Social psychology
Introduction and social perception
Social psychology is the interaction between individuals and their social environment.
How does the environment influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviour?
How do our thoughts, emotions and behaviour influence the environment?
A very brief history more in book
The second world war was very important for bringing information to the united states. The NAZI
personality originated authoritarian, obedient and lack of empathy.
Milgram: burger (2009) why are we still like this look at identity, group dynamics, attitudes,
emotions, motivation and behavioural change
So social psychology is the scientific study of the effects of socials and cognitive processes on the
way individuals perceive, influence and relate to each other.
Hamburger graph:
, Motivational principles mastery, connectedness and valuing me & mine
3 processing principles
Conservation
Accessibility
Superficiality vs depth
First impressions
Research by Clayton
Associations guide further interpretation different initial information about a guest
speaker resulted in corresponding differences in evaluation of didactic skills
First impressions are informative reaction to random 30s image fragment of teacher in
action correlate strongly with final evaluation of course
But not always unequivocal results small positive correlation between teacher
evaluations after 5 minutes and evaluation a the end of 16 week course
So: we quickly form a first impression based on someone’s physical appearance, behaviour and
environment + we form impressions both in a fairly quick and automatic way (associations) and by
thinking a little more thoroughly about the, + the forming of impressions and the correcter thereof is
influenced by bias
Physical appearance
What is beautiful is good heuristic
o We attribute more positive qualities to attractive people dion et al
Attractive students are seen as more intelligent
Attractive men are attributed higher status
Attractive suspects get shorter prison sentences
Eagly et al this heauristic mainly influences general evaluations and judgement on social and
intellectual competence.
Other features of this heuristic
To more masculine faces we attribute more dominance
Men with a baby face are seen as more naïve, honest nice and warm
Introduction and social perception
Social psychology is the interaction between individuals and their social environment.
How does the environment influence our thoughts, emotions and behaviour?
How do our thoughts, emotions and behaviour influence the environment?
A very brief history more in book
The second world war was very important for bringing information to the united states. The NAZI
personality originated authoritarian, obedient and lack of empathy.
Milgram: burger (2009) why are we still like this look at identity, group dynamics, attitudes,
emotions, motivation and behavioural change
So social psychology is the scientific study of the effects of socials and cognitive processes on the
way individuals perceive, influence and relate to each other.
Hamburger graph:
, Motivational principles mastery, connectedness and valuing me & mine
3 processing principles
Conservation
Accessibility
Superficiality vs depth
First impressions
Research by Clayton
Associations guide further interpretation different initial information about a guest
speaker resulted in corresponding differences in evaluation of didactic skills
First impressions are informative reaction to random 30s image fragment of teacher in
action correlate strongly with final evaluation of course
But not always unequivocal results small positive correlation between teacher
evaluations after 5 minutes and evaluation a the end of 16 week course
So: we quickly form a first impression based on someone’s physical appearance, behaviour and
environment + we form impressions both in a fairly quick and automatic way (associations) and by
thinking a little more thoroughly about the, + the forming of impressions and the correcter thereof is
influenced by bias
Physical appearance
What is beautiful is good heuristic
o We attribute more positive qualities to attractive people dion et al
Attractive students are seen as more intelligent
Attractive men are attributed higher status
Attractive suspects get shorter prison sentences
Eagly et al this heauristic mainly influences general evaluations and judgement on social and
intellectual competence.
Other features of this heuristic
To more masculine faces we attribute more dominance
Men with a baby face are seen as more naïve, honest nice and warm
