Untitled Quiz

Social Psychology Agenda

• Social Thinking (Attribution and Persuasion)
• Social Influence (Conformity, Obedience, and Group Processes)
• Antisocial Relations (Prejudice and Aggression)
• Prosocial Relations (Attraction, Love, and Altruism)

Social Thinking: Attribution and Persuasion

• Attribution: How we explain someone's behavior
  • Dispositional: Attributing behavior to internal factors (personality)
  • Situational: Attributing behavior to external factors (environment)
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition when explaining others' behavior

Attitudes

• Attitudes: Feelings predisposing responses to objects, people, or events

Social Influence

• Conformity: Adjusting behavior to match group standards
• Obedience: Following direct orders from authority figures
  • Milgram Obedience Study: A classic study demonstrating the power of authority. 65% of participants went to the highest shock level. Factors influencing obedience: legitimate authority, a prestigious institution, depersonalization of the victim, and role models (for defiance).
  • Experimenter Prods: Phrases that pushed the participants to continue the experiment
• Automatic Mimicry: Mimicking others' behaviors, increases empathy.
• Normative Social Influence: Following group norms to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
• Informational Social Influence: Following group norms based on the belief that they possess more accurate information or insight about the situation.

Social Facilitation and Social Loafing

• Social Facilitation: Improved performance on simple tasks in the presence of others.
• Social Loafing: Reduced effort exerted when pooling efforts towards a common goal

Deindividuation

• Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness and restraint in situations fostering arousal and anonymity.

Group Polarization and Groupthink

• Group Polarization: Enhancement of prevailing inclinations through group discussion
• Groupthink: Desire for harmony overrides realistic evaluation of alternatives in a decision-making group

Minority Influence

• Minority Influence: The power of a few individuals to sway the majority.

Social Relations-Antisocial Behavior

• Prejudice: Unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group and its members.
  • Stereotypes, Emotions (hostility), and Predisposition to action (discrimination)
  • How prejudiced are we?: Overt versus subtle prejudice
  • Just-World Phenomenon: The tendency to believe the world is just and people get what they deserve.
• Ingroup/Outgroup Bias: Tendency to favor one's own group and view outgroups negatively
  • Ingroup: People with whom we share a common identity
  • Outgroup: People seen as different from our ingroup
  • Ingroup Bias: Favoring one's ingroup
  • Outgroup Homogeneity Effect: Tendency to perceive members of outgroups as more similar and stereotypical than they actually are
  • Other-Race Effect: Greater recognition for faces of ingroup members
• Aggression: Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy
  • The Biology of Aggression: Genes, hormones (like testosterone)
  • Frustration-Aggression Principle: Frustration leads to anger, which leads to aggression
  • Reinforcement and Modeling: Cultural factors in shaping aggressive tendencies

Social Relations-Prosocial Behavior

• Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure increases liking
• What is Beautiful is Good Stereotype: Attractive people are seen as healthier, happier, and more socially skilled
• Physical Attractiveness: Standards vary by gender
  • Women: Youthful appearance, smaller waist-to-hip ratio, symmetry
  • Men: Symmetry, health, maturity, dominance, masculinity, affluence
• Similarity: Friends and couples tend to share attitudes, beliefs, interests, ages, religions, and economic status
• Reward Theory of Attraction: We like those who are rewarding to us
• Passionate Love: Intense positive absorption in another
• Companionate Love: Deep affectionate attachment
• Let's Stay Together
  • 1. Equity: Equal giving and receiving; sharing self, possessions, decisions, emotional support, and chores
  • 2. Self-disclosure: Revealing intimate details creates trust, leading to further self-disclosure.
  • 3. Positive support: Maintaining a 5:1 positive-to-negative interactional ratio
• Bystander Effect: People are less likely to help when other bystanders are present
• Norms for Helping
  • Social Exchange Theory: Balancing rewards versus costs of helping
  • Reciprocity Norm: Helping those who help us -Social-Responsibility Norm: Helping those in need
• Promoting Peace
  • Contact: Noncompetitive interactions between groups of equal standing
  • Cooperation: Shared goals override differences
  • Communication: Mediation when conflicts turn intense
  • Conciliation: Graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction