Favorites in Social Psychology

Top 5 Favorite Social Psychology Theories
1. In order of appearance in the book, my first favorite theory is facial feedback hypothesis. I like that your mood can be affected by your face, especially in two separate ways, because even if something is unpleasant, people can actually like it just by smiling.

2. Next is self-monitoring mostly because I am a big self-monitor. I like that people are so adaptive that they can change from one social situation to the next. I don't like the thought of people being fake, but I take self-monitoring to mean that a person accentuates certain characteristics in order to fit in rather than be totally insincere.

3. Third is false consensus effect because people have biased samples, and they don't know that others don't think like they do. I also wondered if this heuristic is more common in collective cultures than individualistic cultures.

4. Then is superordinate goals. Superordinate goals can unite groups which were against each other from the start. I think superordinate goals is one of the best ways to reduce conflict.

5. Last is the norm of reciprocity because it is so powerful in my life, and I think in pretty much everyone's life. I can't get a compliment without immediately throwing one back, or when I need a compliment, I just start complimenting other people.

Top 5 Favorite Social Psychologists
1. First things first, I have to go with Dan Gilbert because he seems to be a charming and witty guy. His remark to the "Bubba" still cracks me up. I also like his work on affective forecasting and his perspective on the fundamental attribution error. He also has publications on several different areas of study within social psychology such as stereotypes and prosocial behavior, and I appreciate his diversity especially because Dr. G. would tell us more Dan Gilbert stories every time we came to his study.

2. Next I'd have to say Leon Festinger mostly for cognitive dissonance. I have respect for someone who can think of such a counter-intuitive theory which makes so much sense. It also puts such a twist on how we think about persuasion, attitudes, and consistency. Festinger is a diverse guy as well. His social comparison theory is also a little counter-intuitive because it says to look outwards to find information about ourselves. Before, I thought people looked inward to learn about themselves.

3. Third is Claude Steele for his work on stereotype threat and alternatives for cognitive dissonance. Stereotype threat is interesting to me because an individual does not have to believe in the stereotype to worry about perpetuating it. Also interesting is that one way to decrease it is to have a role model, but role models are rare in stereotype threat cases because many individuals disidentify from the task.

4. Then is Stanley Milgram. Him and Zimbardo both have guts, but I would choose Milgram because he mapped out all of the variables (such as authority variables) with multiple, similar studies. Not only did he conduct one of the most interesting studies ever, but then he expanded on it and elaborated until he could write a whole book.

5. Last is Robert Zajonc mostly because his name is awesome. Not really. Mostly because of his work on social facilitation. He must be pretty clever to take a theory which had both support and counter evidence and adapt it to a theory which turned the counter evidence into support. Plus he did an experiment in which supported that cockroaches are influences by the presence of other cockroaches. Actually, nevermind, that counts against him. A redeeming study was his work on facial feedback hypothesis which is cool because it works in two ways though Zajonc studied the physiological aspects of it.