Social Psychology

Social Psychology
The scientific study of the way in which peoples
thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are influenced
by the real or imagined presence of other people

Humans are a social species

Social ostracism literally hurts

We tend to think that only others are

vulnerable to social influence
Attributions
Imagine the following
scenario
You are a manager in a restaurant who is waiting for a
prospective employee to come in for an interview. The
scheduled time for the interview, 10:00am, was 15 minutes
ago, and the prospect has not called. What are you
thinking?

The applicant arrives after another 15 minutes have

passed. He explains that he overslept. His hair is
uncombed, and he looks as if he hasnt shaved in a couple
of days. He is wearing an unbuttoned shirt, grease-stained
jeans, and flip flops. You notice that his feet are dirty.
Halfway through the interview, he asks for coffee and lights
a cigarette. How likely is it that you will hire him? Why?
Basic Terms
Attribution
An explanation for the cause of behaviour
or events

Internal attribution
Inferringthat a particular behaviour was due to
dispositional causes

External attribution
Inferring
that the individuals behaviour was
caused by some other factor
Fundamental Attribution
Error
The tendency to underestimate the role of
situations and overestimate the role of
dispositions when explaining the behaviour of
others
Is it Really Fundamental?
Attitudes
Cognitive Dissonance
Theory
A feeling of discomfort caused by a
discrepancy between an attitude and a
behaviour or between two competing
attitudes
Free choice
Knowledge of consequences
CDT
Insufficient justification
People act in an attitude-discrepant way without
receiving a large reward
CDT
Insufficient justification
People act in an attitude-discrepant way without
receiving a large reward

Justifying effort
We alter our attitudes to justify our suffering

Justifying difficult decisions

Exaggerate positives of chosen object &
exaggerate negatives of other object
Social Influence
Social Influence
Conformity
Change of behaviour due to real or imagined
group pressure

Obedience
Change of behaviour due direct commands
Sherifs Classic Case of
Suggestibility
Participants in dark room were shown a light
and estimated the distance the light moved.
In 3 group sessions, they again made
distance estimations
Conformity
Aschs Conformity Study
Participants were asked to select the line closest
in length to X

When confederates first gave obviously wrong

answers, more than 1/3 of participants
conformed
Why Do We Conform?
Normative Social Influence
Conformity motivated by a fear of social rejection

Informational Social Influence

Conformity motivated by the belief that others are
correct
Milgrams Obedience
Experiments
Memory study
Teacher and learner
Teacher gives learner increasingly intense
shocks if he answers incorrectly

When will people stop giving shocks?

Results
Group Processes
Do groups help or hinder?

What influence do groups have?

Do you perform better in a group?
Do you perform worse in a group?
Do groups alter the way you behave?
 Presence of Others

Physiological Arousal
On well-
mastered On difficult
or simple or complex
tasks Dominant Responses tasks
dominant dominant
response is response is
right wrong

Improved Impaired
Performance Performance
Social Loafing

Told to clap or cheer as

loud as you can

Wearing headphones
Hearing others clap or
cheer
Cant hear themselves

Why?
Ways to Decrease Social
Loafing
Separate each individuals performance from
that of the groups effort

Make each individuals contribution necessary

for overall group success

Reward the individual as well as the group

Increase cohesiveness of the group

Make tasks personally meaningful

Facilitation vs. Loafing
Problems with Group Decision-
Making
Group Polarization
Group movement toward either a
riskier or more conservative decision;
the result depends on the members
initial dominant tendency

Groupthink
Group Polarization
After discussion, the
group that initially
AttitudeTowardsGradSchool

DefiniteGO favored grad school

would be even more
strongly in favor

Unsure Conversely, the group

that initially disfavored
grad school would be
even more opposed

DefiniteNO

Before AfterGroup
Group Discussion
Discussion
Problems with Group Decision-
Making
Group Polarization

Groupthink
faulty decision making occurring when
a highly cohesive group seeks
agreement and avoids inconsistent
information
Social Relations
Definitions
Stereotypes
Beliefs about the attributes typically
possessed by members of a group

Prejudice
Affect toward someone due to their group
membership

Discrimination
Negative behaviours directed at member of a
group
 AFFECT
(Feelings)

BEHAVIOR COGNITION
(Actions
(Actions )
you (Beliefs)
(Thoughts,
would take) Beliefs)
 AFFECT
(Prejudice
(Feelings))

BEHAVIOR COGNITION
(Discrimination
(Actions you ) (Stereotype
(Thoughts,)
would take) Beliefs)
Thought Suppression

Arewe able to suppress unwanted

thoughts?

Participants told to suppress the thought

of a white bear

Results
Ironic Rebound Effect
Stereotype Suppression
So, what happens when we tell people NOT
to stereotype others?

Participants asked to suppress stereotyped

thoughts of a skinhead

Write impressions of another person

Stereotype Threat
Fear among members of a group that they
may confirm or be judged in terms of a
negative stereotype

Consequences
Task performance
Disidentification
Stereotype Threat
Black and White students were asked to
take a difficult exam
Verbal portion of the GRE (Graduate Record
Exam)

For some students

Race was made salient by asking them to
report their race at the beginning of the test
Race not mentioned to others
Results
Ways to reduce
discrimination?
The Robbers Cave
Randomly assign boys to separate groups

Foster group cohesiveness

Put groups in competition

Developed negative attitudes and aggression

Intergroup Contact
Contact hypothesis
Under certain conditions, direct contact
between members of rival groups will reduce
discrimination
Equal status
Personal interaction
Cooperative activities
Social norms
Altruism
Altruism
Actions designed to help others with not
obvious benefit to the helper
Two Pathways to Helping

People have two reactions to someone in need

Personal distress
Empathy

Both selfish and altruistic motives can lead to helping

The Bystander Effect

The finding that the

presence of others
inhibits helping in an
emergency

Diffusion of Responsibility
A tendency for bystanders to
assume that someone else
will help
Interpersonal
Attraction
Attraction and Close
Relationships
Three key factors
Proximity

Physical attractiveness

Similarity
Opposites attract?
Birds of a feather flock together?
Similarity & Reciprocity

Do opposite attract?
Likeness leads to liking
Disagreements lead to outgroup views

Reciprocity
We like those who like us
Matching