Influencing & Conforming (Chapter 6) This chapter deals with one of the most classic areas of social psychology, that of Social Influence. This refers to the efforts by people to change attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of other people. Some classic topics within this area include: · Conformity · Obedience · Power · Leadership Do note that some of these studies have several criticisms aimed against the methodology, procedures and conclusions. It is important to note that replications are necessary and no simplistic conclusions can be drawn from any one study. For purposes of this class, note that these are “classics” in the field of social psychology so know the basic methodology and the specific findings; in general, they serve to highlight the importance of external or situational factors on our behavior. Social Influence & Conformity · Spontaneous, adaptive, imitation · Informational social influence (accuracy, social comparison and private acceptance) · Normative social influence (to be liked, social norms and public compliance) · Majority influence (Sherif’s “autokinetic” study and Asch’s “line” study) · Minority influence – don’t need to know in detail · Situational determinants – group size/social impact; unanimity (don’t worry about importance of task) Obedience, Power, & Leadership · Milgram’s original obedience study – what are some important situational factors from variations (there are some personality factors as well – don’t need to know for this section) · Zimbardo’s prison study · Types of power (just know basic) · Types of leaders (just know basic) · Don’t worry about leadership and person-situation interaction Person, Gender, and Cultural Differences in Conformity (consider some of the important concepts and findings for each one) What is psychological reactance? (it helps to think of some examples) Well, that’s it for one of the most powerful topics within social psychology. In this chapter, you have just covered some classic concepts within the field and been exposed to some classic studies in all of psychology. Hope you enjoyed it. We move on next to considering what attracts us to others in a chapter covering “Liking and Loving.” Chapter 5 https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/perceiving-others/ chapter 6 https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/influencing-and-conforming/ Chapter 7 https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/liking-and-loving/ chapter 11 https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/stereotypes-prejudice-and-discrimination/ Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination (Chapter 11) We end our second section of class with the classic topics of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Do keep in mind that social psychologists differentiate these three concepts for ease of studying but they certainly do overlap and have complex relationships to each other: · Prejudice = affective component = unjustifiable negative emotions/feelings toward members of a social group · Stereotype = ...

1. Influencing & Conforming (Chapter 6)
This chapter deals with one of the most classic areas of social
psychology, that of Social Influence. This refers to the efforts
by people to change attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors of other
people. Some classic topics within this area include:
· Conformity
· Obedience
· Power
· Leadership
Do note that some of these studies have several criticisms aimed
against the methodology, procedures and conclusions. It is
important to note that replications are necessary and no
simplistic conclusions can be drawn from any one study. For
purposes of this class, note that these are “classics” in the field
of social psychology so know the basic methodology and the
specific findings; in general, they serve to highlight the
importance of external or situational factors on our behavior.
Social Influence & Conformity
· Spontaneous, adaptive, imitation
· Informational social influence (accuracy, social comparison
and private acceptance)
· Normative social influence (to be liked, social norms and
public compliance)
· Majority influence (Sherif’s “autokinetic” study and Asch’s
“line” study)
· Minority influence – don’t need to know in detail
· Situational determinants – group size/social impact; unanimity
(don’t worry about importance of task)
Obedience, Power, & Leadership
· Milgram’s original obedience study – what are some important

2. situational factors from variations (there are some personality
factors as well – don’t need to know for this section)
· Zimbardo’s prison study
· Types of power (just know basic)
· Types of leaders (just know basic)
· Don’t worry about leadership and person-situation interaction
Person, Gender, and Cultural Differences in Conformity
(consider some of the important concepts and findings for each
one)
What is psychological reactance? (it helps to think of some
examples)
Well, that’s it for one of the most powerful topics within social
psychology. In this chapter, you have just covered some classic
concepts within the field and been exposed to some classic
studies in all of psychology. Hope you enjoyed it.
We move on next to considering what attracts us to others in a
chapter covering “Liking and Loving.”
Chapter 5
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/perceiving-others/
chapter 6
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/influencing-and-
conforming/
Chapter 7
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/liking-and-loving/
chapter 11
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/part/stereotypes-
prejudice-and-discrimination/

3. Stereotypes, Prejudice, & Discrimination (Chapter 11)
We end our second section of class with the classic topics of
stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Do keep in mind
that social psychologists differentiate these three concepts for
ease of studying but they certainly do overlap and have complex
relationships to each other:
· Prejudice = affective component = unjustifiable negative
emotions/feelings toward members of a social group
· Stereotype = cognitive component = sweeping or generalized
cognitive/thinking/beliefs of members of social groups (can be
positive but we mainly consider negative)
· Discrimination = behavioral component = unjustified negative
behaviors/actions directed at members of some social group
ABCs (prejudice could be positive like the “halo effect” but for
now, consider it as being negative since that is most often how
the term is used)
Social Categorization & Stereotyping (know some basics and
some research findings)
· Spontaneous
· Benefits
· Negative outcomes
· Out-group homogeneity
· Why are stereotypes so hard to change?
· Implicit/indirect measures
· Self-fulfilling prophecies? Stereotype threat?

4. In-group favoritism & Prejudice (again, know basics and some
research findings)
· Tajfel brief research, “us” and “them” & ingroup favoriti sm
· What is the ultimate attribution error?
· Causes (briefly)
· When does it not occur (briefly – what is the black sheep
effect?)
· Personality (authoritarianism, SDO) & Culture
Reducing Discrimination (know some basic findings and
research findings)
· Change cognitive aspects (such as thinking of non-
stereotypical characteristics or positive models)
· Change social norms
· Intergroup contact/contact hypothesis (interdependence;
jigsaw classroom; what does extended-contact suggest?)
· Recategorization (Sherif and colleagues “Robbers’ Cave
Experiment” – superordinate goals and common ingroup
identity)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As with all the chapters in
class, it is loaded with such interesting information but there is
no way we can do anything other than scratch the surface in an
undergraduate Social Psychology class. If you continue on
through graduate school, you will have an entire class or two
just on these topics.
By the way, you’ll be happy to know that this ends the chapters
we will be covering for exams. The last two chapters we cover
on helping and aggression will appear in the last discussion but
won’t appear on an exam.
I wish you all the best in studying for Exam 2. Make sure to
clarify questions with me ahead of time. I am always right here!

5. Perceiving Others (Chapter 5)
We begin our second section of class with a chapter on what is
often referred to as “Social Perception.” You can think about it
as the processes we go through in order to understand others
(and to a certain extent, understand ourselves). It makes a lot
of sense that in order to live in this world, we need to make
some sense of it, and not surprisingly couple of the themes we
encounter often is that we make sense of it in an egocentric way
(of course, we want to protect the “self” and benefit ourselves)
and it is done without awareness (people think intuition is very
valuable but often, it can be wrought with errors and biases).
Some major topics covered: Impression Formation, Nonverbal
communication, Causal Attribution, Biases in attributions and
Individual differences.
Initial impression formation (person perception)
· Accuracy
· Nonverbal behavior
· Negative info
· Detecting deception – how good are we?
· Averaging traits
· Central traits – Asch’s 1946 warm/cold study (also involved
primacy)
· Importance of primacy and recency effects in impression
formation – cognitive misers & assimilation (halo effect)
Causal attribution = process of trying to determine cause of
behaviors
· Personal (internal, dispositional) vs. situational (external)
· Unexpected vs. expected (don’t worry about this for exam)
· Covariation Principle (just know basics: consensus,
consistency, distinctiveness)

6. · Weiner’s Attributions for success/failure (just understand the
dimensions)
Biases in Attribution
· fundamental attribution error/correspondence bias
· actor-observer effect or difference
· self-serving attributions/bias
· ultimate attribution bias
· just world hypothesis (defensive attributions)
Individual & Cultural Differences
· Cognitive accessibility – what does it refer to?
· Need for Cognition – basic meaning
· Entity vs. incremental theorists – what are key differences?
· Attributional style (facing negative events, internal, stable,
global = negative AS; external, unstable, specific = positive
AS)
· AS & consequences: learned helplessness, unrealistic
optimism, self-handicapping
· Don’t forget the importance of culture (discussed throughout)
– so primary difference in individualism vs. collectivism
Okay, that’s it for now. In this chapter, you’ve encountered
several important topics in Social Psychology that relate to how
we perceive others. One important takeaway should be that we
would all benefit from taking time in making our evaluations
and judgments of others (and of ourselves) so we don’t fall prey
to so many naturally occurring biases.
Next time, on to another interesting discussion of such topics as
social influence, conformity, and obedience …
Liking & Loving (Chapter 7)
Welcome to a discussion of interpersonal attraction and close

7. relationships. Within social psychology, “Interpersonal
Attraction” has been studied for over a hundred years and refers
specifically to an attitude or evaluation we have of another
person and it can range on a continuum from like to dislike.
More recently (in the past few decades), researchers have also
focused on the topic of “Close Relationships” and how they
vary in families, friendships, and when involving romance or
love. Many factors play a role in these dynamics so let’s
examine some now.
Interpersonal Attraction
Initial Attraction
· Physical attraction (basic findings? Cultural diffs? Gender
diffs?)
· Similarity (basics)
· Know what proximity and mere exposure mean
· Affect
· What about arousal?
Close Relationships
· Passionate vs. Companionate love
· Closeness & intimacy (reciprocal self-disclosure)
· Communal vs. exchange relationships
· Interdependence & commitment – what do the concepts mean?
Love
· Sternberg’s triangular model (nicely captured in Fig. 7.9)
· Individual differences (attachment styles – again nice
summary in Table 7.1)
STOP here: I am doing my best to minimize some of the
material so although interesting, don’t worry for the exam about
internet relationships, lasting relationships & end of
relationships. I would, of course, recommend that you read it at

8. your leisure if you are interested (and who wouldn’t be
interested?! :)
These are a great set of topics, aren’t they?!? We need to stop
sometime so this is a good time.
Let’s move on next to one of the most classic areas of social
psychology - “Stereotyping, Discrimination, & Prejudice” –
which will be the last material included for Exam 2.