Chapter 16: Social Psychology

1. Definition: Sub-field of psychology that studies of how others influence our thoughts, feelings and actions Focuses on…- How large social forces such as groups, social roles and norms bring out the best and worst in all of us - Explaining why people act differently in the same situation, and why the same person may act differently in different situations. Chapter 16: Social Psychology

2. TOPICS Our Thoughts About Others • Attribution • Attitudes Our Feelings about Others - Prejudice & Discrimination - Interpersonal Attraction Our Actions Toward Others - Social Influence - Group Processes - Aggression - Altruism Applying Social Psych. to Social Problems - Reducing Prejudice & Discrimination Chapter 16: Social Psychology

3. Asch - Line test • Conformity - yielding to social pressure • Asch’s Line Conclusions (60%) 1) subjects often conform to a group, even when the group states clearly inaccurate conclusions 2) conformity to a group increases with the size of the group, up to five or six, but only when the group is unanimous in its beliefs

4. Milgram- Shock Test • Obedience (60% finished) • Milgram’s Shock Conclusions 1) situational pressures can make people obey instructions that go against their belief systems

5. Obedience Experiment

6. Attribution Theory Definition: Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others’ behavior, and their own behavior Dispositional Attribution: we attribute a person’s behavior to an internal state (personality, abilities, etc.) Situational Attribution: attributing a person’s behavior to an external state (stress, abuse, hardship, wealth, etc.) • Function: People like to explain and understand behavior and the events that impact their lives • Attributions are made when an event is unusual and personal

7. Covariation Model of Attribution

8. Attribution Example

9. Bias in Attribution • Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): Observer’s bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others’ behavior instead of external(Ex: Someone else drops out of college because “they couldn’t handle the pressure or work load” – internal. You may ignore that tuition went up and their family cannot afford it) • Defensive Attribution: Tendency to blame the victim for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way “JUST WORLD” • Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute one’s successes to dispositional factors and one’s failures to situational factors • In-group bias- tendency to favor your own group over the out-group

10. Attitudes & Attitude Formation • Components of Attitudes • Cognitive: What you believe • Affective: How you feel about it • Behavioral: What you are willing to do about it - When we observe & respond to the world around us, it is never without the influence of our attitudes (even if we don’t realize it). - Advertisers spend millions because they know that attitudes can be shaped & changed….to their benefit $$ • Definition Positive, negative, or mixed feelings, based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events (self-fulfilling prophecy) Ex: A friend tells you that they believe Coach Stove is a mean teacher. You may feel dislike for Coach Stove, and act unfriendly.

11. Attitudes can Affect Action • Deindividuation- Losing your individuality in a group • Role-playing: people who behaved in certain ways in scripted scenarios have adopted attitudes in keeping with those roles-

12. Behavior in Groups • Bystander Effect: less likely to help others when in groups than when alone Social Loafing: individuals produce less work (reduced efficiency & effort) when working in groups than by themselves Diffusion of responsibility helps explain both. • Decision Making • Group Polarization - when group discussion leads to a more “polarized” point of view by the group • Groupthink - when feel pressure to conform to the group, stops critical thinking to avoid dissention in the group • Ex: Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs

13. Group Polarization

14. Percentage of Bystanders Helping Victims & Time Taken

15. Cognitive Dissonance & Social Facilitation Social Facilitation Being watched while doing task makes you do better Cognitive Dissonance Theory: When we act in a way not consistent with our beliefs we feel tension. We then revise our beliefs to align with our behavior. Example:  Asked to do hour long boring task  Offered $1 or $20 to say it’s fun  Results: Larger payment led to less dissonance b/c high payment could account for ‘lying’. $1 was not enough to justify lying so those people changed their attitude to saying they enjoyed the task Example: After you go to all the trouble of buying a new house you start to like it more

16. Tolerant vs Intolerant • Is basic human nature tolerant or intolerant? Write a couple points in your notes • It does not mean you are born one way or another, but what behavior is typically shown throughout history. • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tolerant Intolerant

18. Stereotype Cartoon

19. Articles Showing Bias

20. Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination • Stereotype: Thoughts and beliefs held about people strictly because of their membership in a group (race, gender, occupation…) • Prejudice: A negative attitude held toward members of a group • Discrimination: Negative actions towards a group

21. Explanations These often arise from learning, personal experience, mental shortcuts, economic & political competition, & displaced aggression • Outgroup Homogeneity: Judge members of outgroup as more alike • Scapegoat: Blame other groups without as much power • Social Identity (in-group bias): Favor own group • Learning Theory: Classical or operant conditioning • Cognitive: Easier to organize our world if we ‘categorize’

22. Person Perception • Definition: The process of forming impressions of others • Impressions are influenced by: • Physical appearance • good looking people are seen as intelligent, friendly, and confident • Schemas: Organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people • 1st Impressions: self fulfilling prophecy, primacy

23. Social Influence • Chameleon Effect: our tendency to unconsciously mimic those around us • Yawning when others yawn • Picking up the mood of a happy or sad person • Dress like your friends • This automatic mimicry is an ingredient in our ability to empathize with others

24. Altruism: Actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper Why are we altruistic?Evolutionary Perspective: favors survival of genes Egoistic Model: motivated by anticipated gain Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: sometimes for selfish gains, other times truly selfless & motivated by concern for others Altruism Kitty Genovese Story…diffusion of responsibility…

25. Persuasion- changing someone’s attitude • Source: credible, trustworthy, likable, attractive, similarity • Message: Fear vs. logic, one or two sided, repetition • Channel: TV, radio, internet, or in person • Receiver: Personality, expectations, preexisting attitudes, intelligence, needs

26. Persuasion Techniques • Limited time offer • Everyone is buying!!! • DEAL!!! • Reciprocation • Foot in the door • Door in the face • Low-balling

27. Results of Attraction • Friendship: An attraction driven by a set of rules that must be followed for the relationship to continue • Examples of rules: • help when needed • trust and confide in each other • Romantic Love: Intense feeling of attraction to another within an erotic context with future expectations • Compassionate Love: Strong and lasting attraction characterized by trust, caring, tolerance, and friendship • Triangular Theory of Love: (see next slide)

28. Extra Credit I have 175 points to give to your class. You will write your name on a paper with the number of points requested (10 pts max, 10 raises about 3% ) You are not allowed to show anyone how many points you asked for, or look to see how much a classmate is requesting. Only Mr. Reed will know. If students ask for more than 175 points, no one will get any points.

29. Extra Credit You may ask for 5 or 10 points. I will randomly pair your choice with another student in the class. No one will know who has been paired together besides me. If both people ask for 5 points, both get 5 points If one asks for 5 and the other 10, the 10 gets ten and the 5 gets nothing. If both ask for 10, both get nothing.

30. Quickymart Robbery Confess 1 year, maybe probation Don’t confess- 15 years

31. Social Traps Definition- People do what is in their own self interest, even though it may hurt the group. Short term benefits instead of long term. Examples- Overfishing, logging industry, health care (I have mine), union membership, interrogation of suspects), PHX area gas crisis, PED, NFL lawsuit, ball hog

32. Friends • Write down a list of your friends in your notes (try to limit to 10 or less) • Write down two of your strongest values/traits

33. Attraction • Contributors to Attraction • Proximity: Physical closeness (mere exposure effect) • Similarity: Commonalities between two people • Reciprocity: The tendency to like those who like you • Physical Attractiveness: Pleasant physical appearance (often different depending on culture), signs of health such as symmetry (universal) • Matching Hypothesis: equally attractive people date

34. Triangular Conception of Love

35. Components of Attitudes