Ch 11 Social Psychology Why do people do what they do 10 11 12 2 10 PM Social Psychology How people think about influence and relate to other people Social Psychologists study human behavior Areas of Social Psychology Social Cognition Social Behavior Social Influence Intergroup relations Close relationships information Areas of Social Cognition Person Perception Attribution The Self Attitudes Social Cognition How people select interpret remember and use social o Person Perception How do we think about other people Forming impressions about others Person Perception Question Answer o How do we form impressions of other people o The power of the first impression The Primacy Effect Stereotype generalization about a group s characteristics that does not account for individual variability Question o Why do we stereotype o Answer Biologically built to categorize Shortcut easier Self fulfilling prophecy Expectations cause individuals to act in ways that make the expectations come true Stereotype threat Type of self fulfilling prophecy in which anxiety about being negatively stereotyped actually causes Attractiveness Human physical features that others rate as high underperformance in objective physical appeal o Who is attractive and who is not o Average is Beautiful Question Answer Question Answer o What stereotypes do we have about beautiful people o Beautiful is good Social Cognition Areas of Social Cognition Person Perception Attribution The Self Attitudes Attribution Question Answer Attribution Determining why people do what they do Attributional theories Internal vs External causes Stable vs Unstable causes Controllable vs Uncontrollable causes How do you explain another person s behavior We typically attribute others behavior to internal causes even though that is not always accurate Fundamental Attribution Error People tend to overestimate the importance of stable internal traits and underestimate the importance of temporary external situations when seeking explanations for others behavior Self serving Bias We often attribute our own behavior to whichever explanation benefits us the most False Consensus Effect Overestimation of the degree to which everyone else thinks and acts as we do The Self How we view ourselves Self esteem The degree to which we have positive or negative feelings about ourselves Question o Which individual do you think has higher self esteem o Has positive illusions about herself Tends to have a self serving bias Higher self esteem Subject A Subject B o Is more realistic about her good and bad characteristics Self image The degree to which we believe others have positive or negative feelings about ourselves Self efficacy Belief that one has the competence to complete a Social comparisons Evaluating one s own thoughts feelings behaviors and abilities in relation to others o Which of the following do you believe will influence a person s goal or a task Question self esteem Answer Attitudes Our feelings or opinions about people objects and ideas o Self image o Self efficacy o Degree of social comparison o All three influence self esteem Question Can attitudes predict behavior Answer Sometimes When attitude is strong When person is made aware of attitude When person has vested interest Question Can behavior predict attitudes Answer Sometimes Cognitive Dissonance Theory Self perception Theory Cognitive dissonance theory mismatch between beliefs and behavior Self perception theory derive beliefs from behavior Determine our beliefs and attitudes by looking back at our own behavior Example Foot in the door technique Question Can you change someone s attitude Answer Sometimes If you are trained in the art of persuasion Elements of Persuasion The Source characteristics of the communicator The Message content and style The Medium venue The Audience characteristics of your target Areas of Social Psychology Social Cognition Social Behavior Social Influence Intergroup relations Close relationships Social Behavior Altruism Unselfish interest in helping another person Question Why do people help other people Answer Reciprocity Doing unto others as they will hopefully do unto you Egoism Doing unto others because it somehow benefits ourselves Factors that Influence helping behavior Mood happy helping Empathy seeing ourselves The Bystander Effect Let someone else do it Social Influence Conformity Changing one s behavior to align with the group or group standard Asch s Conformity Study Which line in exhibit 2 is the same length as the line in exhibit 1 When all others in the group picked the same incorrect answer volunteer participants chose to conform with the group 35 of the time Question Why do we conform Answer Informational Social Influence Normative Social Influence Informational Social Influence The influence people have on us because we want to be right Normative Social influence The influence people have on us because we want to be liked Obedience Behavior that complies with the specific demands of an authority figure Milgram s Obedience Study Question Would you harm someone if an authority figure told you to do so Answer Two thirds of participants did so in the Milgram study Intergroup Relations Deindividuation Being part of a group reduces one s sense of personal responsibility Example Mob mentality just one of the herd Social Contagion The spread of behavior emotions and ideas Examples Fads yawning laughing Group performance How do you perform when others are present Clap if you perform worse when others are present Clap if you perform better when others are present Clap if it depends Social Facilitation People tend to perform better when others are present if the task is People tend to perform worse in front of others if the task is easy or well learned difficult Social Loafing The tendency for people to underperform when in a group because of reduced accountability Groupthink Impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than conforming to the group Social Identity Defining oneself in terms of group memberships Ingroup your group comparison group Outgroup Prejudice Unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on their group membership Explicit racism Implicit racism Discrimination Unjustified negative action toward a member of a group simply because they belong to that group
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