Social Psychology

Study through experimentation of how we think about, influence,

and relate to other people

• Describe 4 behaviors you have witnessed or performed in the last few days.

• Give details. Who was there? What was said? How did you/they feel? How did you/they look? Where did it happen? Etc.

Focus: Thinking

• How is our behavior related to our cognition?

• Why do people act the way they do?

• Impact of social influences.

Focus: Thinking

• Attribution Theory– Evaluating someone else’s behavior – Is the behavior due to the situation or the

person’s disposition?

– Dispositional Attribution (Internal)– Situational Attribution (External)

– Often leads to bias and other errors• Fundamental Attribution Error

– Can have long lasting impacts

Focus: Thinking

• Attitudes and Actions– Does what we think affect what we do, or does

what we do affect what we think?– Attitudes Predicts Behavior

• Central Route Persuasion• Peripheral Route Persuasion

– Behavior Predicts Attitude• Foot-In-The-Door Phenomenon• Door-In-The-Face Phenomenon

Focus: Thinking

• Attitudes and Your Life– Role

• Set of norms about a social position describing how you are supposed to behave

Focus: Thinking

• Attitudes don’t match actions– Causes tension, stress, anxiety– Cognitive Dissonance

• Uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas at the same time

Evaluate This!!!

• A very good friend of your randomly gets angry with you, how would you explain his/her behavior? If the same friend randomly does something nice for you how would you explain the behavior?

Evaluate This!!!

• If someone you have recently gotten to know walks by you in the hall and doesn’t say hello (even as you try to say hello to them), what do you think about this person? Why?

Evaluate This!!!

• Are your thoughts about your good friend’s behavior different than your thoughts about someone you’re only acquainted with? Why or why not?