Social Psychology: A Summary (PDF)

Introduction to Psychology Social Psychology  Social Psychology Social Psychology: examines how people impact or affect each other, with particular focus on the power of the situation  Dispositionism vs. Situationism Dispositionism Situationism Asserts that behav...

Introduction to Psychology Social Psychology  Social Psychology Social Psychology: examines how people impact or affect each other, with particular focus on the power of the situation  Dispositionism vs. Situationism Dispositionism Situationism Asserts that behavior is Perspective that determined by internal behavior and actions factors, such as are determined by the personality traits and immediate environment temperament and surroundings Promoted by Promoted by social personality psychologists psychologists  Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to overemphasize internal factors as attributions for behavior and underestimate the power of the situation In the quizmaster study, people tended to disregard the influence of the situation and wrongly concluded that a questioner’s knowledge was greater than their own Characteristics of Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures Individualistic Collectivistic Culture Culture Achievement oriented Relationship oriented Focus on group Focus on autonomy autonomy Dispositional Situational perspective perspective Independent Interdependent Analytic thinking style Holistic thinking style  Actor-Observer Bias Phenomenon of explaining other people’s behaviors are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces  Self-Serving Bias Tendency for individuals to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes and situational or external attributions for negative outcomes Protects self-esteem We emphasize internal, stable, and controllable explanations for our success  Just-World Hypothesis Ideology common in the United States that people get the outcomes they deserve Can lead to victim- blaming  Norms, Roles, and Scripts Social norm: group expectations regarding what is appropriate for the thoughts and behavior of its members Social role: socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group Script: person’s knowledge about the sequence of events in a  Example: Stanford Prisoner Experiment Stanford University conducted an experiment in a mock prison that demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts 24 healthy college students with no psychiatric problems were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards Guards became authoritarian and sadistic Prisoners became subservient, anxious, and hopeless  Attitude and Cognitive Dissonance Attitude: evaluations of or feelings toward a person, idea, or object that are typically positive or negative Cognitive dissonance: psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person’s behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to one’s positive self-perception  How Cognitive Dissonanc e Works  Cognitive Dissonance Example: Initiation Effect A difficult initiation into a group influences us to like the group more, due to the justification of effort  Attitude and Persuasion Process of changing our attitude toward something based on some form of communication  Types of Social Influence Type of Social Description Influence Changing your behavior to go along with the group even if you do not Conformity agree with the group Compliance Going along with a request or demand Normative Conformity to a group norm to fit in, feel good, and be accepted by the social group influence Information Conformity to a group norm prompted by the belief that the group is al social competent and has the correct information influence Changing your behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid Obedience aversive consequences Group members modify their opinions to match what they believe is Groupthink the group consensus Group Strengthening of the original group attitude after discussing views polarization within a group Social Improved performance when an audience is watching versus when the facilitation individual performs the behavior alone Exertion of less effort by a person working in a group because Social individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the loafing group, thus causing performance decline on easy tasks Social Influence: Conformity and the Asch Effect Conformity is when individuals change their behavior to go along with the group even if they do not agree with the group In the Asch effect a group majority influences an individual’s judgment, even when that judgment is inaccurate Factors affect the Asch effect: The size of the majority The presence of another dissenter The public or private nature of the responses  Social Influence: Obedience Obedience: change of behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid aversive consequences Stanley Milgram’s Experiment: Researchers told the participants to give electric shock. 65% of the participants continued the shock to the maximum voltage  Social Influence: Groupthink Modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus. Symptoms include: Perceiving the group as invulnerable or invincible Believing the group is morally correct Self-censorship by group members Quashing of dissenting group members’ opinions Shielding of the group leader from dissenting views  Social Influence: Social Facilitation and Loafing Social facilitation occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. Social loafing is the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group.  Altruism: When do people help others? Bystander intervention is when people intervene to help a stranger even if the intervention puts the helper at risk Three factors shape whether people will help: 1. Pluralistic ignorance 2. Diffusion of responsibility 3. Cost–benefit analysis  Altruism: Why do people help others? Reciprocal altruism: according to evolutionary psychology, a genetic predisposition for people to help those who have previously helped them Empathy–altruism model: people who put themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagining how the victim feel will experience empathic concern that evokes an altruistic motivation for helping Arousal: cost–reward model an egoistic theory claims that seeing a person in need leads to the arousal of unpleasant feelings, and observers are motivated to eliminate that aversive state, often by helping the victim Triangular Theory of Love  Social Exchange Theory Social exchange theory: humans act as naïve economists in keeping a tally of the ratio of costs and benefits of forming and maintain a relationship, with the goal to maximize benefits and minimize costs  Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination Item Function Connection Example Overgeneralized “Yankees fans are Cognitive; thoughts beliefs about people Stereotype arrogant and about people may lead to obnoxious” prejudice Feelings may Affective; feelings “I hate Yankees influence treatment Prejudice about people, both fans; they make of others, leading to positive and negative me angry” discrimination “I would never Holding stereotypes hire nor become Behavior; positive or Discriminat and harboring friends with a negative treatment ion prejudice may lead person if I knew of others to biased treatment he or she were a Yankees fan”  Types of Prejudice and Discrimination Ageism: prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age Homophobia: prejudice and discrimination against individuals based solely on their sexual orientation Racism: prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their race Sexism: prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex  Why Do Stereotypes and Prejudice Exist and Persist? 1. Confirmation bias 2. Self-fulfilling prophecy 3. In-group bias 4. Scapegoating  Aggression Aggression: seeking to cause harm or pain to another person. Hostile aggression: aggression motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain Instrumental aggression: aggression motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain  Bullying A person, often an adolescent is treated negatively repeatedly and over time. Involves three parties: the bully - experiences power and increased self-esteem the victim – has increased risk of anxiety and depression witnesses or bystanders Cyberbullying happens online. Bystander effect: situation in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress  Practice Question People are sometimes advised to yell “fire” instead of “help” if they are attacked Based on what you learned about bystander intervention and the bystander effect, why might this make a difference?  Quick Review What are situational and dispositional influences on behavior? What are the fundamental attribution error and other biases, including the actor-observer bias, the self-serving bias, and the just world phenomenon? What are social roles, social norms, and scripts and how do they influence behavior? How did the Stanford Prison experiment illustrate this? Define attitude and recognize how people’s attitudes are internally changed through cognitive dissonance and externally changed through persuasion  Quick Review Continued What is conformity? What is the different between normative and informational social influence? What was Stanley Milgram’s experiment and what did the results suggest? When is the presence of others likely to result in groupthink, social facilitation, or social loafing? What factors influence human altruism? Why are humans altruistic? What is the triangular theory of love? How does social exchange theory apply to relationships?  More Quick Review What are prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination? Give examples. Why do prejudice and discrimination persist/exist? Include scapegoating, in-group, and out-group in your answer. What are aggression, bullying, and the bystander effect?