Chapter 18

1. Chapter 18 Social Behavior

2. What is Social Psychology? Some Definitions • Social Psychology: Scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social situations; how people act in the presence (actual or implied) of others • Culture: Ongoing pattern of life that is passed from one generation to another

3. Social Roles • Social Role: Patterns of behavior expected of people in various social positions (e.g. daughter, mother, teacher, President (!)) • Ascribed Role: Assigned to a person or not under personal control • Achieved Role: Attained voluntarily or by special effort: teacher, mayor, President • Role Conflict: When two or more roles make conflicting demands on behavior

4. Groups • Group Structure: Network of roles, communication, pathways, and power in a group • Group Cohesiveness: Degree of attraction among group members or their commitment to remaining in the group • Cohesive groups work better together • What kind of groups did you see on “Survivor,” “Big Brother,” “Road Rules,” and “Real World”? • Status: Level of social power and importance • Norm: Accepted, but usually unspoken, standard of appropriate behavior

5. Fig. 18.1 Results of an experiment on norms concerning littering. The prior existence of litter in a public setting implies that littering is acceptable. This encourages others to “trash” the area. (From Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990.)

6. Personal Space • Area surrounding the body that is defined as private and is subject to personal control

7. Spatial Norms • Proxemics: Systematic study of human use of personal space, especially in social settings • Intimate Distance: Most private space immediately surrounding the body; 18 inches from the skin. Reserved for special people or special circumstances • Personal Distance: Maintained in interactions with friends. 18 inches to 4 feet from body; arm’s length • Social Distance: Impersonal interaction takes place; 4 to 12 feet • Public Distance: Formal interactions take place (like giving a speech); 12 feet or more

8. Fig. 18.2 Typical spatial zones (in feet) for face-to-face interactions in North America. Often, we must stand within intimate distance of others in crowds, buses, subways, elevators, and other public places. At such times, privacy is maintained by avoiding eye contact, by standing shoulder to shoulder or back to back, and by positioning a purse, bag, package, or coat as a barrier to spatial intrusions.

9. Social Perception • Attribution Theory: Making inferences about the causes of one’s own behavior and others’ behavior • Consistency: Person’s behavior changes very little in many different circumstances • Distinctiveness: Noticing that a behavior only occurs under certain circumstances

10. Social Perception (cont.) • Actor: Person whose behavior is being interpreted • Object: Aim, motive, or target of an action • Setting: Social and/or physical environment in which action occurs • Situational Demands: Pressures to behave in certain ways in particular settings and social situations

11. Other Attribution Concepts • Discounting: Downgrading internal explanations of behavior when a person’s actions seem to have strong external causes • Consensus: Degree to which people respond alike. In attribution, implies that responses are externally caused • Self-Handicapping: Arranging to perform under conditions that impair performance, so as to have an excuse for a poor performance • Lisa said, “I took 3 classes while my foot hurt all semester; that’s why I got a 0.5 average!”

12. More Attribution Concepts • Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to attribute behavior of others to internal causes (personality, likes, and so on). We believe this even if they really have external causes! • Actor-Observer Bias: Tendency to attribute behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing the behavior of ourselves to external causes (situations and circumstances)

13. Affiliation • Need to Affiliate: Desire to associate with other people; appears to be a basic human trait • Social Comparison: Making judgments about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. E.g. comparing our feelings and abilities to those of other people • Downward Comparison: Comparing yourself with someone who ranks lower than you on some area (e.g. money, attractiveness) • Upward Comparison: Comparing ourselves to someone who ranks higher than we do on some area; may be used for self-improvement (something we strive for)

14. Interpersonal Attraction • Social attraction to another person • Physical Proximity: Physical nearness to another person in terms of housing, school, work, and so on • Physical Attractiveness: Person’s degree of physical beauty as defined by his or her culture • Halo Effect: Tendency to generalize a favorable impression to unrelated personal characteristics

15. Interpersonal Attraction (cont.) • Similarity: Extent to which two people are alike in terms of age, education, attitudes, and so on • Similar people are attracted to each other • Homogamy: Tendency to marry someone who is like us in almost every way

16. CNN – Fan Psyche

17. Self-Disclosure • Process of revealing private thoughts, attitudes, feelings and one’s history to others • Should be used cautiously and sparingly when you are the therapist performing therapy • May lead to countertransference in therapy • Reciprocity: Return in kind; reciprocal exchange • Overdisclosure: Self-disclosure that exceeds what is appropriate for a relationship or social situation

18. Social Exchange Theory • Social Exchange Theory: Rewards must exceed costs for relationships to endure; we unconsciously weigh social rewards and costs • Comparison Level: Personal standard used to evaluate social rewards and costs in a social exchange • Relationship needs to be profitable enough to maintain it

19. Love and Attachment • Romantic Love: Marked by high levels of interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and heightened arousal • Liking: Relationship based on intimacy but lacking passion and commitment • Mutual Absorption: When two lovers almost always attend only to each other • Avoidant Attachment: Fear of intimacy and a tendency to resist commitment to others • Ambivalent Attachment: Mixed emotions about relationships; conflicting feelings of affection, anger and emotional turmoil

20. Fig. 18.4 What do people look for when considering potential dating partners? Here are the results of a study in which personal ads were placed in newspapers. As you can see, men were more influenced by looks, and women by success (Goode, 1996). According to evolutionary psychologists, women tend to be concerned with whether mates will devote time and resources to a relationship. Men place more emphasis on physical attractiveness and sexual fidelity.

21. Social Influence • Changes in a person’s behavior induced by the actions of another person • Someone else influences your decision: husband, wife, mother, peer, etc. • Peer pressure: Rudy is swayed by Fanny to go see “The Matrix Reloaded” when he really wanted to see “Terminator 3”

22. Conformity • Bringing one’s behavior into agreement with norms or the behavior of others • Solomon Asch’s Experiment: You must select (from a group of three) the line that most closely matches the standard line. All lines are shown to a group of six people (including you) • Other five were accomplices and at times all would select the wrong line • In 33% of the trials, the real subject conformed to group pressure even when the group’s answers were obviously incorrect!

23. Fig. 18.5 Stimuli used in Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments.

24. Group Factors in Conformity • Groupthink: Compulsion by decision makers to maintain each other’s approval, even at the cost of critical thinking • Group Sanctions: Rewards and punishments administered by groups to enforce conformity • Unanimity: Unanimous agreement

25. Power • Social Power: Capacity to control, alter or influence the behavior of another person • Reward Power: Rewarding a person for complying with desired behavior • Coercive Power: Based on ability to punish a person for failure to comply

26. More Power Concepts • Legitimate Power: Accepting a person as an agent of an established social order • Referent Power: Respect for, or identification with, a person or a group • Expert Power: Based on possession of knowledge or expertise

27. Obedience (Milgram) • Conformity to the demands of an authority • Would you shock a man with a known heart condition who is screaming and asking to be released? • Milgram studied this; the man with a heart condition was an accomplice and the “teacher” was a real volunteer. The goal was to teach the learner word pairs.

28. Fig. 18.6 Scenes from Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience: the “shock generator,” strapping a “learner” into his chair, and a “teacher” being told to administer a severe shock to the learner. © Stanley Milgram, The Pennsylvania State University

29. Milgram’s Results • 65% obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on the “shock machine” even though the learner eventually could not answer any more questions • The learner screamed and provided no further answers once 300 volts (“Severe Shock”) was reached • Group support can reduce destructive obedience

30. Fig. 18.7 Results of Milgram’s obedience experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused to provide shocks, even at the most extreme intensities. The first substantial drop in obedience occurred at the 300-volt level (Milgram, 1963).

31. Fig. 18.8 Physical distance from the “learner” had a significant effect on the percentage of subjects obeying orders.

32. Compliance • Bending to the requests of one person who has little or no authority or social power • Foot-in-the-Door Effect: A person who has agreed to a small request is more likely later to agree to a larger demand. • Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is almost a sure thing • Door-in-the-Face Technique: A person who has refused a major request will be more likely later on to comply with a smaller request • After the door has been slammed in your face (major request refused), person may be more likely to agree to a smaller request

33. Compliance (cont.) • Low-Ball Technique: Commitment is gained first to reasonable or desirable terms, which are then made less reasonable or desirable • Henry accepts the price he states for a new car. Then, later, Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry “The business would lose too much money on that price; can’t you take a bit less and add all these options?” • Passive Compliance: Passively bending to unreasonable demands or circumstances

34. Assertiveness Training • Instruction in how to be self-assertive • Self-Assertion: Standing up for your rights by speaking out on your own behalf; direct, honest expression of feelings and desires • Aggression: Hurting another person or achieving one’s goals at the expense of another person • Attempt to get one’s way no matter what • No regard for other people's feelings • Broken Record: Self-assertion technique that involves repeating a request until it is acknowledged • Good way to be assertive without being aggressive

35. Fig. 18.9 In an experiment done at an airport, a smoker intentionally sat or stood near non-smokers. Only 9 percent of the non-smokers asked the smoker to stop smoking, even when no-smoking signs were clearly visible nearby (Gibson & Werner, 1994). ©Michael Newman/PhotoEdit

36. Social Traps • Any social situation that rewards individual actions that will have undesired effects in the long run • Anya buys things on credit for immediate satisfaction and then gets a HUGE bill later, which she cannot afford • Tragedy of the Commons: Type of social trap where individuals share a scarce resource. Each person acts in his or her self-interest, which causes the resource to be used up, so eventually everyone suffers • No efforts made, for example, to conserve water, gasoline, electricity, or food • Some social behaviors produce immediate rewards but have significant consequences in the long run