Social PsychologyAttitudes

Social Psychology

Study the nature and causes of our behavior and mental processes in _______________

Attitudes, social perception, attraction, social influence, and group behavior

AttitudeBehavioral and cognitive tendencies that are expressed by evaluating particular people, places, or things, with ________

________________________________Love and hateHelping behavior or mass destructionSocial conflict or conflict resolutionTend to remain ____________unless shoved (religion and political beliefs)

The A-B Problem

A-AttitudesB-Behavior____________________________________________________

___________________________

The A-B Problem

1) ____________-better predict specific behavior from specific attitudes (church attendance vs. Christian)

2) ___________of attitudes-drinking and driving vs. MADD

3) _________________- more likley to act on attitudes when vested interest in the outcome (dance elections or ASB)

4) _____________-express attitudes when it is brought to mind or emotional impact

Changing Attitudes

Through Persuasion:1) _______________ Route-

involves thoughtful consideration of arguments and evidence (quality of a product)

2) _______________ Route-associating objects with positive or negative cues (Virginia slims cigs)

Persuasive Messages

1) Repetition-familiarity breeds content

2) Two-sided claims-ads that admit the product’s weak points in addition to highlighting its strength are most believable

3) Fear appeal-arouses fear instead of rational analysis of the issues (smoking ads)

4) Atmospheric elements-good, food, music, mood

Persuaded AudienceDo you have trouble saying no?________ self-esteem and ______social anxiety are more likely to resist social pressure

__________ self-esteem are _________open to persuasion

Quiz-How assertive are you?

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

A method for inducing compliance in which a _________request is followed by a _________ request

Donating money to charity can lead them to ask you to go door to door for their organization next time

Prejudice

The belief that a person or group, on the basis of assumed racial, ethnic, sexual, or other features, will possess negative characteristics or perform _________________

Connected with avoidance, aggression, and discrimination

Discrimination

The _____________________ to a person or group because of prejudice

Takes many forms including: denial of access to jobs, housing, voting booth, eye contact

StereotypesPrejudices about groups that lead people to ________________________________________________________________

What are some stereotypes you have been exposed to?

Pg.619 Table 16.1

Sources of Prejudice1) Assumptions of dissimilarity2) Social conflict3) Social learning4) Information processing5) Social categorization6) Victimization by prejudice Jane Elliot’s A Class Divided

– Why are the children so quick to discriminate?

Social Perception

Social Perception

A subfield of social psychology that studies the ways in which ______________________________________________________________________

__________ impressions are important and reasonably _____________

Primacy and Recency Effect

Primacy:Tendency to evaluate others in terms of _________ impressions

Recency:Tendency to evaluate others in terms of the most __________ impressions

Attribution Theory

The processes by which people draw conclusions about the factors that influence one another’s behavior (__________________________________________)

Dispositional attributionSituational attribution

Dispositional Attribution

An assumption that a person’s behavior is determined by __________________________________________________________________________________

Ex: friend getting an A in Language Arts they’re good at it, they enjoy it etc…

Situational Attribution

An assumption that a person’s behavior is determined by ______________________________________________

______________________________________

Ex: friend has an easier Language Arts teacher

Fundamental Attribution Error

When we observe the behavior of others, we apparently focus too __________ on their ________ and too __________ on the _____________ that surround their actions

We tend to infer traits from behavior

Ex: woman screaming at husband in supermarket

Actor-Observer Effect

The tendency to attribute our __________ behavior to _________________ factors but to attribute the behavior of ____________ to _______________ factors

Self-Serving Bias

We are likely to ascribe our __________ to __________, dispositional factors but our ___________ to ___________, situational influences

Ex:– Good grade on test= I studied really hard and I am smart

– Bad grade on test= the questions were too difficult and unfair

Social Influence

Social Influence

The area of social psychology that studies the ways in which people influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of others

Milgram Studies-the tendency of many, if not most, people to obey an authority figure even when the figure’s demands contradict the person’s moral values

Social Influence

The greatest contribution of social psychology is its study of attitudes,

beliefs, decisions, and actions and the way they are molded by social influence.

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Conformity & Obedience

Behavior is contagious, modeled by one followed by another. We follow

behavior of others to conform.

Other behaviors may be an expression of __________________ (obedience) toward authority.

Conformity Obedience

The Chameleon Effect

Conformity:

Conformity

Asch’s line experimentsFactors: desire to be liked, low self-esteem, high self-consciousness, social shyness, group size, social support

Likelihood of conformity 5 members then 8 members

Finding one other person who supports your opinion is enough

Group Pressure & Conformity

Suggestibility is a subtle type of conformity, adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard.

Group Pressure & Conformity

An influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions

about reality.

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Conditions that Strengthen Conformity

1. One is made to feel ____________ or _________________.

2. The group has at least ________ people.3. The group is __________________.4. One admires the group’s __________ and

attractiveness.5. One has ____________________ or response.6. The ________________ one’s behavior.7. One’s ___________ strongly encourages

respect for a social standard.

Reasons for Conformity

Normative Social Influence: Influence resulting from a person’s desire to ________________________________________. A person may respect normative behavior because there may be a severe price to pay if not respected.

Informative Social Influence: The group may provide valuable information. If we are unsure of what is right, and if being right matters, we are receptive of others’ opinions.

Informative Social Influence

Baron and colleagues (1996) made students do an eyewitness identification

task. If the task was easy (lineup exposure 5 sec.), conformity was low in comparison

to a difficult (1/2 sec. exposure) task.

Informative Social Influence

Baron et al., (1996)

Obedience

People comply to social pressures. How would they respond to

outright command?

Stanley Milgram designed a study that

investigates the effects of authority on

obedience.Stanley Milgram

(1933-1984)

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Milgram’s Study: Results

Lessons from the Conformity and Obedience Studies

In both Ash's and Milgram's studies, participants were pressured to follow their standards and be responsive to others.

In Milgram’s study, participants were torn between hearing the victims pleas and the experimenter’s orders.

Group Behavior

_________________________- the spreading or sharing of responsibility for a decision or behavior within a group (group projects)

Inhibits helping behavior in groups or crowds

Group Behavior

______________- a process in which group members are influenced by _________________ and a _________________________ to ignore external realities as they make decisions.

Kitty Genovese 28-year old stabbed and murdered in New York

Killer stalked her for more than half an hour and stabbed her in 3 separate attacks while she screamed

38 neighbors heard the commotion Twice their voices and lights interrupted the assault, each time the attacker returned

No one got involved or called the police Why? “I didn’t want to get involved.” “I was tired.” “I don’t know.”

Bystander EffectBystanders that are ______________ to help others in distress

Reasons:– Not fully understand what they are seeing and fail to recognize that emergency exists

– Not certain they possess the competencies to take charge of situation and stay on sidelines for fear of looking like a fool

– Believe others get what they deserve– Fear of getting hurting themselves

Deindividuation

The process by which group members may discontinue self-evaluation and adopt group norms and attitudes

MobsCan act aggressively

AttractionA force that draws bodies, or people, together-an attitude of liking or (disliking)

Positive attractionsNegative attractions

What is beautiful?

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder?

British and Japanese-large eyes, high cheekbones, narrow jaws

Today’s society-tallness an asset for men, negative for women

Body weight and shape-____________ determined

AttractivenessMen-more swayed by _____________________, cooking ability, thrift

Women-_______________such as warmth, assertiveness, need for achievement, wit, fondness of children

_______________________-good complexion, good hair, teeth, clear eyes, firm muscle tone, steady gait, cleanliness

Stereotyping the Pretty

Attractive people _______ likely to develop psychological disorders

Correlates _____________ with popularity, social skills, sexual experience

More likely judged __________ of crimes and given less severe sentences

Children expected to be well-behaved, get good grades, talented, popular

Matching Hypothesis

People tend to choose persons __________________________________________________________________ in the formation of interpersonal relationships

Fear of rejectionOpposites attract? Most likely not…(examples?)

_________________ important-religion, politics, food and music tastes, children, motivation

Triangular Model of Love

Sternberg’s view that love involves combination of three components: intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment

____________-couple’s closeness____________-romance and sexual feelings

________________________-in love, maintaining relationships

_____________________ Love

Triangular Model of Love

Liking=Intimacy Alone(true friendships w/o passionor long-term commitment)

Romantic Love=Intimacy+Passion(lovers physically andemotionally attracted butw/o commitment-summer romance)

Companionate Love=Intimacy+Commitment(long-term committed friendship or marriagew/o passion)

Infatuation=Passion Alone(passionate andobsessive love atfirst sight w/o intimacyor commitment)

Fatuous Love=Passion+Commitment(Shallow relationship such as a whirlwind courtship. without time for intimacy todevelop.)

Empty Love=Decision/Commitment(decision to love eachother without intimacy orpassion.)

Consummate Love=Intimacy+Passion+Commitment(complete love -an ideal difficult to attain)

Body LanguageNonverbal behavior can express internal states, such as feelings and can regulate social interactions

Eye contact-assertive and openTouching-women more than men (when appropriate)

Posture-arms crossed, crossed legs