PS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Social Comparison Theory, Fundamental Attribution Error, Solomon Asch
Document Summary
How people perceive, interpret, and categorize their own and others" social behaviour. Differs from other cognitive acts because of the social consent. We use language to communicate feeling and social information to others. People provide us with information about ourselves. Evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others. Conformity (aka going along to get along) Tendency of people to change their behaviour as a result of group pressure. Conformity effect is not strong when the group"s size is < four members. Individuals with low self-esteem are especially prone to conformity. Asians are more likely to conform than north americans. Conformity to authority (i was just following orders) Explanations about what causes our own and other people"s behaviour and outcomes. People"s behaviour is caused by their personal characteristics. Under-rating situational factors only counts when we are assessing others. Depressed people = more personal attributions for failures. We are background" - situation stands out.
