Social Psychology- the study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Social Thinking- How do we think about one another?

Attribution theory
.The idea that we give a casual; explanation for someone's behavior.
. We credit that behavior to the situation or to the person's disposition.

Fundamental Attribution error. the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of a person's disposition.

Attitudes
.. A belief or feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something.
Attitudes guide actions
. external pressure is minimal
. we are aware of our own attitudes
. the attitude is relevant to the behavior

Foot-in-the-door-phenomenon
.the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply lager with a larger request

Door-in-face-phenomenon
.the tendency for people who say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory
.we do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes do not match out attitudes
. when they clash, we will change our attitude to create balance

Social influence
Conformity-adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conditions that strengthen conformity
. one is made to feel incompetent
. the group is at least three people
. the group is unanimous
. one admires the group's status
. one had made no prior commitment
. the person is observed

Reasons for conforming
Normative social influence- influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disappointment
Informational social influence- influence resulting from one's willingness to accept other's opinions about reality,

Social facilitation
. improved performance of tasks in the presence of others
. occurs with simple or learned tasks.
Not with tasks that are difficult that ate difficult or not yet mastered

Yerkes Dodson Law
. there is an optimal level of arousal for the best performance of any task
. easy tasks-relatively high
difficult tasks-low arousal
other tasks-moderate level.

Social loafing-the tendency for people in a group to exhort less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable.
DEindividuation-the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group polarization
. the concept that a group's attitude is one of extremes and rarely moderate
. as a group, both the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan are more extreme than the average individual in the group.

Groupthink-the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides common sense.

Self fulfilling prophecies-occurs when one person's belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to conform to the belief.

Social relations
Prejudice-unjustifiable attitude towards a group of people
Stereotype-generalized belief about a group of people

Social inequalities
.in-group:"us"-people with whom shows a common identity
.out-group: "them"- those perceived as different than's one in-group
.in-group bias: the tendency to favor one's own group

Scapegoat theory-blaming someone else for actions

Aggression-any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Biology of Aggression-genetics, neural influences, biochemical

The psychology of aggression
Frustration-aggressive principle: the blocking of an attempt to achieve same goal, creates anger which generates aggression

Conflict-social trap of prisoner's dilemma
. a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
. situation when people must choose between an act that is beneficial to themselves but harmful to others that is moderately beneficial to all.

Attraction
proximity-mere-exposure effect: repeated exposure to something breeds liking
reciprocal liking-you are more likely to like someone who likes you
Similarity-Pauls Abdol was wrong opposites DO NOT attract
liking through association
.physical attractiveness

Love

passionate love: an aroused state of intense positive absorption of another
Compassionate love- the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined, equity and self-disclosure.

Altruism-unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Bystander effect (bystanders less willing to help if there are other bystanders around)
Kitty Genovese case

Social exchange theory- the idea that our social behavior is an exchange process, which we maximize benefits and minimize costs

Peacemaking-give people superordinate(shared goals) that only can be achieved through cooperation.

 

Motivation and Emotion

Motivation- a psychological process that directs and maintains your behavior towards a goal

Motives- are the needs, ants, interests, and desires that propel or drive people in certain directions

Instinct theory- we are motivated by an inborn automated behaviors, instincts only explain small fraction of our behaviors.

Biological motives: hunger, thirst, sex, sleep.
social motives : achievement, order, play, autonomy, affiliation

Drive theory-Biological internal motivation(homeostasis)
Incentive theory-Environmental motivation(not as much as homeostasis, more outside factors.)

Drive Reduction theory- when individuals experience a need or drive, they're motivated to reduce that need or drive, therefore, drive theories  believe that the source of motivation lies within the person ( not from the environment), drive theories assume that people are trying to reduce internal tension.

Biological basis of hunger-hunger dies bit come from our stomach it comes from the hypothalamus

Motivation-hunger
.glucose-the form of sugar that circulates in the blood
.provides the major source of energy for body tissue
.glucose low=hunger
.glucose high= feel full

Body chemistry
. glucose
.the hormone insulin converts glucose to fat

Lateral hypothalamus
.when stimulated makes you hungry
.when destroyed you will never be hungry again

Ventromedial hypothalamus
. when stimulated you feel full
.when destroyed you will never feel full again

Hunger-Environmental factors
There are several environmental factors that effect our hunger
1.availibilty of food
2. Learned preference and habits.
3. Stress

Set point theory
. the hypothalamus acts like a thermostat
. wants to maintain a stable weight
, activates the lateral while you diet and activates the ventromedial when you start to gain weight.

Eating disorders
.Bulimia Nervosa- characterized by binging and purging
.Anorexia Nervosa- starve themselves to below 85% of their natural body weight, see themselves s fat, vast majority are women.
Obesity- severely overweight to the point where it causes health issues, mostly wanting habits but some people are predisposed towards obesity.

Intrinsic motivators-rewards we get internally such as enjoyment or satisfaction

Extreme motivators-=reward that we get from accomplishment from outside ourselves, we're great in the short run.

Over justification effect- promising a reward for doing something you like to do results in you seeking the reward as motivation for the task., this tends to diminish the intrinsic motivation to do something.

Management theory

Theory x- managers believe that employees will work only if rewarded with benefits or threatened with punishment, thinks employees are extensively motivated, only interested in Maslow's lower needs.

Theory Y
. manager believe that employees are intrinsically motivated to do good and passion should emerge in the individual's motive, interested in Maslow's higher needs.

Social conflict situations
!. Approach approach-2 positive outcomes( can only pick one)
2. Avoidance-avoidance-2 negative outcomes ( can only pick  one)
3. Approach-Avoidance( both options have positive and negative outcomes)
4. Multiple approach avoidance( multiple choices, multiple outcomes)