X. Social Psychology

1. X. Social Psychology

2. A. SP approach to behavior.. • 1. Definition: The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. • Social psych. approach to human behavior: • Social psychologists focus on causes of behavior in the environment (including other people). • Stress impact of the situation, presence of others. • vs....... • Lewin: B = D + S

3. B. Why this approach? • 1. Attribution: How people infer the cause of an event or explain behavior. • a. Heider – internal vs. external attributions • b. Fundamental Attribution Error: When judging other people’s behavior, people tend to overestimate the dispositional or internal influences on behavior, and underestimate situational or external influences on behavior Ross et al. (1977) – “Quiz Show Study”

4. B. Why this approach? • 2. Attitudes - An evaluation, either positive, negative, or neutral, of a person, object, event, etc., that is exhibited in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

5. B. Why this approach? • b. Do attitudes cause or predict behavior? • LaPiere (1934) • B = D + S • Better question (according to soc. psych.) - when? • Attitude is more likely to predict behavior when: - Attitude formed from active experience (Fazio et al., 1977) - Self-Awareness More self-aware, more attitudes = behavior. (Diener & Wallbom, 1979 – mirror study) attitudes ⇒ behavior.....

6. B. Why this approach? • Behavior ⇒ attitudes • 3. Does behavior influence or create attitudes? • “Doing/saying is believing” – (particularly with less formed attitudes) a. Role Playing Zimbardo (Standford) Prison Study (1972) • Freedman & Fraser (1966): “ugly sign” study b. Foot-in-the-Door Effect • Tendency for people who have complied with a small request to be more willing to comply with a larger request later. Low-Ball Technique

7. B. Why this approach? • c. Why does behavior influence attitudes? - Stems from the need to be consistent. • Cognitive dissonance: An aversive state of arousal or tension that develops when we have two inconsistent thoughts or behaviors. • Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) – “knob turning”

8. B. Why this approach? State occurs when: c. Insufficient justification: There is no external reason for behavior. to reduce or eliminate aversive feeling, find internal reason to justify behavior, which often means changing one’s attitude. (“bring attitude in line with behavior”) vs. Overjustification?

9. Why do we care? • Empathy • Tolerance

10. C. Social perception and thinking • Place our social world into a context... • 1. Review: Confirmation Bias, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Memory, etc. • Power of expectations • 2. Applying these ideas to stereotyping and prejudice

11. 2. Stereotyping and Prejudice • Powerful tendency to categorize, see patterns. • In social perception – dominant category: • “us” vs. “them” or in-groups/out-groups • Sometimes accompanied by negative characteristics (stereotypes) • Apply other concepts….. • Stereotype threat – documented impact on performance

12. Current theory: • PC • Unconscious stereotypes/prejudices • https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/measureyourattitudes.html

13. C. Social Influence • 1. Persuasion: Purposely attempting to change attitudes or behavior. • Compliance Techniques • Sometimes based on people’s need for information. • Social Proofs: determine what is correct behavior by looking at others.

14. C. Social Influence • 1. Persuasion • Informational influence: change in behavior that results from accepting evidence about reality provided by other people. • Why people use “experts” to persuade others. • **Typically leads to acceptance.

15. C. Social Influence • Is that always why we go along with others or are influenced by others? • 2. Conformity: A change in behavior as a result of real or imagined group pressure. - Asch (1955): Line Study

16. C. Social Influence • Another type of influence: • Normative Influence: Changing behavior to gain approval or avoid disapproval. Typically leads to compliance. • a. Normative vs. Informational Influence • b. Factors that influence conformity: • unanimity vs. power of the dissenter • status, cohesion

17. C. Social Influence • Up the ante…. • 3. Obedience: Milgram (1965) Yielding to a direct request from a person in a position of authority. • How far would you go? • 65% of participants went to 450 volts.

18. Influences on obedience: • Less obedience: • Move learner close to teacher. • Teacher must touch learner. • Experimenter moves away from teacher. • Another participant is the experimenter. • Two other participants refuse to obey. • More obedience: • Two other participants unquestionably obey • Concerns or other interoperations?

19. C. Social Influence • 4. Existing in Groups: a. Work • Social Loafing: The tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable. • Free riders vs. Suckers • How to eliminate social loafing?

20. C. Social Influence • 4. Existing in groups. b. Play - Being in a group fosters anonymity and draws attention away from individual (reduces self-awareness). • Feel like not identifiable and not responsible. • Yet people can become more aroused in groups. • Deindividuation: • When in groups, people often abandon normal restraint. - Diener et al., (1976): Trick or Treaters Study

21. D. Social Relations • 2. Is there “true” altruism? • empathy Helping Others Kitty Genovese • What about THE SITUATION influences helping. • Latane and Darley: Several step process; must complete all steps for helping to occur.

22. D. Social Relations • Must notice the event. • After noticing the event, must interpret it as an emergency. • Latane & Darley (1970) -“Smoke-filled Room” study • b. Pluralistic Ignorance: In an ambiguous situation, we assume that when other people appear unconcerned, that the situation is not an emergency.

23. D. Social Relations • Must assume responsibility. • Latane & Darley (1974) - “Seizure Study” • Diffusion of responsibility or bystander effect: When you know there is an emergency, and you do not help because you think other people will. • Must know how to give help. • Must decide to help.

24. D. Social Relations • Hurting others - Aggression: Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone or something. - MULTIPLE CAUSES • a. Review – social learning theory • b. Frustration-Aggression Theory Importance of Frustration: • Blocking of a goal-directed behavior causes people to become angry - that anger can lead to aggression. • More we desire or expect to achieve goal, the more frustration experienced, more aggression expressed. • Example: Ulricht & Flavell (1970) – “tower building” study

25. D. Social Relations • a. Physical attractiveness “What is beautiful is good” - halo effect Evidence: Hatfield et al. (1966) “Welcome Week Dance Study” What is considered attractive? Average, symmetrical women: baby-faced men: mature & dominant

26. D. Social Relations • b. Proximity: Geographical or functional nearness. Evidence? Festinger et al., (1950) • Mere exposure: The tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more or rated more positively after repeated exposure to stimuli. - mirror vs. picture image of self

27. Conclusions… • Social psychology: • Study how normal people, in everyday life, often behavior similarly, due to the situation. • Do social psychologists disregard the “internal” part? • No. • Personality...