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Social Psychology
What is Social
Psychology?

Day 7
1st year undergraduate
psychology lecture
Dr. Yogesh
2008 Pahuja
James Neill

How the

Human behaviour thoughts

in social context. feelings
behaviours
of individuals
are influenced by the...

Applications
actual l Business
imagined or l Health
implied
l Education
presence of others
(based on Allport, 1935)

l Law

l Environment

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Allocate one of these topics to each of

About Social Psychology the following sets of slides...

n Activity:Topic Matching Prejudice Environmental

n Definition(s) Aggression Relationships
n Scope Group Dynamics Prosocial Behaviour
n Topics Crowd Behaviour Conformity
n Video (27 mins) Social Exclusion Leadership

1 2

3 4

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5 6

7 8

9 10

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What is Social Psychology? Three Themes

Influence of social processes on the n Social Thinking
way people: - how we think about others e.g.,
Attributions
n Think
(thoughts; cognition) n Social Influence
- how we are influenced by others, e.g.,
n Feel Conformity
(feelings; emotions)
n Social Relations
n Behave - how we interact with others, e.g.,
(behaviour; actions) Relationships

Social Thinking / perception Social influence

How we interpret social objects / Attitudes & behaviour brought
think about others. about by others / conformity

Social Relations / interaction Person vs. situation

How we interact with others in
the social world.

Person Situation

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Focus 1: Relationships Focus 2: Social Influence

Focus 3: Leadership Focus 4: Intergroup Relations

Video Video: The Power of the Situation

Annenberg (1989). The Power of the
Situation (Program 19). [27 min video]
Annenberg: Santa Barbara, CA.

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Further Social Thinking Questions

What is Compliance in Social Psychology ? nHow do we explain peoples
behaviour?
nHow do we form our beliefs and
attitudes?
nHow does what we think affect
what we do?
nHow can attitudes be influenced
and behaviour changed?

Social Influence Questions Social Relationships Questions

nHow we influence each other? nWhat causes us to harm, help, or

nHow are we affected by pressures to fall in love?
to conform and obey? nHow can we transform aggression
nHow are we affected by group into compassion?
interaction?
nHow do groups affect our
behavior?

Attributions
n We are all intuitive scientists or 'naive
psychologists'.
n Process of inferring the causes of mental
states, behaviours, and events which
occur to ourselves & others (Heider, 1958)
External attributions
Behavior is due to the situation, The boss yelled at
me ... because this is April 15th and his taxes are not
done.
Internal attributions
Behavior reflects the person, The boss yells at
everyone ... because he is a hostile person.

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Attributions Attitudes & Behavior

Observed
Behaviour
Behaviour

Internal External
(Dispositional) (Situational) Attitudes Situation
Explanation Explanation

When do Attitudes Predict

Behavior also influences Attitude Behaviour?

u Attitudes are implicit (unconscious).

Behaviour u Situational demands are low.
u Attitudes are strong & based on personal
experience.
u Attitudes are specific & relevant to
behavior.
u Conscious / aware of attitudes.
Attitudes Situation

Behaviour also influences attitude Foot-in-the-door Technique

Foot-in-the-door (FITD) technique is a
e.g., compliance tactic that involves getting a
n Foot-in-the-door person to agree to a large request by first
setting them up by having that person agree
to a modest request. The foot-in-the-door
technique succeeds owing to a basic human
reality that social scientists call "successive
What we do, approximations"

we gradually become.

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Foot-in-the-door Technique Compliance Tech 1 : Foot-in-the-door

Foot-in-the-door technique as used by Scientology

Time Magazine, 1991

Compliance Tech 2 : Lowballed Compliance Tech 3 : Door-in-the-face

Behavior also influences attitude