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Module 34: Social Thinking and Social Influence. By Sara Sanchez. Social psychology. Scientific study of how we think about influence, and relate to one another. . Attributing Behavior to Personal Disposition or the Situation.
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Module 34: Social Thinking and Social Influence By Sara Sanchez
Social psychology • Scientific study of how we think about influence, and relate to one another.
Attributing Behavior to Personal Disposition or the Situation • When we meet people we have a tendency to analyze and categorize them based on the behaviors we observe. • Attribution theory- • we tend to explain the behavior of other as an aspect of either an internal disposition (an inner trait) of the situation. • Fundamental attribution error- • the tendency to attribute the behaviors of others to inner dispositions rather than to situations.
… • We make excuses or reasons for something • For example: when a classmate asks to borrow your notes… • Dispositional attribution • if you think your neighbor is lazy and didn’t listen • Situational attribution • if you remember your classmate was absent the day before and did not even hear the lecture.
… • What is typecast? • After playing a certain role for a long times an actor can no longer land other kinds of parts. • The problem? • Directors know that viewers make attributions to actors that are hard to overcome. • For example: • Daniele Radcliffe, Dave Chappelle, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jack Black
Forming Impressions of Others • 5 key points • Appearance • Verbal Behavior • Actions • Non-verbal messages • ex. body language, facial expressions, and gestures • Situations
What the media has to do with it? • Media shapes the way a person thinks, behaves, and acts • Marketing on television along with favorite celebrities, politicians and any media (social networking sites) influences the way people think and feel about themselves • To an extent will a person be easily influenced
Attitudes and Actions • Attitude • a belief and feeling that predisposes you to respond in a particular way to people, events, and objects • The Effects of Attitudes on Actions • 1. The outside influences on what we do are minimal • ex. Saying something you swore you would never do • 2. We are keenly aware of our attitudes • ex. If you were aware of the consequences you wouldn’t have done it • 3. The attitudes are relevant to the behavior • ex. The type of attitude you have towards it
… • The Effects of Actions on Attitudes • FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR PHENOMENON • Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request • ROLE-PLAYING • ex. Phillip Zimbardoassignged some students to act as guards and other as prisoners • GOGNITIVE DISSONANCE • Theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent
What Social Networking sites can do • Constantly checking News Feed • Sense of isolation • When you see a persons status that you admire, you feel like you need to be like them in order for people to like you
Conformity and Obedience • Conformity • adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard • Solomon Asch • Obedience • the tendency to comply with others, implied or real, from someone perceived as an authority • Stanley Milgram • “shocked” every time he made a mistake
… • Other studies show conformity increases in situations: • You feel incompetent or insecure. • You are in a group of three or more. Groups larger than three show no additional conformity. • The rest of the group is unanimous. You are impressed by the status of the group. • You have made no prior commitments to a response. • You are being observed by others in the group. • Your culture strongly encourages respect for social standards
Our Behavior in the Presence of Others • Social Facilitation improved performance of tasks in the presence of others • Social Loafing tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attainting a common goal that when individually accountable • Deindividuation loss of self-awareness and self- restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
Group Interaction Effects • Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s already-existing attitudes through discussion within the group • Groupthink mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of the alternatives.
Self- Fulfilling Prophecies • Self-fulfilling prophecy when we believe something to be true about others (or ourselves) and we act in ways that cause this belief to come true.
Sources • Psychology book • http://www.abac.edu/elee/PSYC2101/pdf6/Chapter6.pdf • http://topics.wisegeek.com/topics/social-influence.htm# • http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/social-networking-sites-more-harm-than-good/