Psychology 1
Marina Sangkavichai
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Social Psychology
 Interpersonal relationships
 Social psychology: scientific study of how
individuals behave, think, and feel in social
situations
 Established values, expectations, and
behavior patterns are present when we arrive
Social Roles
 Social roles are patterns of behavior expected
of persons in various social positions.
 In each group we occupy a position in the
structure of the group.
Zimbardos Prison Experiment
 Video: Zimbardo shows how most evil comes
from hierarchy ( Stanford Prison Experiment )
Social Norms
 A social norm is an accepted (but often
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unspoken) standard for appropriate
behavior. Would you sing in your loudest
voice at the supermarket line?
What are the norms expected at a party?
At a work meeting?
When you’re hanging out with friends?
When you’re at a job interview?
HALLOWEEN NORM
Fundamental Attribution Error
 is people's tendency to place an undue
emphasis on internal characteristics to
explain someone else's behavior in a given
situation, rather than considering external
factors.
 For example, if a person is late for class, we
often assume it’s because they don’t care
enough to make it on time instead of
considering other factors such as traffic, a
sick child at home, etc.
Fundamental Attribution Error
 In other words: When we see someone doing something, we tend to
think it relates to their personality rather than the situation the
person might be in.
 For example, if someone cuts in front of you in line, your immediate
reaction is, "This person is a complete jerk!" But in reality, maybe
he never cuts into lines and is doing it this time only because he is
about to miss his plane, the one he’s taking to be with his great aunt,
who is on the verge of death.
Attribution Errors
 When it comes to OUR own behavior, we
usually attribute it to situational factors. I was
late to class because I had a flat tire, or I only
slept three hours last night, etc.
 We give ourselves the benefit the doubt and
attribute our behavior to situational factors!
 For example, I didn’t do well in my math
course because the teacher wasn’t very good.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result
from holding two conflicting beliefs. When there is a
discrepancy between beliefs and behaviors, something
must change in order to eliminate or reduce the
dissonance.
 For example, you know smoking is bad for you but you
smoke anyway. You tell yourself that it’s too hard to quit,
OR the effects are not that bad in order to reduce the
tension you feel when your thoughts don’t match your
actions.
 People who have a high need for consistency in their
actions feel the effects more.
Interpersonal Attraction
 Social attraction to another person is called
interpersonal attraction
 What makes us attracted to another person?
 Either as potential love partners or friends
Psychology Question
 According to the lecture, what are the key
elements to interpersonal attraction?
Research Shows:
 Physical proximity: the closer people live to
one another or have frequent contact with
one another, the more likely they’ll be
attracted to one another.
 Repeated exposure increases attraction
Interpersonal Attraction
 Similarity: we prefer people who are similar
to us in some way. We enjoy being around
people who share the same beliefs and
outlook on life
 Similarity helps couples stay together, not
opposites
Couples sharing similar
interests
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Three Components of Love
 Intimacy: feelings of closeness, emotional
ties
 Passion: emotional and sexual arousal person
feels for another
 Commitment: decision one makes about
relationship ( short-term vs long-term )
Types of Love
 Romantic love: intimacy and passion
 Companionate love: intimacy and
commitment
 Consummate love: intimacy, passion, and
commitment
 Infatuation: passion only
 Empty love: commitment only
Attraction rules
 Physical attractiveness: persons degree of
physical beauty, as defined by his or her
culture
 Has its advantages good looking people are
less lonely, less socially anxious, more
popular, more socially skilled and more
sexually experienced than unattractive
people
Gendered friendships
 Friends are similar in age, same sex, race,
beliefs, etc
 Males friendships activity based
 Women friendships based on expressing
feelings and shared concerns
Friendships
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Gendered Friendships
 “Two guys can become friends almost based
on nothing. Two guys can be friends just
because they’re two guys.” Jerry Seinfeld
says, “women and sports are all we ever talk
about. If there were no women and sports,
we’d just say so what’s in the refrigerator?”
Mate Selection
 Studies show that married and couples who
are living together are very similar in age,
education, race, religion, and ethnic
background.
 Personality closely matched in stable
marriages, differ in marriages that are not as
stable
What people are looking for in
relationships?
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Kindness and understanding
Intelligence
Exciting personality
Good health
Physical attractiveness
Homogamy: choosing partners most like us
Women look at status and ambition more
than men do
Building Close Relationships
 Self-disclosure: the process of revealing
private thoughts, feelings and one’s personal
history. Essential for developing close
relationships
 Overdisclosure: revealing too much too soon
can turn people of or scare them
 Library example
Evolution and Mate Selection
 Evolutionary origins of human behavior that
influence sexual attraction, infidelity, jealousy
and divorce.
 Do you believe marriage is a natural state?
Study done
 In a study of 37 cultures on six continents,
following patterns were found:
 Men are more interested in casual sex
 Men prefer younger, more physically
attractive partners
 Men are more jealous over sexual infidelities
than emotional ones
For women
 Women prefer slightly older partners who are
economically successful
 Women more upset by a partner who
becomes emotionally involved with someone
else
 Women want someone who will stick around
and help raise children
 Men more interested in reproducing-looking
for beautiful “trophy” wives
Personal Ad
 Personal ad placed in paper
 Beautiful waitress
680 responses
 Average looking female lawyer 290
responses
 Average looking male lawyer 100 responses
 Handsome cab driver 25-30 responses
Conformity
 Changing ones own behavior to more closely
match the actions of others
 The Asch Experiment ( video )
Obedience
 Changing one’s behavior at the direct order of
an authority figure
 The Milgram Study ( Experiment on
Obedience Part 3 of 3 ).
Bystander Effect
 referring to the effect that the presence of
other people has on the decision to help or
not help, with help becoming less likely as the
number of bystanders increase.
 Diffusion of responsibility: a person fails to
take responsibility for either action or
inaction because of the presence of other
people who are seen to share the
responsibility.
Bystander Effect
Compliance-Sales Techniques
 Compliance-get you to honor their requests
without really being in an authority position
 Foot in the door technique: agree to a smaller
request first, then commit to something
bigger/test driving
Compliance
 Door in the face: describes a tendency for a person who
has refused a major request to comply with a smaller
request. Pick me up…yes…pick me up at 4:30 in the
morning!
 Low ball: getting a person to commit to act and then
making the terms of acting less desirable
 For exampe: insurance rates
 End of lecture