L3. Social Psy

8/7/2019 L3. Social Psy

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SOCIAL

PSYCHOLOGY



Definition of Social Psychology

Social psychology is ´the scientific study of

how people think about, influence, and

relate to one another.µ

Social Psychology studies the influence

that people have upon the beliefs andbehavior of others.

´We cannot live for ourselves alone.µ Herman Melville



Concerns of Social Psychology

How are people influenced?

Why do people accept influence?

What variables increase and decrease theeffectiveness of social influence?

How do people form, maintain, and

change Attitudes

Positive and Negative Social Behavior





ATTITUDES A belief and feeling that predisposes a

person to respond in a particular way to

objects, other people, and events.

Three Components:

Cognition

Affect

Behavior

If we believe a person is mean, we may feel

dislike for the person and act in an

unfriendly manner.



ATTITUDE FORMATION� Classical Conditioning

(Example: Advertising)

� Operant Conditioning

(Attitudes are learned through reinforcement)

� Vicarious Learning(Attitudes are learned by observing and

watching others)



Pavlov¶s Experiment



Analysis of Pavlov¶s Study



CHANGING ATTITUDES: PERSUASION

Message Source Physically & Socially Attractive

Expertise

Trustworthiness

Prestigious Doesn¶t seem to be benefiting himself

Characteristics of the Message One Sided

Two Sided

Fear Producing

Characteristics of the Target

Central-route processing vs. Peripheral-route Processing



Motivated andMotivated and

able toable to

understand.understand.

Irrelevant, unIrrelevant, un--

willing, unablewilling, unable

to understand.to understand.

Receives andReceives and

elaborates onelaborates on

message.message.

Uses heuristics.Uses heuristics.

If accepted,If accepted,

longlong--termterm

change.change.

EasilyEasily

persuaded bypersuaded by

other message.other message.

PersuasivePersuasive

message.message.

PeripheralPeripheral

CentralCentral

AudienceAudience RouteRoute ResultResult



COGNITIVE DISSONANCEWh

en our attitudes and actions are opposed, weexperience tension. This is called Cognitive

Dissonance.

To relieve ourselves of this tension we bring our

attitudes closer to our actions (Festinger, 1957). Modifying one or both of the Cognitions

Changing the perceived importance of one

cognition Adding the Cognitions

Denying that the two cognitions are related to

each other



Attributing Behavior to Persons or to

Situations

Attribution Theory: Fritz Heider (1958)

suggested that we have a tendency to give

causal explanations for someone¶s behavior,

often by crediting either the situation or the

person¶s disposition.

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).



Attribution Processes:

Understanding the Causes of Behavior

Attribution Theory

Tendency to give a causal explanation for

someone·s beh

avior, often by crediting eith

erthe situation or the person·s disposition.

Situational Causes

A cause of behavior based on environmental

factors. Dispositional Causes

A cause of behavior based on internal traits

or personality factors



Biases in Attribution

Fundamental Attribution Error A tendency to attribute others behavior to dispositional

causes and to minimize the importance of situational causes.

Halo Effect

A phenomena in which an initial understanding that a personhas positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive

characteristics.

Assumed Similarity BiasThe tendency to think of people as being similar to oneself,

even when meeting them for the first time.



SOCIAL INFLUENCE

The effect of the

presence of other people

on one·s behavior:

Conformity

Compliance

Obedience



CONFORMITY

A change in behavior or attitudes broug ht about by adesire to follow the beliefs or standards of other people.

Variables producing conformity are:

The characteristics of the group The nature of the individual·s response

The kind of task

Unanimity of the group

Group Think: occurs w hen a group makes faulty decisions

because group pressures lead to a deterioration of

´mental efficiency and reality testing. (Irving Janis, 1972)



TEST A B C

ASCH¶S EXPERIMENT



COMPLIANCE

Behavior that occurs in response to

direct social pressure.

Techniques involved:

The foot-in-the-door technique

The door-in-the-face technique

The That¶s-not-all Technique



OBEDIENCE

A change in behavior due to the commands

of others

Stanley Milgram designed a study that

investigates the effects of authority onobedience. Stanley Milgram

(19331984)

People comply to social pressures.

How would they respond to outrig ht

command?



Milgram¶s Study



STEREOTYPES:

Generalized beliefs and expectations about

social groups and their members

PREJUDICE:

The negative or positive evaluations of groups

and their members

DISCRIMINATION:

Negative behavior towards member of a

particular group

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L3. Social Psy