Social Influences PDF

who reach this stage, ex. Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King. "to promote social welfare" Social Influences \[Branch of Social psychology\]  How imitation, roles, reference groups, and culture are all parts of social influence.  Looks at individual thoughts, actions and feelings are in...

who reach this stage, ex. Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King. "to promote social welfare" Social Influences \[Branch of Social psychology\]  How imitation, roles, reference groups, and culture are all parts of social influence.  Looks at individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups. 222  **Imitation** -- a type of individual social influence, one of most basic forms of social behavior. Begins with understanding there's difference between others and our self. o **Andrew Meltzoff** (1977) published study that questioned theory that understanding between self and others happens soon after birth. In his experiment *he suggested that babies are born with a built-in capacity to imitate* *others.* o In his experiment: § A baby 12-21 days old, baby copies sticking tongue out. Baby imitating experimenter. § Was it true imitation or something else? Picture you opening mouth, baby should also open mouth. Had to ensure it wasn't a reflex or conditioning either. When baby had pacified in mouth, and experimental stuck out tongue, baby imitated them after the pacifier was taken out. § Condition: Experiments facial expressions had to be blank during this experiment. § Suggests we are born with built-in capacity to imitate others. Built in social mechanism which is critical for our species to learn through others. § Evidence suggests we have **mirror neurons**, when one fires another fires when we observe same action performed by other person. (Found in areas of brain that are motor (parietal lobe), premotor cortex (frontal lobe), and somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe). Can be helpful in understanding Imitation further.  **Roles** -- we have many different roles that define what we do and who we are. We adopt Social norms - the accepted standards of behavior of a social group, use it to guide our behaviours (what behavior is appropriate). Norms provide order in society and we use them to conform to expectations of that role/expectations of others. We respond to their approval when we play our roles well, and we get disapproval when we play roles badly. Expect people to behave in way that fits that role, and have them fit the role even more when roles are stereotyped. o Ex. Stanford Prison experiment - being in a prison environment caused guards to be more authoritative, sadistic, and power to do what they wanted with the prisoners. § Prisoners: felt they were powerless to the guards. They would suck up to the guards. These were expectations of the prisoners for approval by the guards. § Prison environment created these characteristics. The guards before the study did not have these characteristics.  **Reference groups** -- the group to which people refer in evaluating themselves. People's beliefs, attitudes, behaviours. Constantly looking for external groups that align with our beliefs/attitudes/behaviours. These groups influences our social decisions - our own beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Reference groups are groups that people refer to when evaluating their \[own\] qualities, circumstances, attitudes, values and behaviors. "any 223 group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior" o **"group that an individual compares himself or hearlself to for self-**evaluation" o Ex; Refer to a social-science student reference group when deciding what political party to vote for in an election. Or referring to feminist reference group when deciding whether to change name after marriage if we are female. o Any person or group in formation of general/specific values influences are social decisions. You bring subconsciously beliefs of the group everywhere, and you wish to satisfy the expectations of others. These reference groups set some level of *aspiration*.  **Culture and socialization** -- important contributions of society to our personal development, emphasises interaction between the people and culture in which we live. Everyone around us (teachers, coworkers) influence our social-identity development and on a larger scale the country which we live, communities, language, attitudes of groups we belong too. George Herbert Mead: The I and the Me  **Charles Cooley** and **George Herbert Mead** both thought others could play a significant role in how we view ourselves, however, they differed in how they thought this would happen. o Cooley thought everyone a person interacts with in a lifetime influences their identity, Mead thought this was more restricted -- only certain people can and only in certain periods of life. Mead also thought that the way others influence us changes across the lifespan. § In short: Cooley had a broader definition than Mead  **Mead** developed the idea of **social behaviourism**, the mind and self-emerge through the process of communicating with others (beginning of symbolic interactionism). o Infants + children were not influenced by others in any way, merely imitate others, and see themselves as being the focus of their own world and don't care what others think of them. Lack ability to take perspective of another person -- related to **Piaget's** concept of egocentrism. o As we grow up, our belief on how others perceive us is more important, this happens through 3 stages: *preparatory, play stage, and game stage.* These occur overtime as a child grows. o 1. **Preparatory stage** --interaction through imitation, ex. play with pots and pans when parents are cooking. As they grow older, focus more on communication with others instead of simple imitation, and get practice using symbols (gestures/words). *Can't take perspective of others.* o 2. **Play stage** -- more aware of social relationships, reflected in children's tendency to *pretend play as others* like firefighters, doctors, etc. Mentally assuming perspective of others and acting based on their perceived point of 224 view. Focused on role-taking: mentally taking perspective of another person and acting on that perceived viewpoint. § Way beyond immigration. They create social-interactions (not just mimicking) § Children consider attitudes, belief, and behaviors of individuals closest to them. o 3. **Game stage** -- Start to understand attitudes/beliefs/behavior of "**generalized** **other**" (society as a whole). With this comes whole new understanding of society. Children start to realize that people perform in ways not only on what they personally believe but what also in the ways society more broadly expects of them and they understand that people can take on multiple roles (people can be more than just moms, doctors, or teachers -- they can be multiple things @ once). Also realize others have opinions about them and those perceptions others have are based on how they act and what they say. They begin to be influenced by these perceptions and are concerned by reactions of others to what they do. But don't care about reactions of everyone, only significant others (people with important relationships to individual, ex. parents/teachers/close peers). o Believe this last stage led to development of the **"I"** and **"me".** § **Me** = what we learn through interactions with others. How individual believes the generalized other perceives us, the **social self**, and learned through interactions with others. Socialized and conforming aspect of self.  Way to remember: The \"Me\", The conforming, socialized person, who tries to not do any dick moves. "Societies View"  Ex: me thinks about people go from high school to college in US § **I** = the response of the individual to the "me". I thinks about what those things mean. aka attitudes of others. The spontaneous, less socialized component of the Self.  Way to remember: The \"I\", the nonconforming, the nonsocialized person, the one who make dick moves all the time. "individual identity (personal response to what society thinks")  Ex. I = is it best for me to go to college from HS, or work first or travel for a few years. § Our **actual self** is the *balance between the I and the me.* § Me = society's view (that's me!), the part of self-formed in interaction with others and social environment, and I = individual identity stepping in and our personal responses to what society thinks. The "I" is the spontaneous and autonomous part of our unified self. 225 Charles Cooley -- Looking Glass Self  **Socialization** describes the process by which people learn the attitudes, behaviours, and values expected by their culture/community. Socialization learning occurs through observation of/interaction with people who we are surrounded by -- those close to us and everyone else (ex. parents, peers, person at supermarket, celebrity, etc.) o Everyone has something to teach us on how we should act in our community.  Socialization also shapes our **self-image and self-concept**, and Charles Cooley used the term "**looking glass self"** to describe this process -- idea that a person's sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with others.  Thought this happened in 3 steps o 1) How do I appear to others? o 2) What must others think of me? (are we: shy, intelligent, funny, or awkward) o 3) Revise how we think about ourselves (based on correct OR incorrect perceptions on others evaluations).  *Critical aspect of this theory* is Cooley believed we are not actually being influenced by opinions of others, but what we **imagine** the opinions of other people to be. o Ex. Say we have teacher grading paper harshly, and doing it because they think that student has a lot of potential. But student gets paper back, think the teacher did so because student is not very intelligent, and came to conclusion they're not very good at literary analysis. Might result in student putting less effort into the class. Student is acting on incorrect perception on what teacher believes. Since attitude influences behaviors, we can put less effort into this class instead of more. o But can also be influenced by future interactions -- student might talk to teacher, and student was able to revise their incorrect perceptions and develop a different self- perspective.  A good example of the looking glass self is a person trying on clothes before going out with friends. Some people may not think much about how others will think about their clothing choices, but others can spend quite a bit of time considering what they are going to wear. While they are deciding, the dialogue taking place inside their mind is usually a dialogue between their \"self\" (that portion of their identity that calls itself \"I\") 226 and that person\'s internalized understanding of their friends and society (a \"generalized other\"). An indicator of mature socialization is when an individual quite accurately predicts how other people think about him or her. Such an individual has incorporated the \"social\" into the \"self. \"  The looking-glass self suggests that the self-concept is influenced by how we perceive that others are viewing us. Based on the looking-glass self, a person who acquires a stigmatized illness is likely to internalize the stigmatization directed against him or her. o "Symbolic interactionist paradigm in sociology. The looking glass self suggests that the self-concept is more than the product of self-reflection. Instead, the way in which people see themselves is based on how they believe others perceive them during social interactions" o The looking-glass self is the notion that we construct our identity out of our interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. This is not something that one can necessarily avoid -- it is simply one sociological construct for understanding how we build our sense of self. Perception, Prejudice, and Bias Attribution Theory -- Basic Co-variation  **Attribution theory** -- how we explain behaviours of others around us. o Explain the behavior of other people by breaking down our understanding/explanation of their behaviours to factors about them, and factors related to their environment/surroundings. o **Internal (dispositional attribution)** -- about them o **External (situational attribution)** -- environment o Behavior of others often have a *combination* of internal and external factors. o Attribution theory relates to the ways in which people attempt to explain various behaviors and events. o Fundamental attribution error occurs when a person assigns too much weight to internal causes rather than external factors when looking for causes of another person's behavior.  **Co-variation model** -- 3 cues of Kelley's co-variation model: *consistency (time),* *distinctiveness (situation), consensus (people)* o Ex. Take flaky friend, friend forever cancels on us. Consistent behavior over time. High level of consistent behavior over time, we are more likely related to them as a person as opposed to the world working against them in this situation. § When **consistency** is high = attribution to *internal factors* o Ex. Very nice friend Jim, but one day he gets so mad at the pizza place. Out of character and distinctive. So much more likely to be related to the environment. **Distinctiveness** = *situational.* 227 § Distinctiveness of a situation = attribution to *external factors* o Third factor in co-variation model -- *"group lateness*" -- if you arrive late at meeting but if you are with 20 other people are late too, high degree of **consensus**. When a lot of people demonstrate same behavior, we are more likely to attribute behavior to situational cause. § Consensus of people = *attribution of external factors* Attribution Theory -- Attribution Error and Culture  How do we understand behavior? We look at behaviour as coming from two parts -- a person's *internal attributes*, and secondly as being fuelled by *situation/external factors* (ex. Weather, housing, finances) o If in middle, we are a **neutral judge** and see a combination as both. o Behaviors are often complex and involve a combination of internal and external factors.  But often when we look at behaviour of others, we are NOT neutral, we're more likely to attribute their behaviour to their **internal factors** instead of considering complex external factors. o We term this the **fundamental attribution error --** over attribution of others behavior to internal causes. Problematic when looking at complex patients (ex. Obese patients who can't exercise because they are struggling with poverty) -- we under-recognize the situational and social problems, and healthcare barriers they can have, blaming them for their own problems.  When we consider our own behaviours, we are more likely to blame our behaviour on **external factors** (ego-preservation). We consider ourselves victims of circumstance. No name for this attribution error.  **Bias** - Cognitive bias is the tendency to think in certain ways. Cognitive biases often cause deviations from a standard of rationality or good judgment.  **Actor-Observer Bias:** we are victims of, but others are wilful actors. (same thing as saying: circumstance (we attribute out personal behavior but others behavior on internal factors)  There's also a **cultural** component: the fundamental attribution error occurs more in individualistic societies who place an emphasis on individual achievement (NA and Europe -- cultures). o Cultures have different ways they explain success and failure o In **individualistic** cultures (Western -- Europe/America), success is overattributed to internal and failure is over-attributed to external/situational factors. o In **collectivist** cultures (Eastern -- Africa/Asia), success is attributed to external and failure to internal factors  **Self-serving bias**: mechanism of preserving our self-esteem, more common in individualistic cultures. If we succeed it's due to our internal/personal qualities, but if we fail no hit on self-esteem because likely to do with things outside of our control. 228 o Individualistic societies tend to demonstrate a great degree of self-serving bias. More important in individual societies because of their emphasis on achievements and success.  **Optimism bias** is belief bad things happen to others, but not to us. Stereotypes: Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies  **Stereotyping** is *attributing a certain thought/cognition* to a group of individuals, and **overgeneralizing**. o Examples: People who wear glasses are smarter, people who live in cities are abrasive, o Can involve race, gender, culture, religion, shoe size. o Disadvantages: it's inaccurate o Advantages: allows us to rapidly assess large amounts of social data  **Stereotype threat** -- (negative consequence of stereotyping) - self-fulfilling fear that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. o Ex. Blue and red students, both perform equally. Next time, implement negative stereotype about blue students, blue students perform worse. o What **stereotype threat** is -- exposure to a negative stereotype surrounding a task can actually cause decrease in the performance of an individual performing task. Stereotype threatens performance. 229  **Self-fulfilling prophecy** -- stereotypes can lead to behaviours that affirm the original stereotypes. o "City dwellers are rude" (**cognition**, **stereotyping**) -\> I don't like them (**affective** component, **prejudice**) -\> I will avoid them (**behavioural** component, **discrimination**) o They think I'm rude (cognition) -\> They may not like me (affective)-\> They avoid me (behavioural) -\> City dwellers are rude § Continuous circle that positive feedbacks on itself. § The city dwellers become ruder over time in response to our own behavior towards them. Emotion and Cognition in Prejudice  **Prejudice** is made up of 3 components: o 1. Component\#1: **Cognition (*Stereotype*)-** Fundamental underlying thought, overgeneralized belief (cognition) o 2. Component\#2: **Affect** -- **prejudice** carries an emotional component o Component \#3: **Discrimination** *(tendency for Prejudice to lead to **behavior**)* **-** capacity to carry out a behavior and act on prejudice **(ABC model)**  At the core of prejudice is often fear of frustration. **Scapegoats** are group of people towards whom the aggression is directed, ex. Jews during World War II.  There are types of personality more subject to prejudice: o One example (Which is controversial): the **authoritarian personality --** who are very prejudice: They're **obedient to superiors**, but don't have much sympathy 230 for those they deem inferior to themselves -- they are **oppressive**. And rigid thinkers, **inflexible** with their viewpoints. § These people probably had a harsh bringing/lots of discipline growing up § They use prejudice to **protect their ego** and **avoid confronting** aspects of themselves because they're always focussed on others. o Personality types are hard to change. § So intervention to reduce prejudice by targeting these authoritarian personality types is difficult  **Frustration Aggression Hypothesis --** not personality based, but more emotional. o Ex. Someone getting **frustrated** can lead to prejudice. When someone's frustrated, frustrations turn to aggressive impulses, and direct that towards the employer. But you may lose your job, so you keep bottling up the aggression -- and rechanneled it somewhere else. Often towards **minorities**. o Display aggression towards other people -- **scapegoating**. Often seen in times of economic hardship.  **Hypothesis of Relative Deprivation** --upsurge in prejudice/discrimination when people are deprived of something they feel entitled to o Relative depreciation is the discrepancy of what they are entitled to and what they get) § Extent and how quickly this happens can lead to collective unrest -- an upsurge in prejudice and discrimination. § Linked to Frustration Aggression Hypothesis Prejudice and Discrimination Based on Race, Ethnicity, Power, Social Class, and Prestige  Prejudice and discrimination usually talked about in relation to racial and ethnic groups. o Physical characteristics with social significance -- some have more meanings than others. Ex. skin color, but not eye color. Attached meaning to skin color. o Ethnicity -- Defined by national origin/distinct cultural patterns. ex. Puerto Rican, Irish, Japanese. Also include groups like Jews defined more by cultural practices than country of origin.  Can also be based on power, social class, or prestige. o **Power** -- political power, economic (unfair hiring policies to minorities), personal (laws can limit where someone lives/etc.) o **Social Class** -- *status (social status) is relative* (to have higher status you need a lower status). Social class often sets stage for prejudice (people on top maintain differences between themselves and lower class -- the ***Just World Phenomenon*** -- good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, contributes to prejudice). § Ex. Of just world phenomena thinking: High social class people say they are there because they work harder and low social class people are there because they don't work hard.