This presentation is based on Social Psychology (Delamater&Myers - 7th Edition, pg 5-19)

1. Kates Dorlyn Grajales
MPA Student

2. “If you fail to deliver on
promises and thereby block
someone’s goals, he/she
will get mad at you.”

3. “If someone’s goals are
blocked, he/she will get
frustrated and become
aggressive. If someone is
aggressive, he/she will
attack either the source of
frustration or convenient
surrogate”

4. 2 Kind of Theories in Social Psychology
 Middle-range theories – are narrow, focused
frameworks that identify the conditions that
produce a specific social behavior.
 Theoretical perspectives – offer general
explanations for a wide array of social behaviors in
a variety of situations.
Theory – a set of interrelated propositions that
organizes and explains a set of observed
phenomena.

5.  Role Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Evolutionary Theory

7. ROLES – consist of a set of rules(expectation held
by others) that function as plans or blueprints and
guide behavior.
 It is based on the premise that people conform to
norms defined by the expectations of others.
 It is most useful in explaining the regular and
recurring patterns apparent in day-to-day activity.

8. PROPOSITIONS
 People spend much of their lives participating in groups
& organization wherein they occupy distinct positions.
 Positions entails role performed by the person for the
group
 Group formalize expectations as norms (rules specifying
behavior as well as rewards and punishments)
 People are conformists, they try to meet the
expectations
 Members check each individual performance & give
rewards/punishments to ensure performance as
expected.

9. IMPACTS
 To change a person’s
behavior, it is necessary
to change or redefine
his/her role
 Roles that people occupy
not only channel their
behavior but also shape
their attitudes.
 Roles can influence the
values that people hold &
affect the direction of
their personal growth.
LIMITATIONS
 Deviant Behavior- any
behavior that violates/
contravenes the norms
defining a role
 Refusing to perform as
expected
 Contradicts the
assumption that people
are essentially a
conformist
 The theory can’t explain
how role expectations
came to be nor when &
how it change

10.  Role Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Evolutionary Theory

11.  It helps to explain not only how people learn but also when
social relationships will change.
 Social behavior is governed by external events.
 EXTERNAL EVENTS are directly observable. Any events that
leads to an alteration/change of behavior is called
STIMULUS. The change in behavior induces by a stimulus is
called a RESPONSE.
 REINFORCEMENT – is any favorable outcome that results
from a response
 CONDITIONING – a contingency is established between
emitting a response & subsequently receiving a
reinforcement.
 STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION – occurs when a person
learns the exact conditions under which a response will be
reinforced

12. Social Learning Theory Social Exchange Theory
 A person (learner) can
acquire new responses
simply by observing the
behavior of another person
(model)
IMITATION – observational
learning process wherein
learner neither performs as
response nor receives
reinforcement
 Acquire new responses
through imitation and
conditioning
 Assumes that individuals
have freedom of choice &
must choose among
alternative action when
facing social situations
 Individuals are
HEDONISTIC – they try to
maximize rewards &
minimize costs.
 EQUITY- exists in a
relationship when the
rewards are proportional to
the costs.

13. LIMITATIONS
 Doesn’t account for creativity, innovation or invention
 Individuals react to stimuli rather than initiating behavior
based on creative thoughts
 Characterize social behavior as hedonistic; can’t explain
selfless behavior

14.  Role Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Evolutionary Theory

15. THE CONTRACTOR
REAL ESTATE AGENT
POTENTIAL RENTER
NEIGHBORHOOD
KID
Quality of
house
construction
Cash flow,
occupancy rate,
depreciation,
mortgage &
amortization
Located near to
his job,
neighborhood
is safe
Haunted
House
!@#$^@*

16.  It holds that such processes as perception,
memory, and judgment are significant
determinants of social behavior.
 The theory treats ideas and beliefs as organized
into structures (schemas) and relies on various
principles (such as the principle of cognitive
consistency) to explain changes in attitudes and
beliefs.
 Differences in cognitions help to illuminate why
individuals may behave differently from one
another in a given situation.

17. COGNITIVE STRUCTURE & SCHEMAS
 Refers to any form of organization among cognition
(concepts & beliefs)
 Gives special emphasis to exactly how they are
structured & organized in memory & how they affect a
person’s judgment.
 Uses schemas to make sense of complex information
about other persons, groups & situations.
SCHEMA - Greek word “form”; refers to the form or
basic sketch of what we know about people & things

18. COGNITIVE
CONSISTENCY
 The principle maintains
that individuals strive to
hold ideas that are
consistent/ congruous
with one another
 If a person holds several
ideas that are
inconsistent, he/she will
experience internal
conflict
LIMITATIONS OF
COGNITIVE THEORY
 It simplifies/
oversimplifies an
inherently complex
phenomenon
 Cognitive phenomena
are not directly
observable; they must be
inferred
 Compelling & definite test
of theoretical prediction
are sometimes difficult to
conduct

19.  Role Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Evolutionary Theory

20. CERVANTES OF A MAN TALE
A man thought he was made of glass.
Whenever people came near, he
screamed and implored them to keep
away for fear they would shatter him.
He refused to eat anything hard and
insisted on sleeping only in beds of
straw. Because glass is transparent
and skin is not, he claimed that his
body’s unusual construction enabled
his soul to perceive things more
clearly and offered to assist people
perplexed difficult problems. He
developed a reputation and in the end
a patron hired a bodyguard to protect
him from outlaws.

21.  It holds that human nature and social order are
products of communication among people.
 It stresses the importance of the self, of role taking,
and of consensus in social interaction.
 It is most useful in explaining fluid, contingent
encounters among people.
NEGOTIATING MEANINGS
 People can communicate successfully with one
another only if they ascribe similar meaning to objects
 The theory views humans as proactive & goal seeking
 It portrays social interaction as having a tentative,
developing quality

22. SELF IN RELATIONSHIP
TO OTHERS
 Central to social
interaction is the process
of role taking in which an
individual imagines how
he/she looks from others
viewpoints
 The theory emphasizes
that a person can act not
only towards others but
also towards his/her
SELF
LIMITATIONS
 Balance between
rationality & emotion
 Model of individual
implicit in symbolic
interaction theory
 It places too much
emphasis on consensus
& cooperation & neglects/
downplays the
importance of conflict

23.  Role Theory
 Reinforcement Theory
 Cognitive Theory
 Symbolic Interaction Theory
 Evolutionary Theory

24.  It posits that social behavior is a product of long-
term evolutionary adaptation.
 Behavioral tendencies exist in human beings
because these behaviors aided our ancestors in
their attempts to survive and reproduce.
EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH – attempts to
account for how & why these mechanism arise
 The theory’s psychologists believe that
evolutionary perspective provides a unifying
principle that ties together many theories about
social behavior that have a more specific focus

25. EVOLUTIONARY
FOUNDATION OF
BEHAVIOR
 Evolutionary psychologist
locates the roots of social
behavior in our genes &
links the psychological &
social to the biological
 Social behavior is
encoded in our genetic
material & is passed
through reproduction
LIMITATIONS
 Critique accuses
psychologist of circular
reasoning
 The logical trap is
unavoidable because we
can’t travel back in time
to observe the actual
evolution of social
behavior.

27. Thank You
FOLKS ! ! !