Introduction to Social Psychology Lecture Notes

Social Psychology Basic Concepts Social Psychology: is the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. Attributions: explanations for behavior. Attribution Theory: we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition (a disposition is a person’s inherent qualities of mind and character such as a sunny disposition). Fundamental Attribution Error: is the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition. Fundamental Attribution Error Example: Fundamental Attribution Error Example: Attitudes and Actions Attitude: feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events. It is a common assumption that our attitudes and our actions are interconnected. Actions Attitudes If we believe someone is mean, we may feel dislike for the person and act unfriendly toward them. Attitudes Affect Actions Learning check with elbow partners: 1) Which technique may offer scientific evidence to influence people’s attitudes? 2) Which persuasion technique might use a famous actor to influence people’s attitudes? 3) Which persuasion technique might use a small request in order to get compliance with a larger request? Learning check answers: 1. Central route persuasion 2. Peripheral route persuasion 3. Foot-in-the Door-Phenomenon Role Playing Affects Attitudes Role: a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave. Attitudes Affect Actions Cognitive Dissonance Theory: we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes. Leon Festinger (1957) Learning check Consider one illegally parked car leading others to do likewise or repeating an offensive racial joke. What do these two examples illustrate in terms of the tension we may experience? Learning check answer: Cognitive Dissonance Learning Check Learning check answer: Social Influence Norms: understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe proper behavior. For example, while on campus, wearing denim jeans or active wear are the norm; but while on New York’s Wall Street, business attire is expected. Culture: are the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. For example, our textbook transmits accumulated cultural wisdom. Conformity and Social Norms Conformity: adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. To illustrate, Solomon Asch (1955) developed a simple line test. Participants were asked to select the line that best matches the standard line. College students, when alone, only made error 1% of the time. But when in the presence of confederates (people who are part of the research team, but this fact is unknown to the actual participant) gave false answers/selections, the actual participant was more likely to conform with the confederates. Obedience: Following Orders Stanley Milgram (1963, 1974) conducted experiments in which the research participants were instructed to deliver an electric shock to a participant (confederate). The participant (teacher) was to administer varying levels of shock if the learner (confederate) answered incorrectly using a list of word pairs. After each error, the participant teacher was to increase the shock (in volts). The participant heard the learner grunt and experience pain, as well as cries of pain. The finding: 65% of the adult male subjects fully complied with the experimenter’s command for the participant teacher to administer the electric shocks! Milgram’s later experiments Milgram found that some conditions influence people’s behavior. Full obedience ranged from 0 to 93% and was highest when: ➔ The person giving orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate authority figure; ➔ The authority figure was supported by a powerful or prestigious institution; ➔ The victim was depersonalized or at a distance, even in another room; ➔ The were no role models for defiance. Group Behavior Social Facilitation Social Loafing Social Loafing: is the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable. Research at the University of Massachusetts asked blindfolded students “to pull as hard as they can” on a rope (tug-of-war game). When they fooled the students into believing three others were also pulling the rope behind them, students exerted only 82% as much effort as when they knew they were pulling alone (Ingham et al., 1974). Deindividuation Deindividuation: is the loss of self-awareness and self-constrain occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity. Learning check Research has found that there is improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others. What is the name of this observation? Learning check answer: Social Facilitation Group Polarization Group Polarization: is the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group. Groupthink