Transcript Social Psych - Cobb Learning

Social Psychology
crash course thru 3:29
Attitude
Attraction
Aggression
Group Behavior
the scientific study of how we think about,
influence, and relate to one another
Why is this man homeless?
rich?
Attribution Theory
• the theory that we tend to
give a causal explanation for
someone’s behavior, often
crediting either the situation
or the person’s disposition
• it is either…
1. dispositional (internal) attributions:
ascribe causes of behavior to traits,
abilities and feelings
2. situational (external) attributions:
ascribe causes of behavior to
situational demands and
environmental restraints
Fundamental Attribution Error
When observing others, we tend to overestimate the role
of dispositional factors and underestimate situational
factors.
Proposed reasons why observers tend to blame the person
rather than the situation:
1. Situational pressures may not be readily apparent to
observer.
2. Attributing behavior to dispositions is effortless,
almost automatic process.
The more familiar you are with an individual, the less
likely you are to commit this error when evaluating their
behavior.
Actor-Observer Bias
• Tendency to attribute one's own actions to external
causes, while attributing other people's behaviors to
internal causes.
• Essentially, people tend to make different
attributions depending upon whether they are the
actor or the observer in a situation.
• The actor-observer bias tends to be more pronounced
in situations where the outcomes are negative.
• In essence, it is the opposite of the F.A.E.
False Consensus Effect
We tend to overestimate the extent in
which others share our beliefs and
behaviors.
Self-Serving Bias
If you win it is
because you are
awesome…if you
lose, it must have
been the
referees or
weather or….
Defensive Attribution
• Defensive attribution: tendency to blame victims
for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely
to be victimized in a similar way.
• Let’s say your friend gets mugged.
• You may attribute the mugging to your friend’s
carelessness or stupidity rather than bad luck.
• Why?
• Because if you attribute it to bad luck, you have
to face the reality that it could as easily happen
to you!
Attitudes
• Attitudes are feelings often based on our beliefs
that predisposes us to respond in a particular way to
objects, people and events.
• Made up of three components:
• 1. Cognitive component: beliefs people hold about the
object
• 2. Affective component: emotional feelings
stimulated by an object of thought
• 3. Behavioral component: predispositions to act in
certain ways toward an attitude object
• Question remains: Do attitudes affect actions? Do
actions affect attitudes?
Two Types of Attitudes
• Explicit attitudes: attitudes that we hold
consciously and can readily describe
• Implicit attitudes: covert attitudes that
are expressed in subtle automatic
responses that people have little
conscious control over
Attitude and Behavior
start @ 7:53
• Do attitudes tell us about
someone’s behavior?
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Khan Academy
You have a belief
that cheating on
tests is bad.
But you cheat on
a test!!!
The teacher was
really bad so in
that class it is OK.
• People want to have
consistent attitudes and
behaviors… when they are
not, they experience
dissonance (unpleasant
tension).
• Usually they will change
their attitude.
Attitudes and Advertising
Advertising is ALL based on attitude
formation
 Mere Exposure Effect
 Central Route v. Peripheral Route

start @ 3:19

cartoon of central/peripheral r.o.p

Central

Peripheral
Compliance Strategies
start @ 4:46
• Foot-in-the-door
phenomenon
• Door-in-the-face
phenomenon
• Norms of Reciprocity
Zimbardo’s Prison Study
start @ 4:12
cartoon example
• Illustrated the importance
of role playing &
deindividuation in attitude
formation.
• Philip Zimbardo had students
at Stanford U play the roles
of prisoner and prison
guards in the basement of
psychology building.
• They were given uniforms
and numbers for each
prisoner.
• What do you think
happened?
Results of Zimbardo’s
Experiment
• Zimbardo’s two week study had to be cut short
after only 6 days.
• The guards had conformed so much to what was
expected of their role that they began to punish
and humiliate the prisoners in manners that
could possibly cause harm.
• The guards’ attitudes towards their role as
guards influenced their actions in the “prison”.
• Zimbardo’s experiment also brought up many
ethical concerns of psychological research.
Conformity Studies
Candid Camera: accurate example? why?
• Adjusting one’s
behavior or thinking
to coincide with a
group standard.
Obedience to Authority
• After World War II many social
psychologists became interested in
explaining how the Nazis convinced
people to follow through with
atrocious acts during the Holocaust.
• In the early 1960s, Yale researcher
Stanley Milgram carried out one of
the most important studies in all of
psychology.
• He wanted to see how far normal
people would go at the request of an
authority figure.
Milgram’s Study of Obedience
replication
Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
• Milgram created a situation in which an
authority figure ordered a volunteer to
“teach” another volunteer and to punish that
“learner” (an accomplice of the experiment) if
and when he made a mistake.
• Electric shocks were used as the punisher.
• The teacher could administer increasing
levels of shock up to a maximum 450 volts.
• The teacher and learner communicated via
microphone in separate rooms.
Results of the Milgram Study
What did we learn from Milgram?
• Ordinary people will do “shocking” things
when told to do so (obedience).
• Later studies revealed that obedience
varied with…
 Proximity of Authority Figure
 Respect for Authority Figure
 Depersonalization of “Student”
 Role Models of Disobedience
• Ethical issues…
 Would not have received approval from
IRB (Internal Review Board) today .
Solomon Asch’s Conformity
Experiment
• Solomon Asch conducted studies in the
1950’s on conformity to group pressure.
• He seated a number of individuals
together and asked them to verbally
respond to some questions.
• All but one of the participants were
accomplices (confederates) of Asch who
had told them to give obviously wrong
answers.
• The idea was to see if the target
volunteer went along with those
answers, even against their better
judgment.
Asch’s Study of Conformity
Experiment
modern example; start @ 2:46
Asch’s Results
• About 1/3 of the time,
participants conformed.
• 70% of participants
conformed at least once.
To strengthen conformity:
•
The group is unanimous
•
The group is at least three
people.
•
One admires the group’s status
•
One had made no prior
commitment.
Reasons for Conforming
Khan Academy
Normative Social
Influence:
Informational Social
Influence:
Influence resulting
from a person’s desire
to gain approval or
avoid disappointment
Influence resulting
from one’s willingness to
accept others’ opinions
about reality
Would how you dress for school be affected, if
you lived in small-town Texas?
• When could this be an • When could this be an
example of normative
example of
social influence?
informative social
influence?
Group Influence
Social Facilitation Theory
• If you are really good
at something….or it is
an easy task…you will
perform BETTER in
front of a group.
• If it is a difficult task
or you are not very
good at it…you will
perform WORSE in
front of a group
(social impairment).
Social Loafing
• The tendency for
people in a group to
exert less effort
when pooling efforts
toward a common
goal than if they
were individually
accountable.
Deindividuation
Trick or Treat
• People get swept up
in a group and lose
sense of self.
• Feel anonymous and
aroused.
• Explains
rioting
behaviors.
Group Polarization
Khan Academy(begin @ 4:05)
• Groups tend to make
more extreme
decisions than the
individual; strengthen
common beliefs
Groupthink
Phineas and Ferb
Khan Academy
• Group members
suppress their
reservations about
the ideas supported
by the group.
• They are more
concerned with
group harmony.
• Works in highly
cohesive groups.
Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination
start @ 2:10
Stereotype
• Overgeneralized idea about
a group of people.
Prejudice
• Undeserved (usually
negative) attitude towards
a group of people.
Ethnocentrism is a typical
result of prejudice.
Discrimination
• An action based on a
prejudice.
Is it just race?
NO
• Palestinians and Jews
• Lassiter and Kell
• Men and Women
How does prejudice occur?
Social Roots
•In-Group Bias
•In-Group versus OutGroups Human Zoo
•Scapegoat Theory
Cognitive Roots
•Categorization
•“Vivid Cases” (Based on the
Availability Heuristic- violent
actions of groups or individuals
often first come to mind)
•Just World Phenomenon- the
belief that good is rewarded and
evil is punished and therefore
there is justice in the world. Ex:
rich man might see his own
success and a poor man’s
suffering as well deserved.
Combating Prejudice
Contact Theory
• Contact between hostile groups will reduce
animosity if they are made to work towards a
superordinate goal.
Prejudices can often lead to a…
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• A prediction that
causes itself to be
true. example
• “A Class Divided” – Blue
Eye / Brown Eye Lesson
• Rosenthal and
Jacobson’s “Pygmalion
Effect” experiment.
Aggression
• Aggression is defined as an act of delivering an
aversive stimulus to an unwilling victim.
• Psychologists distinguish two types of
aggression:
• 1. Instrumental aggression: action in which
satisfaction of some goal behavior or benefit.
– (i.e. "fighting your way through a crowd”)
• 2. Hostile aggression: results when a person
feels pain, anger or frustration and attempts to
strike out against someone or something.
– (i.e. “road rage” or punching a wall)
Basis of Aggression
Biology of Aggression
start @3:06
• Genetic (Twins, Y Chromosome)
• Neural (Amygdala, Frontal
Lobes)
• Biochemical Factors (Hormones,
Alcohol)
Psychology of Aggression
• Bandura’s Modeling (Social
learning Theory)
• Frustration-Aggression Principle
• Other Aversive Stimuli (Heat,
Foul Odors, Pollutants)
Hot Weather and Aggression
Aggression and TV
Watches
=
• By the time you are 18, you spend more time in front of TV than
in school
• 2/3 of all homes have 3 or more sets average 51 hours a week.
• By the time a child finishes elementary school they have
witnessed 8000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on TV
• Over half of all deaths do NOT show the victim's pain
• As TV watching has grown exponentially, so does violent
behavior- a strong positive correlation with aggression.
Conflict
start @ 8:15
• a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or
ideas
• social trap – a situation in which the conflicting
parties, by each rationally pursuing their selfinterest, become caught in mutually destructive
behavior
Attraction and Love
Biological factors:
•
Neural- Hypothalamus
(influences sex drive through
the production of oxytocin,
dopamine and serotonin),
Pituitary Gland (release of
hormones), Frontal Lobe
(Processing and Decision
Making).
• Biochemical- hormones
(estrogen, testosterone,
adrenaline) and pheromones
5 Factors of Attraction
Proximity
• Physical nearness
• Mere Exposure
Effect
• Familiarity breeds
Fondness
 Taiwanese Letters
 Student/Classmate
Reciprocal Liking
• You are more likely
to like someone who
likes you.
• Why?
• Except in
elementary school!!!!
Similarity
• Paula Abdul was
wrong- opposites do
NOT attract.
• Birds of the same
feather do flock
together.
• Similarity breeds
content.
Liking through Association
• Classical Conditioning
can play a part in
attraction.
• If I were incredibly
fond of a certain
restaurant and I saw
the same waiter every
time I ate there, I
might begin to associate
that waiter with the
good feelings I get by
going to that restaurant.
What is beauty?
Youth and Symmetry seem to be two culturally
universal marks of attractiveness.
The Hotty Factor
• Physical attractiveness
predicts dating
frequency
• They are perceived as
healthier, happier,
more honest and
successful than less
attractive
counterparts.
Beauty and Culture
Women's Beauty Standards
Men's Beauty Standards
Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's
white Moor Arab population that the young girls
are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the
government has described as "life-threatening".
So Why Does Gondek Have a
Crush on Hank Green???
• Mere Exposure Effect:
• 14 Units (Sometimes
multiple Crash Courses a
unit) x 4 classes of AP Psych
last year= A whole lot of
Crash Course
• Liking through Association:
• She loves AP Psych and
shows Crash Course during
that class.
• Facial Symmetry:
• Studies have shown that
wearing glasses improves
facial symmetry.
• She’s a big nerd.
Do People Really Have a “Type”
Science says:
Maybe?!?!?
Thought the research is for the most part
varied and inconclusive, the idea of
someone having a “type” comes from the
development of schemas, or frameworks
for our ideal partner. These schemas can
be consistent over time or change based on
individual experiences.
Instructions
Read each personal ad, and, using your knowledge of psychology,
determine which two people will be most likely to become involved
and why.
• Shy and Single—Long Island, Jewish, professional (32) seeks
long-term relationship. I enjoy music (folk and rock), the
outdoors, reading, and sushi.
• Come Build a Future With Me—Suburban, Chicago, carpenter
looking for a companion (25-35) for friendship and more.
Favorite activities include concerts, dining, and athletics.
• Alone in the City That Never Sleeps—Manhattan business
executive ready to settle down. I love pets and children and
like to travel, go to movies, and read.
• Life of the Party Seeks Partner—Single secretary in San
Francisco looking for life partner. I am ambitious, vivacious, and
delicious. I enjoy jogging, yoga, and creative pursuits.
Theories of Love
• In the 1970’s John Lee identified six types of love styles:
• 1. Eros: passionate physical and emotional love based on
aesthetic enjoyment
• 2. Ludus – a love that is played as a game or sport
• 3. Storge – an affectionate love that slowly develops from
friendship
• 4. Pragma – love that is driven by the head, not the heart
• 5. Mania – obsessive love; experience great emotional highs
and lows; very possessive and often jealous lovers
• 6. Agape – selfless altruistic love
Theories of Love
• Robert Sternberg: most know for his “triarchic
theory of intelligence” also came up with his own
“triarchic theory of love”.
• The main “goal” of love according to Sternberg is
what he called consummate love.
• Consummate love is made up of three components:
• 1. passion: intense desire to be with the other person
• 2. intimacy: emotional closeness
• 3. commitment: desire to maintain the relationship
• Other specific forms of love are made up of
combinations of these three components.
Prosocial Behavior
start @ 5:30
start @ 7:53
• Kitty Genovese case, NY
•
What Happened to Kitty Genovese
• Bystander Effect
 conditions under which people are more
or less likely to help one another. In
general, the more people around, the
less chance of help.
 Why? Diffusion of Responsibility
• Altruism-unselfish regard for the
welfare of others
• modern example
Altruism
What makes it likely that someone will help,
counteracting the “bystander effect”?
Presence of Examples Small Town / Rural
Area
Not in a Hurry
Victim Appears to
Need/Deserve Help
Victim is Similar to
Observer
Feelings of Guilt
Focused on Others /
Not Preocuppied
Good Mood
Social Exchange Theory
start @ 7:25
The idea that our social behavior is an exchange
process, which we maximize benefits and
minimize costs (weigh the pro’s/cons of giving
blood!)
Reciprocity Norm
to give as much as we receive
“AA sent me some beautiful address labels this
year so I will donate $$ to them”