Chapter 13- Behavior in a Social Context
January-28-12
9:05 PM
SOCIAL THINKING AND PERCEPTION
• Attribution : perceiving the causes of behavior
○ Attributions-judgementsabout the causes of our own and other people's behavior and
outcomes
Attributions influence our subsequent behavior and emotions
○ Personal vs. situational attributions
Personal (internal attributions infer that people's behavior is caused by their
characteristics
□ My a on the exam reflects my high ability
Situation (external) attributions infer that aspects of the situation cause a
behavior
□ I received an a because it was easy
3 types of informationdetermine the attribution we make:
□ Consistency
Still hate the artwork?
□ Distinctiveness
Dislikes only that artwork
□ Consensus
Other people agree artwork is horrible
When consistency,distinctiveness, and consensus are all high, we are likely to
make a situational attribution
But if consistency is high and the other 2 are low, we make a personal attribution
○ Attributional biases
Fundamental attribution error-we underestimatethe impact of the situation and
overestimatethe role of personal factors when explaining other people's behavior
Self-serving bias- making relativelymore personal attributions for success and
more situational attributions for failure
○ Culture and attribution
Many studies suggest that the tendency to attribute other people's behavior to
personal factors reflects a Westernized emphasis on individualism
Culture also influences attributions for our own behavior
□ Modestyhighly valued in Chinese culture, and take moreresponsibility for
their failures
Cultural background also seemsto affect the way we go about making attributions
□ Holistic thinking among east Asians
• Forming and maintaining impressions
○ Attributions play a key role in impression formation:does a person's behavior say
something about her or him, or is it caused by the situation? Other factors, however,
also affect how we form and maintain impressions
○ Primacy vs. Recency:Are First impressions moreimportant?
Primacyeffect-tendency to attach more importanceto the initial informationthat
we learn about a person
□ New info can change our opinion, but it has to work harder to overcomethe
initial impressionsbecause:
We tend to be most alert to the information we receive first
Initial informationmay shape how we perceive subsequent
information
□ General rule in impression formation
□ Primacy effects decrease, and recency effects may occur- when we are
asked to avoid making snap judgements, are reminded to carefully consider
the evidence, and are made to feel accountable for our judgements
Mental sets and Schemas,: seeing what we expect to see ○ Mental sets and Schemas,: seeing what we expect to see
Our mental set , which is a readiness to perceive the world in a particular way,
powerfully shapes how we interpret a stimulus
What creates our mental set?
□ Schemas, out mental frameworksthat help us organize and interpret
information
Stereotype- generalized belief about a group or category of people, represent s
type of schema
○ Self fulfilling prophecies: creating what we expect to see
Self fulfillingprophecy- occurs usually without conscious awareness, when
peoples erroneous expectationslead them to act toward others in a way that
brings about the expected behaviors, thereby confirming the original impression
□ Act differently based on what you were told about that person (smile less,
more distance)
• Attitudes and Attitude Change
○ Attitude - positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person,
object, action or concept
○ How do attitudes affect our behavior?
Attitude behavior relationship is strong, but weak in some cases:
□ Attitudes influence behavior more strongly when counteracting situational
factors are weak
Financial incentives, conformityand obedience pressure may lead to
people behaving in ways that are at odds with their inner convictions
Theory of planned behavior-our intention to engage in a behavior is
strongest when we have a positive attitude with that behavior
□ Attitudes have a greater influence on behavior when we are aware of them
and when they are strongly held
□ General attitudes are better at predicting general classes of behavior, and
specific attitudes are better at predicting specific behavior
○ Does our behavior influence our attitudes?
Self justification
□ Theory of cognitivedissonance-people strive for consistency in their
cognitions
□ Theory predicts that to reduce dissonance and restore a state of cognitive
consistency,people will change one of their cognitions or add new
cognitions
Person with 20 bucks could justify their behavior by adding a new
cognitions "who wouldn’t lie for 20 bucks?
The person who had the 1 dollar could not use this money to justify
their behavior. But they can convince themselvesthat the tasks were
actually enjoyable then they wouldn't have lied after all
Self perception
□ Self perception theory- we make influences about our own attitudes in
much the same way: by observing by how we behave
○ Persuasion
The communicator
□ Communicator credibility-howbelievable the communicatoris
□ Credibility had two components:
Expertise
Trustworthiness
□ Communicatorswho are physically attractive,likable, and similar to us also
persuade us more effectively
The message
□ Meta analysis indicates that the two sided refutational approach is more
effective,especially when the audience disagrees with the message or they
are aware of both sides, the audience will see the two sided message as less
biased
□ Messages that attempt to persuade by arousing fear can be effectiveunder □ Messages that attempt to persuade by arousing fear can be effectiveunder
certain conditions
○ The audience
Central route to persuasion-occurs when people think carefully about the
message and are influenced because they find the arguments compelling
Peripheral route to persuasion- occurs when people do not scrutinize the
message but are influenced mostly by other factors such as the speaker's
attractivenessor a message's emotionalappeal
We tend to process a message more closely when it is personally relevant: when it
will actually affect us in some way
People with a high need for cognitions tend to followthe central route to
persuasion
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
• The mere presence of others
○ The presence of others energizes performance
average speed in cyclist was faster in a group than individual times
○ Social facilitation- increased tendency to perform one's dominant response in the mere
presence of others
The presence of the audience improved the performanceof the accomplished
players but worsened for the less skilled players
• Social norms: the rules of the game
○ Social norms- shared expectations about how people should think, feel and behave and
they are the cement that binds social systems
○ Social role- set of norms that characterizes how people in a given positions ought to
behave (police, spouse)
○ Norms and roles can influence behavior so strongly that they compel a person to act
characteristically (prison and guard experiment)
• Conformityand obedience
○ Why do people conform?
Informational social influence- we follow the opinions or behavior of other people
because we believe they have the accurate knowledge and what they are doing is
right
Normative social influence-conformto obtain rewards that come from being
accepted by other people, while at the same time, avoiding their rejection
○ Factors that affect conformity
Group size and presence can measure the effects of conformity
○ Minority influence
Moscoviciproposes that to maximizeits influence, the minority must be highly
committedto it's point of view, remain independent in the face of majority
pressure, and consistent over time, yet appear to keep and open mind
○ Factors that influence destructiveobedience
Remotenessof victim
□ Obedience greater when the learning was out of sight
Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
□ Obedience highest when authority was close and perceived as legitimate
Cog in a wheel
□ Obedience increases when someoneelse does the "dirty work"
Personal characteristics
□ No relation
○ Detecting and resisting compliance techniques
Norm of reciprocity-expectationthat when other treat us well. We should
respond in kind
Door in the face technique-persuader makes a large request, expecting you to
reject, and then presents a smaller request
Foot in the door-persuader gets you to comply with a small request first and later
presents a larger request
Lowballing-persuadergets you to committo some action and then- before you Lowballing-persuadergets you to committo some action and then- before you
actually perform the behavior- he or she increases the cost of that same behavior
• Crowd behavior and deindividuation
○ Diindividuation- loss of individuality that leads to disinhibited behavior
Anonymityto outsiders was key
• Group influences on performance and decision making
○ Social loafing: failing to pull your own weight
Social loafing-tendency for people to expend less individual effort in a group than
when working alone
Collective effort model-on a collective task, people will put forth effort only to the
extent that they expect their effort to contribute to obtaining a valued goal
□ People believe that individual performancewithin the group is not being
monitored
□ The task has less value or meaning to the person
□ The group is less important to the person
□ The task is simple and the person's input is redundant with that of the group
members
□ Fatigue seems to increase social loafing
□ Social compensation- work harder in a group than alone if they expect that
their colleagues either don't have enough ability or will slack off
○ Group polarization: going to extremes
Such decisions often rests in the hands of juries and they are entrusted in groups
because they are assumed to be more conservativethan individuals and less likely
to "go off the deep end"
Group polarization-when a group of like-minded people discusses an issue,
whether face to face, or through email, the average opinion of group members
tends to becomemore extreme
Group polarization occurs because
□ Normal and social influence-individuals who are attracted to a group may be
motivatedto adopt a more extremeposition to gain the group's approval
□ Informational social influence-during group discussions people hear
arguments supporting their positions that they have not previously
considered. makes the decision even more valid
○ Groupthink: suspending Critical thinking
Group think- the tendency for group membersto suspend critical thinking
because they are striving to seek agreement
Most likely to occur when a group
□ Is under high stress to reach a decision
□ Is insulated from outside input
□ Has a directive leader who prom
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