Social psychologyChapter 1What is social psychology? Social psychology: the scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence and relate to others.The scientific study Social psychologist gather knowledge systematically by means of scientific methods. These methods help to produce knowledge that is less subject to the biases and distortions that often characterize common-sense knowledge.The effects of social and cognitive processesThe presence of other people, the knowledge and opinions they pass on to us, and our feelings about the groups to which we belong all deeply influence us through social processes, whether we are with other people or alone. Our perceptions, memories, emotions, and motives also exert a pervasive influence on us through cognitive processes. Effects of social and cognitive processes are not separate but inextricably intertwined.Social processes: the ways in which input from the people and groups around us affect our thoughts, feelings and actions.Affect us even when others are not physically present.The processes that affect us when others are present depend on how we interpret those others and their actions.Cognitive processes: the ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and motives influence our understanding of the world and guide our actions.The way individuals perceive, influence and relate to othersSocial psychology focuses on the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence...

Social psychologyChapter 4The self Self-concept: all on an individual’s knowledge about his or her personal qualities.Sources of the self-conceptPeople construct the self-concept in much the same way they form impressions of others, by interpreting various types of cues. People often learn their own characteristics from their observed behaviors. They also use thoughts and feelings and other people’s reactions to form impressions of themselves. Finally, people compare themselves to others to learn what characteristics make them unique.Learning who we are from our own behavior Self-perception theory: the theory that we make inferences about our personal characteristics on the basis of our overt behaviors when internal cues are weak or ambiguous.We can learn things about ourselves by observing our own behavior.People rely on their behavior to draw inferences about themselves, and this is especially true when we are first developing a self-concept or when we do not have a good sense of who we are in a particular domain.People are especially likely to draw self-inferences from behaviors that they see as having freely chosen.Intrinsic motivation: we are doing what we want do doExtrinsic motivation: doing what we have to doProviding external rewards often undermines intrinsic motivation.Even imagined behaviors can be input for self-perception processes.Thinking about actual or imagined behavior increases the accessibility of related personal...

Social psychologyChapter 6Social identityBeing a member of a group influences many of our thoughts, feelings and actions. Some group memberships are so important that they become a basic apart of our view of ourselves.Self-categorization: the process of seeing oneself as a member of a social group.Flexible and can readily shift depending on social context.Social identity: those aspects of the self-concept that derive from an individual’s knowledge and feelings about the group membership he or she shares with others.Extends the self out beyond the skin to include other members of our groups.Most group memberships are stable en enduring.Learning about our groupsPeople learn about the groups to which they belong in the same ways that they learn the characteristics of other groups: by observing other group members or from the culture.What we and other group members do often becomes the basis for group stereotypes.But what we do is strongly influenced by our roles.Performing a role based on membership in some group can shape our future behaviors and, ultimately, our self-knowledge.Feeling like a group member Knowledge about group membership may be activated by direct reminders, such as:Group labelsThe presence of out-group membersBeing a minorityIntergroup conflictGroup membership is significant in some cultures and for some individuals, who tend to see the world in terms of that group membership.Direct reminders of membershipThe process is often subtle.Circumstances remind us of our...

Social psychologyChapter 8Attitudes and behaviorAttitudes and behaviors are often related for two reasons:Action influences attitudesAttitudes influence actionsSome important conditions have to be in place for attitudes to guide behavior.Attitudes are only one of several factors that can affect behavior. From action to attitude via superficial processingBehavior is an important part of the information on which people base attitudes. If behaviors change, attitudes can also change. When people process superficially, attitudes can be based on associations with actions or on inferences from actions. Like other forms of superficial processing, actions are more likely to affect attitudes in this way when people lack the motivation or ability to process more thoroughly.At the most superficial level of processing, attitudes can be based on associations with actions.Associations with action Movements that are strongly associated with liking and disliking can rub off when they occur in the presence of an attitude object.Because some muscle movements and positive or negative evaluation is very strong, activating those muscles and movements makes particular attitudes more likely. But this effect depends upon what such movements mean to us.People believe that actions reflect intention and motivation. Just as we think that others’ actions reflect their inner states, we are used to assuming our own do too, unless something tells us otherwise.Inferences from action: self-perception theoryPeople often make straightforward inferences from their actions to their attitudes.People infer attitudes by observing their own behaviors and...

Social psychologyChapter 10Norms and behaviorAll human groups establish social norms. Activating norms to guide behavior Norms must be activated before they can guide behavior. They can be activated by direct reminders, environmental cues, or observations of other people’s behavior. When people see themselves purely in terms of group identity, their behavior is likely to be guided by group norms alone.Norms can be made accessible by several means- Direct reminders of normsEnvironments activate normsGroups activate normsWhatever makes the group more salient activates its norms.DeindividuationDeindividuation: the psychological state in which group or social identity completely dominates personal or individual identity so that group norms become maximally accessible.Group or social identity dominates personal or individual identity.Increases normative behavior.Which norms guide behavior?Both descriptive norms and injunctive norms influence behavior, and these norms may sometimes interact with each other in interesting ways. One type of normative information may me more important than another, depending on our motivation and ability to think carefully.Descriptive norms as guides for behavior What other people are doing (descriptive norms) frequently influences what we do.Giving people more accurate views of what their reference groups are doing changes behavior.Injunctive norms as guides for behavior Injunctive...

Social psychologyChapter 12Attraction, relationships, and loveChallenges in studying attraction, relationships, and love By necessity, most research on close friendships uses nonexperimental settings that leave some ambiguity about causal relations between variables, and most studies have focused on romantic attachments between heterosexual couples in individualist cultures. We are fist drawn to people on the basis of their immediately obvious appearance or behavior.Attraction follows rules:An alluring face, a pleasant interaction, or the perception of similarity might spark an initial attraction.As those factors draw tow people together, liking can develop, as each individual goes beyond surface features to start knowing the other better.Physical attractiveness Attraction to strangers is strongly influenced by perceptions of physical attractiveness. Some features are regarded as attractive across cultures. Other features that make people attractive are more dependent on experience, exposure, and expectation.Biological bases of physical attractiveness There are some immediately obvious physical features that almost everyone agrees are attractive.Faces and bodies that are symmetrical are judged more attractive and likable by both men and women and in both western populations and in African hunter-gatherers.Symmetry has greater impact on judgments of attractiveness when concerns about disease are uppermost in people’s mind.Faces and bodies that suggest access to resources are attractive.Experimental bases of physical...

Social psychologyChapter 14Helping and cooperationPro-social behavior: behavior intended to help someone else.Cooperation: involves two or more people working together toward a common goal that will benefit all involved.Altruism: behavior intended to help someone else without any prospect of personal rewards for the helper.Egoism: behavior motivated by the desire to obtain personal rewards. Helping is crucially dependent on people’s interpretation of a situation.Is help needed and deserved?Helping is dependent on people’s perception of someone as both needing and deserving help. The ability and motivation to pay attention to others’ needs influence whether people think help is needed. People are more likely to help those not held responsible for their own need.Perceiving need Several factors influence the judgment that someone needs help.Becoming aware of a need is usually the first step in the helping chain of events.Anything that distracts potential helpers from their surroundings makes noticing need less likely.Being in a positive mood increases people’s sensitivity to othersJudging deservingnessHelping depends on whether we think help is deserved, and groups typically develop norms that dictate who does and who does not deserve help.The norm of social responsibility: a norm that those able to take care of themselves have a duty and obligation to assist those who cannot.Especially in the individualist cultures in the West, deservingness also depends on the attributions we make about...