SCLOA – Wrap Up

1. SCLOA – Wrap Up

2. Bystanderism • The phenomenon of a person or people not intervening despite awareness of another person’s need, the phenomenon of remaining a bystander. • Ex. When a person is aware that their neighbour is physically abusive towards his family but ignores it, or when students ignore it when another student is bullied. • Kitty Genovese (New York, 1964) – Stabbed repeatedly, and 38 people testified to having heard her screams , yet none of them intervened.

3. Zimmy…

4. What would you do?

5. What would you do?

6. Making Connections • The man who says, "Oh, I felt so bad for her."  This is social desirability effect at its best. • The role of cognitive dissonance which leads to self-justification of their behaviours. Dissonance occurs when there are difficult choices or decisions, or when people participate in behavior that is contrary to their attitude (Festinger)  conflict in one’s thinking • The role of Social Identity Theory in the behaviour of the African American male. • The role of social comparison and social proof to determine how to behave - for example, when the whole crowd follows them out. • question as to why the British women help.  Is it Social Identity Theory - i.e. they are an out-group to US shoppers in general?  Or is there some other reason?

7. What influences a person’s decision to help or not? • Latane & Darley (1968) • The number of bystanders present has an enormous influence on the likelihood that one of them will help: the likelihood goes down as the number of bystanders increases (ex. When you arrive at the scene of an accident, and see other witnesses there, you assume that someone else has called 911, or taken control of the situation- diffusion of responsibility). The more people involved, the less responsibility you as an individual have. • People must first notice something is happening, then consider that someone is in need of help, then assume responsibility and also have some idea about what can be done to help. • Thus, there are a set of cognitive antecedents to action, and it is perhaps a wonder that anyone ever intervenes.

8. What Role does Culture Play in the Bystander Effect?

9. Culture • With the person or creature beside you, take 60 seconds and define the term CULTURE.

10. Textbook definition… • A set of attitudes, behaviours and symbols shred by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next (Shiraev and Levy, 2004) • A unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness and well-being, and derive meaning from life (Matsumoto and Juang, 2008) • Culture is transmitted from generation to generation.

11. Objective vs Subjective Culture • Objective Culture involves visible characteristics such as dress styles, use of various technologies and food. • Subjective Culture refers to the beliefs, norms and values of groups consider important enough to pass onto future generations (moral codes, religious beliefs, and social etiquette).

12. How do Cultures Differ? • By the way they socialize their members to develop identities that are either individually or collectively based. • Individualistic Cultures: The person is emphasized more than the group, persons are viewed as unique, individual autonomy and and self-expression are valued, competitiveness and self-sufficiency are highly regarded. • Collectivist Cultures: The group is emphasized more than the personal, self is defined by long-standing relationships and obligations, self-autonomy and individualization are not encouraged, group harmony over individual achievement.

13. Etic and Emic • Emic: the study of the specific or local. • Etic: the study of the universal characteristics of societies. • Emic approach to the study of depression: • Manson et al. (1985). Study focused on the development of American Indian Depression Scale. Through interviews with native informants, the authors derives the following five categories relevant to depression: • Worry sickness, unhappiness, heartbroken, drunken-like craziness and disappointment

14. Etic approach to Depression • World Health Organization (1983) looked at the symptoms of depression of 573 patients in Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Iran. The investigators used a standard diagnostic scheme. 76% of patients reported sadness, joylessness, anxiety, and a sense of insufficiency. • Findings: Variations in the way depressive symptoms are experienced differently in different cultures. Ex. Nigerians are not at all likely to report feelings of worthlessness or guilt-related symptoms, whereas Chinese often report physical symptoms such as body pains and upsets. • Culture influences the way abnormal behaviour manifests itself, but the psychiatric diagnosis remains the same.

15. LO #1 • Outline the principles that define the socio-cultural level of analysis • Prin #1: Human beings are social animals with a basic need to belong (We are motivated to have important relationships with others) • Prin #2: Culture influences human behaviour (Humans create and shape culture and they are influenced by their culture) • Prin #3: Humans have a social self which reflects their group memberships (ingroups / outgroups…could lead to bias in information processing (stereotyping) and discrimination. • -Use Tajfel and Turner (Group Paradigm)

16. LO #2 • Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behaviour. • Attribution Theory (Heider 1958) is based on the assumption that people are naïve scientists who try to explain observable behaviour. • An essential feature of the original attribution theory is a fundamental distinction about internal and external causes of behaviour.

17. LO #3 • Discuss two errors in attributions • Ross (1977)-Game show- when the contestants rated the general knowledge of the questioners in the experiment as superior). Fundamental Attribution Error • Occurs when people overestimate personality traits (dispositional factors) and underestimate environmental factors when they explain other people’s behaviour. • Empirical Research: (Seudfeld, 2003) investigated attributions made by Holocaust survivors. • Cultural Bias: Individualist vs collectivist cultures

18. LO #3 Cont’d • SSB – People’s tendency to evaluate themselves positively by taking credit for their success. (“I am intelligent”) and attribute their failures to situational factors (“The teacher is not competent”) • Empirical Research: Lau and Russel (1980) found that American football coaches and players were more likely to attribute success to dispositional factors (talent and hard work) and failure to situational factors (injuries otr bad weather)

19. With your Study Guide Template… • Use “Forty Studies That Changed Psychology” (pg 287-316) • Levels of Analysis (purple book) – Chapter 5