General Psychology
Social Psychology

Social cognition

• Attribution theory: tendency to give a causal explanation for someone's behavior.

  • fundamental attribution error: overestimate role of disposition and underestimate role of situation.

• Attitudes

  • influences behavior when we are aware of our attitudes, they are relevant to our behavior, and the situation isn't influencial.

• Roles (action can modify attitudes)

  • especially influential (stanford prison experiment)

• Cognitive dissonance theory

  • when beliefs/attitudes conflict with actions, people tend to change their beliefs to be consistent with their behavior.

Social influence

• Conformity

  • tendency to act similarly to others (sensitivity to social norms) Note Asch study.

• Social facilitation

  • tendency to influence performance

  • social loafing and deindividuation are related phenomena

• Group processes

  • tendency to be influenced by group norms

  • group polarization and group think.

• Persuasion

  • tendency (especially for males) to establish a hierarchy and have leaders/followers (video)

• Obedience

  • tendency to comply with the directions of authority (video)

  • Milgram study

Social relations

• Biases

  • Ethnocentrism and kin selection

• Interpersonal attractiveness

  • exposure, physical attractiveness, mating preferences

• Love

  • passion, intimacy, and commitment

• Prejudice

  • ingroup bias (ethnocentrism)

  • social inequalities

  • fundamental attribution error

  • scapegoating

  • just-world phenomenon

• Competition and cooperation

  • prisoner's dilemma

  • social trap

  • tit-for-tat

  • aggression

  • altruism

  • social exchange theory