Psych chapter 15

Copyright 2004 - Prentice Hall 1

Social PsychologySocial Psychology


Social PsychologySocial Psychology• Scientific study of how a person's

• Thoughts

• Feelings

• Behaviors• Are influenced by

• Behavior

• Characteristics

• Of other people

• Real

• Imagined

• Inferred



• Examines• Causes• Types• Consequences

• Of human interaction

• Interactions occur in a specific cultural context.



• Dress• Do you really dress the way you would like

to?• What clothes to wear when?

• Accessories

• Shoes



• Space • How close you stand to someone is culturally

determined.• Exercise

• Closest?

• Farthest way?



• Speech• Do's and don'ts

• What can you say to someone?

• Should you look someone in the eyes when speaking?

• Should we speak the truth?

• Slang



• Eat?• What foods do you eat with your fingers?• Which foods accompany other foods?• What do we eat and how much?• What is cool to eat?

• Food PowerPoint



• Culture clash• Parents• Travel• Moving from one part of the country to

another• Country to the city• Blue collar job to a white collar job


Social PsychologySocial Psychology• Ethnocentrism

• A belief in or assumption of the superiority of the social or cultural group that a person belongs to.

• Researchers sometimes guilty of

• Disregard cultural differences

• See other cultures as an extension of their own “superior” culture

• Therefore will view another culture from our own eyes

• Female Genital Mutilation


Social Psychology and CultureSocial Psychology and Culture

• Culture can influence• Type of research problem we choose to

investigate• Hypothesis• Selection of the variables we choose to

manipulate & record


Cross Cultural Study on Body SizeCross Cultural Study on Body Size

• Men's Body Image • Women prefer the

same male body size across cultures?


Social Psychology and CultureSocial Psychology and Culture• Individualism

• Placing one’s own goals above those of the group.

• U.S.

• Collectivism • Placing group goals above individual goals.



• Degree of individualism or collectivism in a culture can influence many aspects of behavior• Interpersonal relations• Self-concept• Parenting practices• Self-esteem• Emotional expression



• Cultures vary widely

• Social psychologists need to conduct cross-cultural studies• Can results of research conducted in one

culture be generalized to others?


How We View Others and Their How We View Others and Their BehaviorBehavior

• Impression formation • Process of developing an opinion about

another person.• Actor

• Perceiver

• Judgments you made of me and classmates• Based on

• Stereotypes

• Set of beliefs about members of a particular group.



• Stereotypes• Me

• Other professors • Hair color• Age

• Positive• Professors are geniuses.

• Negative• Blondes are stupid.

• In-group• Our group

• Positive• Out-group

• Negative



• 4 features of the actor have been shown to influence impression formation.

1) Physical appearance

2) Style and content of speech

3) Nonverbal mannerisms and nonverbal communication

4) Perceiver’s prior information about the actor



• Why do we all create stereotypes?• Safe, not safe• Easier on our on our brain

• Don’t have to continually process bits of information



• 2 reasons stereotypes persist• 1. Believe that a group of people possesses

certain characteristics• Note behaviors consistent with those

characteristics• Fail to notice behaviors that are inconsistent

• Example?

• 2. Effects of our own reactions & behaviors on the individuals in question.

• Treat people consistent with stereotype



• Self-fulfilling prophecy• When your behaviors influence others to

respond the way you expect• Information that is available to you before you

meet someone can affect your impression of that person.

• The activation of a stereotype can either enhance or decrease (stereotype threat) an individual’s performance.

• Stars demanding


The Halo EffectThe Halo Effect

• Named due to the perfection associated with angels.

• Assumption• Attractive people are:

• More intelligent• Better adjusted• More popular

• Research shows attractive people:

• More occupational success

• More dating experience



• Alternative explanation for attractive people achieving more in life• We automatically categorize others before

having an opportunity to evaluate their personalities

• Cultural stereotypes• Attractive people must be intrinsically good

• Ugly people must be inherently bad


The Halo EffectThe Halo Effect• Cultural

stereotypes• Attractive people

must be intrinsically good

• Ugly people must be inherently bad



• “Beautiful is good” stereotype• Assumes that attractive people have positive

characteristics• Witty

• Intelligent

• Pleasing personalities

• Therefore attractive people can be expected to make better impressions.



• Elliot Aronson, social psychologist at Stanford • Self-fulfilling prophecies

• Person’s self-perception perpetuated by feedback from others

• May play a role in success as well.

• People who feel they are attractive - not necessarily rated as such–

• Just as successful as those judged to be good-looking.



• Research on self-disclosure• The more a person reveals about themselves

• More positive the impression

• Too much early in a relationship • May result in a negative first impression



• Communication • Nonverbal communication

• Important in determining initial impressions.



• 1st Impressions• How do they effect us?

• Hear something bad about someone?

• Murder ?• All the facts are in hard to

believe• 1. Wealthy

• 2. Popular

• 3. Family man



• Attributions• Addresses how people make judgments

about the causes of behavior.



• Internal Versus External Causes• Internal attributions

• Behavior is seen as being caused by factors that reside within a person.

• Stupid, smart, unfocused, critical, etc.



• External attributions• Causes of behavior

are viewed as residing outside an individual.

• Environmental• Wave• Bright light



• Fundamental attribution error• Tendency to attribute the behavior of others

to causes within themselves. • Example

• Driving• He drives reckless because he is an asshole.

• Test• She did poorly on the test because she is rather stupid.



• Self-Serving Bias • Defensive Attribution

• Tendency to attribute our successes to our own efforts or qualities

• Failures to external factors• Driving

• I drive fast because I am in a hurry.

• He drives fast because he is an asshole.

• Test• I did poorly on the test because the room was noisy.

• I did well on the test because I am intelligent.



• Actor-perceiver bias • Perceivers more likely to make internal

attributions • Actors more likely to make external

attributions.



• Another aspect of the self-serving bias involves the just world belief.

• Just world belief• Bad things happen to bad people• Good things happen to good people



• Attitudes• Relatively stable organization of

• Beliefs

• Feelings

• Behavior• Directed toward something or someone.

• Position on something or someone.• Can be positive, negative, or neutral



• 3 components of attitude formation

• Think

• Feel

• Do



• 1st component of attitude formation

• Evaluative beliefs• Think

• Facts

• Opinions

• General knowledge



• 2nd component of attitude formation• Feeling

• Mad

• Sad

• Glad

• Scared

• Surprise

• Disgust



• 3rd component of attitude formation• Behavioral tendency

• Approach

• Avoid


How We View Others and How We View Others and Their BehaviorTheir Behavior

• Example:• Cell phone

• Think• Feel • Do

• Do we always act according to our attitudes?• Why or why not?



• Social pressure?• Does the Dare program work?

• Why or why not?



• What variables help form our basic attitudes?


How We View Others and How We View Others and Their BehaviorTheir Behavior

• Parents

• Teachers

• Media

• Peers

• Billboards• Kids sponges



• Advertisers• Make sure our 1st exposure to product is

very positive.



• Self-reports often used to measure attitudes

• Influence responses• Types of questions asked• Way they are worded

• Attitudes can be measured by Likert scales & evaluation of observed behaviors.



• Likert scales • Questionnaires

participants indicate degree of agreement or disagreement with statements.

ExperimentExperiment

• Shoes



Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior• Obedience• The initiating or changing of behavior in

response to a direct command of an authority.

• In cases in which obedience will result in harm to another person, obedience increases with proximity to the source of the commands but decreases with proximity to the victim.


Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior• Milgram

• More than 800 townspeople in New Haven, Connecticut participated

• Scientist (the experimenter) wearing a white laboratory coat

• Middle-aged man • Confederate • Learner

• Participant • Teacher• Real participant


Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior• Teacher read a list of word• Learner gave 1st word of a pair and asked the

learner to identify the second word from among 4 words.

• Each time the learner gave an incorrect answer• Teacher instructed to administer an electric shock

starting at 15 volts• Before the session began, each teacher

experienced a mild (45-volt) shock to appreciate what the learner would feel.


Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior

• Ultimately 65% of all of the "teachers" punished the "learners" to the maximum 450 volts.

• No subject stopped before reaching 300 volts!


Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior• Milgram

• Authority figure takes responsibility for any harm resulting from obedience to commands, the likelihood of obedience is high.



• Milgram's experiment • Results:

• 2/3 obeyed fully

• Why do we obey authority?

• Waco

• Jonestown

• Heaven's gate

• Hitler



• Conformity• Results from indirect social pressure on an

individual to change his or her behaviors and thoughts.

• The nature of the authority behind pressures for conformity is not as obvious as it is in commands for obedience.


Social Influences on BehaviorSocial Influences on Behavior• Selecting the

matching line• 30% of Asch’s

participants chose incorrectly to conform with the group.

Psych chapter 15

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