10. Social Psychology

Authors: David Wiley

License: CC BY 4.0

Topic Outcomes

Recognize aspects of social psychology, including the fundamental attribution error, biases, social roles, and social norms, in your daily life

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Describe situational versus dispositional influences on behavior
Give examples of the fundamental attribution error and other common biases (including the actor-observer bias, the self-serving bias, and the just-world hypothesis)
Describe social roles, social norms, and scripts and how they influence behavior

Describe how attitudes can be changed through cognitive dissonance and persuasion

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Explain how conformity, obedience, groupthink, social facilitation, social loafing, and the bystander effect relate to group behavior

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Describe the results of research on conformity, and distinguish between normative and informational social influence
Describe Stanley Milgram’s experiment and its implications
Illustrate when the presence of others is likely to result in groupthink, group polarization, deindividuation, or social loafing
Describe aggression and bullying
Explain the bystander effect and reasons people may not intervene to help others

Examine altruism, relationships, and love

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Explain the factors that influence human altruism, including reciprocal altruism
Describe attraction and the triangular theory of love
Explain the social exchange theory as it applies to relationships
Discuss research about the relationship between romantic ties and the experience of pain or pleasure

Explain stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

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Define and provide examples of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination
Define the self-fulfilling prophecy and confirmation bias as it relates to stereotypes
Explain reasons for the existence of prejudice and discrimination (such as scapegoat theory, ingroups, and outgroups)

Essential Concepts

Social psychology studies how situations influence individual behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
Causes of behavior can be internal (personality) or external (social influences). Behavior is often best explained with both internal and external
The fundamental attribution error is over-relying on dispositional explanations and underestimating situational influences. Individualistic cultures are more likely to display this error than collectivistic cultures.
Human behavior is guided by social roles, norms, and scripts. Social norms define appropriate behavior for each role.

Attitudes are evaluations or feelings toward a person, idea, or object.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors conflict.
External forces of persuasion include advertising; the features of advertising that influence our behaviors include the source, message, and audience.
There are two main routes to persuasion: central (facts/information) and peripheral (associative cues).

Conformity to group norms is driven by two motivations, the desire to fit in and be liked and the desire to be accurate and gain information from the group.
Authority figures also have influence over our behaviors, and many people become obedient and follow orders even if the orders are contrary to their personal values.
Groupthink can hinder decision-making, and results from cohesive group members trying to maintain group harmony.
The presence of others can also lead to social loafing when individual efforts cannot be evaluated.
Aggression seeks to harm another; can be hostile (anger-driven) or instrumental (goal-driven).
Bullying (and cyberbullying) involves repetitive harmful actions intended to cause physical, psychological, emotional, or social harm, and has severe mental health implications.
The bystander effect explains why people may not assist someone in distress. Research has shown that people decide whether to help based on factors such as how they define emergencies, the presence of others (which can lead to diffusion of responsibility), and a cost-benefit analysis of helping.

Altruism is selfless helping; contrasted with egoistic motivations.
Relationships are often formed based on proximity and similarities.
Factors that influence the formation of relationships include reciprocity, self-disclosure, and physical attractiveness.
There are many types of love that are determined by various combinations of intimacy, passion, and commitment; consummate love, which is the ideal form of love, contains all three components.
When determining satisfaction and whether to maintain a relationship, individuals often use a social exchange approach and weigh the costs and benefits of forming and maintaining a relationship.

Prejudice involves negative feelings towards different social groups (out-groups). Discrimination is an action based on prejudice.
Prejudice and discrimination against others can be based on gender, race, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, age, or a variety of other social identities.
In-groups who feel threatened may blame the out-groups for their plight, thus using the out-group as a scapegoat for their frustration.

Social Psychology Cheat Sheet from Lumen One Introduction to Psychology, Lumen Learning, https://lumenlearning.com/, CC BY.

Psychology, 2e, OpenStax, https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/, CC BY.

David Wiley