Social Psychology

Person Perception: Forming Impressions of Others

Effects of physical appearance Cognitive/social schemas Stereotypes Subjectivity in person perception

Illusory correlation Evolutionary perspectives

Ingroup - outgroup

Attribution Processes: Explaining Behavior Attributions

Internal vs. ExternalAttributions in success and failure

Biases in attributionsFundamental attribution error Defensive attributionSelf-serving bias – credit self for

success, blame situation for failure Cultural influences

Individualism – collectivism

Close Relationships: Liking and Loving

Key factors in attraction Physical attractiveness Matching hypothesis Similarity, Reciprocity

Perspectives on love Hatfield & Berscheid – Passionate vs.

Companionate love Sternberg – Intimacy, commitment, &

passion Hazen & Shaver – love as attachment Attachment styles – attachment

anxiety/avoidance Evolutionary perspectives

Mating priorities Mate poaching – Buss

Internet and close relationships

Attitudes and Attitude Change 3 components

cognitive, affective, and behavioral Factors in changing attitudes

persuasionsource, message, channel, and receiver

Theories of attitude changeLearning theory○ Classical conditioning and advertising

Dissonance theory – Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)

Self-perception theory Elaboration likelihood model

Yielding to Others: Conformity Conformity – Solomon Asch (1950s)

Group norm behaviorClassic experiment ○ Group size○ Group unanimity

ComplianceConforming to requested behavior○ Foot-in-door○ Door-in-the-face

Yielding to Others: Obedience Obedience – Stanley Milgram (1960s)

Controversial landmark experiment – Figure 16.16○ 65% gave highest shock level○ Many variations of basic experiment

“I was just following orders”○ presence of a dissenter

Behavior in Groups: The Power of the Situation Social Roles Gender Roles Stanford Prison Study

Behavior in Groups: The Influence of Other People The bystander effect -

Darley and Latane (1968)Diffusion of responsibility

Group productivity and social loafing

Decision making in groups Group Polarization Groupthink

Bay of PigsNASA Shuttle disaster

Understanding Prejudice

Prejudice as an attitude Prejudice and discrimination Bias attribution of success and

failure Group competition – Sherif et al.

(1961) study – field experiment Ingroups and outgroups Threats to social identity