SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY HOW ARE OUR ACTIONS, ATTITUDES, AND BELIEFS AFFECTED BY THOSE WITH WHOM WE INTERACT?

2. PRE-QUIZ QUESTIONS • Which of the following is the best example of prejudice? • A. Billy will not let girls play on his hockey team. • B. Santiago dislikes cheerleaders. • C. Athena says she can run faster than anybody on the playground. • D. Mr. Tamp calls on boys more often than girls. • E. Ginny thinks all Asians are smart.

3. PRE-QUIZ QUESTIONS • Some difficult cuts need to be made in the school board budget meeting and everyone knew going into the meeting that there would need to be cooperation. Though it is likely many people had dissenting opinions, every proposition was voted on unanimously with very little discussion or dissention expressed. This is an example of • A. Group polarization • B. Fundamental attribution error (FAE) • C. Groupthink • D. Role schema • E. reciprocity

4. PRE-QUIZ QUESTIONS • You read in the newspaper that survivors in a place accident in the Andes were discovered to have eaten other survivors during their 32-day ordeal. Which of the following thinking illustrates the fundamental attribution error? • A. You attribute the behavior to dispositional/personal factors • B. You attribute the behavior to situational factors. • C. You think you would have done the same thing if you had been there. • D. You consider the behavior as evidence of the moral degradation of society. • E. You decide to never fly in a plane again.

5. PRE-QUIZ QUESTIONS • Although Graham has yet to meet his future roommate, he has learned that he is a football player. He is anxious and unhappy about sharing his room with a football player because he expects that his roommate will be a “party animal” who makes studying in his room difficult. Graham’s attitude can be classified as • A. Stereotype • B. Prejudice • C. Discrimination • D. Scapegoating • E. Fully justified

6. Behavior is Contagious • Canned laughter used on sitcoms makes them funnier. • “Seed” the tip jar if you want any tips. An empty tip jar stays empty. • Mood linkage…when around happy people we tend to be happy as well (and vice versa). • Mimicry shows empathy and empathetic people are seen as more likeable (foot shakers experiement)

7. Attribution Theoryattribute: v. To explain as to cause or origin • What reasons might you give to explain a student who regularly borrows others’ homework to copy because he/she never has it done? • What reasons might you give to explain a peer who gets drunk at parties? • What reasons might you give if YOU were the student who regularly borrows others’ homework to copy because you never have it done? • What reasons might you give if YOU were the person who gets drunk at parties?

8. Attribution Theoryattribute: v. To explain as to cause or origin • Attribution theory: theory that people tend to attribute (credit) other’s behavior either to internal dispositions or to their external situations. • Dispositional attribution: “He’s just lazy.” “She’s just clingy.” Dispositions are qualities that a person has. • Situational attribution: “He works late at a part time job, so he is often late or very sleepy in class.” “Her home environment is very volatile and unreliable.” Situational factors are external, outside the person. • We tend to overestimate disposition and underestimate situation, aka fundamental attribution error, when attempting to explain other people.

9. Attribution theory • So, the fundamental error is when we disregard the situation and leap to unwarranted conclusions about people’s personality traits. • BUT, when it comes to explaining our own behaviors, we tend to rely on the self-serving bias. • We emphasize our own situation rather than our own disposition.

10. Impact of Attribution Theory • Our attitudes (beliefs or feelings that predispose our action and reactions) towards ourselves and others are therefore, predictable. • And if our attitude is known, then our actions are also predictable as well. • Attitudes shape our actions. • Our actions can also shape our attitudes….

11. Impact of Attribution Theory • Attitudes can be influenced/follow actions • Foot in the door phenomenon: the tendency for people to agree to a small request to comply later to a larger one. A trivial act makes the next act easier…succumb to a temptation and you will find the next temptation harder to resist. It is effective for both good and bad deeds such as giving blood and other charitable donations. http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2009/06/19/how-the-foot-in-the-door-technique-costs-you-money/

12. Impact of Attribution Theory • Attitudes can be influenced/follow actions • Role playing: When adopting a new role in life (college student, soldier, spouse) you often at first feel as if you are “pretending” and “acting the part,” the more you act the more the more it becomes who you are. • Zimbardo study of simulated prison and it’s measures of how we treat others. Other examples include hazing events at colleges such as Corps of Cadets and fraternity/sorority hazing www.prisonexp.org • WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?

13. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE • We are inclined to make our actions and attitudes align otherwise we will experience tension/discomfort. • Cognitive dissonance theory: people will align their attitudes to their actions…much like Freud’s rationalizing defense mechanism. • Based on this, changing our feelings & thoughts can start with changing our behaviors.

14. Practice Question • Donald believes himself to be a patriotic citizen, but he also does not believe in attacking countries that are technologically no match for the U.S. If the U.S. were to go to war and Donald were to be drafted, dissonance theory predicts that… • A. He would have no conflict going off to war • B. He might have to change one of his attitudes to feel less tension • C. Justification of the military position would have to be internalized by him • D. Morally, he would have to become a conscientious objector • E. Morally, he must fight and defend his country.

15. Group Influence • Social facilitation: improved performance in the presence of others (competition, home field advantage. Exception to this is if you don’t do something well; you are less likely to do well while watched. • Social loafing: Decline if performance when in a group b/c more autonomous, not accountable; most commonly seen in men from individualistic countries (Europe, USA)

16. Group Influence • Deindividuation: abandoning normal restraints to the power of the group; therefore, less self conscious & less restrained (In the SPE the “guards” wore sunglasses and uniform dress. Other examples include masks/costumes @ Halloween & Mardi Gras and hoods used by the KKK.) • Dehumanization: any process or practice that is thought to reduce human beings to the level of nonhuman animals or mechanisms, especially by denying them autonomy or individuality or a sense of dignity. In SPE the “prisoners” were dressed in a manner that dehumanized them.

17. Practice Question • When asked what they would do if they could be totally invisible and there would be no recrimination, most people answered that they would commit an antisocial act. Which of the following social phenomena might best be able to explain this response? • A. Reciprocity • B. Group Polarization • C. Social loafing • D. Deindividuation • E. Self-fulfilling prophecy

18. Group Influence • Group polarization: the tendency of shared group ideals to become more enhanced by group membership (Those who attend conservative colleges or join conservative groups become more and more conservatively minded.) • http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/604067/understanding_mental_health_what_is.html?cat=72

19. Group Influence • Groupthink: harmonious but unrealistic belief/ideas formed by a group because dissenters do not want to voice their concerns because of the positive attitude of the group. It is fueled by overconfidence, conformity, self-justification and group polarization. It has lead to Kennedy’s Cuban invasion, Watergate, Chernobyl, and the Challenger explosion. • http://psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink%20overview.htm • To avoid: welcome diverse opinions, be open to critiques, identify possible problems, allow debate.

20. Social Influence, Conformity • Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. “majority influence” • To strengthen conformity (p. 652) • One is made to feel incompetent/inferior • Group has at least 3 people • Group is unanimous • One admires the group’s status/attractiveness • One has made no prior commitments to any response • Other’s observe the behavior • Cultural expectation of respect for social standards

21. Social Influence/Conformity • The Asch experiment (1951) • Elevator experiment • http://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.html

22. Social Influence, Conformity • Reasons for conformity • Normative social influence: we are sensitive to social norms, understand rules of behavior & consequences therefore we conform to “fit in” or to be liked. Example: peer pressure • Informational social influence: When we are unsure of what is right, and when being right matters, we have an increased chance of conformity because we want to confirm what we perceive as “right.” (example: police line up)

23. Obedience • http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2765416&page=1 • Conditions: (p. 654) • Person in charge close by and perceived as legitimate • Authority figure support by a prestigious institution • Victim depersonalized or at a distance • No role models for defiance MILGRAM EXPERIMENT

24. Power of the Individual • Social control and personal control interact. We can reassert our sense of freedom by responding unexpectedly. • Many situations that influence us are often created by us. Self-fulfilling prophecy: If we expect it to happen, we will often say/do things to elicit it to happen. (consider shopping during the holidays) • This works in personal relationships, “Love is not blind rather it helps create the reality it presumes.”

25. Social Relations • Culture: the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a groups of people and transmitted from one generation to the next • Norm: an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior • Stereotype: a generalized (sometimes accurate but often over-generalized) belief about a group of people • Prejudice: an unjustifiable and usually negative, attitude toward a group and its members; typically involves stereotyping • Discrimination: unjustifiable, negative behavior toward a group & its members

26. Social Relations • Ethnocentrism: the idea that one’s own ethnicity, culture, and/or race is superior to others • Scapegoat theory: theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame • Just world phenomena: the tendency to people to believe that the world is just (life is fair) and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

27. Put all these things together… • And you create opportunities for very awful things to happen, for example, the Holocaust…

28. Social Relations • Altruism: The unselfish regard for the welfare of others • Kitty Genovese • http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html ∙ Darley & Latane’ People less likely to involve themselves when others are present. the Bystander effect When more people share the responsibility for a situation, the less likely one will help. Diffusion of responsibility

29. Social Relations • Dropping something in an elevator experiment: • More likely to be helped if female • 1 person in elevator, help provided 40% of the time. • 6 people, help provided 20% of the time. • We know from researching the Bystander Effect, if there is only one person present, they will likely help, but if there are more, less likely anyone will help: Diffusion of Responsibility

30. Social Relations • We are likely to help under the following conditions: • We have observed someone else being helpful • We are not in a hurry • The victim appears to need & deserve help • The victim is in someway similar to us • We are in a small town or rural area • We are feeling guilty • We are focused on others, not preoccupied • We are in a good mood

31. Social Relations • Aggression: any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy; whether done reactively or proactively • Biology: genetic link, neural influences, & biochemical influences (alcohol, testosterone levels) • Psychology: aversive events, learned behaviors, social interactions, media influence** • Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: frustration produces aggressive urges and aggression is always a result of prior frustrations

32. Social Relations • What do you find attractive? • What variables lead up to a relationship? • What variables contribute to a successful relationship?

33. Social Relations • Attractiveness • Proximity: geographic nearness is possibly the most powerful predictor • Greater availability/the mere exposure effect: familiarity breeds fondness, evolution has bred us to prefer what is familiar and fear what is not (explanation for prejudice?) • According to the mere exposure effect, we are likely to become more fond of things/people with increased exposure. Think about how radio stations will play new songs repetitively. How often have you said, “At first I hated that song, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it!” • Physical attractiveness is very powerful • Similarity, we tend to like people who are like us.

34. Social Relations • Attraction and the Halo Effect • The tendency for a general evaluation of a person on a specific dimension (ex: their tone of voice) to be used as a basis for judgments of that person on other specific dimensions. (ex: how fun they are) • For example, someone who is generally liked (likeable) may be judged as more intelligent, competent, and honest than a person who is generally disliked.

35. Social Relations • Sternberg Triangular Theory of Love (What’s with Sternberg and Triangles??)