1. 12/10/09
Social Psychology Agenda
• Social Thinking
• Social Influence
• Social Rela<ons
Social Psychology ADribu<on Theory
• The scien<fic study of how we think about, • Heider (1958)
influence, and relate to one another • We explain people’s behavior by credi<ng
either the situa<on or the person’s disposi<on
Fundamental ADribu<on Error
• We tend to underes<mate the impact of the
situa<on and to overes<mate the impact of
personal disposi<on
• Self‐Serving Bias – when we do posi<ve
things, we make an internal aDribu<on; when
we do nega<ve things, we make external
aDribu<ons
– Test scores
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2. 12/10/09
ADribu<on AXtudes
• Juries • A0tudes – feelings, oYen based on our
• Evalua<ng employees beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a
– “It’s the economy” par<cular way towards objects, people, and
events
• Teachers/Students
• Parents/Children
• AXtudes  Behaviors
– Other factors (situa<onal) contribute
• Behaviors  AXtudes
Behavior Affec<ng AXtudes Roles Affec<ng AXtudes
• Foot‐in‐the‐door phenomenon – the • Role – a set of explana<ons (norms) about a
tendency for people who have first agreed to a social posi<on, defining how those in the
small request to comply later with a larger posi<on ought to behave
request
– P.O.W.s in Korean War
• People behave differently in different roles
– Telemarke<ng/Sales – Teacher
– Online surveys – Football fan
– Student
• Influence tac<c: make a small request first – Hanging out with friends
The Power of the Situa<on The Power of the Situa<on
• Nazi Germany • Philip Zimbardo
• Were all Germans just evil • For the first few days people “played their
people? roles”
– ADribu<on! • AYerwards, the situa<on became “real”
• Could this happen with • Guards became very cruel, prisoners broke
us? down or rebelled
• Study called off aYer only 6 days
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3. 12/10/09
Cogni<ve Dissonance Conformity
• When we have two thoughts that are • Adjus<ng one’s behavior or thinking to
inconsistent, we feel discomfort coincide with a group standard
• We act to reduce this discomfort • Social influence is extremely powerful
• When our aXtudes and our ac<ons clash, we – Suicides, bomb threats, airplane hijackings, UFO
reduce dissonance by changing our aXtudes sigh<ngs all occur in clusters
– Dress code at RU vs. Wall St.
• We are not ra<onal, we ra<onalize
– Coughing/yawning are contagious
– “Seeding” <p jars
Conformity Conformity
• The Chameleon Effect • Asch (1955) ‐ Sugges<bility
– We unconsciously mimic others’ expressions,
postures, and voice tones
– Helps us to understand what others are feeling
Conformity Why do we conform?
Conformity increases when: • Norma;ve social influence – influence
• One is made to feel incompetent or insecure resul<ng from a person’s desire to gain
• The group has at least 3 people approval or avoid disapproval
• The group is unanimous – Try to avoid rejec<on
• One admires group’s status and aDrac<veness – Our ancestors needed the group to survive
• One has made no prior commitment to any • Informa;onal social influence – influence
response resul<ng from one’s willingness to accept
• Others in the group observe one’s behavior others’ opinions about reality
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4. 12/10/09
Obedience Authority
• Milgram (1963) and the Electric Shocks • Obedience highest when:
• Also in response to Nazi Germany – Person giving orders close by, perceived to be
legi<mate authority figure
• 63% of par<cipants went all the way to the
– Authority figure supported by pres<gious
last switch
ins<tu<on
• Obedience to authority – Vic<m depersonalized or at a distance
– No role models for defiance
Group Influence Group Influence
• The presence of others changes our behavior • Social Loafing – the tendency for people in a
• Social Facilita;on – people who perform well group to exert less effort when pooling their
perform beDer in the presence of others efforts toward aDaining a common goal than
– Athletes when individually accountable
– Comedians
• People who perform poorly may perform
worse in front of others
– Pool players
Group Influence Group Influence
• Diffusion of Responsibility • Deindividua;on – the loss of self‐awareness
• KiDy Genovese – Bystander Effect and self‐restraint occurring in group situa<ons
– The greater number of bystanders, the less likely it that foster arousal and anonymity
is any of them will help
– Killing took over 1 hour, killer leY for 10 minutes
and returned
– Over 38 witnesses, no one contacted police
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5. 12/10/09
Group Interac<on Group Interac<on
• Group Polariza;on – when a group discusses • Groupthink – when the desire for harmony in
the prevailing tendencies, they become a decision‐making group overrides a realis<c
enhanced appraisal of alterna<ves
– High‐prejudice people become more prejudiced – Bay of Pigs
– Poli<cs – people live near and learn from others – Challenger
who think as they do – Chernobyl
– “Us” vs. “Them”
– Internet
Other factors of influence Other factors of influence
• Reciprocity – when one person gives another • Scarcity
person a giY, that person feels obligated to – Call now! Supplies are limited!
return the favor – Jade Jewelry
– Coke/Raffle <ckets – Seal meat
– Easter seals – Limited <me offer
– Hare Krishnas in airports • Door‐in‐the‐Face
– Free samples – AYer denying large request, more likely to agree
to smaller request
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