Social Psychology: study of how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions
Our Thoughts About Others
● Attribution: explanation for the cause of behaviors or events
● To determine the cause we first decide whether the behavior comes from an:
○ Internal(dispositional) cause, such as personal characteristics, or
■ Fundamental Attribution Error
○ External (situational) cause, such as situational demands.
■ Generally more accurate attributions
Our Thoughts About Others: Mistake Attributions
● Fundamental Attribution Error: misjudging causes of others’ behavior and attributing to
internal(dispositional) vs. external(situational) ones.
● Saliency Bias: may help explain this focus on dispositional causes.
● Self-Serving Bias: taking credit for our successes and externalizing our failures
● Attitudes: cognitive(measured by surveys), affective(measured by heart rate and
respiration, physiological techniques), and behavioral elements(Measured by self-
reported or directly observed behavioral changes).
● Attitude: learned predisposition to respond cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally to a
particular object.
Our Thoughts ABout Others: cognitive Dissonance
● Cognitive Dissonance: feeling of discomfort created from a mismatch between an
attitude and a behavior or between two competing attitudes.
● Cognitive Dissonance Theory: People are motivated to maintain consistency in their
thoughts, feelings, and actions->When inconsistencies or conflict exist between
thoughts, feelings, and actions it can lead to-> Strong tension and discomfort-> To
reduce this tension or dissonance, we are motivated to change our original attitude or
behavior.
● Festinger and Carlsmith’s Cognitive Dissonance Study: Participants giver VERY boring
tasks to complete and then paid with $1 or $20 to tell next participant the task was “very
enjoyable” and “fun”
○ Result: Those paid $1 experienced greater cognitive dissonance and therefore
changed their attitude more than those paid $20.
Our Feelings About Others: Prejudice and Discrimination
● Prejudice: learned, generally negative, attitude toward members of a group.
● Discrimmination: negative behaviors directed at members of a group.
Three Components of Prejudice
1. Cognitive (thoughts associated with objects of prejudice)
a. Stereotype: set of beliefs about the characteristics of people in a group
generalized to all group members
2. Affective(feelings associated with objects of prejudice)
3. Behavioral(actions associated with objects of prejudice)
a. Discrimmination: negative behaviors directed at members of a group.
Sources of Prejudice and Discrimmination
● Learning
Our Thoughts About Others
● Attribution: explanation for the cause of behaviors or events
● To determine the cause we first decide whether the behavior comes from an:
○ Internal(dispositional) cause, such as personal characteristics, or
■ Fundamental Attribution Error
○ External (situational) cause, such as situational demands.
■ Generally more accurate attributions
Our Thoughts About Others: Mistake Attributions
● Fundamental Attribution Error: misjudging causes of others’ behavior and attributing to
internal(dispositional) vs. external(situational) ones.
● Saliency Bias: may help explain this focus on dispositional causes.
● Self-Serving Bias: taking credit for our successes and externalizing our failures
● Attitudes: cognitive(measured by surveys), affective(measured by heart rate and
respiration, physiological techniques), and behavioral elements(Measured by self-
reported or directly observed behavioral changes).
● Attitude: learned predisposition to respond cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally to a
particular object.
Our Thoughts ABout Others: cognitive Dissonance
● Cognitive Dissonance: feeling of discomfort created from a mismatch between an
attitude and a behavior or between two competing attitudes.
● Cognitive Dissonance Theory: People are motivated to maintain consistency in their
thoughts, feelings, and actions->When inconsistencies or conflict exist between
thoughts, feelings, and actions it can lead to-> Strong tension and discomfort-> To
reduce this tension or dissonance, we are motivated to change our original attitude or
behavior.
● Festinger and Carlsmith’s Cognitive Dissonance Study: Participants giver VERY boring
tasks to complete and then paid with $1 or $20 to tell next participant the task was “very
enjoyable” and “fun”
○ Result: Those paid $1 experienced greater cognitive dissonance and therefore
changed their attitude more than those paid $20.
Our Feelings About Others: Prejudice and Discrimination
● Prejudice: learned, generally negative, attitude toward members of a group.
● Discrimmination: negative behaviors directed at members of a group.
Three Components of Prejudice
1. Cognitive (thoughts associated with objects of prejudice)
a. Stereotype: set of beliefs about the characteristics of people in a group
generalized to all group members
2. Affective(feelings associated with objects of prejudice)
3. Behavioral(actions associated with objects of prejudice)
a. Discrimmination: negative behaviors directed at members of a group.
Sources of Prejudice and Discrimmination
● Learning
