Social Psychology: Key Concepts and Processes

Lewin’s Interactionist Formula

Understanding Behavior

Kurt Lewin proposed that behavior is determined by both personal and environmental factors. This interactionist perspective challenged earlier theories that focused solely on internal drives or environmental influences.

• Formula: $B = f(P, E)$ Where B is behavior, P is person (traits, motives, personality), and E is environment (social context).

• Contrast: Freud emphasized internal drives; behaviorism emphasized environmental factors; Lewin integrated both.

Example: A person's response to stress depends on their personality and the social situation.

Social Connection Processes

Synchrony and Mimicry

Social interactions often involve automatic alignment and imitation, which facilitate connection and belonging.

• Synchrony: Alignment of speech, body language, and physiology during interaction. Occurs implicitly and helps adapt to different social situations.

• Mimicry: Copying behaviors, facial expressions, and emotions. Functions as social glue, increasing liking, validation, and belonging.

Example: People unconsciously mirror each other's gestures during conversation.

Social Norms and Social Approval

Norms, Approval, and Ostracism

Social norms are unwritten rules that guide behavior. Motivation for social approval can lead to conformity, and ostracism can intensify group identification.

• Social Norms: Unwritten behavioral rules that shape expectations.

• Social Approval Motivation: Failure to conform may result in insults, punishment, or criticism (social exclusion).

• Effects of Ostracism: Can produce hyper-conformative behavior, especially in individuals with a high need to belong. Results in stronger in-group identification and increased moral importance of group beliefs.

Example: Peer pressure encourages conformity to group norms.

Social Roles and Group Behaviour

Roles and Performance

Social roles define expected behaviors based on group position. Group dynamics influence individual performance.

• Social Roles: Expected behavior based on position in group (e.g., leader, follower).

• Social Facilitation: Performance improves in presence of others (e.g., cyclists ride faster when competing).

• Social Loafing: Reduced individual effort in group tasks (e.g., free-riding, coasting).

Example: Group projects may suffer from social loafing if accountability is low.

Conformity

Normative and Informational Influence

Conformity occurs when individuals adjust their behavior or beliefs to match group norms, driven by different types of influence.

• Normative Influence: Public compliance motivated by desire for acceptance; no internal belief change.

• Informational Influence: Private acceptance; actual belief change as group is seen as a source of information.

Example: Agreeing with group opinions to avoid conflict (normative), or changing beliefs after group discussion (informational).

Group Decision Making

Groupthink

Groupthink is a phenomenon where the desire for consensus suppresses dissent, leading to poor decision-making.

• Groupthink: Disagreement is suppressed, consensus is prioritized.

• Consequences: Ignoring risks, premature decisions, overconfidence, poor learning.

• Often includes: Directive leader who discourages dissent.

Example: A team ignores warnings and makes risky decisions to maintain harmony.

Obedience

Milgram Study

Obedience to authority can be strong, but dissenters significantly reduce compliance.

• Milgram Study: About 65% of participants obeyed authority to administer shocks.

• Dissenter Effect: Presence of a dissenter reduced obedience to about 10%.

• Power of Social Dissent: Even a few dissenters can influence group behavior.

Example: Refusing to follow unethical orders when others also dissent.

Prosocial Behaviour

Helping and Altruism

Prosocial behavior includes actions intended to benefit others, influenced by social norms and group dynamics.

• Reciprocity Norm: "We help those who help us."

• Bystander Effect: Helping decreases as the number of observers increases.

• Diffusion of Responsibility: Less personal responsibility in groups.

• Altruism: Helping without expectation of reward.

Example: People are less likely to help in emergencies when others are present.

Dual-Process Models of Cognition

Explicit and Implicit Processes

Cognition operates through two systems: explicit (conscious, slow) and implicit (automatic, fast). These processes can influence each other.

• Explicit Processes: Conscious, slow, effortful (e.g., evaluating evidence, using prefrontal cortex).

• Implicit Processes: Automatic, fast, unconscious.

Example: Making snap judgments (implicit) versus deliberate decisions (explicit).

Person Perception

Schemas and Judgments

Person perception involves organizing social information and making judgments based on limited cues.

• Schemas: Mental structures that organize social information automatically.

• Thin Slices: Judgments made from minimal information.

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations influence behavior, confirming those expectations.

• False Consensus Effect: Overestimating how much others agree with us.

• Naive Realism: Belief that we see reality objectively.

Example: Assuming others share our opinions (false consensus effect).

Attribution Theory

Internal and External Attributions

Attribution theory explains how people infer the causes of behavior, often leading to biases.

• Internal Attribution: Behavior caused by personality (e.g., "bad driver is stupid").

• External Attribution: Behavior caused by situation (e.g., "bad driver is in a rush").

• Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE): Overestimating internal causes, underestimating situational causes.

Example: Judging others harshly for mistakes, but excusing our own due to circumstances.

Social Identity

Ingroup vs Outgroup

Social identity theory distinguishes between ingroups and outgroups, leading to biases and preferential treatment.

• Ingroup: "Us" – group to which one belongs.

• Outgroup: "Them" – group to which one does not belong.

• Ingroup Bias: Preferential treatment of own group.

Example: Supporting one's own sports team over others.

Prejudice and Discrimination

Concepts and Measurement

Prejudice and discrimination involve negative attitudes and behaviors toward outgroups, often based on stereotypes.

• Stereotype: Cognitive belief about a group.

• Prejudice: Emotional attitude toward a group.

• Discrimination: Behavioral action against a group.

• Implicit Bias: Unconscious bias measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT).

• Contact Hypothesis: Intergroup contact reduces prejudice.

Concept	Type
Stereotype	Cognitive belief
Prejudice	Emotional attitude
Discrimination	Behavior

Example: Avoiding someone based on group membership (discrimination).

Persuasion

Models and Techniques

Persuasion involves changing attitudes through different routes and techniques, influenced by motivation and psychological distance.

• Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Two routes to persuasion:

Route	Features
Central	Logic, facts
Peripheral	Attractiveness, emotion

• Depends on: Motivation and time.

• Construal Level Theory: Psychological distance affects persuasion.

• Identifiable Victim Effect: Single story is more persuasive than statistics.

Example: Using emotional appeals in advertising (peripheral route).

Attitude Change

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when beliefs are inconsistent, leading to discomfort and attitude change to reduce tension.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Inconsistent beliefs cause discomfort; attitudes change to reduce tension.

• Example: $1 vs $20 lie study – people paid $1 to lie changed their attitudes more than those paid $20.

Persuasion Techniques

Foot-in-the-Door and Door-in-the-Face

These techniques are used to increase compliance by manipulating the size and sequence of requests.

• Foot-in-the-Door: Start with a small request, then follow with a larger one.

• Door-in-the-Face: Start with a large request, then retreat to a smaller one.

Example: Asking for a small favor before a big one (foot-in-the-door).