Introductory Psychology Concepts
Social Psychology
Instructor name
Class Title, Term/Semester, Year
Institution
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Social Psychology: The Study of Thoughts, Feelings,
and Behavior Influenced By the Real, or Implied
Presence of Others
Social Psychology studies how we think about our social
world, how other people influence our behavior, and how we
relate toward other people.
“He’s been under a lot of
stress lately.” “He only thinks
about himself. What a jerk!”
Depending on which
attribution she makes for her
husband’s outburst, this
woman may respond with
understanding or anger.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Compliance: Solomon Asch
Compliance, or conformity—the adjustment of individual
behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs to a group standard.
In Asch’s classic (1956)
conformity experiments,
students were asked to
judge which of three
comparison lines was the
same length as the
standard line.
Upon hearing other group
members say that line 1
was the correct match,
participants wondered
whether their own
judgments were correct.
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A
Standard line
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1
2
3
Comparison lines
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Obedience: Stanley Milgram
The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts
Malevolent Authority
• Stanley Milgram (1974) asked a disturbing question:
• Would ordinary citizens obey the orders of an authority
figure if those orders meant physically harming an
innocent person?
• He conducted 18 studies between 1960 and 1963 to answer
this question and to identify factors that increased or
decreased obedience to authority.
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© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Obedience: Stanley Milgram
The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts
Malevolent Authority
Milgram’s Method:
• Participants: 40 men, 20-50 years old, “teachers”.
• Each participant was introduced to a “learner” (confederate).
• Participants were told that the experiment studied the effects of
punishment on memory.
• Each time the learner made an error, the teacher was
instructed to administer an electric shock, beginning with 15
volts and increasing to 450 volts.
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© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Obedience: Stanley Milgram
Milgram’s Results:
This graph shows the
percentage of male
participants who
continued to shock the
learner through various
voltage levels.
Percentage of people obeying
command at each shock level
100
80
60
40
SOURCE: Based on Milgram,
1974.
20
0
Slight
15 volts
Strong
135 volts
Moderate
75 volts
6
Intense
255 volts
Ver strong
195 volts
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Danger:
Severe
Shock
375 volts
Extreme
XXX
intensity
435-450
315 volts
volts
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Attitudes
An attitude is a positive or negative evaluative reaction
toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object, or
concept (Tesser & Shaffer, 1990).
Attitudes represent an
important form of social
thinking. They help
define who we are, and
they affect the way
people judge one
another.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Attitude Formation
Persuasion is the process of changing attitudes.
Social psychologists have discovered two primary
information-processing routes to persuasion:
• Central route processing
Recipient carefully considers the issues involved in persuasion.
• Peripheral route processing
More likely used by uninvolved, inattentive targets, less enduring.
Message
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+ Highly Involved
+ Motivated
+ Attentive
Central
route
processing
Stronger,
lasting attitude
change
+ Uninvolved
+ Unmotivated
+ Inattentive
Peripheral
route
processing
Weaker, less
persistent
attitude change
Target
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Attribution
Attribution theory seeks to explain how we decide, on the
basis of samples of an individual’s behavior, what the specific
causes of that person’s behavior are.
Noticing an
event
Interpreting
the event
Forming an
initial
explanation
Is time available?
Are cognitive
resources
available?
Is there motivation
to change the
initial explanation?
Event
explained;
process
stops
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Yes
Formulate
and
resolve
problem
No
Is the
explanation
satisfactory?
Yes
No
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Aggression
The intentional injury of, or harm to, another person.
Types of aggression include:
• Instinct Approach:
Aggression is an innate, or inborn, reaction due to our natural
fight and survival instinct.
• Frustration-Aggression Approach:
Feelings of frustration lead to anger which can then lead to a
readiness to act aggressively.
• Observational Learning Approach:
Social and environmental conditions can teach individuals to
be aggressive.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Prejudice and Discrimination
• Prejudices are the negative (or positive) evaluation of a
particular group and its members.
• Discrimination is the actual behavior directed toward
individuals based on one’s prejudices.
Like father, like son.
Social learning approaches
to stereotyping and
prejudice suggest that
attitudes and behaviors
toward members of minority
groups are learned through
the observation of parents
and other individuals.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Liking and Loving: forms of interpersonal attraction and
close relationships that stem from positive feelings for
others.
Research has given us a good deal of knowledge about the
factors that initially attract two people to each other (Harvey
& Weber, 2002).
Important factors considered by social psychologists include:
•
•
•
•
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Proximity
Mere exposure
Similarity
Physical Attractiveness
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Liking and Loving
Psychologist Robert Sternberg suggests that love consists of
three parts:
• Decision/commitment
• Intimacy
• Passion
Liking
(intimacy)
Romantic love
(intimacy + passion)
Consummate
love
(intimacy + passion +
decision/commitment)
Infatuation
(passion)
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Fatuous love
(passion +
decision/commitment)
Companionate love
(intimacy +
decision/commitment)
Empty love
(decision/commitment)
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Psychology
Prosocial Behavior
Altruism: helping behavior that is clearly beneficial to others,
but often includes self-sacrifice.
The Basic Steps of Helping
Noticing a person, event, or situation
that may require help
Interpreting the event as one that
requires help
Assuming responsibility for helping
Deciding on and implementing the
form of helping
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