The scientific study of the way in which people's thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. | Intro to social psychology Chapter 1 What is Social psychology? At the heart of social psychology is social influence: We are all influenced by other people. Social Psychology is: The scientific study of the way in which people's thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. Social psychology What happens when a terrorist attack takes place, . September 11, 2001? Consequences: Racial/Religious intolerance increases Driving vs. Flying Increase in traffic accidents and deaths What happens when parents become over concerned about crime? Free range child rearing vs. overbearing/over protected parenting Children Walking/Biking to school vs. Driving in car by parents Increase in traffic accidents and deaths Self-Perception & Self-Presentation Self-perception: Social psychology examines how we think about ourselves and in particular how our views about ourselves depend on our environment. Self-presentation: Social psychology also examines how we present ourselves to others. Habits, interests, resources, status. Social perception How we Think, Feel, and Behave in the social world. Social psychology examines how people form impressions and make inferences about other people and events in the social world. Power of social influence Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate the role of personal causes, and underestimate the role of situational causes of predicting behavior. Social Cognition: How we think about people and about the social world. How we select, interpret, and use information to make judgments about the world. Underestimating the power of social influence We often make mistakes when deciding and assessing the cause of another person’s behavior. We focus too much attention on the role of personal factors while ignoring and/or minimizing situational factors. By failing to fully appreciate the power of the situation, we tend to: Oversimplify complex situations which, decreases our | Intro to social psychology Chapter 1 What is Social psychology? At the heart of social psychology is social influence: We are all influenced by other people. Social Psychology is: The scientific study of the way in which people's thoughts, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. Social psychology What happens when a terrorist attack takes place, . September 11, 2001? Consequences: Racial/Religious intolerance increases Driving vs. Flying Increase in traffic accidents and deaths What happens when parents become over concerned about crime? Free range child rearing vs. overbearing/over protected parenting Children Walking/Biking to school vs. Driving in car by parents Increase in traffic accidents and deaths Self-Perception & Self-Presentation Self-perception: Social psychology examines how we think about ourselves and in particular how our views about ourselves depend on our environment. Self-presentation: Social psychology
