1. Social Psychology
Chapter 10

2. What Social Psychology Is
The scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others
Referred to by some as ‘the psychology of everyday life’

3. What Social Psychology Is Not
Sociology
Concerned with looking at the machine as a whole (i.e., how groups of people live, work, and play)
Social psychology focuses on the individual cogs of the machine (i.e. how does the member of the group act and how the member is influenced by the group)

4. Social Influence
The process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts feelings, and behavior of an individual
Forms of social influence
Conformity
Compliance
Obedience

5. I’m Not a Conformist! Conforming Is too Mainstream…
Have you ever…
Taken out your phone when others have theirs out
Faced the same direction as everyone else in an elevator
Watched a TV show or movie a friend recommended to you
Ordered the same thing in a restaurant as someone else with you

6. Conformity Changing your behavior to match the behavior of others
Extremely common, we all do it
Not as bad as society tends to think

7. The Asch Series of Studies
1 participant, several actors pretending to be participants (confederates)
4 max for effect
Asked to match a line to one of the lines in a set
Confederates would answer incorrectly
The participant would answer correctly at first, but eventually would go along with the answer the rest of the group provided

8. The Asch Series of Studies

9. Groupthink
Kind of thinking that occurs when people focus on preserving group cohesion than truly assessing the facts of the problem at hand

10. Compliance
Changing your behavior as a result of other people asking for the change
Person asking for the change usually doesn’t have the power or authority to make you change
Commonly seen in marketing
Several techniques are used to gain compliance

11. Compliance Techniques
Foot-in-the-door technique
asking for a small commitment and ask gradually for progressively larger commitments after getting compliance
Door-in-the-face technique
start by asking for a large commitment which is refused and then followed by a smaller commitment

12. Compliance Techniques
Lowball technique
get a commitment from a person that becomes more involved
That’s-not-all technique
persuader makes an offer and then adds something to it to enhance the offer before a decision can be made
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13. Obedience Changing your behavior at the command of an authority figure
Very powerful force
Interest in research came from the atrocities of the Nazis in WWII

14. Milgram’s Study
Participant was instructed to teach another participant a set of words
The ‘teacher’ was also instructed to punish the ‘learner’ through a shock for each wrong answer
The shock increased intensity by 15 volts
As the teachers began to hesitate giving higher voltages, the experimenter would tell them to continue

15. Milgram’s Study
It was expected that the teachers would reach a point and stop giving the shock
65% of the teachers went to 450 volts (maximum amount)
Results were unexpected
Raised serious ethical concerns

16. Social Cognition
The ways people think about others and how those thoughts influence behavior towards others

17. Attitudes, What are They?
What is an attitude?
What makes up an attitude?

18. Attitudes
Tendency to respond either positively or negatively towards a source of stimulation
More general in nature
Consists of three parts
Specific parts define the whole
Possible to be predisposed based on past experience

19. ABC Model of Attitudes Affective component- emotion
Behavior component- action
Cognitive component- thought

20. Build an Attitude Workshop
General idea
Affect
Behavior
Cognition

21. Attitude Change Poor predictors of behavior
Strong attitudes are better predictors
Attitudes are subject to change
Can be changed by
Persuasion
Cognitive dissonance

22. Persuasion
Process by which a person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another through argument, pleading, or explanation
Combination of factors determines effectiveness
Source
Message
Target audience

23. Elaboration Likelihood Model
People will either add details or information to a message or pay attention to other surface characteristics of the message
Poses two types of processing
Central route- people pay attention to the message’s content
Peripheral route- people pay attend to other factors rather than the message’s content (i.e., length, credibility of speaker)

24. Cognitive Dissonance
Sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does not match his or her attitude
Need to address this uneasiness
Three solutions
Change behavior to match attitude
Change attitude to match behavior
Justify behavior with a new line of thought

25. Attribution
Process of explaining your behavior and the behavior of others
Justification
Fulfills need for an explanation
Will create an answer if not obvious
Cognitive dissonance can occur if an explanation is not found

26. Attribution Theory Two kinds of explanations
External cause
Internal cause
Situational cause- external
i.e., actions of others, aspects of the situation
Dispositional cause- internal
i.e., personality, character

27. Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to overestimate the influence another person’s internal characteristics have on his/her behavior and to underestimate the influence of the situation

28. Social Interaction Relationships between people Prejudice Aggression
Casual
Intimate
Prejudice
Aggression
Prosocial behavior
Liking and loving

29. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotypes, Oh My!
What is prejudice?
What is discrimination?
What is a stereotype?
Are they the same or are they different?
How are they the same or different?

30. Prejudice
Negative attitude held about people in a particular social group
Hard to control
Prejudice is not discrimination
Discrimination is acting upon prejudice(s)
Discrimination can be controlled

31. Prejudice Prejudice is not a stereotype
Stereotypes are thoughts
Stereotypes can be positive or negative
Stems from the idea of us vs them
In-group- us; people we identify with
Out-group them; people we don’t identify with

32. Brown Eye, Blue Eye Study
Second grade class taught by Jane Elliot
Divided students into 2 groups (brown eyes, blue eyes)
Blue eyed kids were favored over brown eyed kids
Brown eyed kids were criticized by both Jane Elliot and later their blue eyed peers
Brown eyed kids felt and acted inferior

33. Brown Eye, Blue Eye Study
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34. Harms of Prejudice
Scapegoating- an out-group with little power that becomes the target of blame, frustration, and negative emotions of the in-group
Stereotype vulnerability- the effect of stereotypes of your group on your behavior

35. Harms of Prejudice
Self-fulfilling prophecy- expectations affect behavior in a way to make the expectation more likely to happen
Easy to learn
Takes effort to remedy

36. Countering Prejudice
Intergroup contact-opposing groups have direct contact with each other to see the other group as people through observation and interaction
Can backfire
Equal status contact- contact between groups where equal status or power is maintained between them
Shown to work

37. Aggression Behavior intended to cause harm to another person
Can be physical
Can be verbal
Several causes
Learned
Biology
Chemical

38. Social Roles
Pattern of behavior expected of a person as a result of their social position

39. Role Time What are some social roles?
What are the expectations of those roles?

40. Stanford Prison Experiment
Conducted by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford
Turned the basement into a prison
70 young men participated
Randomly assigned to the role of guard or prisoner
Planned to last for 2 weeks

41. Stanford Prison Experiment
Guards and prisoners given clothes for their role
Guards had sunglasses covering their eyes
Quickly began to assimilate to their roles
Guards began to harass and beat the prisoners
Study was called off after 5 days
Social roles have a powerful influence on behavior

42. Stanford Prison Experiment

43. Prosocial Behavior Socially desirable behavior that benefits others
Altruism- beneficial behavior done without expectation of a reward or gain
Debated on whether or not if people are truly altruistic

44. The Five Must’s of Helping
Must notice that there is a problem that needs addressing
Must be able to interpret the cues as an emergency; a need to help
Must take responsibility to act

45. The Five Must’s of Helping
Must decide how to help and what skills/abilities will be useful
Must act

46. Another Brief Interlude Survey
You’re driving along on a road and your car dies, would you rather be on a major highway or a county road?
Why would you want to be there?

47. Bystander Effect
The effect that the presence of other people has on the decision of whether or not to help
Studied by Latane and Darley
Inspired by the tragedy of Kitty Genovese in New York
Help is less likely with more people present
Diffusion of responsibility

48. Bystander Effect
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