117 Summary for Social Psychology
SP.1 What Is Social Psychology?
Social psychology is the subfield of psychology that studies the power of the situation to influence individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Psychologists categorize the causes of human behaviour as those due to internal factors, such as personality, or those due to external factors, such as cultural and other social influences. Behaviour is better explained, however, by using both approaches. Lay people tend to over-rely on dispositional explanations for behaviour and ignore the power of situational influences, a perspective called the fundamental attribution error. People from individualistic cultures are more likely to display this bias versus people from collectivistic cultures. Our explanations for our own and others behaviours can be biased due to not having enough information about others’ motivations for behaviours and by providing explanations that bolster our self-esteem.
SP.2 Self-presentation
Human behaviour is largely influenced by our social roles, norms, and scripts. In order to know how to act in a given situation, we have shared cultural knowledge of how to behave depending on our role in society. Social norms dictate the behaviour that is appropriate or inappropriate for each role. Each social role has scripts that help humans learn the sequence of appropriate behaviours in a given setting. The famous Stanford prison experiment is an example of how the power of the situation can dictate the social roles, norms, and scripts we follow in a given situation, even if this behaviour is contrary to our typical behaviour.
SP.3 Attitudes and Persuasion
Attitudes are our evaluations or feelings toward a person, idea, or object and typically are positive or negative. Our attitudes and beliefs are influenced not only by external forces, but also by internal influences that we control. An internal form of attitude change is cognitive dissonance or the tension we experience when our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are in conflict. In order to reduce dissonance, individuals can change their behaviour, attitudes, or cognitions, or add a new cognition. External forces of persuasion include advertising; the features of advertising that influence our behaviours include the source, message, and audience. There are two primary routes to persuasion. The central route to persuasion uses facts and information to persuade potential consumers. The peripheral route uses positive association with cues such as beauty, fame, and positive emotions.
SP.4 Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
The power of the situation can lead people to conform, or go along with the group, even in the face of inaccurate information. Conformity to group norms is driven by two motivations, the desire to fit in and be liked and the desire to be accurate and gain information from the group. Authority figures also have influence over our behaviours, and many people become obedient and follow orders even i