Topic 1: Situational vs. Dispositional Attribution

1. Topic 1: Situational vs. Dispositional Attribution Fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias Sarah B, Flavia D., Catherine D., Briana E., Kiersten O.

2. Attribution Theory • involves understanding the ways in which motivation can alter our perceptions of responsibility for ourselves and others. • Attributions are the implied or clear statements about causality and the source of human action or responsibility.

3. Compare & Contrast Dispositional Attribution: The individual’s internal characteristics causes their actions. Situational Attribution: The environment influences an individual’s actions.

4. Attribution in groups • Dispositional Attribution: attributing not to individuals but to whole groups of individuals. • The tendency to make assumptions that whole groups have similar thought or behavior.

5. Fundamental Attribution Error • Fundamental Attribution Error occurs when one tends to overestimate the dispositional factors and underestimate the situational factors when explaining someone else's behavior.

6. Self-Serving Bias • Self-Serving Bias occurs when one explains their own failures to the situation and successes to one's own personal characteristics. • -Both tend to be more prevalent in 'western' countries

7. TOPIC SET 2 By: The DREAM TEAM

8. Deindividuation • First recognized by Leon Festinger in 1952 • Deindividuation is the situation where anti-normative behavior is released in groups in which individuals are not seen or paid attention to as individuals. Simply put, deindividuation is immersion in a group to the point at which the individual ceases to be seen as such.

9. Deindividuation (cont.)(Real Life Instances) • Abu Ghraib: Accounts of abuse and torture surfaced in 2004 regarding Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Several elements added to deindividuation in this situation. Soldiers initially came into a relatively ambiguous situation, not knowing who was directly in charge of each unit or of the prison as a whole. This made diffusion of responsibility easy and relatively widespread. In fact, as the soldiers stood on trial for their crimes, most claimed that if they had crossed the line, they would have expected a ranking officer to tell them it was wrong or stop them rather than self-evaluating their own behaviors. As Zimbardo also pointed out, there was an element of dehumanization of the prisoners (which was also was present in the Stanford prison experiment) in that the soldiers stopped viewing them as individual human beings, but rather viewed them as “the enemy,” therefore deindividuating the prisoners. Added to the situation was a strong group dynamic and group cohesion fostered by the military mindset that soldiers act as a group, a family.

10. Deindividuation (cont.)(Real Life Instances) • The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted from Aug. 14-20, 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Twenty-four students were selected out of 75 to play the prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Roles were assigned randomly. The participants adapted to their roles well beyond what even Zimbardo himself expected, leading the guards to display authoritarian measures and ultimately to subject some of the prisoners to torture. In turn, many of the prisoners developed passive attitudes and accepted physical abuse, and, at the request of the guards, readily inflicted punishment on other prisoners who attempted to stop it. The experiment even affected Zimbardo himself, who, in his capacity as "Prison Superintendent," lost sight of his role as psychologist and permitted the abuse to continue as though it were a real prison. Five of the prisoners were upset enough by the process to quit the experiment early, and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. The experimental process and the results remain controversial. The entire experiment was filmed, with excerpts soon made publicly available, leaving some disturbed by the resulting film.[citation needed] Over 30 years later, Zimbardo found renewed interest in the experiment when the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal occurred.

11. Group Polarization • In groups, people tend to be more extreme in their decisions. • Imagine you are arguing your point with someone else: to make the point and separate what you have to say from other people, you may exaggerate your position somewhat. The problem then is that having taken a position you feel obliged to support it, even if you think it actually is a bit extreme. • People who tend to take risky decisions will make riskier decisions in a group as the risk is shared (risky shift). People who are more conservative will tend to make very conservative decisions as they take on the persona of the group and try to protect them from the effects of any risky decisions.

12. Topic 3 Austin Haworth

13. Groupthink • Groupthink- occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment.Groups with groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups. A group is especially vulnerable to groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

14. Conformity • Conformity- a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. It is in response to real or imagined group pressure. People often conform from a desire to achieve a sense of security within a group

15. Asch’s Experiments • Asch showed how perfectly normal human beings can be pressured into unusual behavior by authority figures, or by the consensus of opinion around them. The experiment was simple; each participant, in turn, was asked to answer a series of questions, such as which line was longest or which matched the reference line.

16. Obedience • Obedience- the quality of being obedient, which describes the act of carrying out commands, or being actuated. Learning to obey adult rules is a major part of the socialization process in childhood, and many techniques are used by adults to modify the behavior of children

17. Milgram • The Milgram experiments, starting in 1961, were the earliest investigations of the power of authority figures as well as the lengths to which people would go as a result of their influence. Milgram's results showed that, contrary to expectations, a majority of volunteers would obey orders to apply electric shocks to another person until they were unconscious or dead. Before these experiments, most of Milgram's colleagues had predicted that only sadists would be willing to follow the experiment to their conclusion

18. Topic Set 4 Cat Frazier Jennifer Guignard Kate Reittinger Alex Kang Michael Cho

19. WHAT are attitudes? • A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with a certain degree of favor or disfavor

20. HOW can attitudes be changed? • Attitudes can be changed either by experiencing different consequences of established behavior (for example a new relationship) or by changing ideals or needs

21. Central Route to Persuasion • Involves being persuaded by the arguments or contents of the message. For example after hearing a political debate you may decide to vote for a candidate because you found their views and arguments very convincing.

22. Peripheral Route to Persuasion • Involves being persuaded in a manor that is not based on the arguments or the message content. For example: after hearing a political debate you may decide to vote for a candidate because you like the sound of the person’s voice, or the person went to the same university that you did. • The peripheral route may involve using superficial cues such as the attractiveness of the speakers.

23. Central & Peripheral Route to Persuasion (Grouped) • People may be persuaded in different ways. Petty and Cacioppo suggested that there are two different ways to pervasion: the central routes and peripheral role.

24. Cognitive Dissonance • The feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding to conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.

25. Festinger’s Research • A tendency of individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e. beliefs, opinion). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance. • In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior.

26. Topic 5

27. Bystander Effect Def: Refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress. When an emergency situation occurs, observers are more likely to take action if there are few or no other witnesses. Example: A common example is the brutal murder of a young woman named Catherine "Kitty" Genovese. On Friday, March 13, 1964, 28-year-old Genovese was returning home from work. As she approached her apartment entrance, she was attacked and stabbed by a man later identified as Winston Moseley. Despite Genovese’s repeated cries for help, none of the dozen or so people in the nearby apartment building who heard her cries called police to report the incident. The attack first began at 3:20 AM, but it was not until 3:50 AM that someone first contacted police.

28. Diffusion of Responsibility Def: When a task is placed before a group of people, there's a strong tendency for each individual to assume someone else will take responsibility for it—so no one does. Example: Once while I was jogging along Lake Michigan, I came upon a large crowd surrounding a middle-aged man lying supine on the ground. I stopped to assess the scene and saw the man wasn't moving—at all. Two people were bending over him and trying to shake him awake. "What happened?" I asked. "He fell," someone said, a woman. "Did anyone see it?“ She nodded. "He was walking along and maybe he tripped or something—I couldn't tell—but then he just...crumpled.“ I identified myself as a doctor, pushed my way through the crowd, and checked to see if he was breathing. He wasn't. Did he have a pulse? He didn't. "Has anyone called 9-1-1?" I asked. No one answered.

29. Social Facilitation Def: When we are have tasks which we find relatively easy, we find the presence of other people a positive stimulus such that we perform even better. However, when the tasks are difficult, we find the audience unnerving and we are more likely to put in a worse performance. When the task being performed is relatively easy, we are likely to do it more quickly. When the task is difficult, then we are likely to take more time to ensure we get it right (it is more embarrassing to be seen to be wrong than be seen to be slow). This is because first, the presence of others increases physiological arousal such that our bodies become more energized, and secondly because when we are aroused it is more difficult to perform new or difficult tasks. The dominant response is that under arousal it is easier to do things we can easily perform. The presence of others makes us suspect evaluation. Depending on how we forecast that evaluation, we may look forward to either adulation or criticism and rejection.

30. Social Facilitation Continued… Ex: As an example, when watched by an audience, humans tend to learn a simple maze faster and a complex maze more slowly than when they are alone. Likewise, easier word lists are memorized faster and harder lists slower in front of an audience than when done alone.

31. Topic 6: In-group and out-grups By: Theresa Mpwo, Dani Castillo, Avery Heussner, Kendall McElhaney, Colton Chaffin

32. Ingroup- clique: an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose • example: High school students create social groups based on extracurricular activities and trends. • pros: You will always have a set group to hang out with so you won’t be alone • cons: It is easy to feel left out, and cliques hinder individuality

33. Outgroup- In sociology, an outgroup is a social group towards which an individual feels contempt, opposition, or a desire to compete. • example: Jews were an outgroup in Nazi Germany. • pros: It encourages individuality and individuality. • cons: Not fitting in can create an inferiority complex.

34. Ethnocentricism- belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group • example: The Nazis believed that they were the supreme group. • pros: It creates pride in one's identity. • cons: It creates a sense of false entitlement.

35. Prejudice- any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable. • example: The assumption that all blondes are dumb. • pros: It heightens the person prejudicing’s superiority complex • cons: It generalizes a person without them fairly representing themselves

36. Discrimination- unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice • example: Blacks had to ride in the back of the bus. • pros: It keeps people from having to deal with those different then themselves, reducing discomfort. • cons: It unfairly alienates the person or people being discriminated against.

37. TOPIC SET 7

38. Aggression • (DEF) Overt or suppressed hostility, either innate or resulting from continued frustration and directed outward or against oneself.

39. Aggression Causes • Caused by a complicated set of factors that may include testosterone levels, social learning and other aspects

40. Aggression in Real Life • Often associated with crimes, such as assault, aggravated robbery, etc.

41. Attraction • a characteristic or quality that provides pleasure; a person that draws, allures, or entices

42. Scenario • Walking down the street I see thousands of faces pass by. But today was a good day. Today I saw one attractive piece of man. His face was symmetric. His shoulders were broad. Our eyes met and there was a connection. As we passed, numbers were exchanged. It’s a good day.

43. More on Attraction • Interpersonal attraction refers to positive feelings about another person. It can take many forms, including liking, love, friendship, lust, and admiration. • Physical attractiveness: Research shows that romantic attraction is primarily determined by physical attractiveness. In the early stages of dating, people are more attracted to partners whom they consider to be physically attractive. Men are more likely to value physical attractiveness than are women. • Similarity: People also tend to pick partners who are similar to themselves in characteristics such as age, race, religion, social class, personality, education, intelligence, and attitude. •  The matching hypothesis proposes that people tend to pick partners who are about equal in level of attractiveness to themselves.

44. Altruism • Unselfish behavior and attitude towards the welfare of others. • Intentional behaviors that benefit another person • Behaviors which have no obvious gain for the provider • Behaviors which have obvious costs for the provider (e.g. time, resources) • Is there really altruism? Altruism is often for self-benefit e.g., power, status, reward, psychological gain. • What matters in judging the act is the actor's intended outcomes

45. Real World Scenario • Robert recently lost his job, house and wife and has been living in the streets for a month. He carries around a shopping cart with all his belongings and sits on the same bench every day, asking people for donations. One day, a little boy on a walk with his mother stopped and handed him a box of Chinese takeout. That same day, a business man late to his conference stopped and gave him even more food. • Robert had a good day.

46. The Bystander Effect • Bystander Effect • Diminished sense of personal responsibility to act because others are seen as equally responsible • Bystanders who feel anonymous (e.g. part of a large crowd) are less likely to help • 75% help when alone vs. 53% in presence of others • "Diffusion of responsibility"