Social Psychology

 Module 52
Attitude, Conformity and Social Cognition

Attitude
An enduring system of positive or negative beliefs (the cognitive component),
affective feelings and emotions, and action tendencies toward an object, a
person or a group of persons.

Persuasion: changing attitudes

Persuasion is the process of changing attitudes.

Factors by which attitudes can be changed

1. Message source- Characteristics of the person who delivers the message,
known as the attitude communicator (e.g., attractiveness, experience,
trustworthiness)

2. Characteristics of the target (e.g., gender, intelligence)-- intelligent people

are more resistant to persuasion than those who are less intelligent. women
are somewhat more easily persuaded than men, particularly when they have
less knowledge about the message’s topic.

3. Characteristics of the message– two-sided messages (communicator’s

position and the target’s position) and fear-producing messages (“If you don’t
practice safer sex, you’ll get AIDS”) are more effective

Routes to persuasion
Central route processing- Message interpretation characterized by thoughtful
consideration of the issues and arguments used to persuade.

Peripheral route processing- Message interpretation characterized by

consideration of the source and related general information rather than of the
message itself.

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Targets who are highly involved, motivated, and attentive use central route processing when
they consider a persuasive message, which leads to a more lasting attitude change. In contrast,
uninvolved, unmotivated, and inattentive targets are more likely to use peripheral route
processing, and attitude change is likely to be less enduring.

Link between attitudes and behavior

Cognitive dissonance
The conflict that occurs when a person holds two contradictory attitudes or
thoughts (referred to as cognitions).

Methods of Reducing cognitive dissonance

The simultaneous presence of two contradictory cognitions (“I smoke” and

“Smoking leads to cancer”) produces dissonance, which can be reduced through
4 methods.

Conformity: Following What Others Do

A change in behavior or attitudes brought about by a desire to follow the beliefs
or standards of other people

Factors that affect conformity

1. Characteristics of the group
The more attractive a group appears to its members, the greater its ability to
produce conformity

2. Situation in which the individual is responding

Conformity is considerably higher when people must respond publicly than it is
when they can do so privately.
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 3. Kind of task
People working on ambiguous tasks and questions (those with no clear answer)
are more susceptible to social pressure.
4. Unanimity (agreed by all people) of the group
Groups that unanimously support a position show the most pronounced
conformity pressures.
Social supporter-- A group member whose dissenting (disagreeing) views
make nonconformity to the group easier.

Social cognition: Understanding Others

The cognitive processes by which people understand and make sense of others
and themselves.

Schemas
Sets of cognitions or mental image about people and social experiences

Impression formation-- The process by which an individual organizes information about

another person to form an overall impression of that person.

Central traits-- The major traits considered in forming impressions of others (e.g.,
warm, cold).

Attribution Processes: Understanding the Causes of Behavior

Attribution theory
The theory of personality that seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of
samples of an individual’s behavior, what the specific causes of that person’s
behavior are.

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 1. Situational causes
Perceived causes of behavior that are based on environmental factors.

2. Dispositional causes
Perceived causes of behavior that are based on internal traits or personality
factors.

Biases in Attribution
1. Halo effect
A phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a person has positive traits
is used to infer other uniformly positive characteristics.

2. Assumed-similarity bias
The tendency to think of people as being similar to oneself, even when meeting
them for the first time.

3. Self-serving bias
The tendency to attribute personal success to personal factors (skill, ability, or
effort) and to attribute failure to factors outside oneself.

4. Fundamental attribution error

A tendency to over-attribute others’ behavior to dispositional causes, and the
corresponding failure to recognize the importance of situational causes

Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination

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 Stereotypes
A set of generalized beliefs and expectations (negative or positive) about a
particular group and its members

Prejudice
An evaluation of a person (negative or positive) based on his/her membership in
a particular group.
Prejudice is a feeling about a person based on his/her membership in a group. 
Common stereotypes and forms of prejudice involve race, religion, ethnicity, and
gender. Over the years, various groups have been called “lazy” or “shrewd” or
“cruel” with varying degrees of regularity by those who are not members of that
group.

Discrimination
Negative behavior directed toward individuals on the basis of their membership
in a particular group.

The Foundations of Prejudice

Social learning approaches
 People’s feelings about members of various groups are shaped by the
behavior of parents, other adults, and peers
 Through observations and imitation

Social identity theory

We use group membership as a source of pride and self-worth

Reducing the Consequences of Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Increasing contact between the target of stereotyping and the holder of the
stereotype
2. Making values and norms against prejudice more conspicuous (visible or
attracting attention)
3. Providing information about the objects of stereotyping

Module 54
Sex and Gender

Sex:
 biological maleness or femaleness including intersex (reproductive
differences based on genitalia, chromosomes, hormones); also, sexual
behaviors of intercourse/masturbation

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 Gender:
 psychological and sociocultural meanings added to biological sex
the sense of maleness or femaleness related to our membership in a given
society
 gender underlies assumptions regarding ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ behavior

Dimensions of Gender
Gender Identity:
 Gender identity is self-defined.
 Self-identification as either a man or a woman

Gender Role:
 Gender role is socially-defined.
 The set of expectations, defined by a particular society, that indicate what
is appropriate behavior for men and women.

Gender Dimensions Male Fem

1. Gender identity Perceives self Perceiv
as male as female

2. Gender role Masculine Feminine

Gender Role Development
1. Social-learning theory suggests gender roles develop as children:
 receive rewards/ punishments for gender role behaviors and attitudes.
 watch and imitate the behaviors and attitudes of others.

2. Cognitive-developmental theory suggests children form gender schemas

(mental images or frameworks) of correct behaviors for boys versus girls.
Gender Differences
Personality: Aggression
 Men exhibit greater physical aggressiveness.
 Women are higher on relational aggression (in which harm is caused by
damaging relationships or social status).
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Cognitive abilities
 Women score higher on verbal skills.
 Men score higher on math and visuospatial skills.

Male first-year college students are much more likely than female first-year
college students to rate themselves as above average in academic ability,
mathematical ability, and emotional health. (Source: From Astin, A. W., Korn, W.
S., & Berz, E. R. (2004).

Spatial Cognition
o There are sex differences in spatial cognition that may have been selected
for through the course of evolution.
o Males needed to develop spatial abilities in order to navigate (Geary,
2007).
o Sex differences in map reading and mental rotation have been found in
preschool years.
o Mental rotation differences may exist in infancy.
o According to meta-analyses, the magnitude of sex differences is very small.
o Only 1 to 5% of the difference is due to gender.
o Mental rotation is especially prominent.
o Females show better performance in object and location memory.
o May be due to evolution…role as gatherers.
o Must be able to perceive small stimulus differences.
o Differential experiences may also play a role.
o Newcombe et al. (1983) asked college students to classify activities as
masculine, feminine, or neutral.
o Tasks with high spatial content were considered masculine.
o They found a gender difference on a test with strong spatial components.
o The more spatial activities one engages in, the greater one’s spatial ability.

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Sources/Causes of Gender Differences:
 Biological Factors
 Women perform better on tasks involving verbal skill and muscular
coordination during periods when their production of estrogen, the female
sex hormone, is relatively high compared with periods when it is low.
 Women perform better on tasks involving spatial relationships when the
estrogen level is relatively low (Kimura, 1999; Rosenberg & Park, 2002).
 Men tend to be more aggressive, competitive, and prone to taking risks
than women are.
 Testosterone, an endogenous hormone, which is higher in males than
females, regulates sex drive and appears to germinate seeds of
personality; a higher level of testosterone makes the person more
dominant, sexually more active and aggressive.
 A significant male bias in the initiation of kissing and a significant bias in
head-turning to the right in both kiss initiators and kiss recipients, with a
tendency among kiss recipients to match their partners’ head-turning
direction (Karim et al. 2017: The right way to kiss: directionality bias in
head-turning during kissing).
 The Social Environment
 From the moment of birth, boys receive an environment different from
girls.
 For example, boys and girls are given different kinds of toys.
 Parents interact with their children differently, depending on their sex.
 Fathers play more roughly with their infant sons than with their infant
daughters.
 Such differences in behavior produce different socialization experiences
for men and women.
 Socialization is the process by which an individual learns the rules and
norms of appropriate behavior for men and women.
 According to the processes of social learning theory, boys and girls are
taught and rewarded for performing the socially perceived appropriate
behaviors for men and for women, respectively (Archer & Lloyd, 2002;
Liben & Bigler, 2002; Leaper & Friedman, 2007).
 Boys receive significantly more praise, criticism, and remedial help than
girls do, whereas girls are more apt (suitable) to be commended for their
neatness.
 Society as a whole (including schools, colleges, and medias such as
television) communicates clear messages to children as they are growing
up.
 Socialization produces a gender schema, a mental framework that
organizes and guides a child’s understanding of information relevant to
gender.
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  Module 56
Positive and Negative Social Behavior

Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships

Interpersonal attraction
 Positive feelings for others; liking and loving

Liking: How do I like thee?

1. Proximity-- If you live in a dormitory or an apartment, consider the friends
you made when you first moved in. Chances are that you became friendliest
with those who lived geographically closest to you.

2. Mere exposure-- Repeated exposure to a person is often sufficient to produce

attraction. Interestingly, repeated exposure to any stimulus—a person,
picture, compact disc, or virtually anything—usually makes us like the stimulus
more. Becoming familiar with a person can evoke positive feelings; we then
transfer the positive feelings stemming from familiarity to the person him- or
herself.

3. Similarity
 Reciprocity-of-liking effect
 We tend to like those who are similar to us. Discovering that others have
similar attitudes, values, or traits promotes our liking for them. One reason
similarity increases the likelihood of interpersonal attraction is that we
assume people with similar attitudes will evaluate us positively.

4. Physical attractiveness
For most people, the equation beautiful = good is quite true. As a result,
physically attractive people are more popular than physically unattractive ones, if
all other factors are equal.

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Love: How do I love thee?
 What is love?
 Love encompasses a variety of strong and positive emotional and mental
states, ranging from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest
interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure.

 Components of Love
Psychologist Robert Sternberg proposes that love consists of three components:

1. Decision/commitment-- a component that involves long-term feelings of

commitment to maintain love.
2. Intimacy-- feelings of closeness and connectedness to another person.
3. Passion-- intense motivational drives relating to sex, physical closeness, and
romance.
Types of Love
According to Sternberg, these three components combine to produce the
different types of love.

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 According to Sternberg, love has three main components: intimacy, passion, and
decision/commitment. Different combinations of these components can create other
types of love. Nonlove contains none of the three components.
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangular_theory_of_love

1. Passionate (or romantic) love

 A state of intense absorption in someone that includes intense
physiological arousal, psychological interest, and caring for the needs of
another

2. Companionate love
 The strong affection that we have for those with whom our lives are
deeply involved.
 The love we feel for our parents, other family members, and even some
close friends falls into the category of companionate love

3. Fatuous love
 A form of love made up from only two of three components, passion and
commitment (and excludes intimacy).
 Can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage—it has points
of passion and commitment but no intimacy.
 An example of this is "love at first sight.

Aggression & Prosocial Behavior

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 Aggression
 Intentional injury or harm to another person

1. Instinct approach/theory
 Freudian approach
 Aggression is primarily the outcome of innate—or inborn—urges.
 Catharsis
o Process of releasing or discharging built up aggressive energy

2. Frustration-aggression approach/theory
 Aggression as a reaction to frustration
 Frustration
o The thwarting or blocking of some ongoing, goal-directed behavior

3. Social learning approaches

 Learning to hurt others
 Observation
 Modeling, Imitation
 Rewards, reinforcement

Helping Others: The Brighter Side of Human Nature

Prosocial behavior
 Helping behavior

Altruism
 Helping behavior that is beneficial to others but clearly requires self-
sacrifice

Diffusion of responsibility
 The tendency for people to feel that responsibility for acting is shared,
or diffused, among those present

The basic steps of helping

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