social psychology the scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of...
TRANSCRIPT
Social Psychology
• The scientific study of the ways in which the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by the real, imagined, or inferred behavior or characteristics of other people
• Today’s class:– How you think about people– How you explain their behavior– Why you like them
Social Cognition: How you think about people?• Impression Formation – how do you construct
your social cognition?– Primacy effect
• Early information about someone weighs more than later information in forming impressions
– Self-fulfilling prophecy• A person’s expectations about another elicits behavior
from the other person that confirms the expectations
– Stereotypes
Impression Formation
• Stereotypes– A set of characteristics believed to be shared
by all members of a social category– It is usually unfair– Most often applied to sex, race, occupation,
physical appearance, place of residence, membership in a group or organization
– Can become the basis for self-fulfilling prophecies
Self-fulfilling prophecy
• (Snyder, Tanke & Berscheid, 1977) • Attractiveness Stereotype – sociability and socially savy• Men received “background” information about a woman
they were about to talk with on a phone, info included a photo. Women received same info, but no photo.
• IV: Photo of woman either attractive or unattractive• DVs: 1) Men’s expectations about the woman 2)
Observers’ ratings of the woman’s behavior • Results: When men expected that the woman was
attractive, she was judged as friendly, warm, and more animated than when men believed they were talking with an unattractive woman. (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Biases in Attribution: The errors to which your guesses will succumb
• Actor-Observer Effect: attribute actions of others to internal factors and the actions of yourself to external factors– Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to
overemphasize personal causes for others’ behavior and underemphasize personal causes for our own behavior
• Defensive attribution– Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to attribute our successes to
our own efforts and our failures to external factors– Just-world hypothesis: Assumption bad things happen to bad
people and good things happen to good people
• Attribution across cultures varies dramatically
Effects of Attribution
How we explain someone’s behavior affects how we react to it.
Interpersonal Attraction
Attraction is closely linked to1. Proximity
2. Physical attractiveness
3. Similarity
4. Exchange
5. Intimacy
Psychology of Attraction
1. Proximity: Geographic nearness is a powerful predictor of friendship. Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their attraction (mere exposure effect).
A rare white penguin born in a zoo was
accepted after 3 weeks by other penguins just
due to proximity.
Rex U
SA
Proximity leads to liking
• Moreland & Beach, 1992
• IV: Four female confederates attended large class 0, 5, 10, or 15 times
• DV: How much liked slides of confederate at end of semester
• Results: The more times confederate attended the class, the more she was liked.
Proximity leads to liking
Psychology of Attraction2. Physical Attractiveness: Once proximity
affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance.
• Hatfield et al. (1966)• Couples randomly paired at “computer dance”• Assessed personality, aptitude, physical
attractiveness• Results: Only physical attractiveness predicted liking
and wanting to see the person again. (True for men and women.)
Is attractiveness objective?
• Arguments for Objective Standard• High consensus across countries,
race/ethnicities– Agree on attractiveness of faces and body types (F:
hourglass; M: v-shaped)• Particular features are associated with
attractiveness – F: large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose,
wide smile– M: broad jaw, large eyes, prominent cheekbones,
wide smile• Babies look longer at faces rated as attractive by
adults. (less likely to be affected by cultural standards
Is attractiveness subjective?
• Arguments for Subjective Standard
• Cross-cultural differences in ways to look beautiful– Face painting, plastic surgery, scarring,
piercings, etc.– Variations in preference for female body size
Subjective?• Standards of beauty within a culture
change over time
Attractiveness Standards
• Probably both universal and variable components of attractiveness
• Overall, physical attractiveness predicts more positive evaluations (true in childhood and later in life)
Psychology of Attraction
3. Similarity: Similar views among individuals causes the bond of attraction to strengthen. Finding others who agree with us
strengthens our convictions and boosts our self-esteem
Complementary Traits – you complete me
Psychology of Attraction
• 4. Exchange: The give and take of a relationship.
• Social Exchange theory explains how we feel about a relationship with another person as depending on our perceptions of:– The balance between what we put into the
relationship and what we get out of it. – The kind of relationship we deserve. – Contrast Effect – seeing something ‘better’ makes
us temporarily devalue what we’ve got
Psychology of Attraction
5. Intimacy: closeness and trust achieved through communication
• Must be mutual• Can’t be too much too soon
Matching in physical attractiveness
• People tend to pair with partners who are about as physically attractive as they are.
• Predicts success of relationship (more similar in attractiveness, more likely to stay together)
• However, women who marry less attractive men are shown to rate their marriage as more satisfying.