Individual Behavior in the Presence of Others

Groupthink – the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpWr45bKWpE

Re-Cap: The Power of The Social Situation

Social Psychology

Social Relations

How do we relate to one another?

Social Psychology

Social Relations

Prejudice – an unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members

Social Psychology

Social Relations

Discrimination – an unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group

and its members

How Prejudiced Are People?

How Prejudiced Are People?

Automatic prejudice – People view a White or Black face, immediately followed by a gun or hand tool, which is then followed by a mask.

How Prejudiced Are People?

Automatic prejudice – Participants are more likely to misperceive a tool as a gun when it was preceded by a Black face than by a White face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=jVDblWOBZGA&vq=medium

Social Roots of Prejudice

Social inequalities – When resources are unequally distributed, the “haves” develop attitudes that justify things as they are. For example, slave owners developed attitudes about slaves that “justified” their enslavement.

Social Roots of Prejudice

Ingroup and Outgroup – People with whom we share a common identity (ingroup) and people who we perceive as different or apart (outgroup).

Social Roots of Prejudice

Ingroup and Outgroup – People with whom we share a common identity (ingroup) and people who we perceive as different or apart (outgroup).

Credit: Sascha Grabow

If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions. Talking over racial issues increased prejudice in a high-prejudice group and decreased it in a low-prejudice group.

Emotional Roots of Prejudice

Scapegoat theory – the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Cognitive Roots of Prejudice

Categorization – our tendency to underestimate similarities between individuals in our own groups, but to overestimate similarities between individuals in other groups.

Credit: VizCogLab/University of Victoria

Social Psychology

Social Relations

Aggression – any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

The Biology of Aggression

Genetic, neural, and biochemical influences – aggression is influenced by heredity; by hormones, alcohol, and other substances; and by stimulation of neural centers.

Psychological and Social-Cultural Factors

Frustration-aggression principle – the principle that frustration creates anger, which can generate aggression

Psychological and Social-Cultural Factors

Psychological and Social-Cultural Factors

Observing models of aggression – observing aggression increases aggression.

Social Psychology

Social Relations

Attraction

The Psychology of Attraction

Mere exposure effect – repeated exposure to stimuli in our immediate environment increasing liking of these images.

The Psychology of Attraction

Chapter Review

What do social psychologists study?

How do our attitudes and actions interact?

Under what circumstances do we conform? And why do we conform?

How does the presence of others affect our behavior and thinking?

Chapter Review

What is prejudice, and what explains it?

What explains aggression? And attraction?