Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
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Transcript of Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
Chapter 18
Social Psychology
James A. McCubbin, PhDClemson University
Worth Publishers
Social Thinking
Social Psychology scientific study of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one anotherAttribution Theory
tendency to give a causal explanation for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition
Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is a Social Psychological theory that relates to the way in which people explain their own behavior and that of others. According to this theory, people tend to attribute (or explain) psychological or external causes as the determining factor in behavior. For example, if someone acts mean to you one day, would you attribute the behavior to the person being a jerk (internal attribution) or to the person having a bad day (external attribution)? Attribution theory examines the ways in which people make these attributions. Make sure you review the definition for the Fundamental Attribution Error, which relates directly to this.
Social Thinking
Fundamental Attribution Error tendency for observers, when analyzing
another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Attitude belief and feeling that predisposes one to
respond in a particular way to objects, people and events
Fundamental Attribution Error Example Imagine this situation, you are at school and someone
you know comes by, you say hello, and this person just gives you a quick, unfriendly "hello" and then walks away. How would you attribute this situation -- why did this person act this way? If you react to this situation by saying the person is a "jerk" then you have made the fundamental attribution error; the tendency for an observer, when interpreting and explaining the behavior of another person (the actor), to underestimate the situation and to overestimate the personal disposition. Maybe the person was having the worst day of their life, just found out a loved one died, failed a test and was feeling devastated, etc. In this case, the situation may have caused them to act in a way that was different than their normal happy self. But, you, as a normal observer, would instead attribute their behavior to them as a person...acted that way because that is the type of person they are.
Social ThinkingHow we explain someone’s behavior affects how we
react to it
Negative behavior
Situational attribution“Maybe that driver is ill.”
Dispositional attribution“Crazy driver!”
Tolerant reaction(proceed cautiously, allowdriver a wide berth)
Unfavorable reaction(speed up and race past theother driver, give a dirty look)
Social ThinkingOur behavior is affected by our inner attitudes
as well as by external social influences
Internalattitudes
Externalinfluences
Behavior
Social Thinking Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
For example, someone might want you to give to give 5 hours of your time a week for the three months as a volunteer to a charity (a big request). But to get you to agree to this big request, they first ask you to volunteer for 1 hour one time and one time only. After hearing this small request, which you are willing to agree to, they then work their way up asking you to volunteer time until you are willing to agree to the big request. You are more likely to agree to this when you have already said yes to the small request.
Social RolesRole
set of expectations about a social position defines how those in the position ought to
behave We all have roles that we play. No, not in roles in a
"play", but roles we play in life. To a psychologist, a role is a set of expectations about the ways in which people are supposed to behave in different situations. Roles are dependent on all sorts of things like the position a person holds, the culture, etc. For example, a person who is the CEO of a company is expected to act in certain ways specifically because of the title the person holds and the expectations we have in our society about the ways CEOs should behave.
Social Thinking
Cognitive Dissonance Theory we act to reduce the discomfort
(dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent
example- when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes
Social Influence
Conformity adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
Normative Social Influence influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Social Influence
Norm an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior
prescribes “proper” behaviorInformational Social Influence
influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality
Social Influence
Participants judged which person in Slide 2 was the same as the person in Slide 1
Difficult judgments
Easy judgments
Conformity higheston important
judgments
Low HighImportance
50%
40
30
20
10
0
Percentage ofconformity toconfederates’
wrong answers
Social Influence
Milgram’s follow-up obedience experiment
XXX(435-450)
Percentageof subjects
who obeyedexperimenter
100908070605040302010
0
Slight(15-60)
Moderate(75-120) Strong
(135-180)
Verystrong
(195-240)Intense
(255-300)
Extremeintensity(315-360)
Dangersevere
(375-420)Shock levels in volts
The majority ofsubjects continued to obey to the end
Social InfluenceSocial Facilitation
improved performance of tasks in the presence of others
occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered
Social Loafing tendency for people in a group to exert less
effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
Social FacilitationHome Advantage in Major Team Sports
Home TeamGames Winning
Sport Studied Percentage
Baseball 23,034 53.3%
Football 2,592 57.3
Ice hockey 4,322 61.1
Basketball 13,596 64.4
Soccer 37,202 69.0
Social Influence
Deindividuation loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
Social Influence
Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s prevailing
attitudes through discussion within the group
Groupthink mode of thinking that occurs when
the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives
Social Influence
If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions
High
Prejudice
Low
+4
+3
+2
+1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4Before discussion After discussion
Low-prejudicegroups
High-prejudicegroups
Social Influence
Self-fulfilling Prophecy occurs when one person’s belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm the belief
Social Relations
Prejudice an unjustifiable (and usually negative)
attitude toward a group and its members involves stereotyped beliefs, negative
feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action
Stereotype a generalized (often over generalized)
belief about a group of people
Social RelationsAmericans today express much less
racial and gender prejudice
Would you vote fora woman president?
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Year
1936 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Do whites have a rightto keep minorities out of
their neighborhoods?
Percentageanswering
yes
Social Relations
Ingroup “Us”- people with whom one
shares a common identityOutgroup
“Them”- those perceived as different or apart from one’s ingroup
Social Relations
Ingroup Bias tendency to favor one’s own group
Scapegoat Theory theory that prejudice provides an outlet for
anger by providing someone to blame Just-World Phenomenon
tendency of people to believe the world is just people get what they deserve and deserve
what they get
Social Relations
Aggression any physical or verbal behavior
intended to hurt or destroyFrustration-Aggression Principle
principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal – creates anger, which can generate aggression
Social Relations
Uncomfortably hot weather and aggression
Murdersand rapesper day in
Houston, Texas
8.0
7.5
7.0
6.5
6.040-68 69-78 79-85 86-91 92-99
Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
Social RelationsJuvenile violent crime arrest rates
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
1,000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Arrest per100,000
15- to 17-year-olds
Social Relations
Men who sexually coerce women
Sexualpromiscuity
Hostilemasculinity
Coercivenessagainstwomen
Social Relations
Conflict perceived incompatibility of actions,
goals, or ideasSocial Trap
a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior
Social Relations
Social trap by pursuing
our self-interest and not trusting others, we can end up losers
Optimaloutcome
Probableoutcome
Person 1Choose A Choose B
Per
son
2C
ho
ose
B
Ch
oo
se A
Social Relations- AttractivenessProximity
mere exposure effect- repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
Physical Attractiveness youthfulness may be associated with health
and fertility Similarity
friends share common attitudes, beliefs, interests
Social Relations
Passionate Love an aroused state of intense positive
absorption in another usually present at the beginning of a love
relationshipCompanionate Love
deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined
Social RelationsEquity
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
Self-disclosure revealing intimate aspects of oneself to
othersAltruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Social RelationsThe decision-making process for
bystander intervention
Noticesincident?
Interpretsincident as
emergency?
Assumesresponsibility?
Attemptsto help
Nohelp
Nohelp
Nohelp
Yes YesYes
No No No
Social Relations
Bystander Effect tendency for
any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Percentageattempting
to help
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Number of otherspresumed available to help
1 2 3 4
Social Relations
Social Exchange Theory the theory that our social behavior is
an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs
Superordinate Goals shared goals that override differences
among people and require their cooperation