2. Social Psychology

3. Questions  How do we explain behavior?  How does persuasion work?  How do others influence our behavior?

4. How Do We Explain Behavior? Attributions are inferences we make about the causes of behavior. – external attributions – internal attributions

5. How Do We Explain Behavior? Fundamental Attributional Error - focus on internal causes of others’ behaviors Actor-Observer Effect - focus on external causes of your own behavior, but internal causes for others

6. How Do We Explain Behavior? Self-Serving Bias - attribute your successes to internal causes and your failures to external causes Self-fulfilling Prophecy - your expectations cause someone to perform consistently with what you expected

7. How Does Persuasion Work? Our attitudes involve cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. When we notice a difference in these components, we experience discomfort. We are motivated to reduce this cognitive dissonance.

8. How Does Persuasion Work? Elaboration Likelihood Model – Central Route - facts and logic – Peripheral Route - emotion (style) Source Credibility Appeals to Fear Strength of Receivers’ Attitudes Forewarning

9. How Does Persuasion Work? Foot in the Door Technique Door in the Face Technique Lowball Technique Reciprocity Norm

10. How Do Others Influence Our Behavior? Conformity Asch’s line-judging study abc

11. How Do Others Influence Our Behavior? Obedience Milgram’s “shocking” study

12. How Do Others Influence Our Behavior? Social Roles The Stanford Prison Experiment

13. Misconception Alert! Even good people do bad things, depending on the situation.

14. How Do Others Influence Our Behavior? Bystander Effect Diffusion of responsibility Darley & Latane’s helping research