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DEFINITION
Social Psychology
Branch of psychology concerned with the way individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others
PERSON PERCEPTION
Attributions
Inferences that people draw about the causes of events, other’ behavior and their own behavior
Internal vs. External
Internal attributions – ascribe the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities and feelings
External attributions – ascribe causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental constraints
Attributions for success and failure
Stability
Stable-unstable dimension cuts across internal-external dimensions in creating the attributions for success and
failure
Stable – permanent Unstable-temporary
Situation: failure in getting a job
Internal-stable – your excellent ability
Internal-unstable – hard work on a resume
External-stable – lack of competition
External-unstable – luck
Bias in Attribution
Inaccurate explanations of their own behavior
“guesswork” because guesses tend to be slanted
The Fundamental Attribution Error and Actor Observer Bias
Observer’s bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining behavior
Observers have a curious tendency to overestimate the likelihood that an actor’s behavior reflects
personality rather than situational factors
Situational factors aren’t readily apparent to observer
Few situations are so coercive that they negate all freedom of choice
In contrast, actor-observer bias says, actors favor external attributions for their behaviors while observers
are more likely to explain the same behavior with internal attributions
Personal (Internal) Situational (external)
Behaviour
Attribution Attribution
Defensive Attribution
Tendency to lame victims for their misfortune so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way
Attribute friend’s mugging to carelessness and stupidity
Hindsight bias - helps people maintain their belief that they live in a just world where they’re unlikely to
experience similar troubles
The belief in a just world theory
Culture and Attributional Tendencies
Individualism vs Collectivism influence attributional tendencies
Individualism – putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal
attributes
Recognize the importance of independence, self-esteem, and self-reliance North America West European)
Collectivism – group goals ahead of personal goals and defining identity in terms of group one belongs too
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Collectivist cultures place high priority on shared values and interdependence (importance of obedience,
reliability, and proper behavior) (Asian African and Latin)
People from collectivist are less prone to the fundamental attribution error!!!
More likely to believe that one’s behavior reflects adherence to group norms
Self-serving bias – one’s success to personal factors and one’s failures to situational factors
Western – competition and high self-esteem
Self0effacing bias – explaining success to help they receive from others and downplaying the importance of
their ability – Japanese subjects ted to be more self-critical
Recognizing Bias in Social Cognition
1. Fundamental attribution error = assuming that arriving late reflects personal qualities
2. Illusory correlation effect - overestimating how often one has seen confirmations of the assertion that
young female profs get pregnant so soon
3. Stereotyping - assuming all lawyers have negative traits
4. Defense Attribution - derogating the victims of misfortune to minimize the likelihood of similar mishap
Interpersonal Attraction – positive feelings toward another including liking, friendship, admiration, lust and love
Key Factors in attraction
Attractiveness
Key determinant of romantic attraction for both was physical attractiveness rather than communication
Attractive people of both sexes enjoy greater mating success than less attractive peers
Matching Hypothesis – males and females of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select
each other as partners
Attractive people – expect to date more attractive people Less attractive people expect to date less attractive
partners
Similarity
Couples tend to be similar in age, race, religion, social class, personality, education, intelligence and attitudes
Both in friendship and romantic relationships
Perspectives on the Mystery of Love
Passionate and Companionate love
Passionate – sexual feelings and the agony and ecstasy of intense emotion
Companionate love – warm trusting tolerant affection for another whose life is deeply intertwined with one’s
own
Companionate love is more strongly related to relationship satisfaction than passionate love
Intimacy – warmth, closeness, and sharing in a relationship
Commitment – intent to maintain a relationship in spite of difficulties
When we are satisfied with our relationship we have positive bias (increased dopamine levels when
thinking about person we love
Love as Attachment
Attachment relationships in infancy – infant-caretaker bonding emerges in the first year of life
Secure, Anxious-ambivalent attachment, Avoidant attachment
Love is an attachment process
Anxious-ambivalent attachment in infancy tend to have romantic relationships marked by anxiety and
ambivalence
In adults – Styles are relatively stable over time
Secure adults 56% – easy to get close to others, trusting, do not worry about being abandoned (fewest
divorce rates9
Anxious -ambivalent adults 20%– preoccupation with love accompanied with expectations of rejection and
relationships as volatile and jealousy
Avoidant adults (26%)- difficult to get close to theirs and lack intimacy and trust
Excessive reassurance seeking.
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Attachment anxiety- worry when partners are available when needed, merge completely with another
person and this scares people away
Attachment-avoidance - the degree w/c people feel
uncomfortable with closeness and maintain emotional distance
High or low on 2 dimensions secure vs. preoccupied
Avoidant-dismissing and avoidant fearful
People with different attachment styles behave differently
Culture and Closeness
Universal priorities: males-beauty females-social status and success
Love as the basis for marriage is western culture
Other Cultures arranged marriages
Eastern countries – love is less important for marriage
Evolutionary Perspective
Physical appearance because looks indicate sound health, good genes, and high fertility
Facial Symmetry- key element
Environmental insults and abnormalities are associated with physical symmetries
Men prefer waist to hip ratio or hourglass figure (healthy, young, not pregnant)
Women value attractiveness in a short-term partner like men
Also affected by menstrual cycle
When most fertile (before ovulation) preferences shift to bodily features and masculinity
Attitudes- positive or negative evaluations of objects of thought (social issues, groups, institutions, consumer products,
and people)
Components and Dimensions
Cognitive component – beliefs that people hold about the object of attitude
Affective component – emotional feelings stimulated by the object of thought
Behavioral component- predispositions to act in a certain way toward an attitude object
Dimensions
Ambivalence – conflicted emotions (ambivalence is high, less predictive of behavior)
Accessibility – how often one thinks about it and how quickly it comes to mind
attitude strength – firmly held and durable over time
Attitudes and Behavior
Attitude-behavior relationships are not consistent
Variations in attitude strength, accessibility and ambivalence
String attitudes that are highly accessible are stable over time and more predictive
Implicit Atticus: Looking beneath the surface
Explicit: consciously and can readily describe
Implicit aptitudes – covert attitudes expressed in automatic responses
Implicit association Test – higher scores in white subjects
Persuasion
Source and Receiver
Message is the information transmitted
Source Factors
Credibility- expertise
Trustworthiness – goes up when argue against their own interest
Likability – physical attractiveness and similarity
Message Factors
One-sided argument vs. Two-sided argument – increase credibility
Arouse Fear
Truth effect or Validity effect
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Mere exposure effect – repeated exposures to a stimulus promotes greater liking
Receiver Factors
Forewarning – expect to be persuaded and reduces the impact
Strong attitudes- resistance to change and promote stronger resistance
Theories of Attitude Formation and Change
Learning Theory
Learned from parents, peers, the media, traditions and other social influences
Affective component from Classical conditioning
Emotional responses are from evaluative conditioning which involves transferring the emotion attached to a
UCS to a new CS
Operant conditioning -disagreement w/ views punished
Observational Learning
Dissonance Theory
Inconsistency among attitudes propels people in the direction of attitude change
High dissonance had an attitude change
Dissonance about counter attitudinal behavior does cause attitude change
Cognitive dissonance existence – related cognitions are inconsistent and contradictory
Effort Justification – attitudinal somersaults to justify efforts that haven’t panned out
Self-perception – people infer their attitudes from their behavior
When subjects do not have well-defined attitudes
Elaboration Likelihood model
2 basics Routes to Persuasion
Central route – ponder the content
More durable to attitude change
Peripheral route – no message factors like attractiveness, credibility, or conditioned emotional response
Less durable attitude change
Key Terms:
Social roles – shared expectations about how people in certain positions are supposed to behave
Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo
Conformity
How social influence makes techniques for inducing compliance
Does not need authority
Study by Asch
Results - group size and group unanimity are key determinants of conformity
Normative influence
when people conform to social norms for fear of negative social consequences
Informational influence
when people look to others for guidance about how to behave in ambiguous situations
Cialdini’s principles of persuasion and compliance
Cialdini used naturalistic observation
Included himself in the experiment
Posed as a trainee and observed the way employees are trained to self
Principles of Compliance
Reciprocation
Recognizes how we feel indebted
Want 2 reciprocate
Social Proof
Round of applause
Commitment and Consistency
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Don’t like to back out on their word
Either verbally or in writing
Liking
Say yes to people we like
What is beautiful is good?
Authority
Convinced by authority (impression)
Men and watches?
Scarcity
When something is hard to get
Techniques for Inducing Compliance
Foot-in-the-door technique
Asking for a small commitment
More likely to comply with a second larger request
Could you cover my shift? -> cover 2 more
Door-in-the-face technique
Real big request
Get rejected
Smaller request
Low-ball technique
Obtaining a commitment then
Hidden costs
Cell phone plans -
OBEDIENCE
Definition
Compliance with explicit demands of an individual in authority
“a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes and no longer regards
himself as responsible for his actions”
Stanley Milgram: classic studies of obedience
Troubled by how Germans followed the orders of the dictator
Find out how people comply to outright commands
Administer electric shock to a “learner,” but in reality, the “learner” was a confederate
The Milgram Experiment
Nature of human obedience
How the Germans could permit the extermination of the Jews
How can we get normal people to do evil things w/o conscience?
Obedience – necessary for society but focused on darker side
Give people a sense of responsibility
Experiment Design
“Teacher “– 40 volts gets a sample shock
“Learner” - confederate
Administrate shock – volts
Shock generator - XXX
Procedure
Pretend they were in an experiment about learning and punishment
Accomplice purposely gives wrong answers
If he gets an answer wrong give electrical shock and increase
Told to continue even if the accomplice would plead to stop
“It is absolutely essential that you continue” “you have no other choice you must go on”
Results
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Some found in uncomfortable
Laughing inappropriately
40 psychiatrists predicted:
most teachers would go no further than 150 volts
fewer than 1 in 25 would go as far as 300 volts
only 1 in 1000 would deliver the full 450 volts
Results:
majority of teachers obeyed the experimenter
almost 2/3 delivered the full 450 volts
65% of all participants could be coaxed to deliver every level of shock
Questions raised
Is high obedience connected to using volunteers?
Is obedience specific to Western culture?
Milgram’s study raised ethical concerns
Participants were debriefed
None showed long-lasting effects from participation
Thomas Blast has made a career out of studying obedience and the Milgram experiments
see: http://www.stanleymilgram.com/ (if interested)
Meta-analysis results revealed percentage of participants who administered fatal voltages remained consistent
(61-66%), across time, place, country
Who are more obedient: men or women?
(only 1) Women more stress
Would Milgram find LESS obedience if he ran his experiments today?
Cultural Variations
Individualism vs. collectivism
Behaviour in Groups
Have roles, norms, and communication structure
Behaviour alone and in groups
“safety in numbers”
Bystander effect – less likely to provide help
Diffusion of responsibility
Group productivity and Social Loafing
Social Loafing - Reduction in effort by individuals when working in a group
Less likely when individual’s contributions are identifiable
Collectivist cultures – less likely bc they value group gals
Decision Making in Groups
Group Polarization
Group discussion strengthens a group’s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more
extreme decision in that direction
Exposes arguments that they did not think about before
Groupthink
Emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking
Overestimate ingroup’s unanimity
Group cohesiveness – strength of the liking relationships linking group members to each other (Close-knit)
More likely when group works in isolation, dominated by a leader, or stress
SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE
Social Neuroscience
Integrates models of neuroscience and social psych using PET, fMRI, ERP’s
Explore amygdala in seeing white and black faces
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Cunningham’s research suggests implicit associations to a social group result in automatic emotional responses
when encountering members of that group
Distortion of Judgement
Distortion of level of response – I know I’m not wrong
Informational Conformity
Normative Conformity
Social Facilitation
-When people are in the presence of others