Social psychology= study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another, especially when someone is doing something unusual or noticeable
attribution theory: Fritz Heider- we have a tendency to credit people's behavior to their disposition or the situation
- child acting hostile: aggressive personality or stress and abuse
- disposition= enduring personality trait
- fundamental attribution error= tendency to overestimate impact of disposition and underestimate the impact of situation when analyzing others
- attributions have big effect: job interviews
- attitude= belief and feeling that predisposes a person to respond a certain way
- actions can also influence attitudes-- "brainwashing" communism in korea
- foot-in-the-door phenomenon: if you first agree to a small request, you will likely also fulfill a bigger request
- role playing effects attitudes: new roles feel fake at first, then natural
- Stanford prison experiment: Zimbardo- people commit to new roles
- cognitive dissonance= behaviors and attitudes don't match, so we change our attitudes
- those paid less found experiment more enjoyable
mimicry and imitation- behavior is contagious
- yawning, laughing, happy or sad moods (remember mirror neurons)
- people who mimic are empathic and well-liked
conformity: adjust behavior or thinking to coincide with group standard
- solomon asch: 1/3 people conformed to obviously wrong answer
- conformity strengthened by insecurity, large group size, unanimous group opinion, status or attractiveness of group, no prior commitment, group observing you, culture
- normative social influence: results from a persons desire to gain approval or avoid rejection
- informative social influence: accept other's opinions about reality because we think that they are knowledgable
- more likely to conform if task is difficult and important
Obedience
Milgram experiment: effect of authority
- authority figure was close at hang and legitamate-looking
- supported by prestigious organization
- victim was depersonalized-behind wall
- no role models for defiance
third wave movement: history teacher Ron Jones
- gave students strict rules of conduct, shouted slogans, membership cards, secret police
- tons of people (some not even classmates) joined movement
what does this say about us?
- when we have the choice, we only use mild shocks--we are not all malicious
- we are sheep, not wolves
Group Influence
social facilitation: improved performance on simple tasks when in front of others
- Triplett- cyclists do better in races than by themselves
- opposite is true for difficult tasks
social loafing: individual puts less effort toward common goal
- diffusion of responsibility- less important than when you are working individually
deindividuation= loss of self awareness and restraint, also known as mob mentality
- deviance in the dark experiment: strangers have casual conversation-- those in dark rooms had deeper convos
group polarization- enhance prevailing attitude through discussions: view becomes more extreme
groupthink- mode of thinking that happens when we seek harmony other than solving a realistic manner
minority influence: people follow majority publicly, but question it privately
Prejudice= unjustifiable attitude towards a group and its members
- beliefs (stereotypes) emotions (hostility) predisposition (act a certain way)
- works at an unconscious level: much like schemas for interpreting events
Roots of Prejudice
1. Social
- ingroup bias: tendency to favor one's own group (share common identity)
- discriminate against outgroup
- social inequality increases prejudice
- scapegoat theory= prejudice as an outlet for anger- find somebody to blame
- after 9/11 people lash out agains innocent Arab Americans
2. Cognitive
- stereotypes happen naturally, automatically- necessary, efficient
- oversimplify the group, more able to see differences within our own group
- we judge the frequency of events by how readily they come to mind
- creation of stereotypes occurs automatically (differences become salient)
- just-world phenomenon: tendency to believe that the world is just; people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
- but does that mean that those who succeed did right, those who fail did wrong
- we use cognitive dissonance to rationalize injustice (victim blaming)
- hindsight bias experiment: people read story of a date, then are asked why the woman was raped at the end, and they say all the things that she did wrong. If they are simply asked how the date went (without a rape at the end), they won't mention the woman doing anything wrong.
Aggression= physical or verbal behavior with intention to hurt/destroy
- genetic influences: Y chromosome is genetic predictor (boys are more aggressive)
- neural influences: limbic system (amygdala) and frontal lobe
- biochemical influences: testosterone linked with aggression: injecting testosterone increases aggression and arousing situations increase testosterone
psychology of aggression
- aversive events: those who are made miserable will make others miserable
- increased temperature causes increased aggression
- frustration-aggresion principle= frustration makes you mean
- learning: aggression can benefit certain people, observation learning (watching porn, R-rated movies will teach you how to behave in an aggressive manner)
- social scripts: media tells you how to act in certain situations
- when confronted with new situation, use social scripts- may cause violence
- violent video games increase violent thoughts/emotions
- catharsis hypothesis from freud was wrong- "letting your anger out" doesn't get rid of it
- conflict= incompatibility of actions, goals or ideas
- social trap= if people pursue self interests, they get caught in mutually destructive behavior
- hunting endangered animals, cold war arms race
- enemy perceptions: form diabolical perception of your opponent
1. proximity- geographical nearness is most powerful predictor of friendship+love
- mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to stimuli increases your attraction
2. physical attractiveness: we assume that they are friendly, successful
- we prefer faces that are average, symmetrical
3. similarity: interests, we like people who like us- opposites don't actually attract
passionate love= aroused state of intense positive absorption in another
- physical arousal and cognitive appraisal
- arousal enhances emotion
compassionate love= deep, affectionate attachment to those in our life
- ingredients to a good relationship
- equity= give and take evenly
- self-disclosure= reveal intimate details to eachother
- altruism= unselfish regard for the welfare of others
bystander effect= tendency of given bystander to give less aid if there are other bystanders
- Kitty Genovese's murder: stabbed and raped outside her apartment
- 38 people woken up by her screaming, nobody called the police for 20 minutes
- Norms for helping
- social exchange theory: cost-benefit analysis
- reciprocity norm: we should return help to those who have helped us
- social responsibility norm: help others in need even if they cannot repay us
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