social chapter

• Social psychology

  Examines how people affect one another, and looks at the power of the situation
• Social psychologists are interested in all aspects of personality and social interaction, exploring the influence of interpersonal and group relationships on human behavior
• Social psychology studies

  • Intrapersonal topics (emotions, attitudes, self, social cognition)
  • Interpersonal topics (helping behavior, aggression, prejudice, attraction, group processes)
• Situationism


  The view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings
• Dispositionism


  The view that our behavior is determined by internal factors (personality traits, temperament)
• Modern approaches to social psychology take both the situation and the individual into account when studying human behavior
• Fundamental attribution error


  The tendency to overemphasize internal factors as explanations for the behavior of others, and underestimate the power of the situation
• Fundamental attribution error example


  • Explaining someone's angry behavior as due to their personality rather than a stressful situation they are in
• The fundamental attribution error is more common in individualistic cultures that focus on the individual, compared to collectivistic cultures that focus on the group
• Actor-observer bias


  The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational factors, but attribute others' behavior to internal factors
• Self-serving bias


  The tendency to explain our successes as due to internal characteristics, but explain our failures as due to external factors
• Self-serving bias serves to protect self-esteem
• Self-serving biases


  Attributions that enable us to see ourselves in a favorable light (e.g. making internal attributions for success and external attributions for failures)
• When you do well at a task, it is in your best interest to make a dispositional attribution for your behavior ("I'm smart") instead of a situational one ("The exam was easy")
• Self-serving bias


  The tendency to explain our successes as due to dispositional (internal) characteristics, but to explain our failures as due to situational (external) factors
• This bias serves to protect self-esteem
• When our favorite sports team wins

  We make internal, stable, and controllable attributions (e.g. our team is talented, consistently works hard, uses effective strategies)
• When our favorite sports team loses

  We make external, unstable, and uncontrollable attributions (e.g. the other team has more experienced players, the referees were unfair, the cold weather affected our team's performance)
• Just-world hypothesis


  The belief that people get the outcomes they deserve
• The just-world hypothesis allows us to feel that the world is predictable and that we have some control over our life outcomes
• A negative consequence of the just-world hypothesis is people's tendency to blame poor individuals for their plight
• Blaming poor people for their poverty ignores situational factors that impact them, such as high unemployment rates, recession, poor educational opportunities, and the familial cycle of poverty
• People who hold just-world beliefs have negative attitudes toward people who are unemployed and people living with AIDS
• In the United States and other countries, victims of sexual assault may find themselves blamed for their abuse
• Attitude


  Our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object
• Components of attitude


  • Affective (feelings)
  • Behavioral (effect on behavior)
  • Cognitive (belief and knowledge)
• Our attitudes and beliefs are influenced by both external and internal forces
• Cognitive dissonance


  Psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions
• Experiencing cognitive dissonance


  Motivated to decrease it because it is psychologically, physically, and mentally uncomfortable
• Ways to reduce cognitive dissonance

  • Changing discrepant behavior (e.g. stop smoking)
  • Changing cognitions through rationalization or denial
  • Adding a new cognition
• Initiation


  A difficult process of joining a group that influences us to like the group more
• Justification of effort


  We value goals and achievements that we put a lot of effort into
• Persuasion


  The process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication
• Yale attitude change approach


  • Features of the source, content of the message, and characteristics of the audience influence persuasiveness
• Elaboration likelihood model


  Describes two routes of persuasion: central (logic-driven) and peripheral (association-driven)
• Foot-in-the-door technique


  Getting a person to agree to a small favor or purchase, then later requesting a larger favor or purchase
• The foot-in-the-door technique was demonstrated in a study where participants who agreed to post a small sign were more likely to agree to put a large sign in their yard
• Principle of consistency


  Our past behavior often directs our future behavior, and we have a desire to maintain consistency once we have committed to a behavior
• Conformity


  The change in a person's behavior to go along with the group, even if they do not agree with the group
• Asch effect


  The influence of the group majority on an individual's judgment