Psychology: Unit III Social Psychology

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

• study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Social Thinking

• how do we think about one another?

Attribution Theory

• the idea that we give a casual explanation for someone's behavior
• we credit that behavior either to the situation or to the person's disposition

Fundamental Attribution Error

• the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Attitudes

• belief or feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something
• external pressure is minimal
• we are aware of our attitudes
• attitude is relevant to the behavior

Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon

• tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

Door-in-the-face Phenomenon

• people who say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one

Zimbardo Prison Study

• role playing effects attitudes
• what do you think happened when college students were made to take on the role of prison guards and inmates?

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• we do like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes do nor match our actions
• when they clash, we will change our attitude to create balance