PSY 1012 Ch. 11

The branch of psychology that studies how your thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment

how we form impressions of other people

how our behavior is affected by; other people / situational factors

The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics of other people. Your reactions are determined by your perceptions of others. You evaluate people partly in terms of how you expect them to behave (social norms: rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors). Your self-perception influences how you perceive others

Implicit cultural message is "beautiful is good" Attractive people are perceived as more intelligent, happier, and better adjusted. Really no difference between attractive and less attractive people on these characteristics. Attractive people are more likely to attribute other people's approval of their accomplishments to looks rather than to effort or talent.

the mental frameworks we hold about traits and behaviors associated with different types of people

the tendency to attribute successful outcome of one's own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes

someone's tendency to place themselves in the background or to blend in with a crowd out of shyness or humility

a tendency of people to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. leads to "blaming the victim" we explain others' misfortunes as being their fault, as in: She deserved to be raped. What was she doing in that neighborhood anyway?

Predisposition to evaluate some people, groups, or issues in a particular way Can be negative or positive (has three components)

thoughts about a given topic or situation

feelings or emotions about the topic

Unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions are inconsistent When attitudes and behaviors are in conflict: it is uncomfortable for us we seek ways to decrease the discomfort caused by the inconsistency

People who have a strong tendency to perceive others in terms of two basic social categories called the in-group (social group in which one belongs) and the out-group (social group in which one does not belong Relying on social categories is a natural, adaptive, and efficient cognitive process that provides us with considerable basic information about people.

(the electric chair - testing obedience) -Basic study procedure -teacher and learner (learner always confederate, -teacher always subject) -watch learner being strapped into chair -learner expresses concern over his "heart condition" Learner shows extreme tension and conflict as shock increases Experimenter continues to request obedience even if teacher balks (ie: " The experiment requires that you continue.") 65% of the subjects went to the end, even

Bystander Effect: Diffusion of responsibility presence of others leads to decreased help response we all think someone else will help, so we don't have to help Kitty Genovese incident (murder)

The robbers cave expieriement how hostility between groups could be created and more importantly how hostility could be overcome

detrimental effect (esp with derogatory stereotypes) negatively impact your performance on tests/tasks