Attraction & Relationship Formation

In this video I consider why we’re attracted to people and some of the factors that influence the relationships that we form. One major contributor is proximity, which refers to the fact that we tend to form relationships with people who are physically close to us; classmates, neighbors, & co-workers. Proximity alone isn’t enough and propinquity refers to the additional … Read More

Obedience & The Milgram Study

In this video I discuss what is perhaps the most famous study in social psychology; Stanley Milgram’s investigation of obedience to authority, conducted at Yale in the early 1960s. Milgram’s study involved the delivery of increasingly powerful electric shocks to another person. While psychiatrists predicted only 1% of participants would continue to the maximum voltage of 450 volts (despite protests … Read More

Compliance & Persuasion

In this video I discuss compliance and persuasion, which are direct social pressures to comply with requests or modify attitudes or behavior. First I discuss the distinction between the central route and peripheral routes to persuasion, then describe several compliance techniques. These include the foot-in-the-door technique, the door-in-the-face technique, the not-so-free sample, and the that’s-not-all technique. Recommended reading: Robert Cialdini … Read More

Conformity

In this video I discuss how we can experience an indirect pressure to conform to the attitudes or behaviors of a group. I describe Muzafer Sherif’s early research using the autokinetic effect to demonstrate informational influence, followed by Solomon Asch’s well-known work on conformity. Asch distinguished between private acceptance and public compliance to explain why participants conformed and how they … Read More

Attitudes, Behavior, & Cognitive Dissonance

In this video I discuss the relationship between attitudes and behavior, including Richard LaPiere’s early work on discriminatory practices and Festinger and Carlsmith’s classic study on cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to the discomfort caused by conflicting attitudes or behaviors, and Festinger and Carlsmith proposed that people will attempt to reduce this dissonance by either changing their attitudes, or less … Read More

Culture & Cultural Dimensions

In this video I discuss how cultural dimensions can be used to think about the general differences between cultures and how culture may influence thought and behavior. I describe Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, based on his research with IBM employees in more than 50 countries around the world. Hofstede investigated 5 cultural dimensions: individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and … Read More

Introduction to Social Psychology

In this video I introduce social psychology and the investigation of how groups, culture, and social context influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I differentiate social psychology from sociology, which generally looks at influence on broader groups rather than individuals. Next I describe some of the research methods that are more common in social psychology, including archival research, naturalistic observation, … Read More

Adulthood & Aging

In this video I describe the changes and challenges associated with adulthood and aging. These include new responsibilities, declines in physical and cognitive abilities, and changes in relationships over time. Despite these changes, however, most older adults see an increase in overall well-being late in life, which is likely due to a shift in the importance of emotional goals and … Read More