Social Psychology

-       how we think about, influence, and relate to others

Think

-       self-serving bias

o   perceive self favorably

o   examples

§     explaining events

·     success = ability, effort

·     failure = external factors

§     all better than average?

·     subjective, socially desirable

·     define “success” on our own

·     what we’re good at = important

§     unrealistic optimism

·     future events

·     negatives

o   increases vulnerability

 

positives

o   promotes well-being

·     remedy

o   “defensive pessimism”

§     anticipate problems, develop coping skills

§     false consensus

·     overestimate agreement

·     opinion

§     false uniqueness

·     underestimate commonality

·     ability

Influence

-       conformity

o   changing due to real/imaged group pressure

§       types

·       compliance

o       private disagreement

 

 

·     obedience

o   command from authority

·     acceptance

o      sincere

o   Milgram Obedience Study

§       65% complied

·     heart condition

o     63% complied

§     what influences obedience?

·     emotional distance from victim

·     authority figure

o   physical presence

o   legitimate

·     institutional authority

o   Yale vs. downtown Bridgeport

·     effects of the group

o   liberating effect

 

 

 

Relating

- what attracts us to others?

1. proximity

o   geographical nearness

§     functional distance

·     cross paths

o   anticipation of interaction

§     “anticipatory liking”

o   mere exposure

§     familiarity breeds fondness

·     nonsense words

·     name letter effect

o   letters of name, language

§     adaptive

·     predisposes us to attractions

§     advertisers, politicians

-       2. physical attractiveness

o   looks matter

o   attractiveness and dating

§     females

·     predictor of dates

·     dating preferences

§     males

·     more value on looks

o   matching phenomenon

§     intelligence, attractiveness

§     marriage vs. dating

§     compensating qualities

·     males = wealth, status

·     females = youth, looks

-       3. similarity vs. complementarity

o   similarity

§     similarity = happiness

§     likeness produces liking

·     attitudes, behavior

o   do opposites attract?

§     complementarity

·     complete what is missing in another

o   personality traits

§     similarity prevails

-       4. liking those who like us

o   liking is mutual

o   sensitive to criticism

o   self-esteem and attraction

§     Hatfield research

·     low self-esteem looked for approval

·     rebound relationships

-       5. relationship rewards

o   reward theory of attraction

§     rewards = liking

§     direct rewards

§     associate with rewards