Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality

👥 4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception

Social psychology studies how individuals think about, influence, and relate to one another. A core question is: Why did that person do what they did? The explanations we create are called attributions.

Types of Attributions

• Dispositional (Internal) Attribution: Explaining someone's behavior as caused by their personality, character, or ability. Example: "She got an A because she's smart."
• Situational (External) Attribution: Explaining someone's behavior as caused by the situation or environment. Example: "She got an A because the test was easy."

Key Attribution Biases and Errors

Person Perception

We form impressions of others rapidly, often based on limited information:

• Primacy Effect: First impressions carry disproportionate weight. Information presented first has the greatest influence on our overall impression.
• Halo Effect: One positive trait (e.g., attractiveness) leads us to assume other positive qualities (e.g., intelligence, kindness).
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Our expectations about a person can influence how we treat them, causing them to behave in ways that confirm our expectations. Rosenthal & Jacobson's "Pygmalion in the Classroom" study demonstrated that teachers' expectations influenced student performance.

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

• Stereotype: A generalized belief about a group of people (cognitive component). Can be positive or negative.
• Prejudice: An unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group and its members (affective component).
• Discrimination: Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members (behavioral component).
• Implicit Bias: Unconscious attitudes that affect behavior without conscious awareness. Measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
• In-Group / Out-Group: We favor members of our own group (in-group bias) and may view out-group members as more similar to each other than they actually are (out-group homogeneity bias).

💡 4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond positively or negatively toward a particular object, person, or idea. Attitudes have three components (the ABC model):

• Affective: How you feel about the object (emotions).
• Behavioral: How you act toward the object.
• Cognitive: What you think/believe about the object.

How Attitudes Form

• Direct Experience: Personal encounters shape attitudes most powerfully.
• Observational Learning: Watching others (parents, peers, media) form attitudes.
• Classical Conditioning: Pairing a neutral object with something that evokes emotion.
• Operant Conditioning: Attitudes reinforced by rewards or punished by social disapproval.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger, 1957)

We experience psychological discomfort when we hold two contradictory cognitions (beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors) simultaneously. To reduce this tension, we change one of the cognitions — often adjusting our attitude to match our behavior.

• Classic Study: Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) — Participants paid $1 (vs. $20) to tell the next participant that a boring task was enjoyable. The $1 group reported actually enjoying the task more, because they needed to justify their lie with insufficient external reward.
• Reducing Dissonance: Change the behavior, change the attitude, add new cognitions, or trivialize the inconsistency.

Cognitive Dissonance: When beliefs and behavior conflict, we change one to restore consistency. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Persuasion: The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo)

Two routes to persuasion explain how attitudes change:

Foot-in-the-Door and Door-in-the-Face

• Foot-in-the-Door: Start with a small request; once agreed, follow with a larger request. People who comply with the small request are more likely to comply with the big one (consistency principle).
• Door-in-the-Face: Start with an unreasonably large request (expected to be refused), then follow with a smaller, more reasonable request. The contrast makes the second request seem modest.

👥 4.3 Psychology of Social Situations

Social situations exert powerful influence over individual behavior. This topic covers conformity, obedience, group dynamics, aggression, and prosocial behavior.

Conformity

Conformity is adjusting one's behavior or thinking to match a group standard. Two key types:

• Normative Social Influence: Conforming to be accepted or avoid rejection. Driven by the desire to belong.
• Informational Social Influence: Conforming because we believe the group knows better, especially in ambiguous situations.

Asch's Conformity Experiment (1951): Participants were shown a standard line and asked which of three comparison lines matched. Confederate participants gave obviously wrong answers. About 75% of participants conformed at least once; the average conformity rate was about 37%. Conformity increased with group size (up to a point) and unanimity.

Asch's line judgment task: Which comparison line (A, B, or C) matches the standard? (Wikimedia Commons, Free Art License)

Obedience

Obedience is complying with direct commands from an authority figure.

Milgram's Obedience Experiment (1963): Participants were instructed by an experimenter to administer increasingly intense electric shocks to a "learner" (actually a confederate). 65% of participants delivered the maximum 450-volt shock, despite the learner's screams and protests.

Factors that increased obedience:

• Authority figure physically present and perceived as legitimate
• Victim in a separate room (distance from the victim)
• Prestigious institutional setting (Yale University)
• No role model for defiance (no one else refusing)

Factors that decreased obedience:

• Authority figure absent or giving instructions by phone
• Victim in the same room or requiring physical contact
• Two experimenters giving contradictory orders
• Other participants refusing to comply

Milgram's obedience setup: The experimenter (E) orders the teacher (T) to shock the learner (L). (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Group Dynamics

Aggression

• Biological Factors: Genetics, testosterone levels, amygdala activation, low serotonin, and neural damage can contribute to aggressive behavior.
• Psychological Factors: The frustration-aggression hypothesis proposes that frustration (blocking of goal-directed behavior) creates anger, which can generate aggression.
• Social Learning: Bandura's research shows aggression can be learned through observation and imitation (Bobo doll experiment, covered in Unit 3).

Prosocial Behavior and Altruism

• Altruism: Unselfish regard for the welfare of others.
• Bystander Effect: The more bystanders present, the less likely any one person is to help. Driven by diffusion of responsibility (Darley & Latané, 1968 — inspired by the Kitty Genovese case).
• Social Exchange Theory: Our social behavior is a cost-benefit analysis — we help when the benefits outweigh the costs.
• Reciprocity Norm: We should return help to those who have helped us.
• Social Responsibility Norm: We should help those who need help, even without expectation of future payback.

💬 4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

Personality is an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. This topic covers two major theoretical perspectives: psychodynamic and humanistic.

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) proposed that personality is shaped largely by unconscious forces — desires, memories, and conflicts hidden from conscious awareness.

Structure of Personality

Component	Principle	Description
Id	Pleasure principle	Primitive, instinctual drives (hunger, sex, aggression). Operates unconsciously. Demands immediate gratification.
Ego	Reality principle	The rational mediator between the id and reality. Operates in the conscious and unconscious mind. Finds realistic ways to satisfy the id.
Superego	Morality principle	Internalized moral standards and ideals from parents and society. Strives for perfection; produces guilt.

Psychosexual Stages

Freud believed personality develops through five stages. Unresolved conflict at any stage causes fixation:

Stage	Age	Focus
Oral	0–18 months	Pleasure from mouth (sucking, biting). Fixation → smoking, overeating.
Anal	18–36 months	Pleasure from bowel control. Fixation → orderliness or messiness.
Phallic	3–6 years	Pleasure from genitals. Oedipus/Electra complex. Fixation → vanity or recklessness.
Latency	6–puberty	Dormant sexual feelings. Focus on social and intellectual skills.
Genital	Puberty onward	Mature sexual interests. Healthy adults channel libido into relationships and work.

Sigmund Freud (c. 1921), the founder of psychoanalysis. Photo by Max Halberstadt. (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Defense Mechanisms

The ego protects itself from anxiety using unconscious strategies called defense mechanisms:

Neo-Freudian Theorists

• Carl Jung: Proposed the collective unconscious — shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history, containing universal archetypes (e.g., the Hero, the Shadow, the Anima/Animus).
• Alfred Adler: Emphasized inferiority complex and striving for superiority. Focused on social factors rather than sexual ones.
• Karen Horney: Challenged Freud's views on women (e.g., "penis envy"). Emphasized basic anxiety — a child's sense of helplessness in a hostile world — as a primary motivator.
• Erik Erikson: Extended Freud's stages across the entire lifespan with his 8 psychosocial stages (covered in Unit 3), emphasizing social relationships over sexual drives.

Humanistic Theories of Personality

Humanistic psychology emerged as a reaction against both psychoanalysis and behaviorism, focusing on personal growth, free will, and human potential.

Abraham Maslow (1908–1970)

• Proposed a hierarchy of needs: physiological → safety → belongingness → esteem → self-actualization.
• Self-actualization: Achieving one's full potential and living a meaningful, creative life.
• Studied peak experiences — moments of awe, wonder, and transcendence reported by self-actualized individuals.

Carl Rogers (1902–1987)

• Emphasized the self-concept — our overall perception of who we are.
• Unconditional Positive Regard: Accepting and valuing a person regardless of their behavior. Rogers believed this was essential for healthy personality development.
• Conditions of Worth: When love and acceptance are contingent on meeting certain standards, the person develops a distorted self-concept.
• Congruence: When the real self (who you are) matches the ideal self (who you want to be), a person is well-adjusted and authentic.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Basic needs must be met before higher-level growth needs. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

📈 4.5 Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

While psychodynamic and humanistic theories focus on internal dynamics, trait theories describe personality using measurable characteristics, and social-cognitive theories emphasize the interaction between thoughts, behavior, and environment.

Trait Theories

Trait theorists seek to describe personality by identifying stable patterns of behavior called traits.

Gordon Allport (1897–1967)

• One of the first trait theorists. Identified three levels: cardinal traits (rare, dominant traits that define a person), central traits (general characteristics that form the foundation of personality), and secondary traits (situation-specific preferences).

Raymond Cattell (1905–1998)

• Used factor analysis to reduce Allport's long list to 16 personality factors, measured by the 16PF Questionnaire.

Hans Eysenck (1916–1997)

• Reduced personality to just two (later three) dimensions: introversion-extraversion and neuroticism-stability (later adding psychoticism).

The Big Five (OCEAN) — Costa & McCrae

The most widely accepted trait model today. Five broad dimensions:

Factor	High Scorers	Low Scorers
Openness	Curious, imaginative, open to new experiences	Conventional, down-to-earth, narrow interests
Conscientiousness	Organized, disciplined, dependable	Careless, impulsive, disorganized
Extraversion	Sociable, energetic, talkative	Reserved, quiet, solitary
Agreeableness	Trusting, cooperative, helpful	Suspicious, competitive, antagonistic
Neuroticism	Anxious, moody, emotionally unstable	Calm, secure, emotionally stable

The Big Five (OCEAN) personality traits model. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Social-Cognitive Theories

Social-cognitive theorists emphasize the interaction between traits, thinking patterns, and the social environment.

Albert Bandura — Reciprocal Determinism

• Personality results from the continuous interaction of three factors: behavior, cognitive/personal factors (thoughts, beliefs, expectations), and the environment. Each influences the other two.
• Self-Efficacy: A person's belief in their ability to succeed in a specific situation. High self-efficacy leads to greater motivation and persistence.

Julian Rotter — Locus of Control

• Internal Locus of Control: Belief that you control your own outcomes. Associated with greater academic success and lower stress.
• External Locus of Control: Belief that outside forces (luck, fate, others) control your outcomes.

Martin Seligman — Learned Helplessness

• When people feel they have no control over their situation, they may give up trying — even when escape is possible (also covered in Unit 3).

Personality Assessment

🎯 4.6 Motivation

Motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. Psychologists study why we do what we do.

Major Theories of Motivation

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

• Intrinsic Motivation: Doing something because it is inherently enjoyable or satisfying. Example: Reading for pleasure.
• Extrinsic Motivation: Doing something for an external reward or to avoid punishment. Example: Studying to earn a good grade.
• Overjustification Effect: When extrinsic rewards are given for intrinsically motivated behavior, intrinsic motivation can decrease. (Deci, 1971)

Hunger and Eating

• Physiological Signals: The lateral hypothalamus stimulates hunger ("on" switch); the ventromedial hypothalamus signals satiety ("off" switch). Ghrelin (stomach hormone) increases hunger; leptin (fat cells) decreases hunger.
• Set-Point Theory: The body has a natural weight "thermostat" and adjusts metabolism to maintain it.
• Psychological & Social Factors: Stress eating, unit bias (eating what's on your plate), cultural norms, food availability, and social influence all affect eating behavior.

Sexual Motivation

• Influenced by biological factors (hormones like testosterone and estrogen), psychological factors (fantasies, desires), and social/cultural factors (norms, values).
• Masters & Johnson (1966): Described the human sexual response cycle: excitement → plateau → orgasm → resolution (with a refractory period in males).

Achievement Motivation

• Need for Achievement (nAch): A drive to accomplish difficult tasks and meet high standards of excellence (McClelland).
• Grit: Passion and perseverance for long-term goals (Angela Duckworth). Predicts success beyond IQ.

🎨 4.7 Emotion

Emotion involves a subjective experience (feeling), physiological arousal (body response), and behavioral expression (observable actions). The central debate: What comes first — the feeling or the body response?

Major Theories of Emotion

Theory	Key Idea	Sequence
James-Lange Theory	We experience emotion because of our physiological arousal.	Event → Physiological response → Emotion "I'm afraid because I'm trembling."
Cannon-Bard Theory	Physiological arousal and emotion occur simultaneously and independently.	Event → Physiological response + Emotion (at the same time) "I tremble and feel afraid at the same time."
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory	Emotion = physiological arousal + cognitive label.	Event → Physiological response → Cognitive interpretation → Emotion "My heart is racing — I must be excited!"
Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory	Cognitive appraisal precedes both emotion and arousal.	Event → Cognitive appraisal → Emotion + Physiological response "I think this is dangerous — now I feel afraid."
Zajonc's Theory (Mere Exposure)	Some emotional reactions require no conscious thought; emotions can precede cognition.	Event → Emotion (without conscious processing) "I just like it — no reason needed."

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions: 8 basic emotions arranged by intensity and opposites. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Autonomic Nervous System and Emotion

• The sympathetic nervous system activates the "fight-or-flight" response: increased heart rate, dilated pupils, rapid breathing, sweating.
• The parasympathetic nervous system calms the body after the threat passes: "rest-and-digest."
• The amygdala is the brain's emotional alarm system — particularly important for fear responses. It can trigger a response before the cortex has time to process the stimulus ("low road").

Emotional Expression

• Paul Ekman — Universal Facial Expressions: Research across cultures identified six basic emotions expressed universally: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. Later expanded to include contempt.
• Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Facial expressions can influence our emotional experience. Smiling can actually make you feel happier (Strack, Martin, & Stepper, 1988).
• Display Rules: Cultural norms that dictate when, where, and how emotions should be expressed. For example, some cultures discourage showing negative emotions in public.

Stress and Emotion

• General Adaptation Syndrome (Hans Selye): The body's response to prolonged stress occurs in three stages: Alarm (fight-or-flight activation) → Resistance (body adapts but resources deplete) → Exhaustion (body's defenses break down; vulnerability to illness).
• Tend-and-Befriend: An alternative to fight-or-flight, especially in females. Under stress, oxytocin promotes caregiving and social bonding (Shelley Taylor).
• Emotional Intelligence (Salovey & Mayer; popularized by Daniel Goleman): The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively. Predicts interpersonal success.