Foundations of Social Psychology: Scope, Theories, and Methods

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. For social workers, social psychology provides essential insight into human behavior in social contexts—how individuals relate to groups, how attitudes form and change, how prejudice develops, and how social situations shape behavior. This course provides a comprehensive foundation in social psychology as applied to social work practice.

Course Overview and Scope

This course equips students with:

1. An understanding of the scope and methods of social psychology.
2. Knowledge of key theories of social influence, cognition, and behavior.
3. Understanding of attitudes, persuasion, and attitude change.
4. Knowledge of social perception, attribution, and judgment.
5. Understanding of conformity, obedience, and group dynamics.
6. Knowledge of prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup relations.
7. Understanding of aggression, altruism, and prosocial behavior.
8. Applications of social psychology to social work practice.

What is Social Psychology?

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts. It examines:

• How we perceive ourselves and others.
• How we form attitudes and beliefs.
• How we are influenced by others (conformity, obedience, persuasion).
• How we behave in groups.
• How we relate to others (attraction, aggression, altruism).
• How social categories (race, gender, class) shape behavior and outcomes.

The Two Main Traditions

1. Psychological social psychology: Focus on the individual's cognition, affect, and behavior in social contexts (experimental methods).
2. Sociological social psychology: Focus on social structure, groups, and interaction (survey, observational methods).

Social work draws on both traditions.

Key Themes

• The power of the situation: Behavior is powerfully shaped by social context.
• The person-situation interaction: Both personal characteristics and situations matter.
• Construal: People interpret situations based on their perceptions and meanings.
• Social cognition: How we process, store, and use social information.
• Self and identity: How we understand ourselves in relation to others.
• Social influence: How others shape our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Historical Development

• 1908: First textbooks (McDougall, Ross) established social psychology as a discipline.
• 1920s-30s: Experimental methods developed (Allport, Sherif).
• 1930s-40s: Group dynamics (Lewin), leadership, and the authoritarian personality studies.
• 1950s-60s: Conformity (Asch), obedience (Milgram), cognitive dissonance (Festinger), attribution theory.
• 1960s-70s: Bystander intervention (Darley & Latané), aggression research, attitude-behavior research.
• 1970s-80s: Social cognition revolution—heuristics, biases, stereotypes.
• 1980s-2000s: Automaticity, implicit attitudes, intergroup relations, evolutionary social psychology.
• Contemporary: Social neuroscience, cultural social psychology, applied social psychology (health, environment, justice).

Major Theoretical Perspectives

1. Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

• Behavior is learned through observation, modeling, and reinforcement.
• Bobo doll experiment: Children imitated aggressive models.
• Self-efficacy: Belief in one's ability to perform behaviors.
• Reciprocal determinism: Person, behavior, and environment mutually influence each other.

2. Social Cognition

• How people process social information: attention, perception, memory, judgment.
• Schemas: Mental frameworks organizing knowledge.
• Heuristics: Mental shortcuts (availability, representativeness, anchoring).
• Automatic vs. controlled processing: Fast, intuitive vs. slow, deliberate.

3. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)

• People experience discomfort when attitudes and behaviors conflict.
• They reduce dissonance by changing attitudes, adding cognitions, or changing behavior.
• Post-decision rationalization: Justifying choices after the fact.

4. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner)

• People derive part of their identity from group memberships.
• In-group favoritism: Favoring one's own group.
• Out-group derogation: Devaluing other groups.
• Social comparison: Comparing one's group to others.
• Self-esteem: Group membership contributes to self-worth.

5. Self-Perception Theory (Bem)

• People infer their attitudes from their behavior.
• "We are what we do."

6. Attribution Theory (Heider, Kelley, Weiner)

• How people explain behavior (causes).
• Internal vs. external attributions.
• Stable vs. unstable causes.
• Controllable vs. uncontrollable causes.
• Fundamental attribution error: Over-attributing behavior to disposition (personality) rather than situation.
• Self-serving bias: Attributing success to self, failure to situation.

7. Social Exchange Theory

• Relationships are based on rewards, costs, and comparisons.
• People seek relationships where rewards exceed costs.
• Equity and fairness matter.

Research Methods in Social Psychology

Experimental Methods

• Laboratory experiments.
• Field experiments.
• Random assignment.
• Control groups.
• Independent and dependent variables.

Correlational Methods

• Surveys.
• Observational studies.
• Archival data.

Qualitative Methods

• Interviews.
• Focus groups.
• Participant observation.

Ethical Issues in Research

• Informed consent.
• Deception (used carefully, debriefing).
• Protection from harm.
• Confidentiality.
• Debriefing.

Applications to Social Work

Social psychology informs social work practice in:

• Assessment: Understanding how clients perceive their situations (attribution, construal).
• Intervention: Attitude change, persuasion, social influence.
• Group work: Group dynamics, cohesion, leadership.
• Community practice: Social identity, intergroup relations, social norms.
• Anti-oppressive practice: Prejudice, discrimination, stereotype threat.
• Advocacy: Persuasion and social influence.
• Self-awareness: Understanding the worker's own biases and attributions.

Review Questions

1. Define social psychology and its scope.
2. Compare the psychological and sociological traditions.
3. Trace the historical development of social psychology.
4. Explain social learning theory and self-efficacy.
5. What are schemas and heuristics in social cognition?
6. Explain cognitive dissonance theory.
7. Describe social identity theory.
8. What is the fundamental attribution error?
9. What are the research methods in social psychology?
10. How does social psychology inform social work practice?

Social Perception, Attribution, Attitudes, and Persuasion

Social workers must understand how people perceive others, explain behavior, form attitudes, and are persuaded to change. This module explores the social psychology of perception, attribution, attitudes, and persuasion—and their applications in practice.

Social Perception

What is Social Perception?

Social perception is the process by which we form impressions of and make judgments about other people. It involves observing, interpreting, and integrating information about others.

Stages of Social Perception

1. Observation: Noticing verbal and non-verbal cues.
2. Interpretation: Assigning meaning to cues.
3. Integration: Combining information into an impression.
4. Judgment: Forming an evaluation of the person.

Impression Formation

• First impressions: Quick, powerful, often lasting.
• Primacy effect: Early information weighs more.
• Recency effect: Recent information weighs more.
• Central vs. peripheral traits: Some traits (warmness, competence) shape overall impressions.
• Halo effect: Positive impression on one dimension generalizes to others.
• Horn effect: Negative impression generalizes.

Non-Verbal Cues in Perception

• Facial expressions.
• Body language.
• Eye contact.
• Tone of voice.
• Personal space.
• Appearance.

Attribution

What is Attribution?

Attribution is the process of explaining the causes of behavior and events. People ask "why" questions and construct causal explanations.

Types of Attributions

1. Internal (dispositional): Behavior caused by the person's traits, attitudes, or abilities ("She failed because she is lazy").
2. External (situational): Behavior caused by the situation or environment ("She failed because the test was unfair").

Attribution Dimensions (Weiner)

• Locus: Internal vs. external.
• Stability: Stable vs. unstable.
• Controllability: Controllable vs. uncontrollable.

Biases in Attribution

1. Fundamental attribution error: Over-attributing others' behavior to disposition, underestimating situational factors.
2. Actor-observer bias: We attribute our own behavior to situation, others' to disposition.
3. Self-serving bias: Success attributed to self, failure to situation.
4. Defensive attribution: Blaming victims to maintain belief in a just world.
5. Just-world hypothesis: Believing the world is fair, so victims "deserve" their fate.

Implications for Social Work

• Avoid blaming clients for problems rooted in structural conditions.
• Understand how clients attribute causes to their problems (self-blame, external blame).
• Help clients develop adaptive attributions (empowerment, not self-blame).
• Challenge the just-world belief in practice (poverty, abuse are not deserved).

Attitudes

What is an Attitude?

An attitude is a learned, relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object, or idea. Attitudes have three components:

1. Cognitive: Beliefs and thoughts ("I believe social work is valuable").
2. Affective (emotional) : Feelings ("I feel passionate about social justice").
3. Behavioral (conative) : Action tendencies ("I volunteer for social causes").

Functions of Attitudes

1. Knowledge: Organizing information.
2. Instrumental: Achieving rewards, avoiding punishments.
3. Ego-defensive: Protecting self-esteem.
4. Value-expressive: Expressing identity and values.

Attitude Formation

• Direct experience.
• Social learning (parents, peers, media).
• Classical conditioning.
• Operant conditioning.
• Observational learning.
• Cognitive processes (information integration).

Attitude-Behavior Consistency

• Attitudes do not always predict behavior.
• Factors affecting consistency:
• Attitude strength.
• Specificity (specific attitudes predict specific behaviors).
• Situational constraints.
• Self-awareness.
• Social norms.
• Time pressure.

Attitude Change

1. Cognitive dissonance: Behavior inconsistent with attitude produces discomfort → change attitude.
2. Self-perception: Inferring attitudes from behavior.
3. Persuasion: Changing attitudes through communication.
4. Social influence: Conformity, compliance, obedience.

Persuasion

What is Persuasion?

Persuasion is the process of changing attitudes and behavior through communication. It is central to advocacy, health promotion, and social change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo)

Two routes to persuasion:

1. Central route: Careful, effortful processing of arguments. Lasting attitude change (requires motivation and ability).
2. Peripheral route: Superficial processing using cues (attractiveness, credibility, emotion). Temporary change.

Factors in Persuasion

1. Source: Credibility, attractiveness, similarity, trustworthiness.
2. Message: Clarity, emotional appeal, logical arguments, one-sided vs. two-sided, fear vs. hope.
3. Channel: Face-to-face, written, media.
4. Audience: Intelligence, involvement, self-esteem, mood.

Persuasion Techniques

• Foot-in-the-door: Small request first, then larger.
• Door-in-the-face: Large request first (refused), then smaller.
• Lowball: Getting commitment, then raising costs.
• Reciprocity: Giving something to elicit return.
• Scarcity: Emphasizing limited availability.
• Social proof: "Everyone is doing it."
• Authority: Citing experts.
• Liking: Building rapport.

Ethical Persuasion in Social Work

• Persuasion should respect client autonomy.
• Use transparent, honest communication.
• Avoid manipulation and coercion.
• Provide accurate information.
• Empower clients to decide.

Applications to Social Work

Practice Applications

• Assessment: Understand client attributions and perceptions.
• Engagement: Build rapport using impression and persuasion principles.
• Intervention: Use persuasion ethically to support change.
• Health promotion: Attitude change campaigns (vaccination, substance use).
• Advocacy: Persuading policymakers and the public.
• Anti-stigma work: Changing attitudes about mental health, disability, poverty.
• Community organizing: Persuasion for collective action.

Case Example: Anti-Stigma Campaign

A campaign to reduce mental health stigma:

• Source: Credible (people with lived experience, clinicians).
• Message: Personal stories, accurate information, hope.
• Channel: Social media, community events, schools.
• Audience: Segmented (youth, employers, families).
• Central route: Education and contact.
• Peripheral route: Celebrities, emotional appeals.

Review Questions

1. Define social perception and its stages.
2. Explain the halo effect and primacy effect.
3. What is attribution and what are the types?
4. Explain the fundamental attribution error.
5. What is the just-world hypothesis and why is it problematic?
6. Describe the three components of an attitude.
7. When do attitudes predict behavior?
8. Explain the elaboration likelihood model.
9. List five persuasion techniques and their ethical use.
10. How do perception, attribution, and persuasion apply to social work?

Social Influence: Conformity, Obedience, Compliance, and Group Dynamics

Human beings are profoundly social creatures. Social influence—the ways in which others shape our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors—is a core topic of social psychology and a critical concern for social workers who work with groups, families, communities, and institutions. This module explores conformity, obedience, compliance, and group dynamics.

Conformity

What is Conformity?

Conformity is the change in behavior or beliefs to match those of a group. It can be:

• Informational influence: Conforming because we believe the group has accurate information.
• Normative influence: Conforming to be accepted and liked.

Classic Research: Asch's Line Studies (1956)

• Participants judged line lengths in a group where confederates gave wrong answers.
• About 1/3 conformed to the incorrect majority on critical trials.
• Conformity increased with group size (up to 4-5), unanimity, and difficulty.
• Factors reducing conformity: one dissenter, private responses, high self-esteem.

Factors Affecting Conformity

• Group size (up to a point).
• Unanimity.
• Group cohesion.
• Status of the group.
• Public vs. private response.
• Culture (collectivist cultures show higher conformity).
• Ambiguity/difficulty of the task.

Implications for Social Work

• Understand how peer pressure shapes client behavior (substance use, delinquency).
• Recognize the power of group norms in families and communities.
• Support clients to resist negative conformity (assertiveness, critical thinking).
• Use positive group norms for change (support groups).

Obedience

What is Obedience?

Obedience is compliance with commands from authority figures. It is a form of social influence based on authority.

Classic Research: Milgram's Obedience Studies (1963)

• Participants ("teachers") were instructed to administer electric shocks to a "learner" (confederate) for errors.
• Despite apparent pain, 65% of participants administered the maximum shock (450V).
• Findings: Ordinary people can commit harmful acts under authority.

Factors Affecting Obedience

• Authority legitimacy and proximity.
• Gradual escalation (foot-in-the-door).
• Distance from victim.
• Institutional context.
• Diffusion of responsibility.
• Personal responsibility (reduced when "experimenter is responsible").

Ethical Controversy

Milgram's studies raised serious ethical concerns (deception, distress). Modern research follows strict ethical guidelines.

Implications for Social Work

• Understand how clients may obey harmful authority (abusive parents, coercive partners).
• Recognize institutional pressures that can lead to harmful obedience.
• Support ethical courage and whistleblowing.
• Build client capacity to question authority when harmful.
• Understand institutional dynamics in child protection, corrections, and care settings.

Compliance

What is Compliance?

Compliance is agreeing to a request. Unlike conformity (matching to group norms), compliance involves responding to a direct request.

Compliance Techniques (Cialdini)

1. Foot-in-the-door: Small request → larger request.
2. Door-in-the-face: Large request (refused) → smaller request.
3. Lowball: Commitment obtained, then costs raised.
4. Reciprocity: Give something to receive something.
5. Scarcity: "Limited availability."
6. Social proof: "Everyone is doing it."
7. Authority: Cite experts.
8. Liking: Build rapport.
9. Consistency: Align with prior commitments.
10. Commitment: Public commitment increases follow-through.

Ethical Use of Compliance in Social Work

• Use compliance techniques ethically (informed consent, motivational interviewing).
• Avoid manipulation and coercion.
• Be transparent about intentions.
• Respect client autonomy.

Group Dynamics

What is a Group?

A group is two or more people who interact, share goals, and develop relationships and norms. Groups have structure, roles, norms, and cohesion.

Group Structure

• Roles: Expected behaviors (task roles, maintenance roles, individual roles).
• Norms: Shared standards of behavior.
• Status: Hierarchies of prestige.
• Cohesion: Attraction and unity among members.
• Communication networks: Patterns of interaction.

Group Development (Tuckman)

1. Forming: Orientation, dependence on leader.
2. Storming: Conflict, power struggles.
3. Norming: Cohesion, norms, roles.
4. Performing: Productive work.
5. Adjourning: Closure.

Group Phenomena

• Social facilitation: Improved performance in the presence of others (for well-learned tasks).
• Social loafing: Reduced effort when individual contribution is not identifiable.
• Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness in groups (mob behavior, online anonymity).
• Group polarization: Groups make more extreme decisions than individuals.
• Groupthink: Group pressure suppresses dissent and critical thinking, leading to poor decisions (Janis).
• Bystander effect: Diffusion of responsibility reduces helping in groups.

Leadership in Groups

• Task leadership: Organizing, directing, achieving goals.
• Socioemotional leadership: Maintaining morale, relationships.
• Styles: Authoritarian, democratic, laissez-faire.
• Transformational leadership: Inspiring, empowering, vision.

Applications to Social Work

Group Work Practice

• Understand group dynamics to facilitate effective groups.
• Build cohesion and norms for positive change.
• Manage conflict constructively.
• Prevent groupthink in teams and organizations.
• Empower members to participate.

Family Dynamics

• Understand family roles, norms, and communication patterns.
• Address scapegoating, triangulation, and power imbalances.
• Facilitate family meetings.

Community and Organizational Practice

• Understand community norms and social influence.
• Organize communities for collective action.
• Address group polarization and deindividuation in conflict.
• Build democratic, participatory processes.

Anti-Oppressive Practice

• Recognize how group dynamics can marginalize minorities.
• Challenge groupthink and conformity that perpetuate injustice.
• Empower individuals to resist harmful group norms.
• Build inclusive, participatory groups.

Review Questions

1. Define conformity and distinguish informational and normative influence.
2. Describe Asch's conformity studies and factors affecting conformity.
3. Define obedience and describe Milgram's studies.
4. What are the ethical implications of obedience research?
5. List five compliance techniques.
6. Describe the stages of group development.
7. Explain social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividuation.
8. What is groupthink and how can it be prevented?
9. How do group dynamics inform social work group practice?
10. How can social workers address harmful conformity and obedience?

Prejudice, Discrimination, Stereotypes, and Intergroup Relations

Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are among the most consequential topics in social psychology—and among the most urgent concerns for social workers committed to social justice. This module explores the psychology of intergroup relations, the mechanisms of prejudice and discrimination, and strategies for reducing bias and promoting inclusion.

Definitions

Stereotype

A stereotype is a generalized belief about the characteristics of a group. It is a cognitive process—a mental shortcut that simplifies information about groups.

• Positive stereotypes: "Asians are good at math" (still harmful—reduces individuals to categories).
• Negative stereotypes: "Teenagers are lazy."
• Stereotypes can be: Explicit (conscious) or implicit (automatic, unconscious).

Prejudice

Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a group or its members. It involves:

• Cognitive component: Stereotypes.
• Affective component: Negative emotions (fear, anger, disgust).
• Behavioral component: Discrimination.

Discrimination

Discrimination is behavior that disadvantages a group or its members—unequal treatment based on group membership.

The Relationship

• Stereotypes (beliefs) → Prejudice (attitudes) → Discrimination (behavior).
• They are related but not identical: one can stereotype without being prejudiced; one can be prejudiced without discriminating.

Types of Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Racism and Ethnic Discrimination

• Individual racism: personal prejudice and discrimination.
• Institutional racism: policies and practices that disadvantage racial groups.
• Structural racism: systemic patterns producing racial inequality.

2. Sexism and Gender Discrimination

• Prejudice based on gender.
• Pay gap, glass ceiling, sexual harassment.
• Benevolent sexism: "protective" but limiting attitudes.

3. Ageism

• Prejudice toward older people (and youth).
• Stereotypes of incompetence, burden, or irrelevance.

4. Classism

• Prejudice based on social class.
• Blaming the poor for poverty; devaluing working-class.

5. Ableism

• Prejudice toward people with disabilities.
• Assumptions of incapacity, dependency.

6. Homophobia and Transphobia

• Prejudice toward LGBTQ+ people.
• Discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare.

7. Religious Prejudice

• Prejudice based on religion (anti-Semitism, Islamophobia).

Theories of Prejudice

1. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel)

• People categorize themselves and others into groups.
• In-group favoritism: favoring one's own group.
• Out-group homogeneity: seeing out-group members as similar.
• Self-esteem: group membership boosts self-esteem.
• Minimal group paradigm: Even arbitrary group assignment produces in-group favoritism.

2. Realistic Conflict Theory

• Prejudice arises from competition over scarce resources (jobs, housing, power).
• Robbers Cave experiment (Sherif) : Two groups of boys developed hostility through competition; cooperation on superordinate goals reduced conflict.

3. Scapegoat Theory

• Frustration and aggression are displaced onto a weaker target.
• Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Frustration leads to aggression, often displaced.

4. Authoritarian Personality Theory (Adorno)

• Some individuals have a personality prone to prejudice: rigid thinking, obedience to authority, hostility to out-groups.

5. Social Learning Theory

• Prejudice is learned through observation, modeling, and reinforcement (parents, media, peers).

6. Cognitive Theories

• Prejudice results from normal cognitive processes: categorization, stereotyping, heuristics, confirmation bias.
• Confirmation bias: Seeking information that confirms stereotypes.
• Illusory correlation: Overestimating the association between a group and a rare behavior.

The Psychology of Intergroup Relations

Stereotype Threat (Steele & Aronson)

• The fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group.
• Impairs performance (test anxiety, cognitive load).
• Affects: academic performance, workplace performance, health interactions.
• Reducing stereotype threat: affirming identity, role models, framing tasks as challenges.

Implicit Bias

• Automatic, unconscious associations about groups.
• Measured with the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
• Implicit biases can conflict with explicit beliefs.
• Implications: subtle discrimination in hiring, policing, healthcare.

Microaggressions

• Brief, everyday exchanges that communicate hostility or disrespect toward marginalized groups.
• Types: verbal, behavioral, environmental.
• Impact: cumulative psychological harm, stress, alienation.
• Examples: "You're so articulate," "Where are you really from?"

The Just-World Hypothesis

• The belief that the world is fair leads to blaming victims for their suffering.
• Victim-blaming: "She must have provoked it," "He should have worked harder."

Consequences of Prejudice and Discrimination

For Targets

• Psychological: stress, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem.
• Physical: health disparities, chronic illness.
• Economic: employment, income, housing inequalities.
• Social: isolation, exclusion, violence.
• Educational: achievement gaps.

For Society

• Inequality and injustice.
• Conflict and violence.
• Reduced social cohesion.
• Economic inefficiency (wasted talent).

Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination

1. Contact Hypothesis (Allport)

• Positive contact between groups can reduce prejudice under optimal conditions:
• Equal status.
• Cooperation toward common goals.
• Institutional support.
• Personal, informal contact.

2. Superordinate Goals

• Cooperation on shared goals reduces intergroup conflict (Robbers Cave).
• Example: Community projects uniting diverse groups.

3. Education and Awareness

• Teaching about prejudice, stereotypes, and bias.
• Consciousness-raising.
• Media literacy.

4. Cognitive Interventions

• Challenging stereotypes.
• Individuating (seeing individuals, not categories).
• Perspective-taking (imagining others' experience).
• Counter-stereotypical examples.

5. Institutional and Policy Change

• Anti-discrimination laws.
• Equal opportunity policies.
• Diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Accountability and monitoring.

6. Empowerment of Marginalized Groups

• Building group pride and solidarity.
• Challenging internalized oppression.
• Amplifying voices.

Applications to Social Work

Anti-Oppressive Practice

• Analyze how prejudice and discrimination operate at individual, institutional, and structural levels.
• Challenge discrimination in services and institutions.
• Advocate for inclusive policies.
• Use inclusive language and practices.
• Build cultural competence and humility.

Practice with Marginalized Groups

• Validate experiences of discrimination.
• Address internalized oppression and self-blame.
• Build empowerment and group identity.
• Connect to community resources and advocacy.

Self-Awareness

• Examine the worker's own biases (implicit and explicit).
• Use supervision and reflection.
• Seek training and consultation.
• Commit to ongoing learning.

Review Questions

1. Define stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination.
2. Explain the relationship between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
3. Describe the types of prejudice and discrimination.
4. Explain social identity theory and the minimal group paradigm.
5. What is stereotype threat and how does it affect performance?
6. Define implicit bias and microaggressions.
7. What is the just-world hypothesis and how does it lead to victim-blaming?
8. Describe the contact hypothesis and its conditions.
9. What are the consequences of prejudice for targets and society?
10. How do social workers apply this knowledge in anti-oppressive practice?

Aggression, Altruism, Prosocial Behavior, and Applications — Case Studies and Exam Preparation

This capstone module explores the psychology of aggression and prosocial behavior, applies social psychology to social work practice, presents integrative case studies, and provides comprehensive examination preparation.

Aggression

What is Aggression?

Aggression is behavior intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid the harm. It can be:

• Hostile aggression: Driven by anger, intended to hurt.
• Instrumental aggression: Driven by goals, used as a means.

Types of Aggression

• Physical: Hitting, fighting, violence.
• Verbal: insults, threats.
• Relational/social: spreading rumors, exclusion.
• Cyber: online harassment, trolling.
• Direct vs. indirect.

Theories of Aggression

1. Biological theories: Genetic, hormonal, neurological factors.
2. Instinct theory (Freud, Lorenz) : Aggression as an innate drive.
3. Frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard) : Frustration produces aggression.
4. Social learning theory (Bandura) : Aggression is learned through observation and reinforcement.
5. Cognitive theories: Aggression is influenced by interpretations, scripts, and self-efficacy.
6. Social-ecological model: Aggression results from individual, relationship, community, and societal factors.

Factors Influencing Aggression

• Situational: Provocation, frustration, heat, noise, crowding.
• Cognitive: Interpretation of threat, hostile attribution bias.
• Social: Modeling, norms, deindividuation.
• Individual: Personality, self-control, alcohol/substances.

Aggression and Violence

• Aggression is a broader concept; violence is aggression with the intent of severe harm.
• Violence prevention requires addressing individual, relational, community, and societal factors.

Altruism and Prosocial Behavior

What is Prosocial Behavior?

Prosocial behavior is any action intended to benefit another person. Altruism is prosocial behavior motivated by genuine concern for others, without expectation of reward.

Theories of Prosocial Behavior

1. Empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson) : Empathy motivates altruism.
2. Social exchange theory: Helping is based on rewards and costs.
3. Social norms: The norm of reciprocity and the norm of social responsibility.
4. Evolutionary explanations: Kin selection, reciprocal altruism, group selection.
5. Mood and helping: Positive moods increase helping; guilt also motivates helping.

The Bystander Effect (Darley & Latané)

• People are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present.
• Diffusion of responsibility: "Someone else will help."
• Pluralistic ignorance: "If no one is helping, it must not be an emergency."
• Audience inhibition: "I might be embarrassed."
• Steps to helping: Notice → interpret as emergency → take responsibility → decide to help → act.

Factors Increasing Helping

• Clear emergency.
• Fewer bystanders.
• Similarity to the victim.
• Prior relationship.
• Personal responsibility.
• Competence.
• Time available.

Applications of Social Psychology to Social Work

Assessment

• Understand clients' perceptions, attributions, and social influences.
• Assess social networks, group memberships, and social norms.
• Understand the role of prejudice and discrimination in client experiences.

Intervention

• Use social influence ethically (persuasion, motivational interviewing).
• Build positive group norms and cohesion.
• Reduce prejudice and discrimination in services.
• Address aggression through cognitive-behavioral and social learning approaches.
• Promote prosocial behavior and community engagement.

Community and Policy Practice

• Understand community norms and social change.
• Organize communities using social influence principles.
• Advocate for policies that reduce inequality and discrimination.
• Design public education campaigns (attitude change).

Self-Awareness and Ethics

• Examine the worker's own biases, attributions, and social influences.
• Use supervision and reflection.
• Maintain ethical standards in persuasion and influence.

Case Studies

Case Study 1: Attribution and Blame

Scenario: A mother blames herself for her child's behavioral problems, attributing them to her "bad parenting." She feels shame and guilt.

Social psychology analysis:

• Attribution: She attributes the child's behavior to internal, stable, controllable causes (her parenting).
• Just-world belief: She believes if she were a "good mother," the child would behave well.
• Self-serving bias: She does not attribute positive aspects to herself.

Intervention:

• Reframe attributions: Help her consider situational factors (poverty, stress, school environment, child temperament).
• Challenge self-blame: "You're doing your best under difficult circumstances."
• Empowerment: Build her sense of efficacy and control.
• Support: Connect to resources and community.

Case Study 2: Groupthink in an Agency Team

Scenario: A child protection team consistently decides to keep children at home despite escalating risk. Team members are close, avoid conflict, and defer to the senior worker. No one raises concerns.

Analysis:

• Groupthink: Cohesion, conformity, and suppression of dissent.
• Authority influence: Deference to senior worker.
• Diffusion of responsibility: "The team decided."

Intervention:

• Encourage dissent: Create space for alternative views.
• Devil's advocate role: Assign someone to challenge decisions.
• External consultation: Bring in outside perspectives.
• Decision-making procedures: Structured risk assessment, documentation of reasoning.
• Supervision: Support critical thinking and ethical courage.

Case Study 3: Reducing Prejudice in a Community

Scenario: A community has tensions between ethnic groups, with mutual stereotypes and discrimination in housing and employment.

Intervention (contact hypothesis + superordinate goals):

• Contact: Facilitate positive intergroup contact (community events, joint projects).
• Superordinate goals: Common projects (community garden, youth center) requiring cooperation.
• Education: Anti-prejudice workshops in schools and workplaces.
• Institutional change: Fair housing/employment policies.
• Empowerment: Support marginalized groups' voice and leadership.

Case Study 4: Bystander Intervention

Scenario: A young man is assaulted in a public place. Bystanders watch but do not intervene.

Analysis:

• Bystander effect: Diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance.
• Ambiguity: Is it an emergency? Are they friends?

Prevention:

• Bystander training: Teach people to notice, interpret, and act.
• Direct instruction: "Call the police," "Help that person."
• Reducing ambiguity: Clear signals of emergency.
• Community norms: Promoting helping.

Comprehensive Exam Preparation

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The tendency to attribute others' behavior to disposition rather than situation is:

a) Self-serving bias

b) Fundamental attribution error

c) Just-world hypothesis

d) Stereotype threat

1. Milgram's obedience studies demonstrated that:

a) People rarely obey authority

b) Ordinary people can commit harmful acts under authority

c) Obedience is always harmful

d) Authority has no influence

1. The three components of an attitude are:

a) Cognitive, affective, behavioral

b) Belief, value, norm

c) Positive, negative, neutral

d) Thought, feeling, action

1. The elaboration likelihood model describes:

a) How attitudes form

b) Two routes to persuasion (central and peripheral)

c) How groups make decisions

d) How prejudice develops

1. Groupthink occurs when:

a) Groups make better decisions than individuals

b) Group pressure suppresses dissent and critical thinking

c) Groups are diverse

d) Leaders are democratic

1. Stereotype threat refers to:

a) The fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group

b) The belief that stereotypes are true

c) The process of stereotyping

d) The elimination of stereotypes

1. The bystander effect is reduced when:

a) Many people are present

b) The situation is ambiguous

c) The victim is similar to the helper

d) Responsibility is diffused

1. Social identity theory explains:

a) How individuals form attitudes

b) How group membership shapes identity and intergroup relations

c) How obedience works

d) How persuasion changes attitudes

1. The contact hypothesis states that prejudice can be reduced by:

a) Avoiding contact between groups

b) Positive contact between groups under optimal conditions

c) Competition between groups

d) Education alone

1. The frustration-aggression hypothesis suggests:

a) Aggression is innate

b) Frustration produces aggression

c) Aggression is learned

d) Aggression is biological

Short Answer Questions

1. Define social psychology and its scope.
2. Explain the fundamental attribution error.
3. Describe Asch's conformity studies.
4. What is the elaboration likelihood model?
5. Define stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination.
6. What is groupthink and how can it be prevented?
7. Explain the bystander effect.
8. What is stereotype threat?

Essay Questions

1. "The power of the situation is central to social psychology." Discuss with reference to conformity, obedience, and the bystander effect.

1. Analyze the psychology of prejudice and discrimination, and discuss strategies for reducing them in social work practice.

1. "Attitudes can be changed through persuasion." Discuss the factors and models of persuasion, with applications to social work advocacy.

1. Explain the theories of aggression and their implications for social work intervention with violent behavior.

1. "Social psychology is essential for understanding and improving social work practice." Discuss with reference to perception, attribution, social influence, and intergroup relations.

Key Terms Glossary

• Aggression: Behavior intended to harm.
• Altruism: Prosocial behavior motivated by concern for others.
• Attitude: Learned evaluation of a person, object, or idea.
• Attribution: Explaining the causes of behavior.
• Bystander effect: Reduced helping when others are present.
• Compliance: Agreeing to a request.
• Conformity: Matching group behavior or beliefs.
• Discrimination: Behavior disadvantaging a group.
• Fundamental attribution error: Over-attributing behavior to disposition.
• Groupthink: Group pressure suppressing dissent.
• Implicit bias: Automatic unconscious associations.
• Obedience: Compliance with authority.
• Prejudice: Negative attitude toward a group.
• Prosocial behavior: Behavior benefiting others.
• Stereotype: Generalized belief about a group.
• Stereotype threat: Fear of confirming a negative stereotype.
• Social identity: Identity derived from group membership.
• Social influence: How others shape thoughts, feelings, and behavior.