared beliefs through discussion.

16. Table 18.1 Sample Script Items from Milgram's Classic Experiment

17. Leaders LO 18.4 How can an individual change a group's behavior? • Great person theory of leadership - attributed to 19th century Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle, states that leaders are extraordinary people who lead because they are born to do it. • Transactional view of leadership - proposes that many factors combine to form the right conditions for the right kind of leader.

18. Leaders LO 18.4 How can an individual change a group's behavior? • Transformational view of leadership - a third view of leadership; proposes that transformational leaders have certain personality traits that inspire change in individuals and in organizations.

19. Leadership Styles LO 18.4 How can an individual change a group's behavior? • There are two major leadership styles, both of which affect the group. • Task oriented - skilled at getting the goals of the group accomplished efficiently and well. • Relationship-oriented - skillful at getting people in the group to work together in harmony.

20. Module 19Social Cognition

21. Learning Objectives • LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • LO 19.2 How can attitudes be changed? • LO 19.3 How do people use attribution theory to explain the actions of others?

22. Social Cognition LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • Social cognition - focuses on the ways in which people think about other people and how those thoughts influence behavior. • One area concerns formation and influence of attitudes on the behavior and perceptions of others.

23. Attitudes LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • Attitude - a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation. • The three components of an attitude are the affective (emotional) component, the behavioral component, and the cognitive component.

24. Attitudes LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • General attitude - person holds attitude about something without reflecting that attitude in his or her behavior and see no contradiction.

25. Attitudes LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • Specific attitude - attitude that something without reflecting that attitude in his or her behavior and see no contradiction. • Attitudes are often poor predictors of behavior unless the attitude is very specific or very strong.

26. Figure 19.1 The ABC Model of Attitudes

27. Formation of Attitudes LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • Direct contact with the person, situation, object, or idea. • Direct instruction from parents or others. • Interacting with other people who hold a certain attitude. • Watching the actions and reactions of others to ideas, people, objects, and situations.

28. Figure 19.2 Models of Attitude FormationAttitudes are formed by direct contact with the person, idea, situation, or object that is the focus of the attitude. Attitudescan also be learned through direct instruction and interaction with others. Vicarious or observational learning isobservation of other people's actions and reactions to various objects, people, or situations. An attitude can be learnedby observing the emotional reactions of others, and behavior can be observed and imitated.

29. Cognitive Dissonance LO 19.1 What are attitudes, and how do they relate to behavior? • Cognitive dissonance - sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person's behavior does not correspond to that person's attitude. • Lessened by changing the conflicting behavior, changing the conflicting attitude, or forming a new attitude to justify the behavior.

30. Persuasion LO 19.2 How can attitudes be changed? • Persuasion - the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation. • Key elements in persuasion are the source of the message, the message itself, and the target audience.

31. Persuasion LO 19.2 How can attitudes be changed? • Persuasion – (continued) • Central-route processing - type of information processing that involves attending to the content of the message itself.

32. Persuasion LO 19.2 How can attitudes be changed? • Persuasion – (continued) • Peripheral-route processing - type of information processing that involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as the appearance of the source of the message, the length of the message, and other noncontent factors.

33. Attributions LO 19.3 How do people use attribution theory to explain the actions of others? • Attribution - the process of explaining one's own behavior and the behavior of others. • Attribution theory - the theory of how people make attributions.

34. Attributions LO 19.3 How do people use attribution theory to explain the actions of others? • Attribution theory – (continued) • Situational cause - cause of behavior attributed to external factors, such as delays, the action of others, or some other aspect of the situation. • Dispositional cause - cause of behavior attributed to internal factors such as personality or character.

35. Attributions LO 19.3 How do people use attribution theory to explain the actions of others? • Fundamental attribution error (actor-observer bias) - the tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors.

36. LO 7.4 Definition of intelligence Module 20Social Interaction

37. Learning Objectives • LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • LO 20.2 What factors govern attraction and love? • LO 20.3 How does aggressive behavior develop? • LO 20.4 What is prosocial behavior?

38. Prejudice and Discrimination LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Prejudice - negative attitude held by a person about the members of a particular social group. • Discrimination - treating people differently because of prejudice toward the social group to which they belong.

39. Prejudice and Discrimination LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Forms of prejudice and discrimination based on age, sex, race or ethnicity, weight, religion, economic status, and other physical and social characteristics.

40. Prejudice and Discrimination LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • In-groups - social groups with whom a person identifies; “us.” • Out-groups - social groups with whom a person does not identify; “them.” • Stereotype - a set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category.

41. Prejudice and Discrimination LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Realistic conflict theory - theory stating that prejudice and discrimination will be increased between groups that are in conflict over a limited resource. • Scapegoat - a person or a group, typically a member or members of an out-group, who serves as the target for the frustrations and negative emotions of members of the in-group.

42. Stopping Prejudice LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Social cognitive theory - referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world. • Social identity theory - theory in which the formation of a person's identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison.

43. Stopping Prejudice LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Social identity theory – (continued) • Social identity - the part of the self-concept including one's view of self as a member of a particular social category. • Social comparison - the comparison of oneself to others in ways that raise one's self-esteem.

44. Stopping Prejudice LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Stereotype vulnerability - the effect that people's awareness of the stereotypes associated with their social group has on their behavior. • Self-fulfilling prophecy - the tendency of one's expectations to affect one's behavior in such a way as to make the expectation more likely to occur.

45. Stopping Prejudice LO 20.1 How are prejudice and discrimination different? • Equal status contact - contact between groups in which the groups have equal status, with neither group having power over the other.

46. Attraction LO 20.2 What factors govern attraction and love? • Interpersonal attraction - liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person. • Proximity - physical or geographical nearness.

47. Attraction LO 20.2 What factors govern attraction and love? • People like people who are similar to themselves OR who are different from themselves (complementary). • Reciprocity of liking - tendency of people to like other people who like them in return.

48. Love LO 20.2 What factors govern attraction and love? • Love - a strong affection for another person due to kinship, personal ties, sexual attraction, admiration, or common interests. • Sternberg states that the three components of love are intimacy, passion, and commitment.

49. Love LO 20.2 What factors govern attraction and love? • Romantic love - type of love consisting of intimacy and passion. • Companionate love - type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment.

50. Figure 20.1 Sternberg's Triangular Theory of LoveThis diagram represents the seven different kinds of love that can result from combiningthe three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. Notice thatsome of these types of love sound less desirable or positive than others. What is theone key element missing from the less positive types of love? Source: Adapted fromSternberg (1986b).