Social PsychologyWhat influences us

Social PsychologyO Scientific study of how a person’s

behavior, thoughts and feelings are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others

Social InfluenceO The real or implied presence of

others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individualO Can occur even when a person may

not want to go along with the groupO Even in the presence of others

ConformityO Changing one’s own behavior to

match othersO Asch’s study

O Seven participants in a roomO Told study on visual judgmentO Only one real participant

O Others were told to pick same wrong answer

What happened?O The person gave the same wrong

answerO An experiment in America now might

not get the same results as in 1950’sO Other cultures might still conform

O Hong KongO Japan

O Online experiment and the cultural different disappears

GroupthinkO When people of a group find group

cohesiveness more important than considering the factsO War on IraqO TitanicO Challenger

O Why would group think occur?O Group can do no wrongO Stereotyped views of those that disagreeO Exert pressure

ComplianceO Occurs when people change their

behavior as a result of the influence of another person or group

O Consumer PsychologyO How to get people to buy what you are

sellingO Techniques

O Foot in the DoorO Door in the FaceO Lowball O That’s not All

ObedienceO Changing your behavior at the

command of an authority figureO Police officerO TeacherO Work supervisorO Military officer

O How far would you go to obey?

Milgram’s ExperimentO Placed add in paper to recruit people

O Told they were to test the effects of punishment on learned behavior

O Participants believed that they had been randomly assigned to either the O Teacher, which is where they were all

putO Learner, had a script to follow with

each jolt

Milgram’s what happened?

O Many professionals believed the person would not go over 150

O 65% went all the way to the final 450 volt shock level

O None quite before reaching 300 voltsO Retesting in US and other countries

concluded the same results

Milgram, WhyO Those that wen to 450 showed no

personality traits to have high levels of obedience

O Should this type of experiment even be done?O Cause self esteem issues with

volunteersO Psychological stress

Group BehaviorO Group polarization

O Members take a more extreme position than they would as individuals

O Social FacilitationO Presence of others to have a positive

impact on the performance of an easy taskO Social Impairment

O Negative impactO Social Loafing

O Person puts in less effort when working with others

Social CognitionO The way people think about other

people and how those cognitions influence behavior toward those other peopleO First ImpressionsO How we perceive othersO How we explain the behavior of

others

ABC’s of AttitudesO Attitude is a tendency to respond positively

or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea or situationO You are not born with attitudes, they are

learned in the environment that you grow up in

O We may make up our minds before even trying something new

Components of AttitudeO Affective Component

O Affect means emotions feelingsO How you might feel about certain music, movies

O Behavior ComponentO Action that you might take in regard to the

person, object, or situationO Buy certain music, go to movies you like

O Cognitive ComponentO way you think about yourself, an object or an

event. Including beliefs and ideasO You might think the music you like is better than

any other

Attitude FormationO Learning, we learn our attitudes

O Direct contact with the object, person, or situation

O Direct instruction by a parent or another individual

O Interaction with others, we may be influenced by who we spend time with

O Vicarious Conditioning (observational learning) we may learn our attitudes by watching others in our lives, in the media, in books, at school

Attitude ChangeO The art of persuasion

O What does it take to change your attitude?

Cognitive DissonanceO When we have a sense of discomfort when

our behavior and beliefs do not matchO When we do something against who we

really areO How to fix it

O Change our behaviorO Change cognition to justify behaviorO Form new cognitions to justify behavior

Social CategorizationO Assignment of a person to a category

based on characteristics the person has in common with other people you have experienced in the pastO Stereotypes are when the person is

categorized superficially, when it is believed all people who look like that must be…

AttributionO Explaining own behavior and the

behavior of othersO Situational cause, external factors,

such as delays, the actions of others, or some other aspect of the situation

O Dispositional cause, internal factors, such as personality or character

Prejudice and Discrimination

O Prejudice is holding an unsupportive and often negative attitude about member of a particular social group

O Discrimination is treating people differently because of the prejudice toward the social group to which they belong

Brown Eyes vs. Blue Eyes

O Small town in Iowa in 1968 two days after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King

O See how the kids had discrimination/prejudice in them already

O How quick the blue eyed kids fell into their “role”

O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG1v6g7TPX4

Ben WilsonO Played for Simeon Voc

HS in ChicagoO First Chicago basketball

player to be named the top high school basketball player in the country

O November 20, 1984, Wilson was shot

O Family sued hospital for projected earning $10 Million dollars

How do we learn it?O Social identity theory

O We view ourselves as part of a certain groupO We categorize others into certain groupsO We compare ourselves to other groups,

mostly in a better wayO Stereotype vulnerability

O Person’s awareness of the stereotypes associated with their social group

How do we overcome it?

O Education!!!O Learn about others different than

yourselfO Have contact with other cultures,

colleges are a great way to have intergroup contact, no one is an outsider