SOCIAL

PSYCHOLOGY
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
The study of how people think about, influence
and relate to one another.
How people view and affect one another.

Social Psychology premise: We are social being

No man is an island- people need people.

Can you imagine your life having no friends? No

family? No partner? And simply no social life at
all?
How does it feel being alone? Eating alone?
Walking alone? Going to mall all by yourself?
 Social Thinking/Cognition: how people think
(select, interpret, remember and use social
information) about the social world
Social Influence: how people are influenced in
social settings
Social Interaction: how people relate with one
another and the environment (both physical and
social)
IA. THE SELF IN A SOCIAL WORLD
There are three things extremely hard, Steel, a
Diamond, and to know ones self. Benjamin
Franklin
 Spotlight effect - The belief that others are
paying more attention to ones appearance and
behavior than they really are.
Illusion of transparency - The illusion that our
concealed emotions leak out and can be easily
read by others.
SELF-CONCEPT. WHO AM I?
You have many ways to complete the sentence I
am _____ . (What five answers might you give?)
Taken together, your answers define your self-
concept.
Possible selves - Images of what we dream of or
dread becoming in the future.
OPRAH WINFREYS IMAGINED
POSSIBLE SELVES, INCLUDING
THE DREADED OVERWEIGHT SELF,
THE RICH SELF, AND THE HELPFUL
SELF, MOTIVATED HER TO WORK TO
ACHIEVE THE LIFE SHE WANTED.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL SELF
THE ROLES WE PLAY
As we enact a new rolecollege student, parent,
salespersonwe initially feel self conscious.
Gradually, however, what begins as playacting in the
theater of life is absorbed into our sense of self.
Role becomes reality
 SOCIAL COMPARISONS
How do we decide if we are rich, smart, or short? Others
around us help to define the standard.
We compare ourselves with them and consider how we
differ. Social comparison explains why students tend to
have a higher academic self-concept if they attend a high
school with mostly average students (Marsh & others,
2000), and how that self-concept can be threatened after
graduation when a student who excelled in an average high
school goes on to an academically selective university. The
big fish is no longer in a small pond.
 SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Self-concept is fed not only by our roles, our social identity,
and our comparisons but also by our daily experiences. To
undertake challenging yet realistic tasks and to succeed is
to feel more competent.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
EXPLAINING OUR BEHAVIOR
Why did you choose where to go to college? Why did
you lash out at your roommate? Why did you fall in
love with that special person?
Sometimes we know. Sometimes we dont.
 PREDICTING OUR BEHAVIOR
People also err when predicting their behavior.
So if youre in love and want to know whether it will
last, dont listen to your heartask your roommate.
And if you want to predict your routine daily
behaviorshow much time you will spend laughing,
on the phone, or watching TV, for exampleyour
close friends estimates will likely prove at least as
accurate your own (Vazire & Mehl, 2008).
 PREDICTING OUR FEELINGS
Many of lifes big decisions involve predicting our
future feelings. Would marrying this person lead to
lifelong contentment? Would entering this profession
make for satisfying work? Would going on this
vacation produce a happy experience? Or would the
likelier results be divorce, job burnout, and holiday
disappointment?
 impact bias - Overestimating the enduring
impact of emotion-causing events.
When male youths are sexually aroused by erotic
photographs, then exposed to a passionate date
scenario in which their date asks them to stop, they
admit that they might not stop.
Hungry shoppers do more impulse buying (Those
doughnuts would be delicious!) than do shoppers
who have just enjoyed a quarter-pound blueberry
muffin (Gilbert & Wilson, 2000).
 Losing him would crush my lifes ambitions. It
would be terrible. >___< Undergraduates who
experienced a romantic breakup were less upset
afterward than they predicted they would be
(Eastwick & others, 2007).
People overestimate how much their well-being
would be affected by warmer winters, weight
loss, more television channels, or more free time.
Even extreme events, such as winning a state
lottery or suffering a paralyzing accident, affect
long-term happiness less than most people
suppose.
 Immune neglect - The human tendency to
underestimate the speed and the strength of the
psychological immune system, which enables
emotional recovery and resilience after bad
things happen.
SELF ESTEEM
A persons overall self evaluation or sense of self
worth.
If we see ourselves as attractive, athletic, smart,
and destined to be rich and loved, will we have
high self-esteem? Yes, say Jennifer Crocker and
Connie Wolfe (2001)when we feel good about
the domains (looks, smarts, or whatever)
important to our self-esteem.
DARK SIDE OF SELF ESTEEM
High self-esteem does have some benefitsit
fosters initiative, resilience, and pleasant feelings
(Baumeister & others, 2003).
Yet teen males who engage in sexual activity at
an inappropriately young age tend to have
higher than average self esteem.
So do teen gang leaders, extreme ethno centrists,
terrorists, and men in prison for committing
violent crimes (Bushman & Baumeister, 2002;
Dawes, 1994, 1998)..
SELF-EFFICACY
A sense that one is competent and effective,
distinguished from self esteem leads us to set
challenging goals and to persist.
If you believe you can do something, will that
belief necessarily make a difference? That
depends.
SELF PRESENTATION
Humans seem motivated not only to perceive
themselves in self-enhancing ways but also to
present themselves favorably to others.
Do people have the same feelings privately as
they express publicly? Or are they just putting on
a positive face even while living with self doubt?
 Self-handicapping - Protecting ones self-image
with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later
failure.
Fearing failure, people will
reduce their preparation for important individual athletic
events (Rhodewalt & others, 1984) .
give their opponent an advantage (Shepperd & Arkin,
1991)
perform poorly at the beginning of a task in order not to
create unreachable expectations (Baumgardner &
Brownlee, 1987)
not try as hard as they could during a tough, ego-involving
task (Hormuth, 1986; Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1987;
Riggs, 1992; Turner & Pratkanis, 1993).
 Self-presentation refers to our wanting to
present a desired image both to an external
audience (other people) and to an internal
audience (ourselves). We work at managing the
impressions we create. We excuse, justify, or
apologize as necessary to shore up our self-
esteem and verify our self-images (Schlenker &
Weigold, 1992).
 Self-monitoring - Being attuned to the way one
presents oneself in social situations and
adjusting ones performance to create the desired
impression.
Its no wonder that people will self handicap
when failure might make them look bad. Its no
wonder that people take health riskstanning
their skin with wrinkle- and cancer-causing
radiation; having piercings or tattoos done
without proper hygiene; becoming anorexic;
yielding to peer pressures to smoke, get drunk,
and do drugs (Leary & others, 1994).
ATTITUDE AND
BEHAVIOR
 Attitudes
Evaluations that people make about objects, ideas, events,
or other people. It can be positive or negative.

Behavior
Any activity of an organism that are observable
and somehow measurable
Differences between Attitude and
Behavior
Attitude is more on thinking/evaluative while behavior is
more on action.
Behaviors are either innate or learned while attitude is
developed thru experience and observation.
Our behaviors are set by our social norms while our
attitudes are set by how we perceive things.
Organisms may have similar behavioral patterns but
humans have distinct/different attitudes.
 Attitudes predict Behavior
When social and other influences on what we
say are minimal.

When attitudes are potent.

 Behavior affects Attitudes
When does our behavior affect our
attitudes?
Role playing
Self-justification: Cognitive Dissonance
Theory
Self-justification: Cognitive Dissonance Theory
(Leon Festinger) people experience tension when
they have cognitions that are inconsistent with
each other. So in order to reduce the tension, we
internally justify our behavior.
IIA. CONFORMITY
Conformity- Change of behavior and beliefs as a
result of group pressure.
Solomon Aschs classic experiment
WHY DO PEOPLE CONFORM?
1. Normative Influence- based on a persons desire to
fulfill others expectations, often to gain acceptance.
2. Informational Influence- occurring when people
accept evidence about reality provided by other people
 IIC. GROUP INFLUENCE
Group- two or more people who, for longer than a
few moments, interact with and influence one another
and perceive one another us us.
SOCIAL FACILITATION: HOW ARE WE
AFFECTED BY THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS
The mere Presence of Others
Mere presence- people are not competing, do not
reward or punish, and in fact do nothing except be
present as a passive audience or as co-actors.
Co-actors- Co-participants working individually on a
noncompetitive activity.
SOCIAL FACILITATION
Original meaning: the tendency of people to perform
simple or well-learned tasks better when others are
present. Current meaning: the strengthening of
dominant (prevalent, likely) responses in the
presence of others.
 SOCIAL LOAFING: DO
INDIVIDUALS EXERT LESS EFFORT
IN A GROUP?
Social loafing- the tendency for people to exert less efforts toward a common
goal than when they are individually accountable.
Free riders- people who benefit from the group but give little in return.
paradise for parasites

People may however put forth even more effort in a group when
the goal is important, rewards are significant, and team
spirit exists.
SOCIAL FACILITATION VS. SOCIAL LOAFING
 Deindividuation- Doing together what we
would not do alone.
Diminished self-awareness
Group situations may cause people to lose self-awareness, with resulting loss of
individuality and self- restraint.
What circumstances trigger such deindividuation?

This figure shows how a number of factors interact to cause

deindividuation.

Group size

Deindividuati
Physical anonymity
on

Social arousal
 The Influence of the Minority: How Do
Individuals Influence the Group?
Leadership the process by which an individual leads in the
attainment of group goals.
Leaders Characteristics
1. High influence need: assertive, dominant, willing to assume
responsibility, persuasive
2. High affiliation need: cooperative, diplomatic and tactful
3. High achievement need: decisive, energetic, self-confident,
tolerant of stress
Leadership Styles
1. Situational Style: views the needs of a group as changing
from time to time
2. Autocratic Style: directive and task-oriented; mostly men
3. Democratic Style: interpersonally oriented; mostly women
IIIA. PREJUDICE: DISLIKING
OTHERS

Simply called prejudgment, a prejudice is an

unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group
and its members.
Prejudice is often directed towards different cultural,
ethnic, or gender groups.
Stereotype- a belief about the personal attributes of
a group.
Discrimination- an unjustifiable negative
behavior toward a group or its member.
 IIIB. AGGRESSION: HURTING OTHERS
Aggression can be any physical or verbal behavior intended
to hurt or destroy.
It may be done reactively out of hostility or proactively as a
calculated means to an end.
THEORIES
A. Biological Theory: aggression is in our genetic make up
B. Evolutionary Theory: aggression came from our ancestors
C. Psychoanalytic Theory: argued that we have a self-
destructive urge (death instinct); it is in our unconscious mind
D. Neurobiological Theory: there is an aggressive capacity
wired into the human neuromuscular system
E. Frustration-Agrression Theory: A principle in which
frustration (caused by the blocking of an attempt to achieve a
desired goal) creates anger, which can generate aggression.
F. Cognitive Theory: whether we respond aggressively to
aversive situations is determined by our interpretation of the
event.
G. Sociocultural Theory: incidence of aggression and violence
vary throughout human history and culture; this is through the
one of the powerful institutions, media
 IIIC. ATTRACTION AND INTIMACY: LIKING AND
LOVING OTHERS
Love
TYPES:

A. Romantic Love: passionate love; the type of love

that has a strong components of sexuality and
infatuation and often predominates in the early part of
a love relationship
B. Affectionate Love: companionate love; type of love
that occurs when individuals desire to have the other
person near and have a deep, caring affection for the
person
C. Consummate Love: strongest, fullest type of love
STERNBERGS TRIANGULAR THEORY OF
LOVE
Components of love
1. Passion- The drive that leads to romance,
physical attraction, sexual consummation, and
related phenomena
2. Intimacy- Feelings of closeness,
connectedness, and bondedness in loving
relationships
3. Commitment- The decision that one loves
someone else and.the commitment to
maintain that love
STERNBERGS TRIANGULAR THEORY OF
LOVE