Social Psychology? What’s that? The scientific study of how one’s behavior, thoughts or feelings are influenced by the presence (includes implied/imagined) of others

Three main areas of interest 1. Social Influence 2. Social cognition 3. Social interaction Asch’s social influence experiment got 1/3 conformity with 4 or more confederates and nobody giving the correct response

What else affects social influence? • Culture • Gender (under some circumstances) • Group factors (groupthink) that may include social stereotyping and ‘mind police’

Compliance: change behavior to go along 1. Foot-in-the-door 2. Door-in-the-face 3. Lowball 4. That’s not all (aka.. ‘wait, there’s more’)

Obedience? I’ll change my behavior on a direct order. • Stanley Milgram converts subjects into murderers just by ordering them to continue •Sometimes groups get together (polarization) using social comparison and taking cues • Stop looking over my shoulder… you are increasing my arousal level. May lead to • Social Facilitation for an easy task • Social Impairment for a difficult task Left to my own devices, I may try social loafing.

Switch Gears. Let’s discuss your attitude! My tendency to respond + or – to an idea, a person, an object or a situation. 3 components. 1. An affective or emotional component 2. A behavioral component 3. A cognitive component These may form as a result of 1. Direct contact 2. Direct instruction 3. Interaction with others 4. Observational learning

How can I use persuasion to change your attitude?

•The source should be attractive, an expert, trustworthy, and somewhat similar to me. • The message is clear and well organized • I should present both sides of the issue • Add a dose of fear, and a good solution Attitudes are often not good behavior predictors • If my attitude and behavior conflict, I may experience cognitive dissonance, at which time • I can change my attitude, or my behavior, or • I can re-think things to justify my behavior

You never get a 2nd chance to make a First impression. Impression formation involves assigning status, categorization, and drawing conclusions based on assumptions. Holds up! • Stereotyping; may be + or -, but is limiting • May be based on Implicit Personality Theory

Attribution: “What was he thinking?!?” • External cause = Situational • Internal cause = Dispositional • Fundamental Attributional Error: less of a factor with collectivist cultures and the young

Prejudice: holding a – stereotype of a social group

Discrimination: treating a given group different from others. Back of the bus? Gay marriage? • We need an ‘in’ group (that I identify with) and an ‘out’ group, and the more conflict, the better! • Social Cognitive Theory: attitude formation • Social Identity Theory: the three processes 1. Social Categorization 2. Social Identity (self concept & membership) 3. Social comparison: people like me are better than people who are different from me. Duh!

How can we reduce prejudice? • Equal status contact (or interaction) • Superordinate goal • Jigsaw classrooms Let’s get positive! What about likes and loves? • Attraction influenced by proximity, similarity, attractiveness, and reciprocity of ‘liking’ • Love has 3 components: Intimacy (closeness), passion (emotional arousal), and commitment. • We can have romantic love (1+2) or companionate love (1+3) or consummate love

How about prosocial behavior? • Altruism: help w/o expectation of reward • Sometimes no help is coming? Why not? • The bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility decrease helping / interventions If I’m going to help, I need to do the following 1. Notice the situation 2. Define the situation as an emergency 3. Take personal responsibility for situation 4. Plan a course of action 5. Carry it out

What causes human aggression? • Freud said it was instinctual • Genes may play a part • Berkowitz showed a frustration connection • Let’s not leave out hormones • and diminished inhibitions • Zimbardo showed social roles may factor in • Bandura (Bo Bo dolls) modeling a factor • Anderson notes the connection between rehearsal (playing violent video games) and violence (as kids and adolescents). Correlation!