Social Psychology

1. Social Psychology

2. Social Thinking • 9/11 the tragic event that demonstrated to the world what social animals we are • Social Psychologist examine how • We think • How we influence • How we relate to one another • People truly don’t know what they are capable of doing until they are faced with a situation

3. Attribution theory: the belief that people tend to give an explanation for behavior (situation or disposition) Excusing or validating Enduring personality traits are key examples Fundamental Attribution Error: underestimating a situational influence or personal disposition to explain behavior Typecasting Assumptions that are made because people act a certain way in certain situation Whose to Blame?

4. The Effects of Attribution • All of struggle to explain the actions of others • Managers to employees • Workers to working conditions • People to People • Poverty • Unemployment • Conservatives • Liberals different Consider perceived wrongs & situations Remember our Attributions to Individuals have real consequences

5. Attitudes & Actions • Attitude: the belief or feelings that predispose our reactions to objects, people, & events • Prejudgments & Assumptions that can persuade our thinking • Studies show that • Powerful situations can manipulate what we say • Profess attitudes that contradict behavior • Aware of our convictions

6. Foot-in-the-door phenomenon Evidence shows that attitudes follow behavior A tendency for people who agree to small action to comply later with a larger one Prisoners of war Giving in a little at a time leads to eventually following through all the way Start small & build A trivial act make the next act easier to do Rationalizing behavior to justify ones actions Saying becomes believing Doing becomes believing Works for good behavior as well as bad Moral actions strengthen moral convictions Evil or good acts shape self How do our Actions Affect our Attitudes?

7. Role Playing & Attitudes • Adopting new roles leads to people following social conceptions • Playacting in the theater of life becomes who you are • Researchers have studied & confirmed this • Zimbardo Prisoner Experiment • What we do we gradually become

8. Cognitive Dissonance Theory • Our actions do affect our attitude • Feel motivated to justify our actions • When our actions do not match our attitudes we become tense • Cognitive Dissonance Theory then explains how we justify our behavior to ourselves • Rationalizing the contradiction • Believing phony words then leads to pretense becoming reality Changing behavior can change how We think & how we feel!

9. Social RelationsPrejudice & Aggression

10. Prejudice • An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group because of cultural, ethnic, or gender differences • Mixture of stereotypical beliefs, emotions, & discrimination • A schema that influences how we notice & interpret events • Bias is then created when interpreting situations

11. Minority students still feel excluded on college campuses Prejudice is sometimes an unconscious behavior Color still plays a role Bronx shooting University professor grading papers Rate of cars pulled over for traffic infractions show a color dominance DWB Gender world wide is an issue when it comes to rights Boys are favored over girls Ratio is unequal What do studies & survey’s say?

12. Social Roots of Prejudice • Prejudice rationalizes inequality • Discrimination leads to the victims living up to a self-fulfilling prophecy • Self blame or anger • Blame the victim dynamic • Justify the discrimination • In-group (us) vs. Out-group (them) • Social identities • In-group bias is then the consequence • Scapegoat theory: • Prejudice expresses anger • Provides someone to blame for all problems $

13. Categorizing people into groups leads to stereotypes It also biases our perceptions of diversity We tend to judge the frequency of events by instances that readily come to mind Just-world phenomenon: Karma/blame the victim Good is rewarded & evil is punished Hind sight bias: they asked for it Rape victims Abused spouses People with AIDS Cognitive Roots of Prejudice

14. Aggression • Means something different in psychology • A person that has the intention to destroy or to harm someone physically or through a verbal action • Aggressive behavior emerges from the interaction of biology & experience

15. Freud believed that our species was capable of great aggression For survival For self-destruction Although he was right to a degree biology still plays a big part Genetically Neurologically Bio-chemically Genetically: Bio-chemically: Neurologically: The Biology of Aggression

16. Psychology of Aggression • Psychological triggers contribute to aggression • Aggressive behavior begins with the interaction of people & situations • Suffering is known to produce violence • A blocked goal • Frustration aggression principle • Physical pain • Personal insults • Temperatures • Foul odors • Experience is the main • Cause of our Expression & • Management of Aggression • Absent Parent (father) • Everything depends on the individual

17. Sex offenses & the media Home video Pay-per-view pornography Internet porn The “rape-myth” of being swept away “pornography that portrays sexual aggression as pleasurable for the victim increases the acceptance of coercion in sexual relationships. TV, Society, & pornography Disinhibit & desensitize Provide a social script for society to follow Entertainment industry is slowly realizing what is happening & beginning to do something about it Video Games & Violence Studies Can prime aggressive thoughts & increase aggression Rising level of arousal & hostility Aggression & the Media