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Chapter 8: Social Psychology

I. Introduction

II.Impressions
People will form vague ideas about people based off of their own personal perceptions.

III. Stereotypes and Prejudice

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Stereotypes are assump-

how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior

Social Psychologists Explain

how we form impressions of other people

why stereotypes and prejudice flourish tions about specific groups based off of social and cognitive schemas. Stereotypes are not challenged because... 1. Physical appearance plays a large Members of a Physical Appearance role in ones perception of somebody. group that go against the This includes both attractiveness and stereotype are conbaby-faced features sid2. Impressions are formed based on Baby-faced Features ered Attractiveness ones cognitive schemas. The brain to be organizes information about the world People believe that around it using these cognitive People with baby faced features more attractive people schemas which group and judge are said to be more honest and have better people based off of looks, behavior, are judged as being passive, personalities and are etc. helpless, and nave. These 3. Social schemas can help form more competent than features include large eyes and impressions because they represent less attractive people rounded chins. and categorize social events and people. There is no the exception Example: All smart people are actual tions are af Peoples percepsocially awkward. correlation fected by stereotypes

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People are more likely to remember incidences that confirm the stereotype rather than those that refute it Functions of Stereotypes Help people predict future actions Differentiate between groups Make sense of previous encounters Accept new information about an event or person

They lead people to focus selectively on information that agrees with the stereotype and ignore information that disagrees with it.

Dangers

They tend to make people see other groups as overly similar, even though people can easily see that the groups they belong to are unique.

They cause people to exaggerate differences among groups. Stereotypes from an evolutionary perspective: Xenophobia: fear of strangers Developed when we needed to or unfamiliar people differentiate between friends and enemies quickly Prejudice gives people scapegoats to blame in times of trouble. Functions of Prejudice Prejudice: Negative perception of a particular group Prejudice can boost self-esteem.

The group people view themselves in is considered, by them, to be the Prejudice can be reduced by dominant or ingroup while the Equivocating status and position other group is considered to be in hierarchy inferior or outgroup. Grating equal rights Interaction between the groups Creating a common goal for the groups

Prejudice legitimizes discrimination because it apparently justifies one groups dominance over another. The Contact Hypothesis: as these groups learn more about each there, the more the tension between them is lessened.

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IV. Attribution

Attribution Biases Guesses about the causes of events or behavior.

V.

Attitudes

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Attributions are inferences that people make about the causes of events and behavior Internal Vs. External

Attitudes are opinions about a person, situation or object. They can be positive or negative. Explicit Attitudes: conscious beliefs that can influInternal attributions: attributions that are ence decisions and behavior caused by thoughts, emotions or non that can Implicit Attitudes: unconscious beliefs physical influfactors ence decisions and behavior External attributions: attributions that can be linked to a factor of the environment or a physical cause.

Stable Vs. Unstable

Stable attributions: causes that are unchanging Unstable attributions: causes that are sudden or unusual

Fundamental Attribution Error: the tendency to attribute other peoples behavior to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, and feelings Just World Hypothesis:the need to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve

Self-Serving Bias: the tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to situational factors The Self-Effacing Bias: when success is attributed to the situation and failure is attributed to personal traits

Strength: importance beliefs are to an individual Dimensions of Attitude Accessibility: ease with which it comes to mind Ambivalence: the difference between the belief in positive and negative evaluations

Influence of attitude on behavior: If there are few outside influences, attitude guides behavior. Behavior is guided by attitudes specific to that behavior. Behavior is guided by attitudes that come to mind easily. The Source- Person where information comes

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VI. Social Influ-

ence

from. Considered trustworthy if they do not The Message- content of a piece of benefit Door Phenomenon: Foot in thefrom the passing of the information Social Roles:patterns of Social Norms: Societys rules communication. If the message contains People tend to be more likely to behavior that are considered about normal or appropriate sides of the argument, then it is both agree to a difficult request if they appropriate for a person in a behavior The receiver-to an easy one Person message is intended considered to be more persuasive than a have first agreed particular context for. They are more likely to believe one sided argument. Prison Study: people tend to conform to the roles given to them as shown by the prison messages that agree with their preexisting study by Zimbardo where subjects were placed in a fake jail and were given either a knowledge or beliefs prisoner or guard role. The guards became harsh while the The channel - Method used to transpot prisoners became timid message. Depending on the method by Learning Theory: Effective Means of Persuasion: Elements of Persuasion Attitude Change which the message is portrayed its effect Attitude can be Repetition of the message can varry. changed by Endorsement of the message by an Elaboration admired or attractive Dissonance Theory: individual Likelihood Model: people change their Association of the attitudes are changed message with a attitudes when they pleasant feeling by providing in depth have attitudes that are information about the inconsistent with each subject. other (Cognitive Influences on attraction: conditioning Coercive Persuasion: when the Classical conditioning source convinces the receiver that they associating positive or only have one option. negative feelings with items Operant conditioning positive rewards enforce Dissonance) Physical attraction - finding the other person or object good to look at behaviors that caused the Proximity - the close people live together the more likely they will be reward attracted because of how often they will see each other Observational of Similarity - the more they have in common the higher the levelslearning seeing someone else attraction receive positive Reciprocity - attraction can come from people who in return are results from a behavior and attracted trying it for oneself Passionate love: Involves absorption in another Reciprocity Norm: is an implicit rule in many societies that person, sexual desire, tenderness, and intense tells people they should return favors or gifts given to them. emotion. Lowball Technique: making an attractive proposition and Compassionate love: Involves warmth, has and revealing its downsides only after a person trust,agreed to it tolerance of another. It also includes the desire to continue the relationship. Feigned Scarcity: Making an offer seem hard to get because when something is hard to get, people want it more

Social Influence Romantic Love Strategies

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VII.
Obedience Study- Milgrim proved that individuals will answer to an authority figure by commanding the subjects to shock participants for answering questions correctly.

Attraction

Milgrim found that these factors increase obedience: Commands given by authority, not volunteer Experiments done at respected location Authority figure is in the room with the subject The victim is in another room The subject sees other participants obey the authority figure

VIII. Obedience and Authority

Reasons one might obey authority: Individuals assign the responsibility to the authority figure instead of themselves People assume the behavior is regular Fear of offending the authority figure Use of entrapment by being willing to do small shocks and slowly increasing the levels of shock and not knowing when to stop.

Solomon Asch proved that subjects tend to conform when in groups through an experiment in which subjects were asked to compare lengths of lines after hearing several other participants say the same response they would not reply differently even when the answer is obviously wrong. Social Loafing: When productivity Social Facilitation: When decreases in a group because productivity increases in a members do not feel that they must group. This usually occurs with work when there are others that will simple tasks. Groupthink: Tendency for a closeGroup Polarization: when a topic is knit group to make a decision discussed that the group already had everyone can agree on without using a strong position on and is rational or critical thinking. strengthened after discussion Deindividuation: when members of the group begin to lose their inhibition and forget their responsibilities often causing them not to think on their own but with the group.

Conformity increases when: A person feels incompetent or insecure The person admires the group The group can see how the person behaves

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The Bystander Effect: a person is less likely to help somebody if others are present. Social Trap: When one acts in their own self-interest without taking their own safety into consideration.

Groups

Influences on Helping: The incident is noticed by the bystander The situation is interpreted as an emergency The bystander feels responsibility to help, or are guilty They have recently seen someone help another person They are not in a rush They relate with the person in need The setting is in a less populated area The bystander is in a good mood The bystander believes the person is deserving of help

IX.

X.

Helping Behavior