Introductory Psychology Concepts Instructor name Class Title, Term/Semester, Year Institution © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology Social Psychology: The Study of Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior Influenced By the Real, or Implied Presence of Others Social Psychology studies how we think about our social world, how other people influence our behavior, and how we relate toward other people. “He’s been under a lot of stress lately.” “He only thinks about himself. What a jerk!” Depending on which attribution she makes for her husband’s outburst, this woman may respond with understanding or anger.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Compliance: Solomon Asch Compliance, or conformity—the adjustment of individual behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs to a group standard. In Asch’s classic (1956) conformity experiments, students were asked to judge which of three comparison lines was the same length as the standard line. Upon hearing other group members say that line 1 was the correct match, participants wondered whether their own judgments were correct. A213 Comparison linesStandard line Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 Obedience: Stanley Milgram The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts Malevolent Authority Stanley Milgram (1974) asked a disturbing question: Would ordinary citizens obey the orders of an authority figure if those orders meant physically harming an innocent person? He conducted 18 studies between 1960 and 1963 to answer this question and to identify factors that increased or decreased obedience to authority. Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 Obedience: Stanley Milgram The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts Malevolent Authority Milgram’s Method: Participants: 40 men, years old, “teachers”. Each participant was introduced to a “learner” (confederate). Participants were told that the experiment studied the effects of punishment on memory. Each time the learner made an error, the teacher was instructed to administer an electric shock, beginning with 15 volts and increasing to 450 volts. Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 Obedience: Stanley Milgram Milgram’s Results: This graph shows the percentage of male participants who continued to shock the learner through various voltage levels. SOURCE: Based on Milgram, Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology Slight 15 volts Strong 135 volts Intense 255 volts Danger: Severe Shock 375 volts Moderate 75 volts Ver strong 195 volts Extreme intensity 315 volts XXX volts Percentage of people obeying command at each shock level

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 Attitudes An attitude is a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object, or concept (Tesser & Shaffer, 1990). Attitudes represent an important form of social thinking. They help define who we are, and they affect the way people judge one another. Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 Attitude Formation Persuasion is the process of changing attitudes. Social psychologists have discovered two primary information-processing routes to persuasion: Central route processing Recipient carefully considers the issues involved in persuasion. Peripheral route processing More likely used by uninvolved, inattentive targets, less enduring. MessageTarget + Highly Involved + Motivated + Attentive Central route processing + Uninvolved + Unmotivated + Inattentive Peripheral route processing Stronger, lasting attitude change Weaker, less persistent attitude change Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 Attribution Attribution theory seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of samples of an individual’s behavior, what the specific causes of that person’s behavior are. Noticing an event Interpreting the event Is time available? Are cognitive resources available? Is there motivation to change the initial explanation? Forming an initial explanation Yes Formulate and resolve problem Is the explanation satisfactory? Event explained; process stops No YesNo Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 Aggression The intentional injury of, or harm to, another person. Types of aggression include: Instinct Approach: Aggression is an innate, or inborn, reaction due to our natural fight and survival instinct. Frustration-Aggression Approach: Feelings of frustration lead to anger which can then lead to a readiness to act aggressively. Observational Learning Approach: Social and environmental conditions can teach individuals to be aggressive. Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudices are the negative (or positive) evaluation of a particular group and its members. Discrimination is the actual behavior directed toward individuals based on one’s prejudices. Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology Like father, like son. Social learning approaches to stereotyping and prejudice suggest that attitudes and behaviors toward members of minority groups are learned through the observation of parents and other individuals.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 Liking and Loving: forms of interpersonal attraction and close relationships that stem from positive feelings for others. Research has given us a good deal of knowledge about the factors that initially attract two people to each other (Harvey & Weber, 2002). Important factors considered by social psychologists include: Proximity Mere exposure Similarity Physical Attractiveness Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Liking and Loving Psychologist Robert Sternberg suggests that love consists of three parts: Decision/commitment Intimacy Passion Liking (intimacy) Infatuation (passion) Empty love (decision/commitment) Romantic love (intimacy + passion) Companionate love (intimacy + decision/commitment) Fatuous love (passion + decision/commitment) Consummate love (intimacy + passion + decision/commitment) Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Prosocial Behavior Altruism: helping behavior that is clearly beneficial to others, but often includes self-sacrifice. The Basic Steps of Helping Noticing a person, event, or situation that may require help Interpreting the event as one that requires help Assuming responsibility for helping Deciding on and implementing the form of helping Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology