PSYC 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Social Proof, Normative Social Influence, Cognitive Dissonance

• School: Binghamton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 111
• Professor: Lanora Duell

Document Summary

The study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. Attribution theory: we tend to give a causal explanation for someone"s behavior, we may explain people"s behavior in terms of. External situation: a teacher may explain a child"s hostility in terms of aggressive personality or as a reaction to stress or abuse. Ex: activists on both sides of the debate about climate change. Persuasion: peripheral route persuasion: when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as speaker"s attractiveness, central route persuasion: when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts. Attitudes also follow behavior: you find out your sig other signed up to give blood and with nothing to lose, you do too. After giving blood, you begin to tell your friends about the importance of giving, although prior you had not really cared too much about it.