⚪
Social Thinking
● How we think about one another
⚪
Social Influence
● How we influence one another
⚪
Social Relations
SOCIAL THINKING
⚪
Attribution Theory
● We tend to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior- either internal dispositions or external situations
⚪
Fundamental Attribution Error
● Our tendency to overestimate personality influences and
underestimate situational influences
Attitudes and Actions
⚪ Attitudes are feelings that predispose us
to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events
⚪ Central Route Persuasion
● Occurs when interested people focus on the
arguments and respond favorably
⚪ Peripheral Route Persuasion
● Occurs when people are influenced by
⚪ Attitudes can affect behavior (actions) and they can follow behavior
● Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
⚪ Tendency for people who first agree to a small
request to comply later with a larger request
⚪ Cognitive Dissonance Theory
(Festinger)
● People feel discomfort when their actions
conflict with their attitudes
● They reduce the discomfort by bringing their
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
⚪ Chameleon Effect – our natural tendency to mimic
others
⚪ Conformity – adjusting our behavior or thinking
toward some group standard
● Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment ● Conformity increases when we:
⚪ Feel incompetent or insecure
⚪ Admire the group’s status or attractiveness
⚪ Have made no prior commitment to a response ⚪ Are being observed by other group members
⚪ Come from a culture that encourages respect for social standards
⚪
We are sensitive to social norms
and so we sometimes conform to
gain social approval (normative
social influence) and other times
we accept information about reality
provided by the group
Stanley Milgram
⚪ Torn between obeying the experimenter and responding to learner’s pleas, the
people usually chose to obey orders, even though it supposedly meant harming the learner
⚪ Obedience studies like his demonstrate that social influences can be strong
⚪
Obedience was highest when:
● The person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a
legitimate authority
● When the authority figure was supported by a prestigious institution
● When the victim was depersonalized or at a distance
Group Influence
Individual Behavior in the Presence of
Others
⚪
Social Facilitation
● Performance on an easy or well-learned task improves but is hindered on
difficult or newly learned tasks
⚪
Social Loafing
● Individuals exert less effort in group situations
⚪
Deindividuation
● Becoming less self-aware and
⚪
Group polarization
● When discussions among like-minded group members produces enhancement of the group’s prevailing tendencies
⚪
Groupthink
● When the desire for group harmony overrides a realistic appraisal of
Cultural Influence
⚪
Culture
● The behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions share by a group of
people and transmitted from one generation to the next
⚪
Norms
The Power of Individuals
⚪
Social control and personal control
interact
⚪
A minority that consistently holds to
its position can sway the majority
Social Relations
⚪ Prejudice
● Mixture of beliefs (stereotypes), emotions, and
predispositions to action (discriminate)
● Prejudice is a negative attitude; discrimination
is a negative behavior
⚪ Overt prejudice
● Discrimination that explicitly expresses
negative beliefs and emotions
⚪ Implicit prejudice
Social Roots of Prejudice
⚪
Prejudice often arises as those who
enjoy social and economic
superiority attempt to justify the
status quo by blaming the victim
⚪
Us and them mentality
Emotional Roots of Prejudice
⚪
Scapegoat Theory
● Suggests that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to
blame
Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
⚪ Categorization – stereotyping
⚪ Other-race Effect
● Tendency to recall faces of one’s own race
more accurately than others
⚪ Vivid cases
● We estimate the frequency of events by vivid
cases that come to mind more readily than less vivid ones
⚪ Just-world phenomenon
● Assuming the world is just and that people get
Aggression
⚪
Any physical or verbal behavior
intended to hurt or destroy
⚪
Biological influences on aggression
operate at the genetic, neural, and
biochemical levels
Psychological and Socio-Cultural
Factors in Aggression
⚪ Frustration-Aggression Principle
● The blocking of an attempt to reach some goal creates anger,
which can generate aggression
⚪ Our reactions are more likely to be aggressive in situations where experience has taught us that aggression pays
⚪ Culturally
● Crime rates are higher in countries marked by a great disparity
between rich and poor
● High violence rates among cultures and families that experience
minimal father care
⚪ Observational Learning
● Media depictions of violence can trigger aggression by providing
social scripts
● Studies have found that playing violent video games increases
aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behavior
● These studies also disconfirm the catharsis hypothesis- the idea
that we feel better if we vent our emotions
The Psychology of Attraction
⚪ 3 Factors that influence liking:
● Proximity
⚪ Mere Exposure Effect – repeated exposure to
novel stimuli enhances liking
● Physical attractiveness
⚪ We view attractive people as healthier,
happier, more sensitive, and more successful
● Similarity of attitudes and interests
⚪ Reward Theory of Attraction
● We like those whose behavior is rewarding to
Attraction
Romantic Love
⚪ Passionate Love ● Aroused state
● What we cognitively label as love
⚪ Companionate Love ● Strong affection
● Often emerges as a relationship matures
⚪ Equity
● When both parties receive in proportion to what
they give
● Enhances companionate love
⚪ Self-disclosure
● Vital to loving relationships
● Partners reveal to each other intimate details about
Altruism
⚪
Unselfish regard for the welfare of
others
⚪
Bystander Effect
● Tendency for a bystander to be less
likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
● 3 steps involved in deciding to help:
⚪ Notice the event
⚪ Interpret it as an emergency
Altruism
The Norms of Helping
⚪
Social Exchange Theory
● Proposes that underlying all behavior is the desire to maximize our benefits and minimize our costs
⚪
Reciprocity Norm
● The expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them
⚪
Social-responsibility Norm
Conflict and Peacemaking
⚪ Conflict – a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
⚪ Social traps – situations in which
conflicting parties become caught in mutually destructive behavior as they pursue their own ends- creating an outcome that no one wants
⚪ Mirror-image perceptions – each party views itself as moral and the other as unworthy and poor-intentioned
⚪
Research suggests that
noncompetitive contact between
parties of equal status may help
reduce conflict
⚪
Superordinate, or shared, goals that
require cooperation can turn
enemies into friends
⚪
