This document provides an overview of key concepts in social psychology including social thinking, influence, and relationships. It discusses attribution theory, attitudes, conformity, obedience, and group influence. Specifically, it summarizes research on attribution biases, how attitudes can be shaped by behaviors and roles, factors that increase conformity, Milgram's study of obedience to authority, and ways groups can impact individuals through social facilitation, diffusion of responsibility, and deindividuation.

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Social Psychology Agenda
• Social Thinking
• Social Influence
• Social Rela<ons
Social Psychology ADribu<on Theory
• The scien<fic study of how we think about, • Heider (1958)
influence, and relate to one another • We explain people’s behavior by credi<ng
either the situa<on or the person’s disposi<on
Fundamental ADribu<on Error
• We tend to underes<mate the impact of the
situa<on and to overes<mate the impact of
personal disposi<on
• Self‐Serving Bias – when we do posi<ve
things, we make an internal aDribu<on; when
we do nega<ve things, we make external
aDribu<ons
– Test scores
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ADribu<on AXtudes
• Juries • A0tudes – feelings, oYen based on our
• Evalua<ng employees beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a
– “It’s the economy” par<cular way towards objects, people, and
events
• Teachers/Students
• Parents/Children
• AXtudes  Behaviors
– Other factors (situa<onal) contribute
• Behaviors  AXtudes
Behavior Affec<ng AXtudes Roles Affec<ng AXtudes
• Foot‐in‐the‐door phenomenon – the • Role – a set of explana<ons (norms) about a
tendency for people who have first agreed to a social posi<on, defining how those in the
small request to comply later with a larger posi<on ought to behave
request
– P.O.W.s in Korean War
• People behave differently in different roles
– Telemarke<ng/Sales – Teacher
– Online surveys – Football fan
– Student
• Influence tac<c: make a small request first – Hanging out with friends
The Power of the Situa<on The Power of the Situa<on
• Nazi Germany • Philip Zimbardo
• Were all Germans just evil • For the first few days people “played their
people? roles”
– ADribu<on! • AYerwards, the situa<on became “real”
• Could this happen with • Guards became very cruel, prisoners broke
us? down or rebelled
• Study called off aYer only 6 days
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Cogni<ve Dissonance Conformity
• When we have two thoughts that are • Adjus<ng one’s behavior or thinking to
inconsistent, we feel discomfort coincide with a group standard
• We act to reduce this discomfort • Social influence is extremely powerful
• When our aXtudes and our ac<ons clash, we – Suicides, bomb threats, airplane hijackings, UFO
reduce dissonance by changing our aXtudes sigh<ngs all occur in clusters
– Dress code at RU vs. Wall St.
• We are not ra<onal, we ra<onalize
– Coughing/yawning are contagious
– “Seeding” <p jars
Conformity Conformity
• The Chameleon Effect • Asch (1955) ‐ Sugges<bility
– We unconsciously mimic others’ expressions,
postures, and voice tones
– Helps us to understand what others are feeling
Conformity Why do we conform?
Conformity increases when: • Norma;ve social influence – influence
• One is made to feel incompetent or insecure resul<ng from a person’s desire to gain
• The group has at least 3 people approval or avoid disapproval
• The group is unanimous – Try to avoid rejec<on
• One admires group’s status and aDrac<veness – Our ancestors needed the group to survive
• One has made no prior commitment to any • Informa;onal social influence – influence
response resul<ng from one’s willingness to accept
• Others in the group observe one’s behavior others’ opinions about reality
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Obedience Authority
• Milgram (1963) and the Electric Shocks • Obedience highest when:
• Also in response to Nazi Germany – Person giving orders close by, perceived to be
legi<mate authority figure
• 63% of par<cipants went all the way to the
– Authority figure supported by pres<gious
last switch
ins<tu<on
• Obedience to authority – Vic<m depersonalized or at a distance
– No role models for defiance
Group Influence Group Influence
• The presence of others changes our behavior • Social Loafing – the tendency for people in a
• Social Facilita;on – people who perform well group to exert less effort when pooling their
perform beDer in the presence of others efforts toward aDaining a common goal than
– Athletes when individually accountable
– Comedians
• People who perform poorly may perform
worse in front of others
– Pool players
Group Influence Group Influence
• Diffusion of Responsibility • Deindividua;on – the loss of self‐awareness
• KiDy Genovese – Bystander Effect and self‐restraint occurring in group situa<ons
– The greater number of bystanders, the less likely it that foster arousal and anonymity
is any of them will help
– Killing took over 1 hour, killer leY for 10 minutes
and returned
– Over 38 witnesses, no one contacted police
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Group Interac<on Group Interac<on
• Group Polariza;on – when a group discusses • Groupthink – when the desire for harmony in
the prevailing tendencies, they become a decision‐making group overrides a realis<c
enhanced appraisal of alterna<ves
– High‐prejudice people become more prejudiced – Bay of Pigs
– Poli<cs – people live near and learn from others – Challenger
who think as they do – Chernobyl
– “Us” vs. “Them”
– Internet
Other factors of influence Other factors of influence
• Reciprocity – when one person gives another • Scarcity
person a giY, that person feels obligated to – Call now! Supplies are limited!
return the favor – Jade Jewelry
– Coke/Raffle <ckets – Seal meat
– Easter seals – Limited <me offer
– Hare Krishnas in airports • Door‐in‐the‐Face
– Free samples – AYer denying large request, more likely to agree
to smaller request
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