Psychology 112 Lecture 6 2024 PDF

Social Influence Social facilitation Deindividuation Conformity Obedience  Social facilitation how the physical presence of others influences our behaviour. we are more likely to laugh if others laugh the larger the crowd the more we eat cockroaches run faster in the presence of other c...

Social Influence Social facilitation Deindividuation Conformity Obedience  Social facilitation how the physical presence of others influences our behaviour. we are more likely to laugh if others laugh the larger the crowd the more we eat cockroaches run faster in the presence of other cockroaches Presence of others can have detrimental effects Schmitt (1986). respondents completed simple and complex tasks. When others present - Simple task ability improved. Complex task ability decreased. Others can either facilitate or inhibit behaviour. Possible explanation offered by Zajonc (1980) Drive Theory of Facilitation. the presence of others leads to increased arousal. Arousal strengthens the display of our dominant response. Our performance is enhanced if our dominant response is appropriate. Our performance is impaired if our dominant response is inappropriate. Michaels et al. (1982) investigated pool player’s accuracy in the presence of others. the accuracy of good players increased from 71% to 80%. the accuracy of poor players decreased from 35% to 25%.  Diffusion of responsibility Kitty Genovese struggle with her killer for 30 mins the struggle was reportedly watched by 38 of her neighbours. None helped or phoned the police.  Latane and Darley ‘Diffusion of Responsibility’ – the idea that as group size increases individual responsibility decreases. participants come along and sit in a waiting room on the pretext of taking part in a laboratory experiment. Smoke came out of a vent, 75% of those waiting alone reacted immediately, less than 1% of those waiting with others reacted.  Deindividuation Presence of other people can have bizarre or negative effects. Mann (1981) discusses instances were a potential suicide victim is abused and taunted.  When people are surrounded by others they lose self-awareness and begin to feel anonymous When aroused the loss in self-awareness works to disinhibit those impulses which are normally kept under check the impulses that are released depend on the situation thus masked revelers at a party may drink to much members of a lynch mob may torture and kill decrease in self-awareness leads to an increase in anti-social behaviour. Zimbardo (1970) anonymity leads to aggression. Increase in self-awareness decreases anti-social behaviour. Beaman et al., (1979) in a Halloween study 34% took extra sweets only 12% of those presented with mirror took extra sweets.  Conformity - Solomon Asch 1. Brought 10-12 people into lab. 2. Showed pairs of cards (6’ long, and 4’, 6’, & 8’ long). 3. Respondents to guess which were of equal size. 4. Preferences given out loud. 5. Only 1 person bonafide the rest were confederates of the experimenter. 6. Confederates gave answers 1st & consistently gave incorrect answers 7. Results showed that 75% went along with majority. 8. Control participants did not make any mistakes. A B C D  Influence can actually change beliefs Newcomb looked at social and political attitudes at a small liberal college in the U.S. College recruited students from conservative background. Initially the students themselves were very conservative but by the time they left university they had adapted to the liberal ethos of the college.  Roles Zimbardo in the Stanford Prison experiment – got students to take on the roles of guards and prisoners in a 2-week experiment. Guards became assertive, dominant supportive of one another regardless of brutality. Prisoners became obedient, cowed, judged guards to be larger. Study had to be stopped after 6 days. Obedience Milgram asked to what extent do people obey. Set up a scenario -people thought they were in ing part in an an experiment on learning. One participant took the role of teacher. The other (an experimental confederate) took the role of pupil. Pupil taken to another room and strapped into a chair. Each time the pupil made a mistake the teacher gave him a bogus electrical shock. The shock level was to increase by 15 volts each time the learner made a mistake. The teacher sat in front of a large shock generator that contained dials ranging from SLIGHT SHOCK to DANGER XXX. As the study progressed the pupil grunted and screamed, then complained of a heart condition. Eventually the pupil became silent. 66% of participants went to the DANGER XXX level. Although alarming, these results indicate that people will hurt others if ordered to do so.  Summary Social facilitation Deindividuation Conformity Obedience  Exam Questions The phenomenon in which people lose their sense of personal identity and self-awareness as a result of the anonymity provided by being in a large group of people is called: A. deindividuation. B. depersonalisation. C. deinternalisation. D. disinhibition. A meta-analysis of 60 different studies examining the possible causal mechanisms of deindividuation revealed that ____________ was the primary factor that disinhibited behaviour. A. group size B. anonymity to outsiders C. the remoteness of the victim D. the legitimacy of the authority figure