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Psychology study materials
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Psychology: Social psychology (social cognition, influence, relationships, group behavior)

Psychology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Social psychology (social cognition, influence, relationships, group behavior)

This domain tests how the imagined or actual presence of others changes thinking and behavior. Items typically describe a classic situation and ask you to name the process or predict the direction of an effect.

Social cognition

  • Attribution: we explain behavior by disposition or situation. Fundamental attribution error = overestimating disposition for others; actor-observer bias = situation for self, disposition for others; self-serving bias = success internal, failure external.
  • Cognitive dissonance (Festinger) is aversive tension resolved by changing a belief or adding justification, strongest when external justification is weak.
  • Stereotypes are cognitive, prejudice affective, discrimination behavioral. Implicit measures such as the IAT tap automatic associations.
  • Persuasion: central route (argument quality, high elaboration, durable) versus peripheral route (cues, low elaboration, fragile) in the elaboration likelihood model.

Social influence

  • Conformity (Asch): normative influence (to fit in) and informational influence (to be right); stronger with unanimity and public responding.
  • Compliance: foot-in-the-door (small then large), door-in-the-face (large then concession), low-ball.
  • Obedience (Milgram): highest with legitimate authority, proximity, and no disobedient peer.
  • Groups: social facilitation improves simple tasks but harms complex ones; social loafing is diffusion of effort; group polarization strengthens the initial lean after discussion; groupthink is cohesion-driven suppression of dissent; deindividuation is reduced restraint under anonymity.
  • Bystander effect: diffusion of responsibility; helping increases with clear need, similarity, and being the only witness.

Relationships

  • Liking: proximity, similarity, reciprocity of liking, attractiveness. Social exchange theory weighs costs and benefits; equity matters.
  • Sternberg's components (intimacy, passion, commitment) combine into liking, companionate, fatuous, romantic, and consummate love.

Worked example

Participants paid $1 to tell the next person a boring task was interesting later rate the task as more enjoyable than participants paid $20. Reasoning: the $1 group lacks sufficient external justification, so they reduce dissonance by shifting their attitude. The $20 group has ample justification and no need to change.

Traps

Confusing group polarization with groupthink; calling the bystander effect conformity when it is diffusion of responsibility; swapping normative and informational influence; assuming dissonance requires conscious awareness.