Unit 4 Social Psychology Wednesday November 16 2011 The scientific study of how we think about influence and relate to people o Think about social cognition o Influence social influence o Relate social relations Prejudice prejudgment An unjustifiable attitiude toward a group of people and its members Beliefs Stereotype A generalized belief about a group of people Emotions o Hostility envy fear Actions Distrimination Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members Origins of Prejudice Justifying social inequalities Social divisions o Ingroup us v Outgroup them o Outgroup homogenetity they are all alike o Ingroup bias o Tendency to favor your ingroup Origins of Prejudice Emotions Fear and anger o Scapegoat theory outlet for anger Categorization generalization Stererotyped beliefs are a by product of how we cognitively simplify the world Categorization Other race effect Vivid cases Just world phenomenon Subtle implicit unconscious Types of Prejudice Types Overt open conscious Rates Overt prejudices have decreased Sublte prejudices rates are higher Difficult to measure Friday November 18 2011 Social Relations Altruism o Unselfish regard for welfare and others Altruims Bystander effect o When will intervention happen First you notice the incident interpret emergency or not if so you assume responsibility attempt to help What might prevent the assuming of responsibility o Bystander effect The tendency of any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present someone else will help Altruism Bystander effect o Less likely to help with others present o Why Responsibility Interpretation of the incident Factors that increase intervention o In a good mood o Empathy victim similar to us o Alone or when les than 5 other people are around o Not in a hurry or preoccupied o Recently seen someone being helpful o Victim obviously needs deserves help o Small town or rural area o Feel guilty What is obedience Extreme Obedience o Natzis in Germany Social Influence Obedience o Controversial experiments Stanley Milgram Yale University 60 70 s o Procedure learner and teacher teacher gives test on word pairs learner receives shocks for wrong answers w o Obedience behavior following the rules or commands of one in authority Monday November 28 2011 Stanly Milgrems Experiment 65 of participants continued to shock the learner after instructed to stop from learner What do we learn o Good people can do bad things o Situation plays important role in behavior Influences on Obedience Authority of experimenter Location of experimenter Location on Victim Disobedient peers o Deferment of responsibility authority held responsible o if learner in same room as teacher 40 continued to shock Social influence Conformity Adjusting behavior to fit a group standard May Be o Bad o Indifferent o Good Conformity Asch Confederate someone hired by researcher to act First two trials are unanimous On third trial confederates all select the wrong line 37 of the time participant would conform to the group o answer was obviously wrong Reasons for Conforming Normative social influence Informational Social Influence Conformity Updates Factors that increase conformity People conform because they fear social rejection or to gain social approval People conform because they accept the opinions of others Feeling incompetent Group has 3 people and is unanimous You admire the group s status You are being observed by your group members You are in a collectivist culture o More likely to conform The tendency of people to exert less effort in group tasts People think their contribution is unimportant Less individual participation Reduced or Eliminated when People you know in the group The group is highly valued The task in meaningful or unique The tendency of the presence of others to enhance performance on simple tasks and impair performance on complex tasks Group Processes Social Loafing Social loafing Lost in the crowd Why Social Facilitation Social facilitation Why Group influence Deindividuation Arousal anonymity Group polarization minded people Simple tasks confident Complex tasks nervous Loss of self awareness and self restraint in group situations that foster both Strengthening of attitudes through discussion with like Wednesday November 30 2011 Social Cognition Perceiving people o Most of us attempt to explain others behaviors Psych majors more so than others o In general people tend to ask why about events that are Unexpected or negative Personal relevance o The answers explanations we come up with are called ATTRIBUTIONS Attribution Theory o Attribution theory a group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behaviors o 2 kinds of attributions personal situational o Personal The cause is something internal to the person Mood ability personality effort he didn t study enough he isn t very smart he s sick o Situational o The cause is something external to the person Task other people luck Test wasn t fair it was hot in the room nothing he studied was on the exam Explaining Behavior o Our behavior Self serving bias When things go well personal attributions When things don t go well situational attributions Fundamental attribution error Social Thinking Attribution Theory o Fundamental attribution error The tendency when analyzing someone else s behavior to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional factors Attitude o What does attitude mean Feelings that are often based on our beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects people and events Belief feeling action Ex if we believe someone is mean we may feel dislike for the person and act unfriendly o What influences attitude Role playing affects on attitudes o New roles often feel fake at first but become real o What we do we gradually become o Why might this be Attitudes belief feeling action Influences on attitudes and actions o In addition to role playing Foot in the foor phenomenon A tendency for people who agree to a small action to comply later with a larger one o A trivial act makes the next act easier Cognitive dissonance thoery We act to reduce the discomfort dissonance we feel when our attitudes and actions are inconsistent o Bring our attitudes in line with our actions Chapter 14 Disorders Clinical Psychology o Study of the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders Friday December 2 2011 Research Psychotherapy Defining Psychological Disorders o 3 characteristics of
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