Social Psychology
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How does society influence your behavior?
How does society affect our
thinking and actions?
How do people explain behavior?
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Fundamental attribution error
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Overestimating the influence of personality
Underestimating the influence of situation
How do our actions affect our
attitudes?
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The “foot-in-the-door” phenomenon
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People who agree to a small action, will comply
with a larger one later.
How does the role we play affect
our attitudes and actions?
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Philip Zimbardo’s prison study
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Students randomly assigned to be guards or
prisoners
Guards acted like guards
Prisoners acted like prisoners
Study called off after only six days because
participants were endangered by their role playing.
Result: Since the roles we play affect our attitudes
and behavior; if we play that role long enough we
may become that type of person.
How do our actions affect our
attitudes?
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Cognitive dissonance theory
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Leon Festenger
Cognitive = thinking
Dissonance = Unresolved differences
When we act differently than we believe, we
experience cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance (cont.)
To reduce dissonance, we will change our attitudes
(or behavior) to produce agreement.
 We change our attitudes to justify past behavior.
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I know smoking can kill me, but I still smoke.
Change behavior
Quit smoking
Change attitudes
Smoking is not
that bad
Cognitive dissonance (cont.)
Do you remember?
What mistake do people often make when
explaining a person’s behavior?
 If you want someone to do a large favor for
you, what strategy could you use?
 What did the Zimbardo prison study tell us?
 To change someone’s behavior using the
cognitive dissonance theory, what strategy
would you use?
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How do we influence each other?
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Will you
conform to
group pressure?
Which line is longer?
What is the Solomon Asch
conformity study?
Comparing lengths of lines
 People rejected what they could see, to
conform with the group even when it was
clearly incorrect.
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Obedience Will you do what you are told
even if it would hurt someone?
Stanley Milgram’s shock
experiments
Teachers - gave shock (15 - 450 volts)
 Learners - received shock
 Results: The majority of “teachers” ordered
to shock the “learners” complied fully, and
gave the highest level of shock.
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Stanley Milgram’s shock
experiments (Cont.)
What causes prejudice?
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Scapegoat Theory
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Frustration & feeling disadvantaged
creates prejudice
“They caused my problems.”
The Cultural Theory of prejudice
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Emery Borgardus
People well adjusted to a “culture of
prejudice” become prejudiced.
What causes aggression?
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Frustration aggression
hypothesis
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Frustration - anger
– aggression
E.g. Hurting
someone that
frustrated you (not
always physical)
Do you remember?
What did the Solomon Asch study tell us?
 What did Milgram’s shock experiments tell us?
 What idea may explain why people growing
with the KKK are prejudiced?
 What idea may explain why the poor may be
prejudiced?
 What example do you have in your life of the
frustration-aggression hypothesis?
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Have you ever been “In love”?
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Sternberg’s
theory of love
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Intimacy
Passion
Commitment
Have you ever been “In love”?
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Passionate love
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Fully absorbed with the other
“Walking on clouds”
Companionate love
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A deep affectionate attachment to the other
Based on equity and self disclosure
Will someone help you in an
emergency?
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The bystander effect
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Kitty Genovese
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Before helping, people must:
 Notice
the situation
 Interpret it as an emergency
 Assume responsibility
Bystander effect (cont.)
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The more people
are available to
help, the less
chance any one
person will help.
“Diffusion of
responsibility”
Why do we help?
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Self interest
The “Social Exchange” theory
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Cost - benefit analysis
Will the cost (money, time, discomfort) be less than the
benefit (reduced guilt, social approval, good feelings).
Reciprocity norm
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I give you something, I expect something back
Name stamps in contribution envelopes
Do you remember?
What love keeps an older couple together
when they are no longer young and beautiful?
 Why will a fireman point to one bystander and
ask them to do something rather that asking
anyone on the crowd?
 What is idea most apt to explain why people
give money to people on the street?
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