Social Psychology Chapter 12 PDF

10/3/23 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER 12 1 2 1  10/3/23 OVERVIEW How does group membership affect people? When do people help or harm other people? How do attitudes influence behavior? Ho...

10/3/23 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER 12 1 2 1  10/3/23 OVERVIEW How does group membership affect people? When do people help or harm other people? How do attitudes influence behavior? How do people think about others? What determines the quality of a relationship? 3 HOW DOES GROUP MEMBERSHIP AFFECT PEOPLE? 4 2  10/3/23 PEOPLE PREFER THEIR OWN GROUPS 5 SOCIAL SITUATION The power of the social situation is much more powerful than most people believe 6 3  10/3/23 GROUP FORMATION 7 GROUP FORMATION Requires reciprocity and transitivity Reciprocity: if Person A helps (or harms) Person B, then Person B will help (or harm) Person A Transitivity: people generally share their friends’ opinions of people 8 4  10/3/23 SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY People in ingroups generally perceive themselves as members of the same social category People value their groups and feel proud of their group membership 9 INGROUP FAVORITISM People are more likely to distribute resources to ingroup members than to outgroup members This occurs even when group membership is determined arbitrarily and even when members know that membership was random (minimal group paradigm) 10 5  10/3/23 GROUPS INFLUENCE INDIVIDUALS 11 SOCIAL FACILITATION Norman Triplet (1897) Cyclists pedal faster when they ride with other people than when they ride alone 12 6  10/3/23 13 SOCIAL FACILITATION If behavior is easy or well-practiced, presence of others will enhance performance If behavior is novel or less well-learned, presence of others will impair performance 14 7  10/3/23 SOCIAL LOAFING People do not work as hard when in a group as when working alone 15 SOCIAL LOAFING – WHY? Diffusion of responsibility Free-rider effect Sucker effect 16 8  10/3/23 RISKY-SHIFT EFFECT Group decisions are often riskier than individual decisions. 17 GROUP THINK Tendency for group members to make poor decisions for the sake of cohesion. 18 9  10/3/23 GROUP THINK 19 GROUP THINK 20 10  10/3/23 GROUP THINK Typically occurs when group is: 1. Under intense pressure 2. Facing external threat 3. Biased in particular direction 21 TO PREVENT GROUP THINK Leaders must not state opinions strongly at beginning of discussion Group should be encouraged to discuss alternative ideas Devil’s advocate 22 11  10/3/23 DEINDIVIDUATION Loss of individuality in a group that occurs when people are not self-aware and not paying attention to their personal standards. Especially likely to happen if people are aroused, anonymous, and responsibility is diffused 23 24 12  10/3/23 25 26 13  10/3/23 27 DEINDIVIDUATION Suicide Baiting Most likely in crowds, at night, when farther away from victim 28 14  10/3/23 PEOPLE CONFORM TO AND COMPLY WITH OTHERS 29 CONFORMITY 30 15  10/3/23 REASONS FOR CONFORMITY Normative influence: people go along with the crowd to fit and and not look foolish Informational influence: people assume that the behavior of the crowd represents the correct way to assume 31 SOCIAL NORMS Expected standards of conduct People feel embarrassed when they violate social norms and they worry about what others think of them 32 16  10/3/23 SUBTLETY OF SOCIAL NORMS 33 AUTOKINETIC EFFECT 34 17  10/3/23 SHERIF (1936) 8 7 Subject 1 Subject 2 6 Subject 3 5 4 3 2 1 0 Alone One Two Three 35 36 18  10/3/23 LINE JUDGMENT STUDIES Asch (1955) C C A B C C S Standard Comparison Line Lines C C 37 LINE JUDGMENT STUDIES 38 19  10/3/23 ASCH (1955) 40 12 Critical Trials 35 30 % of Subjects 25 Conformity on 37% 20 of Trials 15 10 5 0 0 1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 9 10 to 12 # of Conforming Trials 39 ASCH (1955) 40 20  10/3/23 PUNCTURED UNANIMITY If even one person dissents, conformity drops dramatically Don’t be afraid to speak up! 41 PEOPLE OBEY AUTHORITY 42 21  10/3/23 ADOLPH EICHMANN Head, Department of Jewish Affairs (1941 to 1945) Leading role in deportation of European Jews to death camps Architect of the “final solution” 43 SITUATION We tend to think that people act consistently across situations (personality) Behavior is influenced by the situation Social influence affects thoughts, emotions, and behaviors 44 22  10/3/23 STANLEY MILGRAM 45 Milgram asked 40 psychiatrists how many people in an obedience study would deliver 450 volts Answer: <.001% 46 23  10/3/23 The Banality of Evil “The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal” Hannah Arendt (1965) 47 MILGRAM EXPERIMENT Milgram Experiment 48 24  10/3/23 MILGRAM EXPERIMENT Almost all participants tried to quit 14/50 participants showed signs of smiling or nervous laughter Nearly 2/3 followed directions 49 PROXIMITY OF AUTHORITY 100% 90% 80% Authority in Same Room 70% Authority on Telephone 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Authority in Same Room Authority on Telephone 50 25  10/3/23 PROXIMITY OF LEARNER 100% 90% 80% Remote "Victim" 70% Voice Feedback In Same Room Force Hand to Shock 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 51 INCREASING OBEDIENCE When shocks are increased gradually When victim starts protesting later in the study When the orders help justify continuing the study When the study is conducted at a high-status school 52 26  10/3/23 CRITICISM OF MILGRAM Some people got more encouragement than others Some participants didn’t fully believe that learner was getting life-threatening shock Some participants may have followed directives because they believed in the value of science NOT ALL PARTICIPANTS RECEIVED TIMELY DEBRIEFINGS 53 WHO ARE THESE GUARDS? The guards broke into each cell, stripped the prisoners naked, took the beds out, forced the ringleaders of the prisoner rebellion into solitary confinement…. The guards again escalated very noticeably their level of harassment, increasing the humiliation they made the prisoners suffer, forcing them to do menial, repetitive work such as cleaning out toilet bowls with their bare hands. 54 27  10/3/23 STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT Zimbardo shocked by prison violence Is it the people or the situation? 55 STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT 56 28  10/3/23 STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT Set up Mock Prison Randomly assigned volunteers to be prisoners or guards Cancelled study after 6 days 57 WHY DO PEOPLE HARM OR HURT OTHERS? 58 29  10/3/23 AGGRESSION Common among young children, but not adults not socially acceptable More likely when people feel socially rejected or experience negative emotions Insulted afraid frustrated overly hot in pain 59 BIOLOGICAL FACTORS MAOA gene (warrior gene) controls amount of MAO Regulates neurotransmitters including serotonin and norepinephrine makes individuals susceptible to environmental factors related to antisocial behavior Testosterone modest correlation with aggression changes in testosterone may be result of aggression, not cause 60 30  10/3/23 IAT Controversial IAT is better at predicting behavior than self-report in socially sensitive situations where people might admit real attitudes BUT public perception of IAT greatly exaggerates its ability to identify racial bias or predict behavior 61 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS In U.S., aggression more common in South than North Culture of honor Men in south traditionally raised to fight for their honor and respond aggressively to personal threats 62 31  10/3/23 63 Myth: Crowding consistently leads to more aggression Fact: Crowding sometimes reduces aggression because people in crowded areas may limit interaction with others. 64 32  10/3/23 PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS Doing favors, offering help, paying complements, resisting the temptation to insult or hit another person, being pleasant Promotes positive interpersonal relationships and is required in groups 65 ALTRUISM Providing help when it is needed without any apparent reward for doing so 66 33  10/3/23 67 WHY BE ALTRUISTIC? Inclusive fitness: adaptive benefits of transmitting genes rather than focusing on individual survival kin selection – people are altruistic towards people who share their genes Reciprocal helping: You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours Benefits must outweigh the costs 68 34  10/3/23 THE KITTY GENOVESE INCIDENT The Scene of the Crime New York City March 13, 1964 69 70 35  10/3/23 BYSTANDER EFFECT Failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need Latane & Darley (1968) 71 BYSTANDER EFFECT: WHY? 1. Diffusion of responsibility 2. Fear of social blunders Lessens as danger becomes more clear 3. Less likely to help when they are anonymous 4. Risk vs. benefit 72 36  10/3/23 COOPERATION Muzafer Sherif (1961) 73 HOW DO ATTITUDES GUIDE BEHAVIOR? 74 37  10/3/23 ATTITUDES Feelings, opinions, and beliefs about yourself, friends, world, etc. Shaped by social context and play important role in how we evaluate and interact with others. 75 76 38  10/3/23 77 CREATING ATTITUDES Negative attitudes formed more quickly than positive attitudes Adaptive from evolutionary standpoint 78 39  10/3/23 MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT The more people are exposed to something, the more they like it 79 ATTITUDE BEHAVIOR CONSISTENCY Attitudes most likely to predict behavior are: 1. Stronger and more personally relevant 2. More specific 3. More accessible 80 40  10/3/23 CONSISTENCY 81 EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ATTITUDES Explicit: attitudes you know about and can report to other people Implicit: influence their feelings and behaviors at an unconscious level 82 41  10/3/23 IAT 83 Myth: People’s attitudes are highly predictive of their behaviors Fact: In most cases, attitudes are only weak predictors of behaviors 84 42  10/3/23 DISSONANCE Contradiction between two attitudes or between attitudes and behavior Cognitive dissonance causes anxiety – we try to reduce this anxiety by changing attitudes or behaviors or by rationalizing 85 DISSONANCE 86 43  10/3/23 INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION (Festinger & Carlsmith) Completed boring task and got paid $1 or $20 to tell next participant the task was really interesting, and worthwhile Later, asked to rate how enjoyable the task was 87 INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION (Festinger & Carlsmith) 88 44  10/3/23 89 90 45  10/3/23 91 JUSTIFYING EFFORT (Aronson & Mills, 1959) Women asked to take a test to determine whether they were eligible for research study They read either obscene / sexually explicit words or mild words aloud and then listened to boring presentation on mating rituals Women who read obscene words rated the presentation as more interesting, stimulating, and important 92 46  10/3/23 PERSUASION Active and conscious effort to change an attitude through the transmission of a message Most likely to work when people pay attention to message, understand it, and find it convincing 93 PERSUASION Strong arguments that appeal to emotion are most persuasive One-side arguments work best when audience is on speaker’s side or gullible Two-sided arguments work best with skeptical crowd 94 47  10/3/23 FOOT IN DOOR TECHNIQUE If people agree to a small request, they become more likely to comply with a large and undesirable request. 95 DOOR IN THE FACE TECHNIQUE People are more likely to agree to a large request after they have refused a larger request. 96 48  10/3/23 LOW-BALLING A person who has already agreed to buy a product will often agreed to pay an increased cost. 97 HOW DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT OTHERS? 98 49  10/3/23 MAKING JUDGEMENTS The first thing people notice about others is the face 99 NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR Thin slices of behavior Judges’ non-verbal actions can predict whether a jury will find defendant guilty Substantial evidence that people’s gaydar is quite accurate 100 50  10/3/23 ATTRIBUTIONAL DIMENSIONS Attributions: explanations for events or actions, including others’ behaviors Personal Attributions: internal or dispositional attributions Situational Attributions: external attributions 101 102 51  10/3/23 FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR When explaining other peoples’ behavior, people tend to overemphasize the importance of personality traits and underemphasize the importance of situations 103 ACTOR OBSERVER DISCREPANCY When people observe their own behavior, they tend to focus on situations When people observe others’ behaviors, they focus on dispositions 104 52  10/3/23 105 OPTIMISTIC BIAS We tend to think that our risk of negative events is lower than that of other people 106 53  10/3/23 STEREOTYPES Cognitive schemas that help in the organization of information about people on the basis of their membership in certain groups. In and of themselves, they are neutral 107 CONFIRMATION BIAS People believe false relationships because they only notice evidence that confirms their stereotypes 108 54  10/3/23 PREJUDICE & DISCRIMINATION Prejudice: negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype Discrimination: inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people as result of prejudice 109 STEREOTYPES & PERCEPTION 0.4 Black Face Proportion of Misidentification Errors 0.38 White Face 0.36 0.34 0.32 0.3 0.28 0.26 0.24 0.22 0.2 Gun Tool 110 55  10/3/23 MODERN RACISM Subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with rejection of racist beliefs Modern racism leaks out more through indifference to concerns of minority group members than through overt negativity. 111 REDUCING PREJUDICE Explicit efforts to train people about stereotyped associations Inhibiting stereotypes Difficult Requires self control 112 56  10/3/23 Myth: To reduce prejudice, we first must change people’s attitudes Fact: Changing people’s behavior is often the best way to change their prejudiced attitudes. 113 WHAT DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF RELATIONSHIPS? 114 57  10/3/23 115 PROXIMITY & FAMILIARITY Proximity: how often people come in contact with each other because they are physically nearby Familiarity: people prefer familiar things mere exposure effect 116 58  10/3/23 Myth: Playing hard to get is a good way of getting someone interested in you romantically. Fact: Research suggests that men are less interested in women who are “standoffish” than women who are receptive to their advances 117 ACTIVITY Write down the three most important characteristics you look for in a friend. Then, write down the three most important characteristics you look for in a romantic partner. 118 59  10/3/23 POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS 1. Sincere 2. Honest 3. Understanding 4. Loyal 5. Truthful 6. Trustworthy 7. Intelligent 8. Dependable 9. Open-minded 10. Thoughtful 119 NEGATIVE CHARACTERISTICS 1. Unkind 2. Untrustworthy 3. Malicious 4. Obnoxious 5. Untruthful 6. Dishonest 7. Cruel 8. Mean 9. Phony 10. Liar 120 60  10/3/23 COMPETENCE We like people who appear competent, but not too perfect... 121 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS Men are generally attracted to signs of youth and fertility Women are motivated to find partners who can provide resources for them and their offspring dominance 122 61  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS People are generally more attracted to symmetrical faces May be sign of genetic fitness and health 123 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 124 62  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 125 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 126 63  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 127 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 128 64  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 129 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 130 65  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 131 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 132 66  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 133 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 134 67  10/3/23 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS 135 PASSIONATE VS. COMPANIONATE LOVE Passionate love: state of intense longing and sexual desire experienced early in relationships – evolves into companionate love in enduring relationship Companionate love: strong commitment to love and care for partner 136 68  10/3/23 PASSION FADES From first year of marriage to second, frequency of sex reduces by half After first year, frequency declines, but not as rapidly If people don’t form companionate love, loss of passion often leads to dissatisfaction and even divorce 137 GOTTMAN’S FOUR HORSEMEN 1. Being overly critical 2. Holding the partner in contempt 3. Being defensive 4. Mentally withdrawing from relationship 138 69