Chapter 12: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Social psychology covers a wide spectrum of human relationships, including conflict and
cooperative efforts on the part of individuals and groups.
- According to social psychologists, social circumstances have an impact on a person's
ideas, feelings, and behaviors.
Intrapersonal topics – emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition
Interpersonal topics – hostility, coercive behavior, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and
close connections, interpersonal ties between groups, and group dynamics
"Situationism" is the belief that our behaviors and actions are influenced by our surroundings
and immediate environment. - Used by social psychologists
“Dispositionism” is the belief that our actions are influenced by internal variables (personality
characteristics and temperament, for example). - Favored in the U.S. - Used by personality
psychologists.
Fundamental attribution error is the habit to highlight internal variables as justifications or
attributions for other people's actions while underestimating the situation's strength.
- People frequently miss the fact that situational factors might affect someone's behavior.
Quizmaster Study:
- Participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either the questioner or
participant.
- Questioners developed difficult questions to which they knew the answers.
- Participants answered questions correctly 4/10 times.
- Participants tended to disregard the influence of the situation and wrongly concluded
that a questioner’s knowledge was greater than their own.
According to research, individuals from individualistic cultures are most likely to make the
fundamental attribution error.
People from collectivistic cultures, like some Asian cultures, are more inclined to prioritize
relationships with others than to place their primary attention on the self. Putting others' needs
first gives you a bigger picture that takes into account context and cultural factors.
Actor-observer bias is the tendency to blame our own actions on external circumstances while
attributing the actions of others to internal forces.
, - When we explain our own behavior, we have more information accessible and are more
likely to provide situational explanations; when we explain the behavior of others, we
have insufficient knowledge and frequently commit the fundamental attribution error.
Self-serving bias is the tendency for an individual to claim credit for positive achievements by
attributing dispositional or internal factors, but situational or external factors, for negative
outcomes.
- Protects self-esteem - allows people to feel good about their accomplishments.
“Attribution” is a belief about the cause of a result.
The “just-world hypothesis" holds that everyone receives the outcomes they deserve.
- Based on the belief that the world is a fair place and therefore good people experience
positive outcomes, and bad people experience negative outcomes.
An example would be people who hold just-world beliefs tend to blame the people in poverty for
their circumstances, ignoring situational and cultural causes of poverty.
A “social role” is the expected pattern of behavior for someone in a certain situation or group.
Ex. Being a student
A group's expectations of what constitutes proper and acceptable behavior for its members are
known as the "social norm."
A person's understanding of the expected course of events in a particular situation is known as
their "script."
- Social psychology covers a wide spectrum of human relationships, including conflict and
cooperative efforts on the part of individuals and groups.
- According to social psychologists, social circumstances have an impact on a person's
ideas, feelings, and behaviors.
Intrapersonal topics – emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition
Interpersonal topics – hostility, coercive behavior, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and
close connections, interpersonal ties between groups, and group dynamics
"Situationism" is the belief that our behaviors and actions are influenced by our surroundings
and immediate environment. - Used by social psychologists
“Dispositionism” is the belief that our actions are influenced by internal variables (personality
characteristics and temperament, for example). - Favored in the U.S. - Used by personality
psychologists.
Fundamental attribution error is the habit to highlight internal variables as justifications or
attributions for other people's actions while underestimating the situation's strength.
- People frequently miss the fact that situational factors might affect someone's behavior.
Quizmaster Study:
- Participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either the questioner or
participant.
- Questioners developed difficult questions to which they knew the answers.
- Participants answered questions correctly 4/10 times.
- Participants tended to disregard the influence of the situation and wrongly concluded
that a questioner’s knowledge was greater than their own.
According to research, individuals from individualistic cultures are most likely to make the
fundamental attribution error.
People from collectivistic cultures, like some Asian cultures, are more inclined to prioritize
relationships with others than to place their primary attention on the self. Putting others' needs
first gives you a bigger picture that takes into account context and cultural factors.
Actor-observer bias is the tendency to blame our own actions on external circumstances while
attributing the actions of others to internal forces.
, - When we explain our own behavior, we have more information accessible and are more
likely to provide situational explanations; when we explain the behavior of others, we
have insufficient knowledge and frequently commit the fundamental attribution error.
Self-serving bias is the tendency for an individual to claim credit for positive achievements by
attributing dispositional or internal factors, but situational or external factors, for negative
outcomes.
- Protects self-esteem - allows people to feel good about their accomplishments.
“Attribution” is a belief about the cause of a result.
The “just-world hypothesis" holds that everyone receives the outcomes they deserve.
- Based on the belief that the world is a fair place and therefore good people experience
positive outcomes, and bad people experience negative outcomes.
An example would be people who hold just-world beliefs tend to blame the people in poverty for
their circumstances, ignoring situational and cultural causes of poverty.
A “social role” is the expected pattern of behavior for someone in a certain situation or group.
Ex. Being a student
A group's expectations of what constitutes proper and acceptable behavior for its members are
known as the "social norm."
A person's understanding of the expected course of events in a particular situation is known as
their "script."
