Transcript Huffman PowerPoint Slides

PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
Sixth Edition
by
Karen Huffman
PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation
Chapter 16
Social Psychology
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Lecture Overview
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Our Thoughts About Others
Attributions and Attitudes
Our Feelings About Others
Our Actions Toward Others
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Social Psychology
• Social psychology examines how other
persons influence the behavior of an
individual
– Thoughts include attitudes and attributions
– Feelings include prejudice and attraction
– Actions include social influence, aggression,
and altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attributions
• Attributions are statements that explain
why people do what they do
– Dispositional: the actions of a person are
related to their internal character
• “John hit me because he is a mean person”
– Situational: the actions of a person are
related to the external characteristics of their
situation
• “John robbed the bank in order to avoid losing
his family home to a bankruptcy”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attributional Errors
• Fundamental attribution error (FAE) occurs
when we judge the behavior of others as due
to dispositional factors
– Saliency bias: The personalities of others are
more salient than are situational factors
• Self-serving bias: In contrast, we tend to to
see our own behavior as due to situational
factors
– The self-serving bias maintains our self-esteem
• These attribution errors are a function of the
culture that a person lives in
– FAE is difficult to observe in a group-oriented
culture
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attitudes
• Attitudes are learned predispositions to
respond to a particular object in a particular
way
• Attitudes involve:
– Cognitions: thoughts and beliefs
– Emotions: feelings about the object
– Behaviors: how we act toward the object
• Attitudes are learned during interactions with
others
• Attitudes can be modified by the person
– Cognitive dissonance can prompt attitude change
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Elements of An Attitude
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Cognitive Dissonance
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Prejudice
• Prejudice involves a negative attitude toward
specific people based on their membership in
an identified group
• Three components of prejudice:
– Stereotypes are thoughts and beliefs about people
based on their group membership
– Strong emotional feelings about the object of
prejudice
– Predispositions to act in certain negative ways
toward the group (discrimination)
• Eliminating prejudice may require
– Cognitive retraining
– Increased group contact
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Sources of Prejudice
• Learning: Prejudice is acquired through classical
and operant conditioning and through modeling
• Cognitive processes: People use mental
shortcuts to categorize others
• Ingroup versus outgroup categorization
• Economic/Political competition: Prejudice arises
when financial resources are limited
• Displaced aggression: Persons may displace
their frustration onto non-threatening groups, a
practice known as “scapegoating”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Interpersonal Attraction
• Interpersonal Attraction refers to our degree of
liking of another person
• Three factors that contribute to attraction:
– Physical attractiveness includes size, shape, facial
features, and manner of dress
– Proximity refers to geographic nearness
– Similarity is the preference for people who share our
ethnic background, social class, and attitudes
• The evolutionary view of attraction is that men
and women are attracted to different
characteristics
– Men are attracted to beautiful youthful women
– Attractive men have resources and social status
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
• Liking versus loving
Love
– Liking is derived from friendship and
simple attraction
– Love involves an extended intensive
relationship characterized by caring,
attachment, and intimacy
• Romantic love is an intense attraction
that involves the idealization of the
other person and that is expected to
endure over time
– Yet, romantic love may be short-lived
• Companionate love is based on
admiration and respect
– Companionate love may last a lifetime
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Asch’s Study of Conformity
• Conformity is a type of
social influence in which
persons change their
behavior as a result of
real or imagined group
pressure
• In this study, subjects
are asked to match the
line length x with the
three lines above after
others stated “c is the
match”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Norms
• A social norm is an expected behavior that is
adhered to by members of a group
– Explicit norms: speed limits posted on a highway
– Implicit norms: table manners at a formal dinner
party
• Personal space is a norm that varies by group
– Friends are closer than strangers
– Children tend to stand closer (until they are
socialized to maintain a greater personal distance)
– Women tend to stand closer than men
– Violent prisoners require a personal space that is
three times larger than that of non-violent prisoners
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Obedience to Authority
• Obedience involves going along with a direct
command from an authority figure
• Factors that modulate obedience:
– Power of the authority makes a difference
– Distance between the teacher and the learner makes a
difference
– Assignment of responsibility: We are less likely to be
obedient if we think we will be held responsible for our
actions
– Viewing other disobedient models reduces obedience
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
The Study of Obedience
• In Milgram’s study,
subjects were asked to
deliver different
voltages (0-450 volts)
as a punishment to the
“learner”
• Milgram’s question
was at what point
would subjects refuse
to deliver shock to
another person?
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Milgram Obedience Results
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Group Processes
• A group is two or more persons interacting
with one another in such a way that each
person influences and is influenced by
each other person
• Group mental processes:
– Group polarization: the group decision is
more risky than that of an individual
– Groupthink: a mode of thinking that people
engage in when part of a cohesive in-group
• Group fails to note inconsistent information
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Groupthink Factors
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Aggression
• Aggression is any form of behavior that is
intended to harm another living being
• Factors that modulate aggression:
– Instincts: notion that humans are innately
aggressive; notion that aggression kills off
less fit organisms
– Genes: twins show similar levels and types
of aggression
– Brain: aggression can be elicited by
electrical stimulation of the brain
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
• Factors that modulate aggression:
– Substance abuse: alcohol intoxication is
associated with most forms of aggression
– Hormones: testosterone is linked to male
aggression
– Frustration: blocking a goal leads to anger,
which leads to aggression
– Culture and learning: children who view
violent television programming and who
view violent video games may become
aggressive
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Altruism
• Altruism refers to actions designed to
help others
• Evolutionary theory suggests we are
altruistic toward persons who share our
genes --> fosters survival of our genes
• Egoistic model: altruism is motivated by
some anticipated gain
• Empathy-altruism model: empathy
leads to altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Explanations for Altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Copyright
Copyright 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York,
NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected
by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without written permission
of the copyright owner.
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E