Social Psychology

Studying the way people relate to others.

Attitude Persuasion

Interpersonal AttractionSocial Perception

Prejudice

Attitudes• A set of beliefs and

feelings.– Learned through

• Conditioning • Observational

learning• Cognitive evaluation

• Attitudes can guide behavior

• Advertising is ALL based on attitude formation.– Mere Exposure Effect

Ads that persuade

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3gcqzzlTso• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk_hkdGf1tc• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnYcuRW_qo• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv09DRd4lsM• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0

Attitude and Behavior

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• People want to have consistent attitudes and behaviors….when they are not consistent they experience dissonance (unpleasant tension).

• Usually they will change their attitude.

Persuasion

• A direct attempt to influence other peoples attitudes or views

Methods of Persuasion

• Central Route– Uses evidence and logical argumentshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39JbL5WX_Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab2E2lZzbH8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZhh6BHcD9whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnz_YJcCilohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BOHO7GpO0Q

• Peripheral route– Associates things that make you feel goodhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MddslYvYuVMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smufr3-_Yb8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-K29F3WU5Qhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaK41ak1daohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Repetition encourages favorable attitudes

• Cools celebs– http://www.posh24.com/cool_celebrities– What's trending today• http://www.buzzfeed.com/trending• http://whatstrending.com/categories/trending-now

Types of arguments

• Two-sided– Presents both

sides

• One-sided– Only presents one side

What makes a person more persuasive?

• Experts• Trustworthy• Physically attractive • Similar to audience

Compliance Strategies

• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

• Door-in-the-face phenomenon

• Norms of reciprocity

• Sales resistance

Prejudice

• A generalized attitude toward a group of people

• Undeserved (usually negative) attitude towards a group of people. – Ethnocentrism is an example of a

prejudice.

Stereotypes

• An unchanging, oversimplified, and usually distorted belief about a group of people

Discrimination

• The unfair treatment of individuals because they are members of a certain group

• An action based on a prejudice.

Causes of Prejudice

• Exaggerated Differences• Economic Status

• LEARNED• Victimization• Scapegoating

How does prejudice occur?Just world Phenomenon• In one popular study female and male subjects were

told two versions of a story about an interaction between a woman and a man. Both variations were exactly the same, except at the very end the man raped the woman in one and in the other he proposed marriage.

• In both conditions, both female and male subjects viewed the woman's (identical) actions as inevitably leading to the (very different) results.

In-Group versus Out-Groups.

• In-Group Bias

Scapegoat Theory

Social Perception

• The way in which people perceive one another

Does perception change with race?

Is it just race?

NO…• Religion• Gender

• Geographic location

• Sexual Orientation• Socioeconomic

• Age

Combating PrejudiceContact Theory• Contact between hostile groups will reduce

animosity if they are made to work towards a

Prejudices can often lead to a….

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• A prediction that causes itself to be true.

• Rosenthal and Jacobson’s “Pygmalion in the Classroom” experiment.

Social Perception effects

Primacy Effect• First impression

Recency Effect• Change in opinion due to

recent interaction

Attribution Theory

• Tries to explain how people determine the cause of the behavior they observe.

It is either a….• Situational

Attribution– Based on the situation

• Dispositional Attribution– Based on the persons

personality

Fundamental Attribution Error• We tend to

overestimate the role of dispositional factors.

False Consensus Effect

Self-Serving Bias

How do you view your teacher’s behavior?

You probably attribute it to their personality rather than their profession.

But do you really know?

If you win it is because you are awesome…if you lose, it must have been the coach or weather or….

Nonverbal Communication

• Facial expression• Gesture• Posture• Body language• Eye contact

Interpersonal Attraction

Physical Attractiveness

The Hotty Factor

• Physically attractiveness predicts dating frequency (they date more).

• They are perceived as healthier, happier, more honest and successful than less attractive counterparts.

What is beauty?

Beauty and Culture

Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's white Moor Arab population that the young girls are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the government has described as "life-threatening".

Are these cultures really that different?

Proximity

• Geographic nearness

Mere exposure effect:

• Repeated exposure to something breeds liking.

• Taiwanese Letters

Reciprocal Liking

• You are more likely to like someone who likes you.

• Why?• Except in

elementary school!!!!

Similarity

• Paula Abdul was wrong- opposites do NOT attract.

• Birds of the same feather do flock together.

• Similarity breeds content.

Liking through Association• Classical

Conditioning can play a part in attraction.

• I love Theo’s Wings. If I see the same waitress every time I go there, I may begin to associate that waitress with the good feelings I get from Theo's.