chapter 14: social psychology. chapter outline 1. social cognition: attitudes 2. social cognition:...

Chapter 14: Social Psychology

Chapter Outline

1. Social cognition: Attitudes2. Social cognition: Attributions3. Social forces4. Social relations5. Social functioning: What happens in the

brain?6. Disorders of social functioning: When things

go wrong

© John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.

Social Psychology

Social psychology seeks to understand, explain, and predict how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others “It is not so much the kind of person a man

is, as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act” (Milgram, 2004)


Social Psychology

Following the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Boston Bruins on June 15, 2011, rioters moved through downtown Vancouver smashing windows and looting stores

Many Vancouverites went downtown the morning after the riot to help clean up.


Social Cognition: Attitudes

Social cognition—how people perceive, interpret, and categorize their own and others’ social behaviour

Attitudes—relatively stable and enduring evaluations of things and people


Attitudes

ABC model of attitudes The affective component—how we feel toward the object The behavioural component—how we behave toward the

object The cognitive component—what we believe about the

object


Attitudes

Attitudes: How we develop Beliefs develop early through socialization

by parents, peers, media, and teachers

How do attitudes change? Attitudes can change to justify new

behaviours Example: You recycle, so you change your

attitude about global warming to justify why you recycle


How Do Attitudes Change?

Cognitive dissonance—emotional discomfort as a result of holding contradictory beliefs or holding a belief that contradicts behaviour We change our beliefs to justify (or match)

our actions

Self-perception theory—when uncertain, we infer what our attitudes are by observing our own behaviour


Cognitive Dissonance

Subjects who were paid $1.00 for “talking up” the tasks reported the tasks to be more enjoyable than those who were paid $20.00. Why?

What happens when children are given explicit financial rewards for doing homework?


Do Attitudes Influence Behaviour?

Can we predict a person’s behaviour if we know their attitudes? Attitudes people express

are not necessarily related to how they actually behave

Attitude specificity—the more specific an attitude, the more likely it is to predict behaviour

Attitude strength—stronger attitudes predict behaviour more accurately than weak or vague attitudes


Are People Honest About Their Attitudes?

• Would you tell the truth if • your doctor asked you how much alcohol

you consume each month?• your mother asked you if you were

studying every day?• your significant other asked if you were

ever attracted to another person?• your professor asked you if you loved the

class?


Implicit Attitude

Implicit attitude—an attitude of which the person is unaware To change explicit attitudes: guided

exposure to groups toward which prejudiced beliefs are held work best

To change implicit attitudes: fear reduction and emotion-focused interventions are best to reduce implicit prejudice


Stereotypes and Prejudice

Stereotypes—generalized impressions based on social categories May be positive or negative Examples: age, race, beliefs

Prejudice—negative stereotypical attitudes toward all members of a group Examples: racism, sexism, homophobia,

ageism


Prejudice in Canada

Overt racism and sexism has decreased in both Canada and the United States

These have always been and continue to be lower in Canada

Many Canadians have some implicit negative attitudes toward black individuals

There has been a long history in Canada of prejudice and negative attitudes toward the Aboriginal population This has a negative effect

on their overall health


Contributors to Stereotypes and Prejudice

Categorize based on similarities Provides information about who we are (in-group) Provides information about who others are (out-group)

Evolutionary perspective—stereotypes and prejudice may have had some adaptive value Early humans needed to quickly identify other figures as

friends or foes Pre-wired to perceive different groups as inferior

Realistic conflict theory Amount of actual conflict between groups determines the

amount of prejudice between groups Social identity theory

Emphasizes social cognitive factors in the onset of prejudice Social categorization, social identity, social comparison


Attitudes and the Power of Persuasion

• Central route to persuasion—focuses on content, factual information, and logic to change attitudes• Example: Factual

information

• Peripheral route—focuses on superficial information to change attitudes Example: Attractive

spokesperson, catchy jingle


Persuasion Strategies

Source Is knowledgeable and likable Is similar to us Presents both sides of an issue

Foot-in-the-door—get them to agree to something small so they will agree to something larger later Someone asks if you will put a campaign sign on your lawn. A

week later, they ask if you would be willing to donate money to the campaign.

Door-in-the-face—ask for something very big knowing you will get turned down, but then ask for the smaller item you really wanted Example: “Dad, can I borrow $100? No? Well how about $10?”

Appeals to fear—ads make it seem like something bad will happen if you do not comply


Social Cognition: Attributions

• Attributions—causal explanations of behaviour.

• Dispositional (internal) attribution—the behaviour was caused because of the person

Situational (external) attribution—the behaviour was caused by the situation We tend to rely on situational attributions

when explaining our own behaviour

Fundamental attribution error—the tendency to use dispositional attributions to explain the behaviour of other people


Fundamental Attribution Error


The Actor-Observer Effect

We tend to make situational attributions about our own behaviour and personal attributions about the behaviour of others.


Exceptions to the Rule

When we don’t attribute others’ behaviour to their disposition: When most people would behave in the same way When we have details about situational factors

When we don’t attribute our behaviour to our situation: When our behaviour is positive

Example: I got an A because I studied and learned the material

Self-serving bias—tendency to attribute successes to dispositional causes and failures to situational causes


Norms and Social Roles

Norms—social rules about how members of a society are expected to act Provide order and predictability

Example: How you ride in an elevatorSocial role—a set of norms ascribed to a

person’s social position Positive effect: Society functions smoothly Negative effect: People are often limited by

their prescribed social roles Example: In the family, at work, in the community


Norms

Descriptive norms—agreed-on expectations about what members of a group do

Injunctive norms—agreed-on expectations about what members of a group ought to do

Norms can be explicit (openly stated) or implicit (not openly stated)


The Power of Roles

The Stanford Prison Experiment Male students were randomly assigned to play the

role of either prisoners or guards for a two-week experiment

Within hours the “guards” had begun humiliating their “prisoner” peers Physical punishments, denied bathroom privileges and food

Students assigned to the prisoner role typically became passive, depressed, and disorganized

Zimbardo shut down this experiment after six days There are many ethical concerns about this

experiment


Roles, Gender, and Social Skills

Social roles and socialization are used to explain gender differences Females—read non-verbal social cues more accurately

than males, are more expressive with their faces and bodies, feel more empathy for the emotional experiences of others, and act friendlier in group discussions

Males tend to focus on the tasks in group activities, to emerge as leaders, to adopt more authoritarian and less participative styles

Gender differences in social skill, empathy, leadership have decreased

Group differences do not allow attributions about individuals in either group


Conformity

Conformity—the tendency to yield to social pressure

The Asch studies Results show strong

effects of social pressure Key factor is group

unanimity Size of the group

affects its influence


Group Size and Conformity

A key factor in conformity is group size.

Asch found that the conformity effect is not strong when the group’s size is less than four members.


Milgram’s Obedience Study


Factors that Reduce Obedience

Obedience—the act of following direct commands, usually given by an authority figure

Factors that reduce obedience Salience of a victim’s suffering—the

suffering is obvious Proximity or closeness to the victim Responsibility—placing the “learner’s” hand

on a shock plate to administer the shock Modelling a non-obedient person


Social Relations

Group—an organized, stable collection of individuals in which the members are aware of and influence one another and share a common identity

Group dynamics—how membership or participation in a group influences our thoughts and behaviours Group productivity—optimal group size depends on task Social facilitation—improvement in performance

because others are present Recent research considers one’s interpretations of and

reactions to others’ presence Operates for both physical and mental tasks


Social Relations

Group dynamics (continued) Social loafing—exert less effort in a group task

than one would in an individual task More so in large groups Less in highly cohesive groups People from Western cultures display more than

people from Eastern cultures and men more than women

Group polarization—initial attitudes become more intense with group interaction

Groupthink—faulty group decision making as a result of trying too hard to agree


Social Facilitation


Helping Behaviour

Why do we help? Altruism—self-sacrificing behaviour carried

out for the benefit of others Bystander effect (apathy)—the more people

present, the less likely any one person will attempt to help Diffusion of responsibility—we are less

likely to assist in a large group because responsibility to help is shared


Bystander Intervention


Aggression

Aggression—broad category of behaviours intended to harm others, including physical and verbal attacks Genetic component Associated with high levels of testosterone and low

levels of serotonin Gender differences in aggression

Women—relational aggression• Snubbing, gossiping, and exclusion from groups

Men—direct aggression• Verbal and physical abuse


Aggression and Time of Year


Interpersonal Attraction

Three levels of attraction: cognitive, affective, behavioural Five key factors linked to liking (fondness and affection

for another person) Similarity Proximity Self-disclosure Situational factors Physical attractiveness

Triangular theory of love—involves intimacy, passion, and commitment

Developed by Robert Sternberg Eight types of love


Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love


Stages of Relationships

Stages of a loving relationship Exploration stage—the partners try out the

possible rewards and costs of a relationship Bargaining stage—they implicitly negotiate

the terms of the relationship Institutionalization stage—shared

expectations emerge and the relationship is exclusive


Types of Relationships

Types of lovers Secure attachment styles—are comfortable,

do not fear becoming too close or being abandoned; 53% of adults

Avoidant—uncomfortable, have difficulty trusting others; 26% of adults

Anxious-ambivalent—insecure and worry that their partners do not really love them and will leave; 20% of adults


Social Functioning: What Happens in the Brain?

Brain regions key for social functioning:Orbitofrontal cortex—involved in social reasoning,

reward evaluation, reading other people, and eliciting emotional states

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex—key in processing of rewards and punishments, interpreting non-verbal social information (such as facial expressions), making social and moral assessments and decisions, and feeling empathy

Insula—plays a key role in empathy and in reading othersAmygdala—helps to identify emotional facial expressions

of other people and to pay attention to stimuli that may be unpredictable, potentially rewarding, or potentially punishing


Size of Prefrontal Cortex and Social Behaviour


Disorders of Social Functioning

Social anxiety disorder—extreme and persistent fear of social situations in which embarrassment may occur; fear social circumstances

Avoidant personality disorder—social withdrawal and hypersensitivity to rejection and criticism; feel inadequate; fear close social relationships

Dependent personality disorder—excessive need to be taken care of and a fear of separation; excessively obedient under all circumstances


Autism-Spectrum Disorders

Autism—a severe disorder marked by extreme unresponsiveness, poor communication skills, and very repetitive and rigid behaviours Self-stimulatory behaviours Self- injurious behaviours Cause—fail to develop a theory of mind; genetic factors;

prenatal difficulties or birth complications; brain abnormalities

Treatments—behavioural therapy, communication training, parent training, psychotropic drugs

Asperger’s disorder—a disorder in which people have major social impairments yet maintain relatively normal intellectual, adaptive, and language skills


Copyright

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein.

chapter 14: social psychology. chapter outline 1. social cognition: attitudes 2. social cognition:...

Documents