PSY: Social Psychology

occurs when, without our awareness, schemas cause us to subtly lead people to behave in line with our expectations

• 1) Adopt an attitude/ make decision concerning a person
• 2) behave as though your belief is correct
• 3) other person reacts to your behavior
• 4) the prophecy came true not because your belief was right but because you made the prophecy come true

process people go to explain causes of behavior

what you attribute another person's behavior to

• internal: characteristics of the person
• external: situational causes

1) Central route: based on facts and knowledge and info about it; you are knowledgeable about what you are saying

2) peripheral route: based on everything else, such as appearances

we have attitudes, beliefs, and actions and we like them all to line up; the minute something is not lined up, there is great anxiety

belief that has no backing; general statement

attitude or feelign towards a group

action; treat them differently because of said belief

belief, feeliings/ attitudes, action

• motivational
• cognitive
• learnign

makes us feel better about ourselves; gives us higher self-esteem

we are prejudiced because we chunk people into groups so we can handle them and have an idea about them

we learn to be prejudice by watching others

this is how you can reduce negative feelings

the more you come in contact with people you are prejudice against, the more understanding you will become of them--> Jigsaw technique

The jigsaw technique is a method of organizing classroom activity that makes students dependent on each other to succeed. It breaks classes into groups and breaks assignments into pieces that the group assembles to complete the (jigsaw) puzzle.

• 1) environment: proximity phenomenon-- you have to be near each other
• 2) similarity: balance and similarities to yourselves
• 3) physical attractiveness: matching hypothesis (most people find someone with a similar level of attraction to one another)

you lose yourself in a group / lose individuality

you exhibit less effort when working in a group than if you are on your own

occurs when people do something because of a request

• explicit: asks you directly
• implicit: looks and gives you a cue

foot in the door: ask for something small; ask for something a little bigger and then bigger

door in the face: ask for something obnoxious, then apologize, and then ask for what you really want

low ball approach (bait-and-switch): get an oral commitment and then switch it on them and they will still do it

involves a change in behavior in response to a demand from an authority figure (student and teacher); teacher shocking student

Shock experiment where people were told to shock student

Stated that 1) humans are capable of unspeakable acts of brutality to other human beings just because they are being obedient and 2) they did it because they felt trapped; others felt that the person was powerful

people become prisoner or guard and blend into roles

the more people that witness a crime, the less likely anyone is to help

• 1) task oriented: very strict, time sensitive, not well liked
• 2) persons oriented: likeable; foster responsibility; people listen when you yell

A group has decided upon the minimally acceptable solution without looking at potential problems

• 1) get a devils' advocate to pick apart everyone's idea
• 2) use the anonymous method: type up ideas with no names attached

the more people there are in a group together, the more extreme their beliefs become