Social Psychology

 Social Psychology  Scientific study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another.  Why do people do the things they do?  How does being in a group change our behavior?  What is love? (Baby don’t hurt me)

 Social thinking guides future social behavior  Attribution theory  Tend to explain behavior through the external situation or the person’s internal disposition.  Fundamental attribution error  Examples  Explaining our own vs. others’ behavior  Effects of attribution

 Attitudes: Feelings that predispose our reactions.  A & A show reciprocal determinism  Central route vs. peripheral persuasion  Foot-in-the-door phenomenon  Examples  Roles and cognitive tension can change attitudes  Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiment..  Cognitive dissonance theory  Leon Festinger’s exciting experimentexciting

 Our personal attitudes and actions are only one part of the social puzzle.  Research in conformity, compliance, and group behaviors looks at the influences of social factors on behavior.  This relates to social norms and nurture aspects discussed earlier.

 Conformity: The adjustment of thoughts and behaviors toward a group standard.  Conformity is positive and negative  Solomon Asch’s conformity researchconformity  Strengthening conformity  Influences  Why do we conform?  Normative social influence  Informational social influence  Social influence and perception

 Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies  Original and variations Ogavan  Real life parallels  Both Asch and Milgram demonstrate the potential power of social influence vs. self.  Conclusions from this research.

 Individual vs. Group  Social Facilitation  Social Loafing  Deindividuation  Group vs. Group  Group polarization  Groupthink  Individuals within groups  Social vs. personal control  The vocal minority  Presence of others has distinct effects:  Increasing individual efforts towards individual goals  Decreasing individual efforts towards group goals  Decreasing individual responsibility when anonymous  Justifying attitudes and beliefs

 Prejudice vs. Stereotypes vs. Discrimination  Prejudice in society  Changes through time and statistics  Overt vs. subtle prejudice  Development of prejudice  Social Factors Social Factors  Inequality: blame the victim  Ingroup vs. outgroup  Ingroup bias  Emotional Factors  Terror management  Emotional scapegoat theory  Frustration  Cognitive Factors  Hierarchies, the other-race effect and ethnocentrism  The availability heuristic  The just-world phenomenon

 Aggression: Behavior intended to cause harm  Aggression is NOT an instinct – too much variation  Genetic influences  Selective breeding and temperament  Brain structure influences  Amygdala / limbic system and frontal lobes  Biochemical influences  Hormones, neurotransmitters and drugs  Higher testosterone?, disinhibition, and attention

 Frustration-aggression principle and aversive stimuli  Bobo doll and other examples  Nurture and aggression  Conditioning, ostracism, social disparity and family structure  Aggression-replacement program  Observation and modeling  Media and aggression  Social scripts  Teaching vs. releasing violent tendencies through video games?

 Factors that influence relationship development  Proximity  Mere exposure effect  Physical attractiveness  Social and cultural influences Social  Halo effect  Attractiveness, self-esteem and self-assessment  Similarity  Do opposites attract? Opposite in what ways?  Spoiler alert: Similarity and attraction positively correlate  The reward theory of attraction

 Love  Different levels of love  Elaine Hatfield’s theory  Romantic love  Passionate love  Biological influences  Habituation  Companionate love  Equity  Self-disclosure  Robert Sternberg’s Triangular theory

 Unselfish regard for others  Bystander intervention  Kitty Genovese and others  Bystander effect  Diffusion of responsibility  Factors in altruism  Social exchange theory  Cost-benefit analysis  Reciprocity norm  Social responsibility norm

 Conflict: Perceived incompatibility of actions, goals or ideas.  Social traps and individual vs. group interests  One person, “missing hero” and the “tragedy of the commons” traps.  “Us” vs. “Them”: Mirror image perceptions  Ingroup/outgroup

 Promoting resolution of conflicts  Contact and mere exposure effects  Cooperation  Muzafer Sherif and the Robbers Cave experiment  Superordinate goals  New ingroup creation (and new outgroups)  Communication  Mediation and talking through social traps  Conciliation  Charles Osgood and true GRIT  Small concessions and the reciprocity norm