Abnormal Psychology- Chapter 12

The study of people who suffer from psychological disorders.

Abnormality:
Disorder is maladaptive or disturbing to the individual
Disorder is disturbing to others
Disorder is unusual and not shared by many members of the
population.
Disorder is irrational and doesnt make sense to the average person.
Insane- Used to describe psychological disorders in general and
is not a medical term.
Insanity- a legal terms used to differentiate people who can be
held responsible for their crimes, and people who cant because of a
psychological disorder.

DSM
(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)
Provides a way for psychologists to diagnose their patients
Contains all the symptoms of all known psychological disorders.
Periodically revised

5 axes of the DSM1- Clinical disorders

2- Personality and mental retardation
3- General Medical conditions
4- Psychosocial/ Environmental stressors
5- Global Assessment of Functioning

Perspectives
Many different perspectives have different ideas of what causes
a psychological disorder.
Perspective
Psychoanalytic/ Psychodynamic
Humanistic
Behavioral
Cognitive
Sociocultural
Biomedical

Causes of disorders
Internal unconscious conflicts
Failure to strive towards ones
potential or being out of touch with
ones feelings
Reinforcement history, the
environment
Irrational, dysfunctional thoughts or
ways of thinking
Dysfunctional society
Organic problems. Biochemical
imbalances, genetic predispositions

Eclectic- accepting and using the ideas from a number of

different perspectives
Categories of disorders Anxiety disorders
A common symptom of anxiety
Specific Phobia
o Intense unwarranted fear of a situation or object
o Ex. Claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces), arachnophobia (fear
of spiders), agoraphobia (fear of open public spaces), social phobia,
acrophobia (fear of heights)
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
o Constant low level anxiety
Panic disorder
o Acute episodes of intense anxiety without any apparent
provocation.
o People suffer more attacks in anticipation of a panic attack
o Tend to increase in frequency.
OCD- Obsessive compulsive disorder
o Persistent, unwanted thoughts cause someone to feel the need to
engage in a particular action.
o Common obsession is cleanliness
o Causes anxiety that is only reduced when a person performs the
compulsory behavior.
PTSD- Post traumatic stress disorder
o Flash backs or nightmares following a persons involvement in or
observation of an extremely troubling event such as war or natural
disaster
o Memories cause anxiety
Perspective
Theory
Psychoanalytic
Result of conflicts among the desires
of the id, ego, and superego
Behaviorists
Anxiety disorders are learnt
Cognitive
An unhealthy or irrational way of
thinking

 Somatoform or Somatic Symptom Disorders

A person manifests a psychological problem through a
physiological symptom.
Conversion disorder- When a patient believes they have a
physiological problem like paralysis, and then they cannot move
their arm.
Hypochondriasis
o Complaining about a physical problem frequently when doctors are
unable to find a cause.
o Fits under somatoform when the person relates their fears to
symptoms.
Perspective
Theory
Psychodynamic
Outward manifestation of unresolved
unconscious conflicts.
Behaviorists
Being reinforced for their behavior
Dissociative Disorders
A disruption in conscious processes
Dissociative amnesia
o A person cannot remember things and no physiological basis for
the disruption of memory can be identified.
Organic amnesia
o Biologically induced
Fugue
o People with fugue not only experience photogenic amnesia but also
find themselves in an unfamiliar environment
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)(multiple personality disorder)
o When a person has several personalities rather than one integrated
personality.
o Personalities can be different ages and both sexes.
o Usually opposite personalities.
o Usually have a history of sexual abuse or a terrible childhood
trauma
Perspective
Theory
Psychoanalytic
A really dramatic event has
occurred that has been so
repressed that it a split in
conscious thought occurs.


o
o
o
o
o
o

o
o

o
o

o
o

Mood or affective disorders

Experiences extreme or inappropriate emotions.
Major depressive disorder/ unipolar depression
Remain unhappy for more than two weeks in the absence of a clear
reason
Loss of appetite
Fatigue
Change in sleeping patterns
Lack of interest in normally enjoyable activities.
Feeling of worthlessness
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Depression is seasonal Ex. Winter where there is less sunlight
Often treated with light therapy
Dysthymic disorderMild/ long term form of depression
Usually lasts for two years
Bipolar disorder (manic depression)
Depressed and manic episodes
Manic episodes of feelings of high energy
Can be different by the person
Some feel confident and powerful and some feel
anxious and irritable
Results in excessively risky activities or poorly
thought out behaviors.

Perspective
Psychoanalytic

Behaviorists

Cognitive

Martin Seligam- Social cognitive and

cognitive behavioral

Biological

Theory
An anger directed inward, loss
during the early psychosexual
stages, or an overly punitive
superego
Bringing about some kind of
reinforcement such as attention or
sympathy
Aaron Beck- Results from
unreasonable negative ideas that
people have about themselves,
their world, and their futures
(Cognitive triad)
They can look at the cause by
seeing the kind of explanations
the patient gives to their
experiences.
Pessimists are more likely to
promote depression
Learned helplessness- Dog
shocking experiment
When ones prior experiences
have caused that person to view
himself or herself as unable to
control the aspects of the future
that are controllable.
Results in positivity and
depression
Low levels of serotonin
More receptors for acetylcholine
(bipolar)
Low levels of norepinephrine
Responds to somatic therapy
Genetic

Schizophrenic Disorders
Disordered or distorted thinking often demonstrated through
delusions, hallucinations, disorganized language, and unusual motor
behavior. Hits people as they enter young adulthood
Symptoms
Delusions of persecution- belief that people are out to get you
Delusions of grandeur- belief that you enjoy greater power and
influence than you do
Hallucinations- Perceptions in the absence of any sensory
stimulation
Neologisms- making up their own words
Clang association- string together a series of nonsense words that
rhyme.
Inappropriate affect- showing the wrong emotion ex. Crying when
someone dies
Flat affect- Having absolutely no emotional response
Positive symptoms- excesses in behavior, thought, or mood like
neologisms and hallucinations
Negative symptoms- deficits such as catatonia or flat affect

5 Categories
Disorganized
o Disorganized or difficult to understand speech and thoughts
o Flattening or inappropriate emotions.
Paranoid
o Make you feel like the world is out to get you
o Delusions and auditory hallucinations
o Results in aggression to defend themselves against harmful people
Catatonic
o No speech, movement or response
o If there is speech it is repetitive
Undifferentiated
o A person falls under so many symptoms of other categories that
they are placed into undifferentiated
Residual
o Past history of schizophrenia
o Person no longer displays prominent symptoms and have lessened
in severity

Perspective
Biological

Cognitive behavioral

Theory
Dopamine hypothesis- high levels
of dopamine (positive symptoms)
Treatment drugs result in a lower
dopamine level. Over use of drug
can cause negative side affects
like muscle tremors and stiffness
(tardive dyskinesia)
Parkinsons disease is treated with
I-dopa, which increases dopamine
levels. Over dose causes
schizophrenic like distortions in
thought
Enlarged brain ventricles related
to schizophrenic disease
Genetic relation (negative
symptoms)
Believes that certain kind of
environments may cause or
increase likelihood of
schizophrenia.
Double blinds- when a person is
given contradictory messages
Diathesis-stress- environment
stressors can provide the
circumstances under which a
biological predisposition for illness
can express itself

 Personality Disorders
Well-established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively
affect peoples ability to function.
Antisocial personality disorder Have little regards for other peoples feelings
View the world as a hostile pace where people need to look out for
themselves
Dependent personality disorders Rely too much on the attention and help of others
Paranoid personality disorders
Feel persecuted
Narcissistic personality disorder Seeing you as the center of the universe. Self love
Histrionic personality disorder Overly dramatic behavior
OCD- Obsessive compulsive disorder
Persistent, unwanted thoughts cause someone to feel the need to
engage in a particular action.
Common obsession is cleanliness
Causes anxiety that is only reduced when a person performs the
compulsory behavior.
Borderline personality disorder Unstable moods, behaviors or relationships
Caused by self perception

Avoidant
Overly shy introvert that avoids people
Other Disorders

Paraphilia/ Psychosexual disorders- Much higher in men than in

women
Sexual attraction to an object, person, or activity not usually seen
as sexual
Pedophilia- attraction to children
Zoophlia- attraction to animals other than their own species
Fetishism- attraction to inanimate objects like shoes
Voyeurism- sexually aroused from watching other engage in some
kind of sexual behavior
Masochist- Someone who is aroused by having pain inflicted onto
themselves
Sadist- Someone who is aroused by inflicting pain on someone else
Exhibitionism- Sexually turned on from being watched engaging in
some kind of sexual behavior

Alcohol and Drugs disorders

Substance Dependence- When you are addicted and depend on a
substance
Substance abuse disorder- when the use of such substances
regularly and negatively affects a persons life.
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Autism spectrum disorder-

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o

Seek out less social and emotional contact

Less likely to seek out parental support when distressed
Hypersensitive to sensory stimulation
Intense interest in objects that are not interesting by most people
Engage in simple repetitive behaviors
Attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Difficulty paying attention or sitting still
More common in boys
A behavior typical to young boys can lead to over diagnosis.
Substance disabilities/ disorders

Neurocognitive disorders
Alzheimers disease- deterioration of cognitive abilities

Major changes to the DSM-5

Disorder
DSM-IV-TR
OCD
Classified as a type of
anxiety disorder
PTSD
Classified as an anxiety
disorder
Schizophrenia

Autism/ Aspergers

Hypochondriasis

Divided into
disorganized, paranoid,
catatonic, and
undifferentiated
Included four separate
but related diagnoses
including autistic
disorder and Aspergers
Diagnosed when many
seemingly typical
physical sensations
were interpreted as
signs of catastrophic
illness

DSM-5
Classified under OCD
and related disorders
Classified under
trauma and stressor
related disorders
Subcategories
eliminated
Autism spectrum
disorder replaces the
four
Now diagnosed as
somatic symptom
disorder

The Rosenhan Study 1978

David Rosenhan
They sought admission to a number of mental hospitals.
Claimed to be hearing voices, and were admitted with
schizophrenia.
They acted back to normal and were released as schizophrenia in
remission.
Left these important issues
o Should people who were once diagnosed with a psychological
disorder carry the diagnosis for the rest of their lives?
o To what extent are disorders the product of a particular
environment, and to what extent do they inhere in the individual?
What is the level of institutional care available if the imposters
could go undetected for a period of days and, in some cases,
weeks?
o

Treatment of Psychological Disorders

History
In early societies mentally ill were seen to be possessed by
spirits
Trephining- an early form of treatment that was supposed to
let the harmful spirits escape

Galen (Ancient Rome) and Hippocrates (Ancient Greece) said

that psychological illnesses were influenced by biological
factors and could be treated. (first to medically view illnesses)
Then Europeans during the middle ages returned to the
possession theory.
The Enlightenment- They said that victims of mental illness
were to be treated more humanely.
o Philippe Pinel (France) and Dorothea Dix (United
States)
Against Treatment of mentally ill like criminals
Brought the development of separate
institutions for the severely mentally ill.
The development of drugs in 1950s that moderated the
effects of severe disorders
o Deinstitutionalization- The releasing of many people
with mental disorders from mental institutions
Saved money
Benefit the former inpatients.
Seen as less successful
Inmates couldnt care for themselves
after they left
Ended up homeless and delusional
Could not secure themselves
psychological or financial care
Preventative efforts- treatment before disorders get severe to
reduce the suffering of client and the cost of care.
o Primary prevention- Reduce the amount of societal
problems like homelessness and joblessness that
would give rise to mental disorders
o Secondary prevention- Working with people at risk
for developing a specific problem
Ex. Working with people in an area that
experienced trauma like a natural disaster
o Tertiary prevention- keep mental health issues from
becoming worse
Types of Therapy
Psychoanalytic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive
psychologists believe in the power of psychotherapy.

o Talking to psychologists
Biological psychologists believe in somatic treatments
Patient- a person who coms to a psychologist for help
Humanistic therapists call their patients clients
Psychoanalytic Therapy

Developed by Freud
Lengthy and expensive
Patient lies on a couch, while the therapist sits on a chair out of
their line of vision.
Claim the cause of disorders is an unconscious conflict and try to
identify the underlying cause.
Determinism- People have no control over what happens to them
and that their choices are predetermined by forces outside of
their control.
Believe other methods rid the patient of symptoms but not the
true problem.
o Symptoms are outward manifestations of deeper problems
that can only be cured through analysis.
o Symptom substitution
A person is successfully treated for one psychological
disorder but they develop another.
Techniques developed to delve into the unconscious mind which
rely heavily on the interpretations of the therapist
o Hypnosis- an altered state of consciousness where the
patient is less likely to repress troubling thoughts in this
state.
o Free association- to say whatever comes to mind without
thinking, preventing censorship to what we say so that we
dont hide thoughts from ourselves, and we elude our egos
defense mechanisms.
o Dream analysis- the patient is asked to describe their
dreams, because their egos defense is relaxed when
sleeping
Manifest content- the part of the dream that the
patient reports

Latent content- the therapists interpretation of the

material, which is the hidden content.

Resistance
o When patients disagree with the therapists interpretation
because they are in a painful process of coming to terms
with depressed troubling thoughts.
o The stronger the resistance is an indication that the analyst
is getting closer to solving the problem.
Transference
o The patient begins to have strong feelings towards the
therapist
o May think they are in love, have serious hatred or see them
as a parental figure.
o Reflect strong feelings of people with troubling
relationships onto their therapist.
Psychodynamic theorists believe in the unconscious mind but
they also use a variety of techniques.
Humanistic Therapies
Insight therapy- the patients/ clients gaining understanding of
their problems
Focus on helping people to understand and accept themselves to
strive for self actualization
Self actualization- reaching ones highest potential.
Operate from the belief that people are innately good and also
possess free will (controlling of their own destinies)
Carl Rogers created client centered therapy/ person centered
therapy
o Unconditional positive regard a blanket of acceptance and support of a person
regardless of what they do or say.
People without this experience see themselves in a
different way than other people made them feel.
Helps client accept and take responsibility for
themselves.
o Non directive- do not tell the patient what do to, but would
help the client chose a course of action for themselves.

o Therapists say very little

o Active listening- Encourage talking a lot about how the
client feels and reflect it back at them to help them clarify
their feeling
Gestalt theory developed by Fritz Perls
o Emphasize the importance of the whole and encourage
clients to get in touch with their whole selves
o Encourage their clients to integrate their feelings, actions,
and thoughts into a whole.
o Stress the importance of the present because we can best
appreciate the totality of an experience as it occurs.
Existential therapies
o Help clients achieve a meaningful perception of their lives.
o See problems being caused by the client losing or filing to
develop a sense of their life purpose.

Behavioral Therapies
Believe that all behavior is learned
Counterconditioning
o Developed by Mary Cover Jones
o An unpleasant conditioned response is replaced with a
pleasant one
Systematic desensitization
o Created by Joseph Wolpe
o Used in anxiety disorders and phobias
o Replaces the feelings of anxiety with relaxation
o First the person is taught how to relax through different
techniques like breathing exercises and meditation.
o Then an anxiety hierarch is constructed

A rank ordered list of what the client fears, starting

with the least ending with the most.
o The person is carried up the anxiety hierarch until he or
she feels anxiety in which they must step back and feel
calm again, and they keep going until they reach the top
and stop feeling anxious.
Vivo desensitization- the client confronts the actual feared objects
or situations
Covert desensitization- when the client imagines the fear inducing
stimuli
Flooding- having the person address the most frightening scenario
first.
o Produces tremendous society
o Clients face their fears and do not back down, and will
eventually realize their fear is irrational
Extinguished- loss of a conditioned behavior
Modeling- a process in which a person learns by observing and then
imitating the behavior of another.
Aversive conditioning- pairing a habit a person wishes to break with
an unpleasant stimuli
Operant conditioning- using rewards or punishments to modify a
persons behavior, like token economy.

Cognitive Therapies
They believe that the cause of the problem is in the way people
think, and concentrate on changing the unhealthy thought patterns.
Attributing failure to internal, global or permanent aspects of the
self is unhealthy, but healthy would be viewing the failure as a
result of external, specific or temporary causes.
Created by Aaron Beck
o The treatment of depression.
o Encourage participation in things that would bring them
success.
o Helps alleviate depression and identify and challenge the
irrational thoughts that cause unhappiness.
o Cognitive triad People's beliefs about themselves, their worlds and
their futures.

People with depression have irrational negative

beliefs about all three.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapies

Also known as CBT
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)
o Developed by Albert Ellis
o Look to expose and confront the dysfunctional thoughts of
their clients
o Shows the client that not only is his or her failure unlikely
but if it did occur it would not be a big deal
Group Therapy
Involve a group of people instead of one- on- one-client interactions.
Can be either one of the perspectives or eclectic
Common use is family therapy
o Reveals the patterns of interaction between family
members and alteration of the whole family instead of just
one member.
Sometimes meeting with people who experience similar difficulties.
o Less expensive for clients
o Offers insight and feedback of their peers
Self help groups
o Groups that do not involve therapists at all.
o AA (alcoholics anonymous)

Somatic Therapies
Biomedical psychologists believe psychological disorders are caused
by organics like imbalances of neurotransmitters, hormones,
structural abnormalities in the brain, or genetic predispositions
Somatic therapy produces bodily changes.
Drug therapy/ psychopharmacology/ chemotherapy
o Drugs treat many things from anxiety disorder to mood
disorders to schizophrenia.
o The more severe is the more likely treatment with drugs
becomes
o Schizophrenia almost always treated with drugs because
peoples communication of feeling is hindered by their
disorder.
Treated with antipsychotic drugs like Thorazine or
Haldol
Drugs block receptor sites for dopamine
Side affects are tardive dyskinesia, like Parkinsons
o Mood disorders respond well with chemotherapy
Unipolar depression is often treated with tricyclic
antidepressants, monoamine oxidase (MAO)
inhibitors, and serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs
(Prozac)
Medicines increase the activity of serotonin
The metal lithium is used to treat the manic phase of
bipolar disorder
o Anxiety disorders are treated with drugs
Depresses the activity of the central nervous system,
making the person feel more relaxed
Barbiturates like Miltown
Benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
o Bilateral- An electric current is passed through both
hemispheres of the brain.
Has more negative side effects like loss of memory

o Unilateral- Running currents through only one hemisphere

o Causes patients to experience a brief seizure and briefly
lose consciousness
o Given a muscle relaxer before to reduce the effects of the
seizure.
o Less common than chemo
o Used often for severe cases of depression after all other
methods have failed
o There is no definite explanation for how this works, but
some say it is the change of blood flow in the brain.
Psychosurgery
o The purposeful destruction of part of the brain to alter a
persons behavior.
o Last resort for people greatly suffering
o Prefrontal Lobotomy
Cut the main neurons leading to the frontal lobe of
the brain
Calms the behavior of the patient
Reduces the level of function and awareness to a
vegetative state.
Eclectic Therapies
Many therapists do not specifically use one type of therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapies can be very effective with anxiety
and mood disorders
Somatic cognitive theory combining drug therapy with cognitive talk
therapy for mood and other disorders
Kinds of Therapists

Psychiatrists

o Medical doctors
o Only therapists permitted to prescribe medication in most
U.S. States
o Often favor the biomedical model of mental illness because
of less training in psychotherapy
Clinical psychologist
o Earn doctoral degree that require four of more years of
study
o Must do an internship which they are overseen by a more
experience professional
o Deal with patients suffering from more severe problems
than everyday difficulties with work or family
Counseling therapists
o Have a graduate degree in psychology
o Must do an internship which they are overseen by a more
experience professional
o School psychologists and marriage and family therapists
o Help people whose problems are less severe than those of
a clinical psychologist
Psychoanalysts
o People specifically trained in Freudian methods
o May or may not hold medical degrees.
How effective is Therapy?
Many people recover from disorders without intervention
Not always successful
Studies have showed that therapy is generally affective.
Success can be affected by the relationship between client and
therapist

Social Psychology- Chapter 14

A broad field devoted to studying the way that people relate to others.

Social cognition
Attitude Formation and Change
Attitude- a set of beliefs and feelings that are evaluative
The mere exposure effect- the more one is exposed to
something, the more one will come to like it
Central route- deeply processing the content of the message
(what makes this potato chip better than the rest?

Peripheral route- other aspects of the content (The

characteristics of the person imparting the message)
Certain characteristics can influence the effectiveness of the
message
o Attractiveness
o Fame
o Experts
Athletes and movie stars often cast rolls in commercials.
Research shows that more educated people are less likely to be
persuaded by advertisements
The way the message is presented can influence the
effectiveness.
o When dealing with a uniform audience, presenting a one
sided message is best.
o When influencing a more sophisticated audience,
acknowledging and refuting opposing arguments will be
more effective. Still have to be cautious of presenting too
much fear.

The Relationship Between Attitudes and Behaviors

The relationship between attitude and behavior is far from perfect.
La Piere- 1934- conducted a study that showed the difference.
o 1930s prejudice and discrimination against Asians were
prevalent.
o He travelled the west coast staying in many hotels and
eating in many restaurants to see the way they were
treated.
o They were only treated unfairly once.
o Then he contacted the establishments and asked them
about their attitudes towards Asians.
o 90% said they wouldnt serve Asians, showing that the
attitudes do not perfectly predict behavior.
Cognitive dissonance theoryo People are motivated to have consistent attitudes and
behaviors.

o If they do not, they experience unpleasant mental tension

and dissonance.
o Festinger and Carlsmith-1950s
They requested a person to perform a boring task
and were paid $1 to tell the next person to do it that
they enjoyed it.
The next group of people were paid $20 to lie
The first group didnt have much external motivation
to lie as the second group, so they changed their
attitudes and said they enjoyed it, causing
dissonance.

Compliance Strategies
People often use strategies to get other people to comply with their
wishes called compliance strategies.
Foot in the door phenomenon- If you can get people to agree on
a small request, they will become more likely to agree to a follow
up request that is larger.
Door in the face strategy- After people refuse large request, they
will agree with a follow up request that seems more reasonable
in comparison.
Norms of reciprocity- When someone does something nice for
them, they should do something nice in return.
Attribution Theory
Another area of study within the field of social cognition which tries to
explain how people determine the cause of what they observe

Dispositional or person attribution- explanation of a persons

behavior as a result caused by internal characteristics
Situation attribution- Explanation of a persons behavior as a
result of his or her external circumstances
Stable attribution- an event or behavior is due to stable,
unchanging factors
Unstable attribution- Infer than an event or behavior is due to
unstable temporary factors.
Harold Key- Came up with a theory that explains the kind of
attributions made based on three kinds of information
o Consistency- How similar the person acts in the same
situation over time.

o Distinctiveness- How similar is this situation to other

situations in which we have watched?
o Consensus- asks us to consider how others in the same
situation have responded.
Self-fulfilling prophecy- Preconceived idea can affect the way
someone acts towards another person. The expectations we
have about others can influence the way those others behave
o Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)- Pygmalion in the
Classroom experiment
Administered a test in elementary school that would
supposedly identify the children who were on the
verge of significant academic growth when it was
really just a standardized IQ test.
They randomly selected a group of children who took
the test and told the teachers that they were more
ready for intellectual progress.
The teachers expectations that these students would
bloom intellectually over the year actually caused
the students to outperform their peers.
Attributional Bias
Fundamental attribution error
o People tend to overestimate the importance of
dispositional factors and underestimate the role of the
situational factors
o People get to view themselves in countless situations
making them more likely to make situational attributions
about themselves than about others.
o Was named fundamental because it was believed to be so
widespread
o Less likely to occur in collectivist cultures (a culture where
a persons link to various groups such as family or company
is stressed) than individualistic cultures (a culture that
stresses on the importance of uniqueness of the individual)
because people are more attuned to the way different
situations influence behavior.
False consensus effect- the tendency for people to overestimate
the number of people who agree with them.
Self serving bias- the tendency to take more credit for good
outcomes than bad
Just world bias- Belief that bad things happen to bad people in a
just world.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Stereotypes- having an idea about what members of a different

group are like, and these expectations can influence the way we
interact with the members of the groups
o Can be positive or negative
o Can be for virtually any group of people
Prejudice- an undeserved, usually negative, attitude toward a
group of people.
Ethnocentrism- the belief that ones culture is superior to others.
o People become so accustom to their culture and believe it
is the norm, judging other cultures.
Discrimination involved an action while prejudice is an attitude.
Discrimination is one acting on their prejudices.
Out group homogeneity- People tend to see members of their
own group (In-group) as more diverse than members of other
groups (out-group)
In- Group bias- a preference for members of ones group, which
stems from ones belief that they themselves are good people,
making people who they share the same group membership
with, to be though of as good.

Origin of Stereotypes and Prejudice

Some suggest people naturally an inevitably see the differences
between their group and another group as a function of the
cognitive process of categorization.
Often learned through modeling

Combating Prejudice
Contact theory- Contact between hostile groups will reduce
animosity, if the groups are made to work toward a goal
(superordinate goal) that benefits all and necessitates the
participation of all. Often used by educators for social groups in
schools
Sherif (1966)- Robbers cave study/ camp study
o Split summer camp into two and made them compete in a
series of activities, and created negative feelings between
the groups.
o He then made several emergencies that required the two
groups to cooperate, improving relations between the
groups.

Aggression and Antisocial Behavior

Instrumental aggression- when the aggressive act is intended to
secure a particular end.

Hostile aggression- when an aggressive act has no intended

purpose
Freud links aggression to Thanatos (the death instinct)
Bandura Ross and Ross showed that the exposure to aggressive
models makes people aggressive in their Bobo doll experiment.
Frustration aggression hypothesis- The feeling of frustration
makes aggression more likely
Prosocial Behavior
Pro social behavior- helping behavior
Bystander intervention- The conditions under which people
nearby are more or less likely to help someone in trouble
John Darley and Bibb Latane- Explored whether or not others
intervene.
o Inspired by the murder of Kitty Genovese in Kew Gardens,
which was witnessed by 38 people who didnt intervene.
o Bystander effect- The larger the amount of people viewing
the action is the less likely one is to intervene.
Diffusion of responsibility- The larger the group of the
witness is the less responsible any one individual
feels to help
Pluralistic ignorance- people look at others to decide
what to do in certain situations.

Attraction
The study of the factors that increase the chances of people liking one
another
We like others on these three criterias
o Similarity- We like people who are similar to us in attitudes,
backgrounds, and interests
o Proximity- Exposure effect, the more exposure one has to
another, the more one generally comes to like that person.
Talking is a major part of proximity, because you
have to be able to talk to discover similarities
o Reciprocal liking- the more someone likes you, the more
you will probably like them
Many people are attracted to others who are physically attractive

o Studies show that good-looking people are perceived as

having positive attributes like better personalities and
greater jobs.
Self disclosure- When one shares a piece of personal information
with another.
o Helps build close relationships and friendships
The Influence of Others on An Individuals Behavior
Social facilitation- People perform better at tasks in front of an
audience, than if they were alone.
Social Impairment- If task is difficult and less practiced; having
an audience can actually hurt performance.
Conformity- the tendency of people to go along with the view or
actions of others.
o Conformity often happens when a groups opinion is
unanimous
o Groups larger than three do not significantly increase the
tendency to conform.
o Solomon Asch (1951)
Asked people to match two lines that was the same.
A group of confederates said the wrong answer on
purpose
1/3 of the participants conformed to the wrong
answer
In one trial 70% 0f the participants conformed.
Obedience studies- participants willingness to do what another
asks them to do.
o Milgrim
Made a participant act as a teacher to a confederate,
and as a teacher he/she was requested to shock
students for wrong answers, even though there were
no real shocks. This was to see how far the
participant would go to follow their instructions.
60% obeyed the experiment fully.
Participants who can see the learner gave less
shocks than those that can only hear
Sometimes the participant had to force the learners
hand onto the shock plate.
When experimenter left and was replaced with an
assistant, obedience decreased.

When the confederate objected being shocked,

participants often quit
This experiment is highly criticized for ethical
reasons and would not be approved by the IRB
After participants find out it was fake and if it
was real, they would of killed the learner.

Group Dynamics
Norms- rules about how group members should act
Groups also have certain roles.
Social loafing- When a person does not put in as much effort
when in a group as they would when alone.
o People see efforts as less discernable and feel less
motivated
o People reap the rewards of the group effort without their
own stress.
Group polarization- the tendency of a group to make more
extreme decisions than a group member would individually
make.
Groupthink- describes the tendency for groups to make bad
decisions.
o Caused by group members suppressing their reservations
on an idea.
o False unanimity is caused.
o Highly cohesive groups tend to be more at risk
Deindividuation- loss of self-restraint that occurs when group
members feel anonymous and aroused.
o Phillip Zimbardo
Asked a group of Stanford students to play the role of
prison guard or prisoner in uniform.
The prisoners were numbered and locked up.
The prison guards took their roles too well and the
experiment was ended early because of the
treatments inflicted on the prisoners.

Social Psychology Experiments

Experimenter
LaPiere

Topic
Attitudes

Festinger and
Carlsmith

Cognitive
Dissonance

Rosenthal
and Jacobson

Self fulfilling
prophecy

Sherif

Superordinate
goals

Darley and
Latane

Bystander effect

Asch

Conformity

Milgrim

Obedience

Zimbardo

Roles,

Major findings
Attitudes dont always predict
behavior
Chinese couple said they
wouldnt serve the couple
Changing ones behavior can lead
to a change in attitudes.
The $1 group had to change
opinion because of like of
motivation unlike for the $20
group
One persons attitudes can elicit a
change in another persons
behavior
Teacher positive expectation
led to increase in the IQ
scores
Intergroup prejudice can be
reduced by working towards a
goal
Campers in competitive
groups had to come together
and solve camp wide
problems causing positive
feelings about one another
The more people that witness an
emergency, the less likely a
person is to help
College student would be
more likely to help if they
over hear a peer having a
seizure than if the student
thought others heard as well
People are loathe to contradict
the opinions of a group
70% of people reported one
obvious incorrect answer
People tend to obey authority
figures
60% thought they delivered
the maximum possible level
of shock
Roles are powerful and can lead

Deindividuation

to Deindividuation
People playing prisoner guard
acted in a negative and
hostile way.