PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
Sixth Edition
by
Karen Huffman
PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation
Chapter 16
Social Psychology
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Lecture Overview
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Our Thoughts About Others
Attributions and Attitudes
Our Feelings About Others
Our Actions Toward Others
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Social Psychology
• Social psychology examines how other
persons influence the behavior of an
individual
– Thoughts include attitudes and attributions
– Feelings include prejudice and attraction
– Actions include social influence, aggression,
and altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attributions
• Attributions are statements that explain
why people do what they do
– Dispositional: the actions of a person are
related to their internal character
• “John hit me because he is a mean person”
– Situational: the actions of a person are
related to the external characteristics of their
situation
• “John robbed the bank in order to avoid losing
his family home to a bankruptcy”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attributional Errors
• Fundamental attribution error (FAE) occurs
when we judge the behavior of others as due
to dispositional factors
– Saliency bias: The personalities of others are
more salient than are situational factors
• Self-serving bias: In contrast, we tend to to
see our own behavior as due to situational
factors
– The self-serving bias maintains our self-esteem
• These attribution errors are a function of the
culture that a person lives in
– FAE is difficult to observe in a group-oriented
culture
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Attitudes
• Attitudes are learned predispositions to
respond to a particular object in a particular
way
• Attitudes involve:
– Cognitions: thoughts and beliefs
– Emotions: feelings about the object
– Behaviors: how we act toward the object
• Attitudes are learned during interactions with
others
• Attitudes can be modified by the person
– Cognitive dissonance can prompt attitude change
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Elements of An Attitude
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Cognitive Dissonance
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Prejudice
• Prejudice involves a negative attitude toward
specific people based on their membership in
an identified group
• Three components of prejudice:
– Stereotypes are thoughts and beliefs about people
based on their group membership
– Strong emotional feelings about the object of
prejudice
– Predispositions to act in certain negative ways
toward the group (discrimination)
• Eliminating prejudice may require
– Cognitive retraining
– Increased group contact
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Sources of Prejudice
• Learning: Prejudice is acquired through classical
and operant conditioning and through modeling
• Cognitive processes: People use mental
shortcuts to categorize others
• Ingroup versus outgroup categorization
• Economic/Political competition: Prejudice arises
when financial resources are limited
• Displaced aggression: Persons may displace
their frustration onto non-threatening groups, a
practice known as “scapegoating”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Interpersonal Attraction
• Interpersonal Attraction refers to our degree of
liking of another person
• Three factors that contribute to attraction:
– Physical attractiveness includes size, shape, facial
features, and manner of dress
– Proximity refers to geographic nearness
– Similarity is the preference for people who share our
ethnic background, social class, and attitudes
• The evolutionary view of attraction is that men
and women are attracted to different
characteristics
– Men are attracted to beautiful youthful women
– Attractive men have resources and social status
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
• Liking versus loving
Love
– Liking is derived from friendship and
simple attraction
– Love involves an extended intensive
relationship characterized by caring,
attachment, and intimacy
• Romantic love is an intense attraction
that involves the idealization of the
other person and that is expected to
endure over time
– Yet, romantic love may be short-lived
• Companionate love is based on
admiration and respect
– Companionate love may last a lifetime
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Asch’s Study of Conformity
• Conformity is a type of
social influence in which
persons change their
behavior as a result of
real or imagined group
pressure
• In this study, subjects
are asked to match the
line length x with the
three lines above after
others stated “c is the
match”
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Norms
• A social norm is an expected behavior that is
adhered to by members of a group
– Explicit norms: speed limits posted on a highway
– Implicit norms: table manners at a formal dinner
party
• Personal space is a norm that varies by group
– Friends are closer than strangers
– Children tend to stand closer (until they are
socialized to maintain a greater personal distance)
– Women tend to stand closer than men
– Violent prisoners require a personal space that is
three times larger than that of non-violent prisoners
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Obedience to Authority
• Obedience involves going along with a direct
command from an authority figure
• Factors that modulate obedience:
– Power of the authority makes a difference
– Distance between the teacher and the learner makes a
difference
– Assignment of responsibility: We are less likely to be
obedient if we think we will be held responsible for our
actions
– Viewing other disobedient models reduces obedience
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
The Study of Obedience
• In Milgram’s study,
subjects were asked to
deliver different
voltages (0-450 volts)
as a punishment to the
“learner”
• Milgram’s question
was at what point
would subjects refuse
to deliver shock to
another person?
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Milgram Obedience Results
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Group Processes
• A group is two or more persons interacting
with one another in such a way that each
person influences and is influenced by
each other person
• Group mental processes:
– Group polarization: the group decision is
more risky than that of an individual
– Groupthink: a mode of thinking that people
engage in when part of a cohesive in-group
• Group fails to note inconsistent information
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Groupthink Factors
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Aggression
• Aggression is any form of behavior that is
intended to harm another living being
• Factors that modulate aggression:
– Instincts: notion that humans are innately
aggressive; notion that aggression kills off
less fit organisms
– Genes: twins show similar levels and types
of aggression
– Brain: aggression can be elicited by
electrical stimulation of the brain
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
• Factors that modulate aggression:
– Substance abuse: alcohol intoxication is
associated with most forms of aggression
– Hormones: testosterone is linked to male
aggression
– Frustration: blocking a goal leads to anger,
which leads to aggression
– Culture and learning: children who view
violent television programming and who
view violent video games may become
aggressive
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Altruism
• Altruism refers to actions designed to
help others
• Evolutionary theory suggests we are
altruistic toward persons who share our
genes --> fosters survival of our genes
• Egoistic model: altruism is motivated by
some anticipated gain
• Empathy-altruism model: empathy
leads to altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Explanations for Altruism
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E
Copyright
Copyright 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York,
NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected
by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any
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of the copyright owner.
© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 6E