Social Psychology

1. Social Psychology • Time-interval Exercise (p.9 IM) • example of Social Influence

2. Social Psychology • How individuals • Think about… one another • Influence… one another • Relate to… one another

3. Social Thinking • How do you make sense of people’s behavior? • We make attributions… (explaining others’ behavior) • We use our “social intelligence”, but we often make an error…. • Fundamental Attribution Error • tendency when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal traits • Examples? (e.g., “it was a just a few bad apples responsible for the Abu Ghraib abuses”)

4. Attitudes and Behavior • Cognitive Dissonance Theory • we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when our thoughts are inconsistent (or when our thoughts and behavior are inconsistent). • Smoking example (“Smoking is unhealthy, but I smoke”) • rationalization (e.g., “sour grapes”)

5. Social Thinking and Social Influence • Stanford Prison Study by Zimbardo – role-playing, attitudes and behavior (McGraw-Hill DVD) • Situational and systemic factors must be taken into account • Norms and roles • Learned, socially based rules • Culturally-based

6. Social Influence • Studies of conformity and obedience • Videos • Candid Camera (begin w/ Segment 5) • Why do people behave in these ways? • Research Studies (McGraw-Hill DVD: next slide)

7. Social Influence • Studies: • Asch – conformity experiments • Milgram – obedience to authority “Most people do what they are told to do as long as they perceive that the command comes from a legitimate authority.” Results: The majority of subjects continued to obey to the end – “Danger-Severe-XXX”

8. Social Influence • Question: In what specific ways does the presence of others influence your behavior? • Example: Do people in a group exert less effort compared to when they are individually accountable (e.g., work crews)? • Called Social Loafing • Social Facilitation • improved performance of tasks in the presence of others – when? examples?

9. Social Influence • Deindividuation • loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

10. Social Relations • Stereotypes and Prejudice • How do these develop? • Can they be altered? • (A class divided: blue-eye, brown-eye film)

11. Social Relations- Attractiveness

12. Social Relations- Attractiveness • Why do you judge someone as attractive? • Blind Date (DVD Segment 30) – Social Cognition and Person Perception • Factors influencing attraction? • Proximity • mere exposure effect – repeated exposure increases liking of them • Similarity • friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests • Physical Attractiveness • What makes someone physically “attractive?”

13. What is attractive?

14. What is attractive?

15. Social Relations -- aggression • Social views of aggression • Modeling: bobo dolls, violent media (desensitization?) • Frustration-Aggression Principle • Media and Aggression • Television violence • Pornography • Video games

16. Yes Yes Yes Notices incident? Interprets incident as emergency? Assumes responsibility? Attempts to help No No No No help No help No help Bystander Studies • What would you do? (ABC Primetime video) • Kitty Genovese • The decision-making process for bystander intervention:

17. 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Percentage attempting to help 1 2 3 4 Number of others presumed available to help Bystander Effect • tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present