Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 18

Social Psychology

James A. McCubbin, PhDClemson University

Worth Publishers

Social Thinking

Social Psychology scientific study of how we think about,

influence, and relate to one anotherAttribution Theory

tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

Attribution Theory

Attribution theory is a Social Psychological theory that relates to the way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others. According to this theory, people tend to attribute (or explain) psychological or external causes as the determining factor in behavior. For example, if someone acts mean to you one day, would you attribute the behavior to the person being a jerk (internal attribution) or to the person having a bad day (external attribution)? Attribution theory examines the ways in which people make these attributions. Make sure you review the definition for the Fundamental Attribution Error, which relates directly to this.

Social Thinking

Fundamental Attribution Error tendency for observers, when analyzing

another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Attitude belief and feeling that predisposes one to

respond in a particular way to objects, people and events

Fundamental Attribution Error Example Imagine this situation, you are at school and someone

you know comes by, you say hello, and this person just gives you a quick, unfriendly "hello" and then walks away. How would you attribute this situation -- why did this person act this way? If you react to this situation by saying the person is a "jerk" then you have made the fundamental attribution error; the tendency for an observer, when interpreting and explaining the behavior of another person (the actor), to underestimate the situation and to overestimate the personal disposition. Maybe the person was having the worst day of their life, just found out a loved one died, failed a test and was feeling devastated, etc. In this case, the situation may have caused them to act in a way that was different than their normal happy self. But, you, as a normal observer, would instead attribute their behavior to them as a person...acted that way because that is the type of person they are.

Social ThinkingHow we explain someone’s behavior affects how we

react to it

Negative behavior

Situational attribution“Maybe that driver is ill.”

Dispositional attribution“Crazy driver!”

Tolerant reaction(proceed cautiously, allowdriver a wide berth)

Unfavorable reaction(speed up and race past theother driver, give a dirty look)

Social ThinkingOur behavior is affected by our inner attitudes

as well as by external social influences

Internalattitudes

Externalinfluences

Behavior

Social Thinking Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

For example, someone might want you to give to give 5 hours of your time a week for the three months as a volunteer to a charity (a big request). But to get you to agree to this big request, they first ask you to volunteer for 1 hour one time and one time only. After hearing this small request, which you are willing to agree to, they then work their way up asking you to volunteer time until you are willing to agree to the big request. You are more likely to agree to this when you have already said yes to the small request.

Social RolesRole

set of expectations about a social position defines how those in the position ought to

behave We all have roles that we play. No, not in roles in a

"play", but roles we play in life. To a psychologist, a role is a set of expectations about the ways in which people are supposed to behave in different situations. Roles are dependent on all sorts of things like the position a person holds, the culture, etc. For example, a person who is the CEO of a company is expected to act in certain ways specifically because of the title the person holds and the expectations we have in our society about the ways CEOs should behave.

Cognitive Dissonance Exercise

Draw a five-point Likert Scale on your piece of paper.

Example:

Social Thinking

Cognitive Dissonance Theory we act to reduce the discomfort

(dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent

example- when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

Social ThinkingCognitive dissonance

Social Influence

Conformity adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Normative Social Influence influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Social Influence

Asch’s conformity experiments

Social Influence

Norm an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior

prescribes “proper” behaviorInformational Social Influence

influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Social Influence

Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was the same as the person in Slide 1

Difficult judgments

Easy judgments

Conformity higheston important

judgments

Low HighImportance

50%

40

30

20

10

0

Percentage ofconformity toconfederates’

wrong answers

Social Influence

Milgram’s follow-up obedience experiment

XXX(435-450)

Percentageof subjects

who obeyedexperimenter

100908070605040302010

0

Slight(15-60)

Moderate(75-120) Strong

(135-180)

Verystrong

(195-240)Intense

(255-300)

Extremeintensity(315-360)

Dangersevere

(375-420)Shock levels in volts

The majority ofsubjects continued to obey to the end

Social InfluenceTesting facilitated communication

Social InfluenceSocial Facilitation

improved performance of tasks in the presence of others

occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered

Social Loafing tendency for people in a group to exert less

effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Social FacilitationHome Advantage in Major Team Sports

Home TeamGames Winning

Sport Studied Percentage

Baseball 23,034 53.3%

Football 2,592 57.3

Ice hockey 4,322 61.1

Basketball 13,596 64.4

Soccer 37,202 69.0

Social Influence

Deindividuation loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Social Influence

Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s prevailing

attitudes through discussion within the group

Groupthink mode of thinking that occurs when

the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives

Social Influence

If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

High

Prejudice

Low

+4

+3

+2

+1

0

-1

-2

-3

-4Before discussion After discussion

Low-prejudicegroups

High-prejudicegroups

Social Influence

Self-fulfilling Prophecy occurs when one person’s belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm the belief

Social Relations

Prejudice an unjustifiable (and usually negative)

attitude toward a group and its members involves stereotyped beliefs, negative

feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

Stereotype a generalized (often over generalized)

belief about a group of people

Social RelationsAmericans today express much less

racial and gender prejudice

Would you vote fora woman president?

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Year

1936 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

Do whites have a rightto keep minorities out of

their neighborhoods?

Percentageanswering

yes

Social Relations

Ingroup “Us”- people with whom one

shares a common identityOutgroup

“Them”- those perceived as different or apart from one’s ingroup

Social Relations

Ingroup Bias tendency to favor one’s own group

Scapegoat Theory theory that prejudice provides an outlet for

anger by providing someone to blame Just-World Phenomenon

tendency of people to believe the world is just people get what they deserve and deserve

what they get

Social Relations

Aggression any physical or verbal behavior

intended to hurt or destroyFrustration-Aggression Principle

principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal – creates anger, which can generate aggression

Social Relations

Uncomfortably hot weather and aggression

Murdersand rapesper day in

Houston, Texas

8.0

7.5

7.0

6.5

6.040-68 69-78 79-85 86-91 92-99

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit

Social RelationsJuvenile violent crime arrest rates

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

1,000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Arrest per100,000

15- to 17-year-olds

Social Relations

Men who sexually coerce women

Sexualpromiscuity

Hostilemasculinity

Coercivenessagainstwomen

Social Relations

Conflict perceived incompatibility of actions,

goals, or ideasSocial Trap

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

Social Relations

Social trap by pursuing

our self-interest and not trusting others, we can end up losers

Optimaloutcome

Probableoutcome

Person 1Choose A Choose B

Per

son

2C

ho

ose

B

Ch

oo

se A

Social Relations- AttractivenessProximity

mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

Physical Attractiveness youthfulness may be associated with health

and fertility Similarity

friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests

Social Relations

Passionate Love an aroused state of intense positive

absorption in another usually present at the beginning of a love

relationshipCompanionate Love

deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

Social RelationsEquity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it

Self-disclosure revealing intimate aspects of oneself to

othersAltruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Social RelationsThe decision-making process for

bystander intervention

Noticesincident?

Interpretsincident as

emergency?

Assumesresponsibility?

Attemptsto help

Nohelp

Nohelp

Nohelp

Yes YesYes

No No No

Social Relations

Bystander Effect tendency for

any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Percentageattempting

to help

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Number of otherspresumed available to help

1 2 3 4

Social Relations

Social Exchange Theory the theory that our social behavior is

an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Superordinate Goals shared goals that override differences

among people and require their cooperation

Social Relations

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-reduction (GRIT) a strategy designed to decrease

international tensionsone side announces recognition of mutual

interests and initiates a small conciliatory act

opens door for reciprocation by other party