UNIT 14 – SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social Psychology

• Scientifically studies how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
  
  

Social Thinking

Attributions of Behavior to Persons or Situations

• Social thinking focuses on how we interpret others’ behaviors, especially unexpected ones.
  
  

• Attribution Theory (Fritz Heider, 1958): We tend to explain others' behavior by attributing it to either the situation or the person's disposition.
  
  

  • Example: A teacher might wonder if a child’s hostility is due to an aggressive personality (dispositional attribution) or due to stress (situational attribution).
    
    

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Tendency to overestimate personal disposition and underestimate situational influences when analyzing others' behaviors.
  
  

Effects of Attribution

• How we explain behavior influences how we react to it.
  
  

Attitudes and Actions

• Attitude: A belief and feeling that predisposes a person to respond in a particular way.
  
  

  • Example: If we believe someone is mean, we may feel dislike and act unfriendly.
    
    

Attitudes Can Affect Actions

• Attitudes imperfectly predict behavior due to other influencing factors, like the external situation.
  
  

• The Looking Glass Effect:
  
  

  • Awareness of our attitudes increases their influence on actions.
    
    

  • Diener & Wallborn: Cheating was reduced from 71% to 7% when students worked in front of a mirror.
    
    

Routes to Persuasion

• Peripheral Route Persuasion: Influenced by incidental cues (e.g., attractiveness, celebrity endorsement).
  
  

• Central Route Persuasion: Influenced by argument quality (evidence, facts, statistics).
  
  

Compliance and Role Playing

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

• Tendency for people who comply with a small request to later comply with a larger one.
  
  

Role Playing Affects Attitudes

• Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1972): Participants adopted behaviors based on assigned roles (guards/prisoners).
  
  

Cognitive Dissonance

• Tension from opposing attitudes and actions.
  
  

• To reduce dissonance, we change our:
  
  

  • Belief
    
    

  • Action
    
    

  • Perception of the action
    
    

• Festinger (1957): We align attitudes with actions to relieve tension.
  
  

Social Influence

Conformity

• Adjusting behavior or thinking to match group standards.
  
  

• Chameleon Effect: Mimicking others.
  
  

• Asch’s Conformity Experiment (1955).
  
  

Conditions Strengthening Conformity

• Feeling incompetent/insecure
  
  

• Group of 3+ people
  
  

• Group is unanimous
  
  

• Admiration of group
  
  

• No prior commitment
  
  

• Behavior observed
  
  

Reasons for Conformity

• Normative Social Influence: Desire for approval/avoid rejection.
  
  

• Informative Social Influence: Accepting others’ opinions as truth.
  
  

Obedience

Milgram’s Obedience Study

• Investigated obedience to authority, even when it conflicts with personal conscience.
  
  

Group Behavior

Social Facilitation

• Improved performance in the presence of others.
  
  

• Triplett (1898): Cyclists performed better when racing others vs. a clock.
  
  

Social Loafing

• Exerting less effort in a group.
  
  

Deindividuation

• Loss of self-awareness/restraint in groups (e.g., mobs).
  
  

Group Interaction

Group Polarization

• Discussion strengthens prevailing attitudes.
  
  

Cultural Influence

• Social norms vary across cultures and evolve over time.
  
  

Prejudice & Discrimination

Prejudice

• Unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group.
  
  

• Components:
  
  

  • Beliefs (stereotypes)
    
    

  • Emotions (hostility, fear)
    
    

  • Actions (discrimination)
    
    

Reign of Prejudice

• Conscious and unconscious levels.
  
  

Gender & Racial Prejudice

• Gender inequalities persist.
  
  

• Preference for male children in some cultures.
  
  

• Women viewed more positively than men in some contexts.
  
  

Roots of Prejudice

Social Roots

• Social Inequalities
  
  

• Social Divisions
  
  

• Scapegoating
  
  

Emotional Roots

• Scapegoat Theory: Blaming others provides an emotional outlet.
  
  

Cognitive Roots

• Categorization: Stereotyping.
  
  

• Other-Race Effect: Better recognition of own-race faces.
  
  

• Just-World Phenomenon: Belief that people get what they deserve.
  
  

Aggression

Definition

• Physical/verbal behavior intended to harm.
  
  

Biological Influences

• Genetic: Linked to Y chromosome.
  
  

• Neural: Amygdala, frontal lobe involvement.
  
  

• Biochemical: Testosterone increases aggression.
  
  

Psychological & Social-Cultural Influences

• Aversive Events: Frustration-aggression principle.
  
  

• Learning: Aggression can be rewarding.
  
  

• Observational Learning: Media, culture, violent models.
  
  

• Social Scripts: Media provides mental scripts for aggression.
  
  

Ingroup/Outgroup Dynamics

• Ingroup: Shared identity group.
  
  

• Outgroup: Different from ingroup.
  
  

• Ingroup Bias: Favoring own group.
  
  

Attraction

Factors Influencing Attraction

• Proximity: Geographic nearness.
  
  

• Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure increases liking.
  
  

• Physical Attractiveness
  
  

• Similarity
  
  

Romantic Love

• Passionate Love: Intense absorption.
  
  

• Two-Factor Theory of Emotion: Arousal + Cognitive label.
  
  

• Companionate Love: Deep attachment.
  
  

• Equity: Equal give-and-take.
  
  

• Self-Disclosure: Sharing intimate details.
  
  

Altruism

• Bystander Effect: Less likely to help if others are present.
  
  

• Social Exchange Theory: Helping for maximum benefit, minimum cost.
  
  

• Reciprocity Norm: Help those who help us.
  
  

• Social-Responsibility Norm: Help those in need.
  
  

Conflict & Peacemaking

• Social Trap: Pursuing self-interest leads to mutual destruction.
  
  

• Enemy Perceptions: Mirror-image perceptions can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies.
  
  

Peacemaking Strategies

• Superordinate Goals: Shared goals override differences.
  
  

• Communication: Mediation fosters understanding.
  
  

• GRIT: Small conciliatory acts reduce tensions.