S OCIAL P SYCHOLOGY The study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another.

S OCIAL P SYCHOLOGY I NCLUDES Attitude Aggression Attraction Group Behavior

S OCIAL T HINKING How do we think about one another? Social thinking involves thinking about others, especially when they engage in doing things that are unexpected. Does her warmth reflect romantic interest or is that how she relates to everyone? Does his absenteeism signify illness, laziness, or stressful work environment? Was the horror of 9/11 the work of crazed people or of ordinary people corrupted by life events?

A TTRIBUTING B EHAVIOR TO P ERSONS OR TO S ITUATIONS Attribution Theory Fritz Heider (1958) suggested that we have a tendency to give casual explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition. Was my friend a jerk because she had a bad day or is just a bad person?

D ISPOSITIONAL A TTRIBUTION VS. S ITUATIONAL A TTRIBUTION A teacher may wonder whether a child’s hostility reflects an aggressive personality ( dispositional attribution ) or is a reaction to stress or abuse (a situational attribution ). What do you think? In groups answer the 3 questions about dispositional attribution and situational attribution.

Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition. Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Cultures Disposition vs situation False Consensus Effect Self-Serving Bias How do you view your teacher’s behavior? Y ou probably attribute it to their personality rather than their profession. But do you really know? When you start a romance, you assume that they agree with your world views….honeymoon period. If you win it is because you are awesome…if you lose, it must have been the coach or weather or….

A TTRIBUTION C HECK I N : Listen to this and decide what types of attributions the actors and observers made in the following situation: The story: In 1979, rock fans were waiting to get into a concert by The Who. When the Coliseum doors were opened, several fans were trampled to death. Time magazine later received a letter from an outside observer and one from an actor participant. The question to Consider: How do their attributions differ?

A TTRIBUTION C HECK I N : Listen to this and decide what types of attributions the actors and observers made in the following situation: The Observer’s Letter: “The violently destructive message that The Who and other rock groups deliver leaves me little surprised that they attract a mob that will trample human being to death to gain better seats. Of greater concern is a respected news magazine’s adulation of this sick phenomenon.” The Actor’s Letter: “ While standing in the crowd at Riverfront Coliseum, I distinctly remember feeling that I was being punished for being a rock fan. My sister and I joked about this, unaware of the horror happening around us. Later, those jokes came back to us grimly as we watched the news. How many lives will be lost before the punitive and inhuman policy of festival seating at rock concerts are outlawed?”

A TTITUDES AND A CTIONS A belief and feeling that predisposes a person to respond in a particular way to objects, other people, and events. If we believe a person is mean, we may feel dislike for the person and act in an unfriendly manner. Our attitudes predict our behaviors imperfectly because other factors, including the external situation, also influence behavior.

D O OUR ATTITUDES GUIDE OUR ACTIONS ? Only if…. External pressure is minimal. We are aware of our attitudes. The attitude is relevant to the behavior. More often, our actions affect our attitudes.

Attitudes Can Affect Action Not only do people stand for what they believe in (attitude), they start believing in what they stand for. Cooperative actions can lead to mutual liking (beliefs). D. MacDonald/ PhotoEdit

C OMPLIANCE S TRATEGIES Foot-in-the-door phenomenon Door-in-the-face phenomenon Norms of reciprocity Attitudes-follow-behavior principle works for good as well as bad deeds Moral action strengthens moral convictions

F OOT - IN - THE - DOOR PHENOMENON The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. If I give out an answer on a quiz, what happens next?

D OOR - IN - FACE P HENOMENON The tendency for people who say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one. If I (Miss Sherwood) ask my dad for the 1952 Topps Mantle card ($15k) he will say? NO But he may let me buy a new xbox game instead.

Z IMBARDO ’ S P RISON S TUDY Philip Zimbardo has students at Stanford U play the roles of prisoner and prison guards in the basement of psychology building. They were given uniforms and numbers for each prisoner. What do you think happened?

R OLES A FFECT A TTITUDES Similarly to Zimbardo’s experiment this happened in real life in 2004 with Abu Ghraib Prison Reminded that good apples can go bad Zimbardo said this about the soldiers in Abu Ghraib Prison “When ordinary people are put in a novel, evil place, such as most prisons, situations win, people lose.”

W HAT HAPPENS WHEN WE BECOME AWARE THAT OUR ATTITUDES DON ’ T MATCH OR ACTIONS ?

A TTITUDE AND B EHAVIOR Do attitudes tell us about someone’s behavior? Cognitive Dissonance Theory People want to have consistent attitudes and behaviors….when they are not they experience dissonance (unpleasant tension). Usually they will change their attitude. You have a belief that cheating on tests is bad. But you cheat on a test!!! The teacher was really bad so in that class it is OK.

C OGNITIVE D ISSOANCE T HEORY The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent.

E XAMPLES OF C OGNITIVE D ISSONANCE Smokers find all kinds of reasons to explain away their unhealthy habit. The alternative is to feel a great deal of dissonance Consider someone who buys an expensive car but discovers that it is not comfortable on long drives. Dissonance exists between their beliefs that they have bought a good car and that a good car should be comfortable. Dissonance could be eliminated by deciding that it does not matter since the car is mainly used for short trips (reducing the importance of the dissonant belief) or focusing on the cars strengths such as safety, appearance, handling (thereby adding more consonant beliefs). The dissonance could also be eliminated by getting rid of the car, but this behavior is a lot harder to achieve than changing beliefs.

C OGNITIVE D ISSONANCE T HEORY During college fraternity pledging, first year students run through activities designated to test their limits. One pledge was told to dig his “own grave”. After he complied with orders to lay in it, the walls collapsed and suffocated him before his fraternity brothers could get him out. Another pledge choked to death after repeatedly trying to swallow a large slab of raw liver soaked in oil. Why do hazing activities persist? How does cognitive dissonance theory play a part in pledging a fraternity?

C OGNITIVE D ISSONANCE T HEORY C HECK I N Point to Remember: Cruel acts shape the self. But so do act of good will. Act as though you like someone, and you soon will. Changing our behavior can change how we think about others and how we feel about ourselves. Take the “Who Said It Quiz” Read the famous quotes and decide who said it

W HO S AID I T Read each quote and decide who said it. This is an exercise, in considering what we think we know. It is an exercise in responding to cognitive dissonance. Each of us including me, enters social justice learning with more learning to do. We are socialized to believe we have a deeper understanding of the world around us that we really have.

R EFLECTION Q UESTIONS FROM W HO S AID I T Which of these quotations do you find most surprising, considering its source? Why? Why have the views of some of these people been erased from mainstream history? Who is served by this white-washing? What questions has this quiz raised for you regarding what you think you know about history? How might acquiring the new knowledge presented by the quiz inform the way you react to other new information you come across?