PSYC3002 Lecture 8: Ingroup Norms & Extreme Behaviour PDF

The Social Psychology of Group Processes & Social Change PSYC3002 Lecture 8: Ingroup Norms & Extreme Behaviour Dr Charlie Crimston [email protected]  Intergroup & intragroup theories  The social identity approach  Ingroup bias & misinformation  Deviance & dissent  Stereotypes, prejud...

The Social Psychology of Group Processes & Social Change PSYC3002 Lecture 8: Ingroup Norms & Extreme Behaviour Dr Charlie Crimston [email protected]  Intergroup & intragroup theories  The social identity approach  Ingroup bias & misinformation  Deviance & dissent  Stereotypes, prejudice & discrimination  Group norms  Group norms for good?  Group norms for not so good?  Extreme group norms  Cults  Brainwashing  Group norms refer to: o what is typically done within a group, and o what is expected as appropriate behaviour within a group.  Group norms are group-level variables that: o develop over time within groups, and o influence group members’ behaviours.  Norms are social uniformities which arise from processes of mutual influence between group members (e.g., socialisation, culture, localised networks/groups)  Endorsed by group members (“right thing to     do”) Describe appropriate behaviour (descriptive) Expected by group members (prescriptive) “Oughtness” – obligation, duty Express social values (what is ‘good’). 5  People are motivated to act in the same way as others  (BUT, at times we can misperceive the relevant norms).  By clarifying and communicating the norm it is possible to shift behaviour.  3 Research Examples (a quick overview):  Paying taxes (Martin, 2012)  Prescribing fewer antibiotics (Hallsworth et al., 2016)  Drinking & Driving (Perkins et al., 2010) 7 Usual Norm UK Norm postcode Norm town “I may start legal proceedings against you to collect the amount unpaid.” “Over 94% of UK citizens pay their taxes on time.” “Nine out of 10 citizens living in your postcode pay their taxes on time.” “Over 93% of citizens living in your town pay their taxes on time.” 68% responded 73% responded 79% responded 83% responded “You are currently in the small minority of people who have not paid their taxes on time” 8 Top 20% prescribing GP Practices in a Local Area No Communication Letter from CMO “GP practice prescribing antibiotics at a higher rate than more than 80% of practices in the NHS Local Area Team”. 3.3 % reduction in antibiotic prescriptions over 6 month period for those received letter 9  Regions of the state assigned to one of three groups  Social norms marketing (high- dosage advertisements etc)  Buffer & Control  “Most Montana Young Adults  (4 out of 5) Don’t drink and Drive”  Changes in perceptions of norms  Increased use designated drivers  Changes in reported behaviour among 21-34 year olds 10 Social identity with ‘others’ (like-self) Social Norms ‘what others do’ Attitude & Behaviour Change Terry & Hogg (1996) – “the perceived norms of a specific and behaviourally relevant reference group (not others in general) may be important in explaining the intention-behaviour relationship” People align their own behaviour with group norms if they highly identify with the group! 11  Interested in environment/situation on behaviour (like Milgram)  Power of situations (roles & group norms) to shape individuals' behaviour.  Young “normal” men were randomly divided into the roles of Prisoner and Guard.  A prison-like environment was created in the basement of the Psychology Department at Stanford University.  According to Zimbardo… Guards were authoritarian and brutal, they conformed blindly to their assigned role. 13 14  Stanford Prison Experiment was an exercise in leadership & group norms.  Zimbardo writes that “participants had no prior training in how to play the randomly assigned roles” in fact he gave his Guards a very clear briefing: “You can create in the prisoners feelings of boredom, a sense of fear to some degree, you can create a notion of arbitrariness that their life is totally controlled by us, by the system, you, me – and they’ll have no privacy. “They’ll have no freedom of action, they can do nothing, say nothing that we don’t permit.We’re going to take away their individuality in various ways. In general, what all this leads to is a sense of powerlessness.”  The SPE is a study of what happens when a powerful authority figure (Zimbardo) has influence in establishing oppressive group norms. Zimbardo was an “influential identity leader” who served to create a toxic social system. 15  Same recruitment – 15 “normal” men  Purpose built prison (guard quarters, screens & monitoring, 3-man prisons cells, communal shower, isolation cell)  High status/high power Guards & Low status/low power Prisoners  Guards job to make the prison work and decide how best that might be done (could place Prisoners in an isolation cell or withdrawing their ‘privilege hour’).  No clear guidelines provided to Guards (unlike Zimbardo SPE)!! 16  Day 3…Prisoners unite – see the beginning of a rebellion  Day 4… Prisoners united in undermining Guard authority, Guards undermining other Guards authority. Stand off over meals and conditions, Guards unclear how to respond contradict each other. 17  Day 5 – prisoners have managed to redefine “us” and “them” boundaries – join forces guards and prisoners against the experimenters  Uses events to get agreement for a daily forum where Prisoners and Guards come together to discuss problems in the prison.  Forum vision not fulfilled (lead prisoner removed for “health reasons”) – returns to confusion.  Guards fearful Prisoners will do something  Day 6 – Guard does not check doors – jammed with cardboard, Prisoners free within complex.  Day 7 - gTA: It’s just not working out there. gTQ: Yeah, OK. gTA: It’s like, people aren’t listening, they want to do their breakfast, they’re telling us what to do. 18  Meet “as participants” and set up self-governing commune (“own this system and want it to work”)  Not everyone agrees with the Commune, and plan to set themselves up as "New Guards”.  DAY 8 pPB: “We’re having a military takeover of the regime that’s been put in place yesterday…. We want full military uniforms.... And we’re going to run this prison the way it should have been run from Day 1.” 19 20  Highlighted the (potential) power of the environment/situation/role/norms…  BUT, behaviour not simply due to situation/role.  Psychological connection to the role/group matters – social identification may be important for ‘collective action/power’ in the prison (Zimbardo’s guards were unified, BBC prisoners were unified).  Lack of effective leadership or a functioning system can lead to tyranny (more control of system).  Raises a number of new questions about conformity and resistance. 21 Definitions range from the emotionally neutral … “a system of religious worship and ritual” “a devoted attachment to, or extravagant admiration for, a person, group, or principle” … to the highly judgmental … “A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control … designed to advance the goals of the group’s leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community” CULTS: ACADEMIC APPROACHES The literature on cults split between “cult sympathizers” … Believe cults merely represent alternative culture Describe cults as “new religious movements” See negativity toward cults as a reflection of prejudice and a symptom of “moral panic” … and “cult critics” … Maintain cults are dangerous & psychologically harmful Argue that cults use unethical “mind control” procedures to influence members for their personal gain  In 1997, Heaven’s Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite convinced 39 followers to commit suicide so their souls could ride on a spaceship they thought was hiding behind the comet Hale-Bopp Male members were castrated and drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities Bodies were found covered with purple blankets and wearing brand new Nike sneakers  Secret society based on new age myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar Founders Joseph di Mambro and Luc Jouret convinced followers that they were members of the 14thC Knights Templar in a previous life Mission to save the spiritual heritages of Earth and take it to the planet Sirius Mass murder-suicides of cult members in Quebec and Switzerland occurred around dates of equinoxes and solstice  Set up by Shoko Asohara, a blind straw mat maker, who claimed to have visions of the apocalypse (based on Nostradamus) and supernatural powers. At its peak had 20 000 followers … still exists today Asohara claimed that he’d travelled in time to 2006 and spoken to survivors of WWIII. Dissenters and traitors suffered extreme punishment, and in one case a family was abducted and murdered Aum Supreme Truth began to engage in chemical attacks on symbols of aggression, corruption and materialism, ultimately resulting in the death of 13 in the sarin subway attacks.  Refers to members of the Unification Church established by Korean minister Sun Myung Moon Consider Reverend Moon as the “new messiah” Moonie marriages personally arranged by Moon who conducted the famous “mass weddings” in the US Reputation for high-pressure recruitment and corruption of youth (Moon and wife banned from entry into Germany because of this). Strong political influence in the US (Washington Times founders; connection with George W. Bush)  Religious group originating from the 7th Day Adventist Church Apocalyptic beliefs (final divine judgment at hand) Leader, David Koresh, openly advocated polygamy for himself and selected cult members Branch Davidian compound in Texas burned down following government raids for illegal weapons (around 86 dead, including Koresh).  Australia – 1963 to 1987  Doomsday cult – convinced people she was Jesus Christ reincarnated  Collected/stole children  Children were drugged with LSD and beaten  Raided by police in 1987  Died in a Melbourne nursing home in 2019  Originally a Christian group advocating social justice founded by Reverend Jim Jones in 1953 Jones established a town in Guyana for over 1000 of his followers (Jonestown) to avoid outside intervention Deviant members were severely punished (e.g. imprisoned in a small plywood box) In 1978, inhabitants committed mass suicide at Jones’ instruction by drinking poisoned soft drink. Those who resisted were shot (914 followers died). Although numbers are hard to gauge due to definitional problems, it’s been estimated that between 2 and 5 million people in the US alone have been involved in cults. Up to 500,000 people in Australia involved in various capacities. People who join cults are no poorer, stupider or sicker than those who do not. Although some have postulated that an unsatisfactory family environment causes people to join cults, there’s limited evidence that this is the case. Cult joiners often described as “seekers” … people seeking meaning but who are disillusioned by traditional religions. Research difficult to interpret given that accounts of pre-cult life are retrospective. Levine & Salter (1976) interviewed 106 current members of 9 cults who provided information about why they joined. 43% reported feelings of loneliness, rejection, sadness 41% reported they were drifting / life was meaningless 34% mentioned a personal crisis or unpleasant situation 30% met someone who actively converted them or became concerned with the person’s happiness. The majority reported “average” to “good” relationships with their parents before joining their groups. Studies based on anecdotal impressions are mixed: some suggest positive effects, others negative effects. Majority of studies using standard clinical measures suggest current cult members are psychologically well-adjusted. But studies difficult to interpret due to possibility of situational demands, response biases, and mistrust of outsiders. Transparent tests without subtle items may provide a misleading, unduly optimistic clinical profile of current cult members. “As much as I looked at beatific faces and witnessed gushes of joy, something has always prevented me from being swept up. Again and again, with hundreds of committed group members, I have felt that theirs is a performance, a case of bad acting in which the actor is himself carried away by the ringing truth of his role yet fails to convince the audience … They are not brainwashed or weird, but neither are they quite whole. The happy face that joiners wear is uncontagious precisely because it does not accurately represent their inner dynamics” Levine (1984) commenting on time spent among Moonies Martin et al. (1992) reported that of a sample of 110 former members, 23% walked away, 44% received exit counseling, and 25% were “deprogrammed”. Deprogramming (holding a cult member against their will and submitting them to long lectures) is losing popularity. Empirical studies on former cult members show that psychopathology is a risk factor associated with cults. Conway & Siegelman surveyed 400 former cult members and found 7 common symptoms: “floating” or dissociation (52%), nightmares (40%), inability to break mental rhythms of chanting (35%), amnesia, (21%), suicidal or self-destructive tendencies (21%), hallucinations/delusions (14%), and violent outbursts (14%). Other symptoms found in subsequent studies include high levels of anxiety and guilt, difficulty making decisions, depression, and loss of identity. A review of the research shows that number of former cult members displaying clinical symptoms ranges from 27% to 95%. BUT … results need to be interpreted with caution given potential for response bias (i.e., people exaggerating negativity out of anger with regard to their experiences). (1) Resolution of unresolved psychic needs: According to Freud, religious belief is based on regression to a state of childhood dependency and transference of feelings on to an ultimate father figure (God or cult leader). (2) Sense of meaning: Cult membership useful for those who are seeking a meaning in life and a cause (3) Uncertainty reduction: Cults provide a clear set of guidelines for how we should think and behave (4) Companionship and belonging Invitation to “open your mind” Prospective members are asked to open their minds to exciting new identities, to saturate themselves in new meaning and a sense of belonging, and to refrain from being judgmental. Influence through emotion, not intellect. Promise of answers… Cults frequently “diagnose” your inner unhappiness, and promise easy solutions and quick answers. Love-bombing… People are embraced by members in an enthusiastic display of unconditional love. Oldtimers might constantly serve and “help” a prospective member, thus inducing feelings of guilt and a norm of reciprocation. Invoking a sense of similarity Cult members might try to reduce the sense of strangeness and difference by invoking commonalities (“I used to be a school teacher too”, “You look so familiar”, “You look like a friend of mine”). Encouragement to participate in group activities… An act in which you participate with the group – particularly a public act – is a way of creating emotional ties with other members (while at the same time creating opportunity for further love bombing!). Public acts of group-iness can also help shift people’s self-image (“I must be a Moonie because I just behaved like a Moonie”).  Practice being a deviant at times; learn to accept rejection Don’t be afraid to “cut your losses” Always avoid taking uncertain actions that the change-agent insists must be made immediately Insist on an understandable explanation, without double-speak. Don’t let change-agents make you feel stupid; poor explanations are often signs of deception Be very wary of unconditional love from strangers Don’t enter “total situations” which are unfamiliar and from which there are no psychological or physical exits Engage your mind in critical evaluation Tolerate guilt as a part of human nature; don’t rush to ease it via paths others lay out for you The goal of brainwashing is to “radically change a mind, so that the individual becomes a living puppet, a human robot, without the atrocity being visible on the exterior, the objective being to create a tool in flesh and blood, furnished with new beliefs and new thought processes inserted into a captive body” (Edward Hunter … a covert propaganda specialist employed by CIA) Term “brainwashing” invented by CIA after examining why a number of US POWs appeared to be converted to Communism during the Korean War. Term popularized by Condon’s novel The Manchurian Candidate (1958). Early seasons of Homeland (2020) According to CIA, successful camps used the following strategies: (1) Prisoners were placed in an altered state of consciousness (2) In the resulting primitive state of consciousness, prisoners became highly suggestible (i.e., unable to resist) (3) Captors submit them to “conditioning” for which prisoners are punished for maintaining their original attitudes and rewarded for taking on communist propaganda (4) Captors assume a new personality that persists indefinitely, even when removed from the brainwashing situation. In contrast to this perspective, research on Korean POWs and Western civilians in “thought reform” prisons in China did not show evidence of hypnosis or attempts to place captors in a dissociative state. Much communist thought reform involved severe physical coercion and/or threat of death for noncompliance, and then subjecting them to intense communist propaganda. This technique appeared effective in the shortterm, but once the captors left this environment they reverted back to their original set of attitudes and politics. Research by CIA that attempted to develop techniques for converting foreign agents against their wills to American ideology by means of hypnosis and other techniques for creating suggestible states of consciousness was completely unsuccessful. Guilty of many illegal experiments! Subsequent research suggests that the most effective strategies for “brainwashing” American POWs into becoming collaborators was the use of gentle strategies to induce mild commitment to the Communist cause, or mild anti-US sentiment. These apparently trivial sentiments would then be committed to paper and elaborated by the captors, in such a way that the “betrayal” becomes increasingly sinister and large-scale. The success of this strategy shows (a) The power of commitment in gaining compliance (b) The need for people to feel that they have chosen to change their attitudes Lifton (1961) outlined a number of conditions that result in “mind control”. Milieu control Mystical manipulation Demand for purity Use of confession Sacred science Milieu control involves the limiting of all forms of communication with the outside world. Difficult to “reality test” when stripped of contact with the outside world. The potential convert is convinced that the group is working toward a “higher purpose” and that she/he will be instrumental in the attainment of that goal. Manipulators cast themselves as agents “chosen” (by history, by God, or some supernatural force) to carry out the “mystical imperative”, the pursuit of which is more important than any considerations of decency or of immediate human welfare. Any thought or action which questions the higher purpose is considered to be stimulated by a lower purpose – to be backward, selfish and petty in the face of the great mission. “The world is sharply divided into the pure and the impure; into good and evil” The philosophical assumption is that absolute purity is attainable, and that anything done to anyone in the name of this purity is ultimately moral. The manipulator becomes the ultimate judge of good and evil, and use guilt and shame to control the captor. In an effort to strive for ultimate purity – and to absolve the self of shame and guilt – people are encouraged to make confessions … even to crimes they have never committed. The effect is of establishing a closeness with fellow confessors, and of surrendering the self to the environment. Private ownership of the mind and its contents is viewed as immoral and unnecessary. An aura of sacredness is built around the group dogma – it is cast as the ultimate moral vision for humanity. The sacredness is evident in the prohibition against questioning basic assumptions, and in the reverence demanded for the Word, and the originators of the Word. This results in the illusion of logic and precision. Dissent is not only immoral but also “unscientific”.  Q1. What is the link between group norms and individual behaviour?  Q2. Can group norms be used for good? And what is crucial for this to occur?  Q3. What were the main conclusions of the BBC prison study?  Q4. What did the BBC prison study tell us about the original SPE?   Q5. Why are cults so appealing to some?  Q6. What are some overlaps between cult recruiting techniques and brainwashing techniques? 61  Nguyen A, Platow MJ. "I'll eat meat because that's what we do": The role of national norms and national social identification on meat eating. Appetite. 2021 Sep 1;164:105287. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105287. Epub 2021 Apr 28. PMID: 33930496. 62