Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning Social Psychology Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning

Social Psychology Subfield in Psychology concerned with how individuals are influenced by others

Person Perception Defined-the process of forming impressions of others Impressions are influenced by physical appearance good looking people are seen as intelligent, friendly, and confident Schemas-organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people Stereotypes gender, race, job

Attitude Formation Components Cognitive Components-what you believe Affective-How you feel about it Behavioral-what you are willing to do about it

Attribution Theory Defined-inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others’ behavior, and their own behavior Function-People like to explain and understand behavior and the events that impact their lives Attributions are made when an event is unusual and personal

Attributions-Internal or External? Internal-Internal attributions assume behavior is due to personal characteristics External-External attributions assume behavior is due to external demands or environmental conditions

Bias in Attribution Actor-Observer Bias-actors favor external attributions for their behavior, while observers favor internal attributions Defensive Attribution-when a victim is blamed for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way Self-Serving Bias-tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal factors and one’s failures to situational factors

Attraction Contributors to Attraction Proximity-physical closeness Physical attractiveness-pleasant physical appearance increases attraction Similarity-commonalities between two people Reciprocity-the tendency to like those who like you

Results of Attraction Friendship-an attraction driven by a set of rules that must be followed for the relationship to continue Examples of rules: help when needed trust and confide in each other Love-the triangular theory of love

Conformity and Obedience Conformity-yielding to social pressure Asch’s Conclusions 1) subjects often conform to a group, even when the group states clearly inaccurate conclusions 2) conformity to a group increases with the size of the group, up to four, but only when the group is unanimous in its beliefs Obedience Milgram’s Conclusions 1) situational pressures can make people obey instructions that go against their belief systems

Behavior in Groups Bystander Effect-people are less likely to help others when they are in groups than when they are alone Social Loafing-individuals in groups produce less work than when working by themselves reduced efficiency reduced effort Decision Making group polarization-when group discussion leads to a more “polar” point of view by the group groupthink-when group members feel pressure to conform to the group and cause these members to stop critically thinking to avoid dissention in the group Ex: Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs

Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudice-a negative attitude held toward members of a group Composed of three parts: beliefs (ex: “Hispanics are lazy” emotions (ex: “I dislike blacks” behavioral disposition (ex: I would never work with a homosexual) Discrimination-behaving unfairly toward the members of a group