Social Psychology

• The scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people

• Today’s class:– How you think about people– How you explain their behavior– Why you like them

Social Cognition: How you think about people?• Impression Formation – how do you construct

your social cognition?– Primacy effect

• Early information about someone weighs more than later information in forming impressions

– Self-fulfilling prophecy• A person’s expectations about another elicits behavior

from the other person that confirms the expectations

– Stereotypes

Impression Formation

• Stereotypes– A set of characteristics believed to be shared

by all members of a social category– It is usually unfair– Most often applied to sex, race, occupation,

physical appearance, place of residence, membership in a group or organization

– Can become the basis for self-fulfilling prophecies

Self-fulfilling prophecy

• (Snyder, Tanke & Berscheid, 1977) • Attractiveness Stereotype – sociability and socially savy• Men received “background” information about a woman

they were about to talk with on a phone, info included a photo. Women received same info, but no photo.

• IV: Photo of woman either attractive or unattractive• DVs: 1) Men’s expectations about the woman 2)

Observers’ ratings of the woman’s behavior • Results: When men expected that the woman was

attractive, she was judged as friendly, warm, and more animated than when men believed they were talking with an unattractive woman. (self-fulfilling prophecy)

Biases in Attribution: The errors to which your guesses will succumb

• Actor-Observer Effect: attribute actions of others to internal factors and the actions of yourself to external factors– Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to

overemphasize personal causes for others’ behavior and underemphasize personal causes for our own behavior

• Defensive attribution– Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute our successes to

our own efforts and our failures to external factors– Just-world hypothesis: Assumption bad things happen to bad

people and good things happen to good people

• Attribution across cultures varies dramatically

Effects of Attribution

How we explain someone’s behavior affects how we react to it.

Interpersonal Attraction

Attraction is closely linked to1. Proximity

2. Physical attractiveness

3. Similarity

4. Exchange

5. Intimacy

Psychology of Attraction

1. Proximity: Geographic nearness is a powerful predictor of friendship. Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their attraction (mere exposure effect).

A rare white penguin born in a zoo was

accepted after 3 weeks by other penguins just

due to proximity.

Rex U

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Proximity leads to liking

• Moreland & Beach, 1992

• IV: Four female confederates attended large class 0, 5, 10, or 15 times

• DV: How much liked slides of confederate at end of semester

• Results: The more times confederate attended the class, the more she was liked.

Proximity leads to liking

Psychology of Attraction2. Physical Attractiveness: Once proximity

affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance.

• Hatfield et al. (1966)• Couples randomly paired at “computer dance”• Assessed personality, aptitude, physical

attractiveness• Results: Only physical attractiveness predicted liking

and wanting to see the person again. (True for men and women.)

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20034523_20036560_4,00.html

Is attractiveness objective?

• Arguments for Objective Standard• High consensus across countries,

race/ethnicities– Agree on attractiveness of faces and body types (F:

hourglass; M: v-shaped)• Particular features are associated with

attractiveness – F: large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose,

wide smile– M: broad jaw, large eyes, prominent cheekbones,

wide smile• Babies look longer at faces rated as attractive by

adults. (less likely to be affected by cultural standards

Is attractiveness subjective?

• Arguments for Subjective Standard

• Cross-cultural differences in ways to look beautiful– Face painting, plastic surgery, scarring,

piercings, etc.– Variations in preference for female body size

Subjective?• Standards of beauty within a culture

change over time

Attractiveness Standards

• Probably both universal and variable components of attractiveness

• Overall, physical attractiveness predicts more positive evaluations (true in childhood and later in life)

Psychology of Attraction

3. Similarity: Similar views among individuals causes the bond of attraction to strengthen. Finding others who agree with us

strengthens our convictions and boosts our self-esteem

Complementary Traits – you complete me

Psychology of Attraction

• 4. Exchange: The give and take of a relationship.

• Social Exchange theory explains how we feel about a relationship with another person as depending on our perceptions of:– The balance between what we put into the

relationship and what we get out of it. – The kind of relationship we deserve. – Contrast Effect – seeing something ‘better’ makes

us temporarily devalue what we’ve got

Psychology of Attraction

5. Intimacy: closeness and trust achieved through communication

• Must be mutual• Can’t be too much too soon

Matching in physical attractiveness

• People tend to pair with partners who are about as physically attractive as they are.

• Predicts success of relationship (more similar in attractiveness, more likely to stay together)

• However, women who marry less attractive men are shown to rate their marriage as more satisfying.