Why Study Social Psychology

• Human beings are social creatures; we live

with others, work with others and play with
others.
• The people who surround us throughout our
lives have an impact on our beliefs and values,
decisions and assumptions, and the way we
think about other people in general.
 What is Social Psychology
• The scientific study of how a person’s
behavior, thoughts, personality and feelings
influence and are influenced by social groups.
• Social Psychology is the study of how people
and groups interact.
• An infant is born into a world with adults who
have an impact on the infant’s actions,
personality and growth.
• Adults interact with others on a daily basis.
• These interactions provide an opportunity for
the presence of other people to influence the
behavior, feelings, personality and thoughts of
each individual, either directly or indirectly.
This process is called social influence.
• Social psychology is concerned with
understanding individual behavior in a social
context.
• It looks at behavior and mental processes.
• It also includes the social world in which we
exist, as we are surrounded by others to
whom we are connected and by whom we are
influenced in so many ways.
 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH
Level of analysis:
- Societal level of analysis: use of broad societal
factors to explain social behaviour
- Individual level of analysis: use of the person’s
unique individual characteristics to explain
behaviour
- Interpersonal level of analysis: behaviour is
explained in terms of person’s current social or
interpersonal situation
 Attribution Theory
• It is the tendency to give a causal explanation
for someone’s behavior, often by crediting
either the situation or the person’s
disposition.
• The process of explaining both one’s own
behavior and the behavior of other people is
called attribution.
 ATTITUDES
• In Social Psychology, attitudes are defined as
learned, global evaluations of a person,
object, place or issue that influence thought
and action.
• Attitudes are basic expressions of approval
and disapproval, favorability or unfavorability,
likes and dislikes.
• Attribution theory was originally developed by
Heider (1958) as a way of explaining why
things happen as well as why people choose
the particular explanations of behavior that
they do.
• There are basically two kinds of explanations:
those that involve an external cause and those
that assume that causes are internal.
• When the cause of behavior is assumed to be
from external sources, such as the weather,
traffic, educational opportunities and so on, it
is said to be a situational cause.
• The observed behavior is assumed to be
caused by whatever situation exists for the
person at that time.
• On the other hand, if the cause of behavior is
assumed to come from within the individual, it
is called a dispositional cause.
• In this case, it is the person’s internal
personality characteristics that are seen as the
cause of the observed behavior.
 Fundamental Attribution Error
• The most well-known attributional bias is the
fundamental attribution error, which is the
tendency for people observing someone else’s
actions to over estimate the influence of that
person’s internal characteristics on behavior
and underestimate the influence of the
situation.
• In other words, people tend to explain the
actions of others based on what ‘kind’ of
person they are rather than looking for
outside causes such as social influences or
situations.
 THEORIES OF ATTITUDE
• Theory of cognitive dissonance:
The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes
that people have a motivational drive to reduce
dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs
and behaviors or by justifying or rationalizing
their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.
 Attitude formation
• Attitudes have three components;
[Link] component-it is made up of the thoughts
and beliefs people hold about the object of the
attitude.
[Link] component-it consist of the emotional
feelings stimulated by the object of the attitude.
[Link] component-consists of predispositions to
act in certain ways toward an attitude object.
 ATTITUDES ARE ACQUIRED
THROUGH:
1. Social Learning
2. Social Comparison
3. Genetic factors
4. Self-experiences
 Attitude Change
• Attitudes can be changed through persuasion.
• Persuasion is an active method of influence
that attempts to guide people toward the
adoption of an attitude, idea or behavior by
rational or emotive means.
 Attribution Theory
• Process by which people arrive at causal
explanations for events and actions in the
social world.
• Basic concepts
- Fritz Heider (1958)
- Naïve psychology
- Dimensions of causality:
Internal and external attributions
 Group Dyanamics
• A group can be defined as two or more
individuals that are connected to each other
by social relationships.
• Groups tend to interact, influence each other,
and share a common identity.
 Groups
• Human beings are, by nature social beings.
• This social nature is expressed/demonstrated
and influenced through Groups.
• Our participation in and interaction with
various groups is an integral part of our lives.
 Reasons for group belonging
• Groups fulfill many basic human needs that
cannot be satisfied by individuals alone. These
needs include biological; psychological, social;
cultural and practical needs. For instance,
groups fulfill our need for affiliation, as well as
for love and belonging. Groups also play a
larger role in influencing individual self-esteem
and in the development of self-concept.
 Reasons………..
• Groups are an important source of social
support.
• Groups also offer us information about the
social world and ourselves.
 Group definitions
• A group can be defined as a collection of
people.
• A definition of a group is always based on
certain properties.
• A group exists when two or more individuals
define themselves as members of it and when
existence is recognized by at least one another
• This type of group is called Social Group.
 Group definitions
• A non-social group exists when two or more
people are present at the same time and place
but are not interacting with each other.
• In Social Pyschology:
Characteristics of social groups have been
defined as interdependence among group
members, interaction between them and mutual
influence.
 Types of Social Groups
• In-group
Groups to which people belong or think they
belong.
• Out-group
Groups to which people do not belong or think
they do not belong.
 Another classification of groups
• Primary group
They generally have a small membership and are
characterized by intimate direct interaction,
strong levels of group identification and a long
period of group membership
e.g family
 Classification
• Secondary group
Characterized with a few direct interactions,
weak levels of identifications with the group,
limited relationships and a short period of
existences.
e.g. sports team
 Classification
• Reference group
It is a group to which a person does not formally
belong but which the person identifies or uses
as a frame of reference.
A reference group refers to any group which
individuals use to guide and inform their values,
attitudes, self-image and behaviors but do not
have a formal membership
 Group characteristics
• Purpose
• Norms
• Roles
• Communication
• Status
• Cohesiveness
 Group influence
• Group polarization
• Groupthink
• Social Facilitation
• Social Loafing
 Group cohesiveness
• It is the force bringing group members closer
together.
• Cohesiveness has two dimensions;
Emotional (personal) and Task-related
• The emotional aspect of cohesiveness;
It is derived from the connection that members
feel to other group members and to their group
as a whole.
That is, how much do members like to spend
time with other group members? Do they look
forward to the next group meeting?
• Task-cohesiveness
It refers to the degree to which group members
share group goals and work together to meet
these goals.
 Group Thinking
• Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by
group members who try to minimize conflict
and reach consensus without critically testing,
analyzing, and evaluating ideas.
• Individual creativity, uniqueness and
independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of
group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of
reasonable in choice and thought that might
normally be obtained by making decisions as a
group
 Group conformity
• Conformity is the process by which an
individual’s attitude, beliefs and behaviors are
influenced by others.
• This influence occurs in both small groups and
society as a whole, and it may be a result of a
subtle unconscious influences, or direct and
overt social pressures.
 SOCIAL INFLUENCE
• Conformity: change of behaviour as a result of
pressure from others, or in order to adhere to
social norms – unspoken rules that indicate
how one ought to behave
• Why conform?
- Need to be accepted (normative social
influence)
- Lack of information (informational social
influence)
 CONT.
• How minority influences the majority
- Consistency
- Conform & then deviate
Compliance
- Direct, explicit pressure in the form of a
request or demand to go along with a certain
point of view or behaviour
 Compliance (Cont.)
Foot-in-the-door
Rather than ask what you want, first request for a
smaller, related request – later for a larger one
Freedman & Fraser (1966)
“Drive Carefully” study
- First, sign petitions
- Later, unattractive, ugly sign
Why technique works: small request --- interest---
commitment to the issue
 Prejudice
• Prejudice is a negative attitude about
members of a group.
• Prejudice translated into behavior is called
discrimination-behaving differently, usually
unfairly, toward group members.
• Prejudice often develops through stereotypes,
fixed, simplistic conceptions of traits,
behaviors, and attitudes of a particular group
of people.
 Factors leading to prejudice
• Parents( Family members)
• Society
• Media
• Stereo type
• Self-experience
 Interpersonal Attraction

• Importance of attachment in childhood – humans have basic need

for social interaction: affiliation, birth order, social comparison, etc.
• Determining factors
a. Personal characteristics: warmth,
competence, physical attractiveness
b. Similarity: attitude, personality
need complementarity
c. Familiarity (mere exposure)
- repeated exposure to stimulus leads to familiarity & liking
- Satiation
 Cont.
d. Proximity: attraction to those close-by
(nearness) e.g. students in one block; same
township, city, country, etc.
Reasons: i) obtain rewards at little cost & less effort
ii) Info easily acquired from people close by
Negative effects of proximity:
Robberies, crime, rapes, etc. usually perpetuated by
people we know & who live close to us
 Cont.
Physical attractiveness
- Attractive people regarded more highly than
those unattractive
- Chosen more frequently as dating partners
- Matching hypothesis
Studies: - Women who were attractive when
young tend to be less happy & less adjusted than
those who were not at college/varsity
- Aging is more devastating to them
 Intimate relationships
Liking and love: how similar or different:
• One more intense than the other
Experience of love: thoughts, behaviours, feelings
Passionate love and compassionate love
- P: wildly emotional state, sudden, fades quickly,
intense but fragile, includes fantasies
- C: affection we feel for those with whom our lives,
more practical, emphasises caring, trust, tolerant
of flaws of partner, likely to be sustained
 Cont.
Sexuality & love in intimate relationships
i) Sexually traditional couples: intercourse
reserved for marriage
ii) Sexually moderate couples: intercourse must
wait for approximately 6 months after dating
iii) Sexually liberal couples: casual sex is no
concern whether you love the person or not
 Cont.
Deterioration/break-up
- Unmet expectations
- Role of jealousy:
* Real or imagined rival
* Induced jealous
* Self-esteem