Kayla Armijo Jessica Nguyen Claire Choi Social Thinking Pgs. 643-650

Essential Questions What is social thinking? How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own? Does what we think affect what we do, or does what we do affect what we think?

Focus Questions What is the cognitive dissonance theory? What do studies of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and of role-playing reveal? What is attitude and what does it have to do with social psych?

Vocab Words Social psychology: the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. Attribution theory: the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition Fundamental attribution error: the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition Attitude: feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events Central route persuasion: attitude change path in which interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts Peripheral route persuasion: attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness Foot-in-the-door phenomenon: the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request Role: a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave Cognitive dissonance theory: the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent

Attributing Behavior to Persons or to Situations We generally explain people’s behavior by attributing it to internal dispositions and/or to external ones In committing the fundamental attribution error we underestimate the influence of the situation on others’ actions When explaining our own behavior we more often point out to a situation Our attributions influence our personal, legal, political, and workplace judgements

Cont… Image on pg. 644 (the fundamental attribution error) If our new friend acts grouchy, we may decide she’s a grouchy person. She may be more likely to explain her behavior as a result of losing sleep over a family worry, missing the bus to school, or having a fight with her boyfriend

Attitude and Actions Attitudes influence behavior when other influences are minimal, and when the attitude is stable, specific to behavior, and easily recalled Studies of the foot-in-the-door and of role-playing reveal that our actions can also modify our attitudes Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that behavior shapes attitudes because we feel discomfort when our actions and attitudes differ We reduce discomfort by bringing our attitudes more into line with what we have done

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo