Overview
This lecture covers key concepts in social psychology, focusing on attribution, biases, attitudes, persuasion, altruism, and the bystander effect, as well as important terminology and examples relevant for exams.
Attribution Theory
- Attribution is our judgment about the cause of an individual's behavior.
- Dispositional attribution assigns cause to a person's characteristics/personality.
- Situational attribution assigns cause to environmental or external factors.
- Stable attributions are unchanging; unstable attributions are temporary.
- Attributions can be combined (e.g., stable dispositional, unstable situational) to explain behaviors like failing an exam.
Attribution Biases
- Correspondence bias: tendency to attribute others' actions to disposition, ignoring the situation.
- Fundamental attribution error: overestimating internal factors and underestimating external ones in explaining others' behavior.
- Actor-observer bias: attribute our own actions to situations, but others’ actions to their disposition.
- Just world belief: belief that good things happen to good people and bad things to bad people, often leading to victim blaming.
Attitudes and Cognitive Dissonance
- Attitude is a positive or negative evaluation towards an object, person, or situation (involves affect, behavior, cognition).
- Cognitive dissonance is discomfort from a mismatch between behavior and attitude, prompting justifications.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Expectations about someone lead you to act in ways that bring about the expected behavior from that person.
Persuasion and the Elaboration Likelihood Model
- Persuasion is changing attitudes in response to information from another person.
- Central route: high motivation leads to deep processing, focus on message quality, and lasting change.
- Peripheral route: low motivation leads to superficial processing, focus on attractiveness or delivery, and temporary change.
Altruism and the Bystander Effect
- Altruism is helping others even at a risk or inconvenience to oneself.
- Bystander effect: people are less likely to help when others are present, due to diffusion of responsibility, fear of embarrassment, or convenience.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Attribution — judgment about the cause of behavior.
- Dispositional Attribution — assigning cause to internal personal factors.
- Situational Attribution — assigning cause to external environmental factors.
- Stable/Unstable Attribution — explanations that are unchanging or temporary.
- Correspondence Bias — overemphasis on disposition in others’ actions.
- Fundamental Attribution Error — underestimating situational influences on others.
- Actor-Observer Bias — different explanations for our own vs. others' behaviors.
- Just World Belief — belief that people get what they deserve.
- Cognitive Dissonance — discomfort from conflict between behavior and attitude.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy — expectations cause themselves to be realized.
- Persuasion — attitude change due to communication.
- Central/Peripheral Route — routes of persuasion based on motivation and processing.
- Altruism — selfless concern for others.
- Bystander Effect — decreased likelihood of helping with more witnesses.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review textbook chapter 12 on social psychology.
- Prepare for exam three by studying key terms and examples.
- Contact the instructor with any questions or clarifications.