Part 14

1. PART 14
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
SECTIONS
Ѱ
14
Psychology, Twelfth Edition (Myers, D. G.)
© T.G. Lane 2018

2. PART14
• Explain what social psychologists do.
• Discuss how attribution theory and fundamental attribution
error help to explain others’ behaviors.
• Discuss the differences between peripheral and central
route persuasions.
• Explain cognitive dissonance theory.
• Discuss how role adoption and foot-in-the-door phenomenon
can affect behavior.
© T.G. Lane 2018
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

3. PART14
• Discuss how automatic mimicry and conformity reveal
the power of social influence.
• Explain how the presence of others can influence behavior.
• Discuss the differences between prejudice, stereotyping,
and discriminative behaviors.
• Discuss how the bystander effect occurs.
• Discuss scientific factors that lead to attraction.
© T.G. Lane 2018
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

4. PART14
SECTION
© T.G. Lane 2018
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

5. 1
• Social psychologists focus on the situation; they study the
social influences that explain why the same person will act
differently in different situations.
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY
• social psychology: the scientific study of how we
think about, influence, and relate to one another
SOCIAL THINKING
What do social psychologists study? How do people tend to explain
others’ behavior and their own?

6. 1
• The attribution theory provides a view for how people explain
others’ behaviors.
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGY
• attribution theory: the theory that we explain
someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation
or the person’s disposition
SOCIAL THINKING
THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
• Sometimes individuals fall prey the fundamental attribution
error.
• fundamental attribution error: the tendency for
observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to
underestimate the impact of the situation and to
overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

7. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL THINKING
• If one believes someone is threatening them, one may feel
fear and anger toward the person and act defensively.
ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
How do attitudes and actions interact?
• attitude: feelings, often influenced by one’s beliefs, that
predisposes an individual to respond in a particular way to
objects, people, and events
• Individuals attitudes affect their actions and their actions
affect their attitudes.

8. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL THINKING
ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
• An error is often made when individuals’ behaviors are judged
based on their attributes rather than considering individual
situations.
outgoing
(classroom)
shy
(outside of class)
What Factors Affect Our Attributions?
Example: How you describe your professor may be
true only under certain situations.

9. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL THINKING
ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
• peripheral route persuasion: occurs when people are
influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s
attractiveness (does not engage systematic thinking)
• Persuasion efforts generally take two forms; these forms
include peripheral route persuasion and central route
persuasion.
Attitudes Affect Actions
• central route persuasion: occurs when interested people
focus on the arguments and respond with favorable
thoughts (does engage systematic thinking)

10. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL THINKING
ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
• role: a set of expectations (norms) about a social position,
defining how those in the position ought to behave
• The foot-in-the-door phenomenon and the adoption of a new
role may lead an individual to act in ways they normally would
not.
Actions Affect Attitudes
• foot-in-the-door phenomenon: the tendency for people
who have first agreed to a small request to comply later
with a larger request
• Example: Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment

11. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL THINKING
ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
• cognitive dissonance theory: the theory that we act
to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when
two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent;
for example, when we become aware that our
attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the
resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes
• When individuals become aware that their attitudes and
actions don’t coincide, they experience tension, or cognitive
dissonance (e.g. $2 payment for writing an essay supporting a
tuition increase).
Actions Affect Attitudes
Cognitive Dissonance: Relief From Tension

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SECTION
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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

13. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
CONFORMITY: COMPLYING WITH SOCIAL PRESSURES
• Fish swim in school, birds fly in flocks, and humans, too, tend
to go with their group; to think what it thinks and do what it
does–behavior is contagious (e.g. yawning).
What is automatic mimicry, and how do conformity experiments reveal
the power of social influence?
Automatic Mimicry
• Automatic mimicry helps us to empathize—to
feel what others are feeling; this helps explain
why individuals feel happier around happy
people than around depressed people.

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© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
CONFORMITY: COMPLYING WITH SOCIAL PRESSURES
• Suggestibility and mimicry are subtle types of conformity.
Conformity and Social Norms
• conformity: adjusting one’s behavior
or thinking to coincide with a group
standard
• Solomon Asch’s classic experiment
demonstrated how others can affect one’s
rationale thinking.
• Several other experiments since then have
been done to illustrate the power of
conformity.

15. 2
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PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
CONFORMITY: COMPLYING WITH SOCIAL PRESSURES
• Individuals are more likely to conform when they:
Conformity and Social Norms Continued…
• are made to feel incompetent or insecure
• are in a group with at least three people
• are in a group in which everyone else agrees. (If just one
other person disagrees, the odds of our disagreeing
greatly increase.)
• admire the group’s status and attractiveness
• have not made a prior commitment to any response
• know that others in the group will observe our behavior
• are from a culture that strongly encourages respect for
social standards

16. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
CONFORMITY: COMPLYING WITH SOCIAL PRESSURES
• Two explanations for why individuals may conform include
normative social influences and informational social influences.
Conformity and Social Norms Continued…
• normative social influence: influence resulting from
a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid
disapproval (need to belong)
• informational social influence: influence resulting
from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions
about reality

17. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
OBEDIENCE: FOLLOWING ORDERS
• Stanley Milgram’s study on obedience is social psychology’s most
famous and controversial experiment.
Conformity and Social Norms Continued…

18. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
OBEDIENCE: FOLLOWING ORDERS
• Milgram discovered that obedience was highest when:
Conformity and Social Norms Continued…
• the person giving the orders was close at
hand and was perceived to be a legitimate
authority figure
• the authority figure was supported by a
prestigious institution
• the victim was depersonalized or at a
distance, even in another room
• there were no role models for defiance

19. 2
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYSOCIAL INFLUENCE
GROUP BEHAVIORS
• In some cases, individuals’ behavior can be influence both
positively and negatively by the mere presence of others.
Behavior in the Presence of Others: Three Phenomena Chart

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

21. 3
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYANTISOCIAL RELATIONS
• Some individuals may be treated negatively due to prejudices as
well as be stereotyped or discriminated against because of who
they are.
• prejudice: an unjustifiable (and usually negative)
attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice
generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative
feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory
action
• stereotype: a generalized (sometimes accurate but
often overgeneralized) belief about a group of
people
PREJUDICE
• discrimination: in social psychology, unjustifiable
negative behavior toward a group and its members

22. PART14
SECTION
© T.G. Lane 2018
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

23. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
The Psychology of Attraction
ATTRACTION
Proximity
• Proximity breeds liking partly because of the mere exposure
effect.
• mere exposure effect: the phenomenon that repeated
exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
• Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases
one’s liking for them; this applies to nonsense
syllables, musical selections, geometric
figures, Chinese characters, human faces, and
the letters of our own name.

24. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
The Psychology of Attraction Continued…
ATTRACTION
Physical Attractiveness
• Research has shown that physical attractiveness most often affects
one’s first impressions.

25. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
The Psychology of Attraction Continued…
ATTRACTION
Similarity
• Proximity, attractiveness, and similarity are
not the only determinants of attraction;
people often like those who like them,
especially if one’s self-image is low.
• Compared with randomly paired people, friends and couples
are far more likely to share common attitudes, beliefs, and
interests (and, for that matter, age, religion, race, education,
intelligence, smoking behavior, and economic status).

26. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
ALTRUISM
• Individuals are driven by different factors when choosing to
help others; some individuals’ possess an altruistic attitude.
When are people most—and least—likely to help?
• altruism: unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Bystander Intervention
• People will tend to help only if the situation enables them
first to notice the incident, then to interpret it as an
emergency, and finally to assume responsibility for helping.

27. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
ALTRUISM
• In an emergency situation, people are less likely to help one
suffering if one believes that there are other observers of the
incident.
• bystander effect: the tendency for any
given bystander to be less likely to
give aid if other bystanders are
present
Bystander Intervention Continued…
• A diffusion of responsibility occurs as a result; this illustrates
what psychologists call the bystander effect.

28. 4
© T.G. Lane 2018
PART14:SOCIALPSYCHOLOGYPROSOCIAL RELATIONS
ALTRUISM
• Observations of behavior in thousands of situations show
that the best odds of one helping someone occurs when:
• the person appears to need and deserve help
• the person is in some way similar to us
• the person is a woman
• we have just observed someone else being helpful
• we are not in a hurry
• we are in a small town or rural area
• we are feeling guilty
• we are focused on others and not preoccupied
• we are in a good mood (happy people are
helpful people)
Bystander Intervention Continued…