TO STUDY Concepts in Social Psychology SOCIAL PERCEPTION.docx

Concepts in Social Psychology Objectives At the end of this lecture participants will be able to: Define some key concepts in Social Psychology Identify theories which under-pin selected key concepts in Social Psychology Explain how concepts can be applied in the general population. Key Concepts Soc...

Concepts in Social Psychology Objectives At the end of this lecture participants will be able to: Define some key concepts in Social Psychology Identify theories which under-pin selected key concepts in Social Psychology Explain how concepts can be applied in the general population. Key Concepts Social Perception Attribution Fundamental attribution error The self-serving bias The actor-observer discrepancy Three-Dimensional Model of Attribution Conformity Attitudes Social Perception: Forming Impressions of Other People Social perception" refers to the first stages in which people process information in order to determine another individual's or group's mind- set and intentions. These early stages help us interpret each other's actions so that additional information can be quickly inferred in order to predict behavior. Social perceptions can influence an individual's behaviors and attitudes. On the basis of very limited information, we quickly draw conclusions about the nature of people who are complete strangers to us. Person perception - refers to the mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of others. Personal perception is an active and subjective process that always occurs in some interpersonal context, which has three key components: The characteristics of the individual you are attempting to size up Your own characteristics as the perceiver The specific situation in which the process occurs Person perception follows some basic principles Y-YEP Your reactions to others are determined by your perceptions of them, not by who or what they really are. Your goals in a particular situation determine the amount and kind of information you collect about others. Expectation In every situation, we evaluate people partly in terms of how you expect them to act in the situation. Social norms are the rules or expectations, for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation Perception. Our self-perception also influences how we perceive others and how we act on our perceptions. Implicit personality theories - Implicit personality theory - a network of assumptions or beliefs about the relationships among various types of people, traits, and behaviors. Implicit personality theories, like social categories, can be useful as mental shortcuts in perceiving other people, but they are not always accurate. Attribution: Explaining the Causes of Behavior Attribution theory explores how individuals attribute, or explain, the causes of their own and others' behaviors. Attributions are classified as either internal or external. -Internal attributions include dispositional or personality-based explanations; -External attributions emphasize situational factors. Individuals are susceptible to bias and error when making attributions about themselves and others. A few examples of this include the fundamental attribution error, the self-serving bias, the actor-observer bias, and the just-world hypothesis. Bias and errors when making attribution (F S A J) Fundamental attribution error The fundamental attribution error describes the tendency to over-value internal (personality- based) explanations and under-value external (situational) explanations for another person's behavior. The self-serving bias The self-serving bias refers to the tendency to attribute internal factors for success and external factors for failure, particularly when someone is explaining their own behavior. the tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one's own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes; Though common in many societies, the self-serving bias is far from universal. The actor-observer discrepancy When it comes to explaining our own behavior, we are more likely to use an external, situational attribution than an internal, personal attribution. This is called the actor-observer discrepancy because there is a discrepancy between the attributions you make when you are the actor in a given situation. And those we make when you are the observer of other people's behavior. Just world hypothesis The just-world hypothesis is a cognitive bias that suggests that people believe the world is inherently fair, and thus people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. This can lead to blaming victims for their misfortunes and justifying inequalities. Explanatory & Interpersonal Attribution In our attempts to make sense of the world around us, we tend to look for reasons and causes behind events and situations. To do this, we make either explanatory or interpersonal attributions. Explanatory attribution An explanatory attribution is an attempt to understand the world and seek reasons for a particular event. People with; An optimistic explanatory style attribute positive events to global, stable, internal causes (GSI) and negative events to specific, unstable, external causes. (SUE) The inverse is true for those with; A pessimistic explanatory style: they attribute negative events to global, stable, internal causes (GSI) and positive events to specific, unstable, external causes. (SUE) Interpersonal attribution An interpersonal attribution is an attempt to explain the reasons for an event based on an interaction between two or more individuals. When explaining negative situations, for instance, individuals tend to explain the event by attributing fault to the other person, such as by concluding that they must have a certain negative personality trait or must have been in a bad mood. Attributions Can be classified as either internal or external Internal Attribution emphasize dispositional or personality - based explanations while External attributions emphasize situational factors. Internal and External Attribution example when a person aces a test, an internal attribution might be the conclusion that she must be very smart. An external attribution for the same outcome might be that she must have received extra help before the test or that the test was too easy. Attribution Models There are multiple models that attempt to explain the kinds of attributions we use. Two of the most well-known models are the covariation model and the three- dimensional model. Covariation Model of Attribution The covariation principle states that people attribute behavior to the factors that co- vary with that behavior. This means that the "causes" they identify are present when the behavior occurs and absent when it does not. This theory assumes that people make causal attributions in a rational, logical fashion and will assign the cause of an action to the factor that seems most closely associated with it. According to this theory, there are three types of information an individual will consider when making an attribution: (CDC) Consensus, or how other people in the same situation behave; Dstinctive information, or how the individual responds to a different stimulus; and Consistency, or how frequently the individual's behavior can be observed with a similar stimulus but in a different situation. Based on these three pieces of information, observers will make a decision as to whether the individual's behavior is either internal or external. For example, if your friend raves about a film, you may consider his response compared to other people's response (consensus), whether your friend raves about other films (distinctive), and whether he always raves about this film (consistency). If other people love the film, your friend does not tend to rave about films, and he consistently praises this film, you might make the internal attribution that there must be something specific to your friend that made him enjoy and rave about the film. Three-Dimensional Model of Attribution This model suggests that a person's attributions and perceptions about his or her own success and failure determines the amount of effort the person will put forth in similar situations in the future. When attributions lead to positive feelings and high expectations of future success, the person will likely be more willing to approach similar tasks in the future. Similarly, attributions that produce negative feelings and low expectations for future success will make the individual less willing to put forth effort toward similar tasks in the future. There are three components of attributions under this model. (LSC) Locus of control. Someone's locus of control can be either internal or external. Internal locus of control An individual with an internal locus of control sees people as active participants in the world, capable of influencing what happens to them. External locus of control Someone with an external locus of control sees the world as happening to people, outside of their control. Stability. This refers to whether someone's attribution is stable (lasting) or unstable (changeable) over time. Controllability. This is the extent to which a cause is able or unable to be controlled. For example, level of effort put forth may be controllable, while raw talent or ability is not. Cultural Factors Research shows that culture affects how people make attributions. Individualist cultures value personal goals and independence. Collectivist cultures see individuals as members of a group and tend to value conformity, mutual support, and interdependence. The Social Psychology of Attitudes Attitude: a learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way. Such evaluations may be positive, negative, or ambivalent. In psychological terms, attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. Typically, attitudes are positive or negative and involve affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. Psychologists believe that there are both explicit (or deliberately formed) and implicit (or subconsciously formed) attitudes; people are often unaware of their implicit attitudes. Attitude serves a variety of functions, including utilitarian, knowledge, ego-defensive, and value- expression functions. Their formation is influenced by learning, personal experience, and observation. Cognitive dissonance takes place when one's actions and beliefs do not fit together, usually relieve the dissonance. resulting in a change of behavior or beliefs to relieve the dissonance. Components of Attitudes Attitudes are thought to have three components: (ABC) An affective component (feelings) A behavioral component (the effect of the attitude on behavior) and A cognitive component (belief and knowledge); For example, you may hold a positive attitude toward recycling. This attitude should result in positive feelings toward recycling (such as, "It makes me feel good to recycle," or "I enjoy knowing that I make a small difference in reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills"). This attitude should then be reflected in behavior: you actually recycle as often as you can. Finally, this attitude will be reflected in favorable thoughts (for example, "Recycling is good for the environment," or "Recycling is the responsible thing to do"). Because people are influenced by different situations, however, general attitudes are not always a good predictor of behavior. For a variety of reasons, an individual may value the environment and not recycle a can on a particular day. Attitudes that are well remembered and central to our self-concept, however, are more likely to lead to certain behaviors. Measures of general attitudes can be used to predict behavior patterns over time, even if they cannot be used to predict specific behaviors. It is well accepted that attitudes can affect behaviors, and behaviors can affect attitudes, depending on the situation. Explicit vs. Implicit Attitudes Psychologists believe that attitudes can be either explicit (deliberately formed) or implicit (unconsciously formed). People may not be aware of their implicit attitudes, so they must be measured using sophisticated methods that can access unconscious thoughts and feelings, such as response times to stimuli. Explicit attitudes are deliberately formed attitudes that an individual is aware of having, and they can be measured by self-report and questionnaires. Attitude Function Researchers attempt to understand the function of attitudes by considering how they affect individuals. There are four primary categories that explain the function of attitudes (U-K-E-V) Utilitarian attitudes provide an individual with general tendencies, such as whether to approach or avoid a person, place, or thing. Knowledge-related attitudes help us organize and interpret new information. Ego-defensive attitudes help people protect their self-esteem. Value-expressive attitudes express central values or beliefs. There are several factors that affect the ways in which our attitudes are formed. Some researchers believe that learning can account for the attitudes an individual holds. The formation of many attitudes is believed to happen due to conditioning or social learning, and attitudes in general are expected to change with experience. An example of this can be seen with the mere- exposure effect, which describes how an individual will develop positive attitudes toward something or someone simply due to repeated exposure. Persuasion and Attitude Change Much of the persuasion we experience comes from outside forces. Numerous variables have been found to influence the persuasion process and are normally presented in four major categories: