Chapter 18 Summary (Social Psych)

I really enjoyed chapter 18 because it focuses more on people's actual behaviors and how they conform, and interact with others. Social Psychology; the study of how we think about influence and relate to one another was interesting because it explains why people act the way they do. The attribution theory made me understand why others and myself think the way we do about others. It made me realize that this theory is the reason why people are so quick to judge. I find myself making depositional attribution often, and this chapter helped me personally to not be so quick to do this. The foot in the door phenomenon explained how Hitler gained so much control because when people agree to a small request they later give in to a larger one. Conformity was a interesting subject to study because it's amazing to me, to see how easy it is for people to conform, even when they are confident about what they feel is right. The group influence is important to understand especially being a teenager. Whether someone is to have normative social influence or informative social influence shows how easily they will conform. In my own life I see social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, group polarization, and group think very often and especially with my own lacrosse team. Prejudice; the unjust able attitude toward a group or its members was also interesting to learn about because prejudice is still a huge issue today. That's what I've learned throughout chapter 18.