Social Psychology Success in the social world begins with our ability to perceive the characteristics and intentions of others Halo effects occur when one or a small number of characteristics have a large impact on overall perception Ability to shape accurate judgements also interact with culture Attribution a judgement about the cause of a person s behavior Dispositional attribution a judgement assigning the cause of a person s behavior to personal qualities or characteristics internal factors Situational attribution to the environment external factors Correspondence bias the tendency to view behavior as the result of disposition even when the behavior can be explained by the situation in which it occurs Fundamental attribution error FAE a failure to consider situational variables while making an attribution leading to an overestimation of dispositional contributions when observing the behavior of others Actor observer bias emphasizing dispositional attributions to explain the behavior of others while emphasizing situational attributions to explain our own behavior Self serving bias attributing success to dispositional factors while attributing failure to situational factors Just world belief the assumption that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people Individualistic cultures stress individual achievement and competition o More likely to demonstrate the correspondence bias in evaluating crime o o More likely to use defensive attributions such as the self serving bias Focus on objects than on situations Collectivistic cultures value cooperation as a means of attaining family and work group goals Place more emphasis on situations than on dispositions Focus on context or situations and relationships o o o Group serving bias Attitudes positive or negative evaluations that predispose behavior toward an object person or situation o Affect emotion feel towards o o Behavior respond to Cognition beliefs about Operant conditioning suggests that approval or disapproval shapes a person s attitudes Classical conditioning likely to form positive attitudes toward stimuli associated with positive outcomes Observational learning duplicate being exposed to attitudes in homes communities and media Cognitive dissonance the uncomfortable state that occurs when behavior and attitudes do not match and that can be resolved through attitude changes o Produce unpleasant state of arousal caused by a person s feeling responsible for helping to bring about a negative event Persuasion a change in attitudes in response to information provided by another person Elaboration likelihood model ELM a model that predicts responses to persuasive messages by distinguishing between the central and the peripheral routes to changes in attitudes Central occurs when a person considers persuasive arguments carefully and thoughtfully Attitudes achieved through this are more enduring more resistant to counterpersuasion and more predictive of behavior Peripheral occurs when person responds to peripheral cues without considering the quality of the argument carefully Allows us to use heuristics rules of thumb to react promptly Person s motivation influences which route to use to evaluate a particular argument o o o Peripheral emotional appeals negative emotions fear denial Ques related to the message speaker medium audience Central know and care about it Quality Credibility Similarities Face to face rather than media Age and intelligence Type of error Definition Example Correspondenc e bias Overestimating the dispositional causes of a person s behavior My friend flunked her exam because she s not very bright Self serving bias Attributing personal success to dispositional causes while attributing personal failure to situational causes I got an A on one test because I m smart but I flunked the other test because it was unfair Group serving bias Attributing group success to dispositional causes while attributing group failures to situational causes Our team won its first game because we re talented and skilled but lost the second because the referees were biased Just world belief Assuming that people get what they deserve That rape victim should have dressed more modestly Prejudice a prejudgement usually negative of another person on the basis of membership in a group o o Supported by stereotype a simplified set of traits associated with membership in a group or category Resulting behavior is discrimination unfair behavior based on stereotyping and prejudice Stereotype threat raising awareness of a negative stereotype about a group to which we belong has the ability to reduce our performance Contact may reduce especially when in equal standing Social norms usually unwritten or unspoken rules for behavior in social settings Conformity matching behavior and appearance to perceived social norms Compliance agreement with a request from a person with no perceived authority o Higher when perceived similarity and physical attraction Social influence reciprocation we feel obligated to give something back to people who have given something to us o o Door in the face a persuasive technique in which compliance with a small request is followed by compliance with a larger request that might otherwise have been rejected Foot in the door compliance with a small request is followed by compliance with a larger request that might otherwise have been rejected Low balling strategy an initially favorable deal is revised upward once the buyer appears committed o Obedience compliance with a request from an authority figure Social facilitation a situation in which the presence of other people changes performance Social loafing reduced motivation and effort shown by individuals working in a group o Women and Eastern cultures less likely to demonstrate o People with low need for cognition Deindividuation immersion of an individual within a group leading to anonymity Group polarization the intensifying of an attitude following discussion Conformity and desire for affiliation Exposure to discussion on a topic introduces new reasons for holding an attitude Groupthink a type of flawed decision making in which a group does not question its decisions o o o critically Likely in cohesive groups with high morale whose members already share similar attitudes Less likely to consider risks or alternatives associated with their chosen plan of action Group process Definition Example Social facilitation Individual performance is influenced