Lecture 31

Social 1

  1. Social Psychology
    1. Definition
    2. Principal Principles
  2. First Impressions
    1. Primacy Effects
    2. Behavioral Confirmation Effects
    3. Attractiveness
  3. Causal Attributions
    1. Definition
    2. Why why matters
    3. Heider's Theory

Overview

Social psychology is the scientific study of social life. The field is very broad and covers virtually all behaviors of an interpersonal nature, from altruism to violence. In this lecture I introduced the field, noting that social psychologists believe a person's behavior depends on what seems to be, rather than what is. Formally, this assumption is known as a phenomenological perspective. We then discussed two central topics in the field: (a) The process by which we form a first impression of a person and (b) the process by which we decide why people behave the way they do.


Specifics

Social Psychology's Principal Principles






Model of the Impression Formation Process






Attributions