Social Psychology Slides PDF

Learning Objectives Compare the assumptions underlying social psychology and personality psychology Describe social attribution and identify examples in daily life Describe the role that storytelling (or construal) plays in the human experience...

Learning Objectives Compare the assumptions underlying social psychology and personality psychology Describe social attribution and identify examples in daily life Describe the role that storytelling (or construal) plays in the human experience 2  Social behavior depends on situations No way!!! Situations don’t affect my choices 3  Study: ‘Name of the Game’ Research question: Does personality or situation better predict behavior? – Behavior: Prisoner’s dilemma Also the study’s dependent variable 4  Player 2 chooses: Player 2 chooses: COOPERATE NOT COOPERATE Player 1 chooses: P1 gets $1.00 P1 loses $0.50 COOPERATE P2 gets $1.00 P2 gets $2.00 Player 1 chooses: P1 gets $2.00 P1 gets $0 NOT COOPERATE P2 loses $0.50 P2 gets $0 5  Study Method Part 1: Talk with university dorm RAs – Explain the study – Ask them to predict which students will cooperate Part 2: Have students play the prisoner’s dilemma – BUT, there’s a trick 6  Meet someone new! Tell a story about this image: 7 Predict: What would they do? Compete 8 Admit: What would you do? Compete 9 ‘Name of the Game’ Liberman, 2004 Community Wall St. Game Game 10  Fundamental Attribution Error Attribution: Deciding what explains behavior Internal causes: External causes: “Person A was just “Wall St. implied competitive” competitiveness” 12  (Fundamental attribution) “If there was anything close to a theory of everything [in social psychology], it’s that. That’s the most profound observation about the way that humans operate.” - Gladwell 13  Examples? Do you remember a time when you attributed someone’s behavior to: – Internal causes (personality attribution) – External causes (situational attribution) What did you think when… – a friend performed poorly on an exam? – you performed poorly on an exam? 14  Fundamental Attribution Error Cause of behavior: INTERNAL vs. external Humans = storytellers – Interpretation, or construal, is often more important than objective reality “Humans are storytellers. It is our nature to make up stories, to interpret everything we perceive – even without awareness.” Miguel Ruiz 15 $60 $120 16  Interpretation matters! Construal, is especially important when making sense of social behavior – Others’ thoughts & motivations are latent, or hidden We are overconfident in our interpretations – Naïve realism 17  Storytelling is unintentional Example: Experiments w/‘split-brain’ patients 18  Storytelling is unintentional Example: Experiments w/‘split-brain’ patients 19  Storytelling is unintentional Example: Experiments w/‘split-brain’ patients Go for a walk! 20  Storytelling Storytelling, or interpretation, matters! Storytelling can be unintentional – Our conscious self doesn’t mean to create stories Storytelling can be illogical! – And we can be overconfident in our stories! Different types of stories: – Attributions, stereotypes, impressions, scripts, selfhood… 21  Forming Impressions Impressions are stories we tell about other people, because it is important to: 1. Know who we’re interacting with in the present – Rely on simple cues (expressions, gestures) – Rely on verbal expressions and stereotypes 2. Know what people will be like in the future – Rely on first impressions – Also observe others’ behaviors – Form and interpret attributions 22  Attributions Why did he/she act that way? – Attributions seek to locate causes for behavior If the cause is internal (or dispositional), – Then I should expect continuity If the cause is external (or situational), – Then I should not expect continuity 23  Situational-Dispositional Attribution Theory Heider (1950) Attribution theory describes how we observe, analyze, and explain others’ behavior. Explanations fall into two categories – Internal or External  Attributions Attributions depend on what we believe Attributions depend on what we attend to – What is most salient or accessible to us? Real-life examples: – Attribution in confessions – Media propaganda 25  Let’s discuss What are the implications of these? – We generally overestimate the impact of personality on other’s behaviors – We tell stories unintentionally (and even non- consciously) – Our stories, not reality, dictate our behavior and choices 30