Chapter 15 Learning Objectives with SubQuestions PERSON PERCEPTION: FORMING IMPRESSIONS OF OTHERS #1) Explain how schemas, stereotypes, and other factors contribute to subjectivity in person perception (pp 468-470) What is person perception? Some factors that influence, and often distort, our perception of others include social schemas, stereotypes, and illusory correlations: o What are social schemas? o What are stereotypes? o What is an illusory correlation? ATTRIBUTION PROCESSES: EXPLAINING BEHAVIOR #2) Explain what attributions are and why we make them (p 471) What are attributions? Why do people make attributions? #3) Describe the distinction between internal and external attributions (p 471) What types of causes are involved when you explain behavior in terms of internal attributions? What types of causes are involved when you explain behavior in terms of external attributions? #4) Describe several types of attributional bias and cultural variations in attributional tendencies (pp 472-474 + Activity 15.1 + complete the table below to help you compare and contrast the two biases) Regarding the actor-observer bias and the fundamental attribution error: In the actor-observer scenario: o Who is the actor? The person who exhibits the behavior or the person who watches the behavior? o Who is the observer? The person who exhibits the behavior or the person who watches the behavior? When observers watch someone else s behavior, they have the tendency to explain that person s behavior using the fundamental attribution error. What is the fundamental attribution error? o During Activity 15.1 when you had to rate the intelligence of the quiz host along with the other contestants, if you rated the host as having a higher intelligence:
Did you commit the fundamental attribution error if you overestimated the role that internal characteristics played in the host s behavior? For example, if you assumed that the host was more intelligent simply because of the confidence the host projected while asking and answering the questions. Did you commit the fundamental attribution error if you underestimated the influence of situational factors in the host s behavior? For example, if you ignored the fact that the host may have appeared to be more intelligent simply because all the answers had been given to the host beforehand. When actors explain their own behavior, do they tend to favor internal (personal) factors or external (situational) factors? Regarding the self-serving bias: People typically explain their own behavior by using a self-serving bias. What does that mean in terms of explaining your own successes and failures? The self-serving bias is more prevalent in what culture? Collectivist, non-western cultures or individualistic, Western cultures? Our tendency to explain Actor-Observer Bias Self-Serving Bias Other s behaviors in terms of factors (this is the fundamental attribution error) Our own behavior in terms of factors Our failures in terms of factors Our successes in terms of factors ATTITUDES: MAKING SOCIAL JUDGMENTS #5) Describe the components and dimensions of attitudes and the correlates of attitude strength (pp 480-481) What are attitudes? What are the three components of attitudes? What are the three dimensions of attitudes, and which two dimensions are correlated? #6) Discuss the relations between attitudes and behavior (this information should be covered during your class lecture) Referring to the second Attitudes and Behavior lecture slide, does research indicate that attitudes are good, poor, or mediocre predictors of behavior?
#7) Summarize evidence on source factors, message factors, and receiver factors that influence the process of persuasion (pp 481-482 + your lecture notes) What are the four basic elements of persuasion? Regarding source factors: Persuasion tends to be more successful when the source has high credibility. What two factors give a person credibility? o How do people convey their expertise? o Why can trustworthiness be even more important than expertise? What other factor also increases the effectiveness of a persuasive source? o Companies quickly abandon spokespersons when which source factor (their expertise, their trustworthiness, or their likeability) declines? Regarding message factors: In general, are one-sided or two-sided arguments more persuasive? Studies indicate that messages that evoke a certain emotion tend to increase persuasion. What type of emotion tends to increase persuasion? Referring to the Other Message Factors lecture slide: o What is another message factor that can increase persuasion? o What type of image is more persuasive? A graphic image or an understated, commonplace image? #8) Discuss how learning processes can contribute to attitudes (pp 482-483 + your lecture notes) The emotional component of an attitude can be created through evaluative conditioning, which is a special subtype of what type of conditioning? Referring to the Learning and Attitude lecture slide: o Can positive attitudes for a product be conditioned by pairing the product with stimuli that elicit pleasant emotional responses, such as attractive models? o Can negative attitudes also be conditioned for a product by pairing it with stimuli that elicit unpleasant or disturbing emotional responses, such as stomach-turning images? CONFORMITY & OBEDIENCE: YIELDING TO OTHERS #9) Summarize research on the determinants of conformity (pp 485-486) What is conformity? What two factors turned out to be key determinants of conformity in Asch s studies? o As group size increased, did conformity increase or decrease? o If just one accomplice disagreed with the group, however, did conformity increase or decrease? o So which mattered most in fostering conformity in Asch s studies group size or group unanimity (agreement)?
#10) Describe Milgram s research on obedience to authority and the ensuing controversy (pp 486-488) What is obedience? What percentage of subjects administered all 30 levels of shock in Milgram s study? Even when subjects experienced considerable stress, what did most of them do? Did they continue to administer the shock, or did they discontinue the shock? o Note: You also need to know that the only factor Milgram found that dramatically reduced the subject s obedience in his studies was when another teacher defied the experimenter s orders to continue shocking the learner. Milgram found this out during another version of his study where he set up teams of three teachers to provide the shock. Two of the teachers in each team were his accomplices, so they knew what they were supposed to do. When the three teachers drew lots, the real subject was always selected to run the shock machine in consultation with the other two accomplices. When both accomplices accepted the experimenter s order to continue shocking the learner, the added pressure increased the subject s obedience a bit. However, if even one of the accomplices defied the experimenter, the subject s obedience declined dramatically. So dissent from another teacher turned out to be one of the few factors that reduced the subject s obedience appreciably in Milgram s studies. What are two criticisms of Milgram s obedience study? o The second criticism suggests that, without prior consent, participants were exposed to two types of negative experiences. What were participants exposed to? How many replications of Milgram s study have been conducted in the US since the mid-1970s? Why have there been so many or so few? #11) Discuss cultural variations in conformity and obedience (p 488) Which culture (collectivistic or individualistic) encourages more conformity? Why? #12) Describe the Stanford Prison Simulation and its implications (pp 488-489) Although there was some variation among the guards, how did the typical guard behave in the Stanford Prison Simulation? How did the prisoners react to the guards behavior? What two explanations did Zimbardo use to explain the stunning transformation of both the guards and the prisoners behavior in the Stanford Prison Simulation?
BEHAVIOR IN GROUPS: JOINING WITH OTHERS #13) Discuss the nature of groups and the bystander effect (p 490) What does a group consist of? What is the bystander effect? o Does your probability of receiving help from someone in a group improve or decline as group size increases? #14) Summarize evidence on group productivity, including social loafing (pp 490-492) Does individual productivity typically increase or decrease in larger groups? One factor that appears to contribute to the change in individual productivity is social loafing. What is social loafing? #15) Describe group polarization and groupthink (pp 492-493) What is group polarization? What is groupthink? o When a group gets caught up in groupthink: What happens to the members critical judgment? What does the group do about dissent and other types of information that might contradict their view? If the group s view is challenged from outside, how do group members typically begin to think? o When is groupthink most likely to occur? UNDERSTANDING PREJUDICE #16) Relate person perception processes and attributional bias to prejudice (p 496) Research suggests that people are particularly likely to make what type of error when they are evaluating targets of prejudice? o So when people take note of ethnic neighborhoods dominated by crime and poverty, what do they typically blame these problems on? #17) Relate principles of attitude formation and group processes to prejudice (p 496) What type of learning helps to transmit prejudice across the generations? What type of conditioning can strengthen prejudice?
#18) Relate ingroups, outgroups, and threats to social identity to prejudice (p 497 + your lecture notes) What type of threat is more likely to provoke a response that fosters (or promotes) prejudice and discrimination? Referring to the seventh Understanding Prejudice lecture slide that discusses Ingroups versus Outgroups : o Which group is recognized as being more diverse? The ingroup or the outgroup? o Which group is recognized as being more homogeneous (more similar or alike)? The ingroup or the outgroup? ANALYZING CREDIBILITY AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE TACTICS #19) Discuss some useful criteria for evaluating credibility and some standard social influence strategies (pp 498-499) What are four social influence techniques, and what does each of them involve?