Chapter 14:
Social Psychology
I. Social psychology
A. Definition
Social psychology is the scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people.
B. Broad areas of interest in social psychology
1. Social cognition: how our social environment influences the way we understand other people
2. Attitudes: how our beliefs, feelings, and prior behavior influence subsequent behavior
3. Social influence: how our social environment influences our attitudes and behaviors
4. Social action: how our social environment influences the behavior of people in groups and organizations
II. Social Cognition
A. Impression Formation
1. Schemata: frameworks for screening, evaluating events so we can interpret experiences and behave accordingly a. Primacy/recency effects b. Self-fulfilling prophecies
2. Stereotypes a. Special kind of schema based on almost any distinguishing feature, from sex and race to occupation, behavior, mannerisms, place of residence, or physical appearance. b. Can become the basis for self-fulfilling prophecies.
B. Attribution: Inferring causality
1. Explaining Behavior: To what factor do you attribute the cause of an observed event? a. Attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1967): the rules and principles by which we attempt to infer the cause of events in our world, such as the behavior of others. b. According to Heider (1958), we attribute the cause of that behavior to either internal/dispositional/personal or external/situational/environmental factors, both NOT both. c. Kelley (1967)
(1). Consistency: Does the individual act the same in the same situation?
(2). Distinctiveness: Does the individual act similarly in similar situations?
(3). Consensus: Do others in the currently observed situation act the same way?
(4). There is also a “discounting” principle not mentioned in your text. Given adequate basis to make one kind of attribution, then "discount" the other possibility.
2. Biases a. Fundamental Attribution Error (actor-observer bias) b. Defensive attribution c. "Just-world" Hypothesis

3. Attribution Across Cultures
Individualist: dispositional
Collectivist: situational
D. Interpersonal Attraction
1. Introduction
2. Proximity
3. Physical attractiveness
4. Similarity vs complementarity?
5. Exchange/Reciprocity
6. Intimacy => self-disclosure => loving
III. Attitudes
A. Nature of Attitudes
1. Three Components of Attitudes: Relatively stable organization of a. Evaluative Beliefs b. Feelings c. Behavioral tendencies
2. Relation between Attitudes and Behavior a. Not straightforward: LaPiere (1934) b. Increasing the specificity with respect to both attitude and behavior will increase the correlation between attitude and behavior c. Influence of Self-Monitoring
3. Attitude development
Attitudes derive mostly from early personal experience. Friends, teachers, parents, siblings, extended family, salient others, but are also influenced by mass media
B. Prejudice and Discrimination
1. Prejudice: an unfair, intolerant or unfavorable attitude about a group of people
2. Discrimination: an unfair or intolerant act or a series of acts directed against an entire group or class of people or individual members of that group simply because of their membership in that group or class
3. A great many prejudices are based on stereotyped internal attributions
4. Many sources of prejudice: a. Frustration-aggression theory: prejudice is a result of the frustrations experienced by the prejudiced group -- especially as frustration can spill over to anger and hostility.
Scapegoating b. Authoritarian personality--Adorno et al. (1950): Rigidly conventional, favor following the rules and abiding by tradition, and hostile to those who defy or do not fit the norms. c. Cognitive misers, oversimplification d. Social conformity e. Racism f. Ethnic violence
5. How to reduce prejudice: a. Recategorize, expand schema, and develop superordinate categories (e.g., we are all
Americans) b. Controlled processing -- becoming mindful of others and the prejudicial nature of our

thoughts. c. Improving group contact and developing group understanding.
(1) Group members must have equal status.
(2) Have 1-to-1 contact with each other.
(3) Cooperation, not competition
(4) Change in social norms encouraging contact.
C. Attitude change and persuasion
1. The process of persuasion a. Get the listener to pay attention. b. Get the listener to comprehend and accept the message: “the hook”. c. Even an irritating, annoying message can persuade.
2. The Communication Model a. 4-part model
(1) Source (communicator)
(2) Message (communication)
(3) Audience
(4) Medium b. Source factors
(1) prestige,
(2) credibility c. Message factors
(1) 1 vs. 2 sided communication
(2) Logical vs. emotional appeals d. Audience factors
(1) Level of intelligence and knowledge
(2) Pre-existing commitment
(3) Discrepancy between contents or message and present attitudes of audience -
- the greater the difference (within reason), the greater the change.
(4) Gender differences? e. Medium factors
(1) Written message better for complex arguments
(2) Live/videotape better if audience already grasps gist of argument
3. Cognitive Dissonance Theory a. Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) b. Relation to self-attribution c. Related concepts: “induced compliance”, “effort justification” d. Marketing/advertising example
IV. Social Influence
A. Cultural Influence
1. Culture: all the goods, both tangible and intangible, produced in a society.
2. Conditioning: We are rewarded for accepted behaviors and punished for negative ones, thus, conditioning our behavior in line with accepted cultural truisms and norms
B. Conformity: Influence by peers, especially when based on a cultural norm
1. Asch (1951, 1952)

2. Factors: size of group, degree of unanimity, nature of task
3. Informational vs. Normative influence?
4. Conformity across Cultures?
C. Compliance: Change of behavior in response to explicit request from another person or group.
1. Foot in the door: Gaining assent to a small request in order to achieve a larger request
(Freedman & Fraser, 1966).
2. Lowball: Gaining agreement and then raise the cost of compliance.
3. Door in the face: If a person refuses one request, that person may agree to a second request, even if lesser (uses “guilt”)
D. Obedience: change of behavior in response to a command from another person, typically an authority figure.
1. Milgram experiment at Yale
2. Factors: power, surveillance, nearness of victim, presence of others doing/not doing it
V. Social Action
A. Deindividuation: A loss of personal sense of responsibility in a group.
1. Protection through anonymity
2. Being in group not sufficient
3. Snowball effect in group
B. Helping behavior / altruism / bystander intervention
1. The tragedy of Kitty Genovese
2. Darley and Latane (1968)
3. Situational factors: "diffusion of responsibility", ambiguity
4. Personal characteristics: responsibility, mood, commitment
VI. Group decision making
A. General factors affecting effectiveness of group
1. Steiner (1972): nature of task, resources of group members, nature of interaction among group members
2. How the group interacts: high-status members exert large influence
3. Group size (social loafing: people tend to exert less effort when working in a group)
4. Cohesiveness of the group
B. Dynamics of group interaction: polarization
1. Group polarization: shift in attitudes by members of a group toward more extreme positions after group discussion (“risky shift”)
2. Normative vs. Informational influence? greater effect of informational influence
C. Some advantages of group decision making
1. Collective knowledge greater than individual knowledge
2. Group analysis clarifies nature of problem and potential solutions
3. Group discussion increases commitment to solution among members of group

D. Beware of "Groupthink” (Janis, 1982): pressure to conform to ideas that prevents the expression of alternative ideas -- amiability and morale supercede creativity and judgment.
1. Characteristics a. Overestimation of group abilities/status: e.g., illusion of invulnerability b. Closed mindedness: e.g., critical stereotypes of others c. Internal pressure toward uniformity: censorship and criticism of dissension d. Members isolated from outsiders e. High cost of failure
2. When does it occur? a. High stress b. Socially homogeneous group c. High interdependence among members
3. Problems created by Groupthink a. Failure to consider important features of problems and potential solutions b. Bias and unrealistic commitment to single course of action c. Little opportunity for re-assessment and correction if difficulties arise
4. Examples: Bay of Pigs invasion, Watergate, Challenger flight

D. Leadership
1. Great person theory: The theory that leadership is a result of personal qualities and traits that qualify one to lead others.
2. Alternative: Right person/right place/right time
3. Transactional view--a number of factors interact to determine who becomes the leader:
Fiedler's “contingency model” a. Task- and relationship-oriented leaders b. Which style is more effective depends upon the nature of the task, the relationship between leader and group, and the leader’s ability to exercise power c. Task-oriented leader better if conditions are favorable (good leader-member relations, structured tasks, and high leader power OR very unfavorable conditions (poor leadergroup relations, unstructured task, and low leader power. d. Relationship-oriented leader better if conditions within group only moderately favorable. (moderate relations, moderate structure, and moderate leader power)
4. Leadership across cultures a. Collectivist cultures have less emphasis on leaders that serve specific functions. b. Recent analyses of successful business management styles emphasize decision-making input from all group members, cooperation, and interdependence.
5. Women in leadership positions a. Both men and women say women make better managers than men b. Women better at communication, feedback, collaboration, instilling self-confidence.
Less directive and autocratic than typical leadership style among men.