Chapter 14: Social Psychology

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Social Psychology

The study of how peoples

thoughts, feelings, and
actions are affected by
others

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Attitudes and Social Cognition

Attitudes
Learned predispositions to respond in a
favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular
person, behavior, belief, or thing

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Persuasion: Changing Attitudes

Message source
The characteristics of a
person who delivers a
persuasive message, known
as the attitude
communicator

Characteristic of the
message
What the message is like
One-sided argument
Two-sided argument
Fear-producing
message

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Persuasion: Changing Attitudes

Characteristics of the target

Central-route processing
Occurs when the
recipient thoughtfully
considers the issues
and arguments involved
in persuasion
Peripheral-route processing
Occurs when people are
persuaded on the basis
of factors unrelated to
the nature or quality of
the content of a
persuasive message

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Cognitive Dissonance

Occurs when a person holds

two attitudes or thoughts
(referred to as cognitions)
that contradict each other

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Social Cognition: Understanding

Others

Social cognition
Processes that underlie our
understanding of the social
world

Schemas
Sets of cognitions about
people and social
experiences

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Social Cognition: Understanding

Others

Impression formation
The process by which an individual
organizes information about another person
to form an overall impression of that person

Central traits
Traits utilized to form an overall impression
of others

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Attribution Process

Attribution theory
Seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of
samples of an individuals behavior, what the
specific causes of that persons behavior are

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Attribution Process

Situational causes
A cause of behavior that is brought about by
something in the environment

Dispositional causes
A cause of behavior that is prompted by the
persons disposition (his or her internal traits
or personality characteristics)

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Biases in Attribution

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to over-attribute others behavior to dispositional
causes, and the corresponding failure to recognize the
importance of situational causes

Halo effect
Phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a
person has positive traits is used to infer other uniformly
positive characteristics

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Biases in Attribution

Assumed-similarity bias
The tendency to think of
people as being similar to
oneself, even when meeting
them for the first time

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Social Influence

The process by which the

actions of an individual or
group affect the behavior of
others

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Conformity

A change in behavior or attitudes brought about by a

desire to follow the beliefs or standards of other
people
Example: the Solomon Asch study, 1951

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Important Variables Producing

Conformity

Characteristics of the group

Situation in which the individual is responding
Kind of task
Unanimity of the group
Social supporter
Person who shares an unpopular point of
view along with another group member,
thereby reducing nonconformity

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Groupthink

Type of thinking in which group members share

such a strong motivation to achieve consensus
that they lose the ability to critically evaluate
alternative points of view

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Compliance: Submitting to Direct

Social Pressure

Foot-in-the-door technique
Small request followed by a
larger request

Door-in-the-face technique
Large request followed by a
smaller request

Thats-not-all technique
Offered a deal at an inflated
price

Not-so-free sample
Norm of reciprocity

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Obedience: Obeying Direct Orders

Obedience
A change in behavior due to
the commands of others

Stanley Milgram, 1963

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Prejudice and Discrimination

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 toward
members of a particular
group
Self-fulfilling prophecy

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The Foundations of Prejudice

Social learning approaches

Peoples feelings about
members of various groups
are shaped by the behavior
of parents, other adults, and
peers

Social identity theory

We use group membership
as a source of pride and
self-worth

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Working to End Prejudice and

Discrimination

Increasing contact between

the target of stereotyping
and the holder of the
stereotype
Making positive values and
norms against prejudice
more conspicuous
Providing information about
the objects of stereotyping
Reducing stereotype
vulnerability

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Positive and Negative Social

Behavior

Attraction

Proximity
Mere exposure
Similarity
Reciprocity-of-liking effect
Physical attractiveness

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Types of Love

Passionate (or romantic) love

Represents a state of intense absorption in
someone that includes intense physiological
arousal, psychological interest, and caring
for the needs of another

Companionate love
Strong affection that we have for those with
whom our lives are deeply involved

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Components of Love: Robert

Sternberg

Intimacy component
Passion component
Decision/commitment
component

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Aggression

Aggression
Intentional injury or harm to another
person

Instinct approaches
Catharsis
Process of discharging built up
aggressive energy

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Aggression

Frustration-aggression approaches
Frustration
The thwarting or blocking of some
ongoing, goal-directed behavior

Observational learning approaches

Effects of modeling

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Prosocial Behavior

Prosocial behavior
Helping behavior

Altruism
Helping behavior that is beneficial to others but
clearly requires self-sacrifice

Diffusion of responsibility
Tendency for people to feel that responsibility for
acting is shared, or diffused, among those
present

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