Social Psychology

1. Psychology 1 Marina Sangkavichai Social Psychology

2. Social Psychology • Interpersonal relationships • Social psychology: scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social situations • Established values, expectations, and behavior patterns are present when we arrive

3. Social Roles • Social roles are patterns of behavior expected of persons in various social positions. • In each group we occupy a position in the structure of the group.

4. Zimbardos Prison Experiment • Video: Zimbardo shows how most evil comes from hierarchy ( Stanford Prison Experiment )

5. Social Norms • A social norm is an accepted (but often unspoken) standard for appropriatebehavior. Would you sing in your loudest voice at the supermarket line? • What are the norms expected at a party? • At a work meeting? • When you’re hanging out with friends? • When you’re at a job interview?

6. HALLOWEEN NORM

7. Fundamental Attribution Error • is people's tendency to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation, rather than considering external factors. • For example, if a person is late for class, we often assume it’s because they don’t care enough to make it on time instead of considering other factors such as traffic, a sick child at home, etc.

8. Fundamental Attribution Error • In other words: When we see someone doing something, we tend to think it relates to their personality rather than the situation the person might be in. • For example, if someone cuts in front of you in line, your immediate reaction is, "This person is a complete jerk!" But in reality, maybe he never cuts into lines and is doing it this time only because he is about to miss his plane, the one he’s taking to be with his great aunt, who is on the verge of death.

9. Attribution Errors • When it comes to OUR own behavior, we usually attribute it to situational factors. I was late to class because I had a flat tire, or I only slept three hours last night, etc. • We give ourselves the benefit the doubt and attribute our behavior to situational factors! • For example, I didn’t do well in my math course because the teacher wasn’t very good.

10. Cognitive Dissonance Theory • is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result from holding two conflicting beliefs. When there is a discrepancy between beliefs and behaviors, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the dissonance. • For example, you know smoking is bad for you but you smoke anyway. You tell yourself that it’s too hard to quit, OR the effects are not that bad in order to reduce the tension you feel when your thoughts don’t match your actions. • People who have a high need for consistency in their actions feel the effects more.

11. Interpersonal Attraction • Social attraction to another person is called interpersonal attraction • What makes us attracted to another person? • Either as potential love partners or friends

12. Psychology Question • According to the lecture, what are the key elements to interpersonal attraction?

13. Research Shows: • Physical proximity: the closer people live to one another or have frequent contact with one another, the more likely they’ll be attracted to one another. • Repeated exposure increases attraction

14. Interpersonal Attraction • Similarity: we prefer people who are similar to us in some way. We enjoy being around people who share the same beliefs and outlook on life • Similarity helps couples stay together, not opposites

15. Couples sharing similar interests

16. Three Components of Love • Intimacy: feelings of closeness, emotional ties • Passion: emotional and sexual arousal person feels for another • Commitment: decision one makes about relationship ( short-term vs long-term )

17. Types of Love • Romantic love: intimacy and passion • Companionate love: intimacy and commitment • Consummate love: intimacy, passion, and commitment • Infatuation: passion only • Empty love: commitment only

18. Attraction rules • Physical attractiveness: persons degree of physical beauty, as defined by his or her culture • Has its advantages good looking people are less lonely, less socially anxious, more popular, more socially skilled and more sexually experienced than unattractive people

19. Gendered friendships • Friends are similar in age, same sex, race, beliefs, etc • Males friendships activity based • Women friendships based on expressing feelings and shared concerns

20. Friendships

21. Gendered Friendships • “Two guys can become friends almost based on nothing. Two guys can be friends just because they’re two guys.” Jerry Seinfeld says, “women and sports are all we ever talk about. If there were no women and sports, we’d just say so what’s in the refrigerator?”

22. Mate Selection • Studies show that married and couples who are living together are very similar in age, education, race, religion, and ethnic background. • Personality closely matched in stable marriages, differ in marriages that are not as stable

23. What people are looking for in relationships? • Kindness and understanding • Intelligence • Exciting personality • Good health • Physical attractiveness • Homogamy: choosing partners most like us • Women look at status and ambition more than men do

24. Building Close Relationships • Self-disclosure: the process of revealing private thoughts, feelings and one’s personal history. Essential for developing close relationships • Overdisclosure: revealing too much too soon can turn people of or scare them • Library example

25. Evolution and Mate Selection • Evolutionary origins of human behavior that influence sexual attraction, infidelity, jealousy and divorce. • Do you believe marriage is a natural state?

26. Study done • In a study of 37 cultures on six continents, following patterns were found: • Men are more interested in casual sex • Men prefer younger, more physically attractive partners • Men are more jealous over sexual infidelities than emotional ones

27. For women • Women prefer slightly older partners who are economically successful • Women more upset by a partner who becomes emotionally involved with someone else • Women want someone who will stick around and help raise children • Men more interested in reproducing-looking for beautiful “trophy” wives

28. Personal Ad • Personal ad placed in paper • Beautiful waitress 680 responses • Average looking female lawyer 290 responses • Average looking male lawyer 100 responses • Handsome cab driver 25-30 responses

29. Conformity • Changing ones own behavior to more closely match the actions of others • The Asch Experiment ( video )

30. Obedience • Changing one’s behavior at the direct order of an authority figure • The Milgram Study ( Experiment on Obedience Part 3 of 3 ).

31. Bystander Effect • referring to the effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help, with help becoming less likely as the number of bystanders increase. • Diffusion of responsibility: a person fails to take responsibility for either action or inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility.

32. Bystander Effect

33. Compliance-Sales Techniques • Compliance-get you to honor their requests without really being in an authority position • Foot in the door technique: agree to a smaller request first, then commit to something bigger/test driving

34. Compliance • Door in the face: describes a tendency for a person who has refused a major request to comply with a smaller request. Pick me up…yes…pick me up at 4:30 in the morning! • Low ball: getting a person to commit to act and then making the terms of acting less desirable • For exampe: insurance rates • End of lecture