PSY2012 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Social Proof, Cognitive Dissonance, Fundamental Attribution Error
Document Summary
Note: our coverage of this chapter will be limited to: Define social psychology and identify three themes around which psychologists organize their research of social phenomena. The scientific study of how people influence our behavior, beliefs, and attitudes: think about = social thinking, relate = social relations. Explain how the fundamental attribution error can affect our analysis of another person"s behavior. When we look at other"s behavior, we: overestimate impact of dispositional influences (dispositional why someone does something else, underestimate impact of situational influences. Define attitude, and explain how attitudes and behaviors influence each other. Attitude: belief that includes an emotional component may predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events: attitude predicts actions and actions can affect attitudes, change attitude to be consistent with behavior. Explain the central claim of cognitive dissonance theory. To escape mental tension, we may modify our attitudes or actions.
