Social Psychology

1. Situation
a. What else is going on that affects the likelihood of someone responding?
i. Time
1. Whether people perceive that they have time to do something (help)
2. This can be a reason not to help or to get someone “off the hook” from
helping
3. Example: Seminary students practicing sermons on the good Samaritan
a. “You have time” – 2/3 helped the confederate
b. “Better hurry” – 10% helped the confederate
ii. Presence of a model
1. Provides an example of helping
a. Bryan and Test
i. Study with motorists
1. A confederate getting helped with a flat tire
(model)
2. Further down the road another person with a
flat tire
a. More people stopped to help
3. The control group had no model
a. Less people stopped to help the
confederate with the flat tire
2. Models can be positive or negative effects on behavior
3. Example: Telethons on TV
a. “We just had Jane from Tulsa call and donate $200”
i. You are more likely to donate
iii. Reciprocity
1. If you have been on the receiving end of help you are more likely to
then help someone else
a. Especially if it is helping the person that helped you in a similar
way
i. Neighbors sharing sugar
2. Potential for deceptively manipulating
a. Charities sending you freebies in an effort to get your donations
b. Setting you up to feel obligated to help, to get more out of you
than they gave
3. “Paying it forward”
iv. Location
1. Urban vs. Rural differences
a. More likely to give/receive help in a rural setting than in an
urban setting
 b. More likely to share a quick smile and glance with people in a
rural setting than in an urban setting
c. Milgram
i. Social overload in cities
1. There is much more stimulation than in a
smaller rural setting
2. Periphery information is screened out
a. Which results in less helping behavior
3. It is an adaptive response to the social overload
a. It is not because the people are
unfriendly and/or rude
d. Page 450
i. Across countries – differences
ii. Within the US
1. Smaller cities more helping
2. South and Central regions more helping
a. Least helpful the North East
2. There are different forms of helping
a. Emergency helping
i. Not in the sense that it is a disaster
1. Requires reacting now, if not now, never
ii. Not something a person has time to think over
3. Help receiving
a. Sometimes people that receive help are not always appreciative of the help that they
get
i. Some people don’t want help even when they need it
1. Strong need for independence
ii. Receiving help can make you look “weak”
iii. Requires a “cost” from their self-esteem
4. CHAPTER 4
a. Internal processes Behavior
i. Attitudes
ii. Feelings
iii. Judgments
iv. Traits
b. Behavior  Internal processes
i. External
ii. What is observable
iii. Research shows that behavior sometimes comes first then the acquisition of
attitudes, feelings, judgments
iv. Why would behavior happen first?
1. A lot of our behavior is effected by the SITUATION
 2. Situations affect behavior regardless of internal processes
v. Behavior can happen without the internal processes
1. Behavior also has an effect on our internal processes
c. Primacy of behavior
5. Attitude
a. A stable predisposition to evaluate a target (political ideology, institution, person, etc) in
a particular way
b. Components
i. Cognitions
1. Informational
2. Affective
3. Behavioral
a. My thoughts about my behaviors
ii. Tend to be stable and consistent with each other