Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Social Psychology

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ISBN: 0-131-73180-7

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007

Social Psychology

Social psychology –

The branch of psychology that studies the effects of social variables and cognitions on individual behavior and social interactions

Social context –

The combination of

(a) People

(b) The activities and interactions among people

(c) The setting in which behavior occurs, and

(d) The expectations and social norms governing behavior in that setting


How Does the

Social Situation

Affect our Behavior?

We usually adapt our behavior to the demands of the social situation, and in ambiguous situations we take our cues from the behavior of others in that setting


How Does the

Social Situation

Affect our Behavior?

Situationism –

The view that environmental conditions influence people’s behavior as much or more than their personal dispositions do


Social Standards of Behavior

Social role –

One of several socially defined patterns of behavior that are expected of persons in a given setting or group

Script –

Knowledge about the sequence of events and actions that is expected in a particular setting


Social Standards of Behavior

Social norms –

A group’s expectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for its members’ attitudes and behavior

Social norms influence students’ political views


Group Characteristics That Produce

Conformity

Solomon Asch identifies three factors that influence whether a person will yield to pressure and conform:

• The size of the majority

• The presence of a partner who dissented from the majority

• The size of the discrepancy between the correct answer and the majority position


Groupthink – Irving Janis

In “groupthink,” members of the group attempt to conform their opinions to what each believes to be the consensus of the group


Conditions Likely to Promote

Groupthink

Conditions likely to promote groupthink include what?


Obedience to Authority

Stanley Milgram (student of Asch) was curious about what led people to obey a person that appeared to be an authority figure.

His controversial experiment demonstrated how powerful the effects of obedience to authority are – remember, 2/3 of the people delivered the maximum 450 volts to the “learner.”

He said, situational factors, and not personality variables, appeared to affect people’s levels of obedience.


Ten Steps Toward Evil-

Getting Good People to Harm Others

1.

Provide people with an ideology to justify beliefs for actions

2.

Make people take a small first step toward a harmful act with a minor, trivial action and then gradually increase those small actions

3.

Make those in charge seem like a “just authority”

4.

What is number 4?

5.

Provide people with vague and ever changing rules

6.

Relabel the situation’s actors and their actions to legitimize the ideology

7.

Provide people with social models of compliance

8.

Allow verbal dissent but only if people continue to comply behaviorally with orders

.

9.

What is #9?

10.

What is #10?


The Bystander Problem

Diffusion of responsibility –

Dilution or weakening of each group member’s obligation to act when responsibility is perceived to be shared with all group members


Constructing Social Reality:

What Influences Our

Judgments of Others?

The judgments we make about others depend not only on their behavior but also on our interpretation of their actions within a social context


Constructing Social Reality:

What Influences Our

Judgments of Others?

Social reality –

An individual’s subjective interpretation of other people and of relationships with them


Interpersonal Attraction

Reward theory of attraction (Elliot Aronson) –

A social learning view that says we like best those who give us maximum rewards at minimum cost

Proximity

Self-Disclosure

Similarity

Physical

Attractiveness


Proximity

• What is proximity?


Similarity

• Sharing of attitudes, interests, values, and experiences increases likelihood that people will develop a relationship.


Self-Disclosure

• What is self-disclosure?

• This also leads to a sense of intimacy and is a sign of a relationship between a couple.


Physical Attractiveness

• Good looks are a social asset (be it fair or not!)

• Attractive children are judged as happier and more competent.

• Babies judge people by their appearances.

• Studies have shown that physical attractiveness overwhelmed everything else as the best predictor of how well a person would be liked after a first meeting.

• Don’t despair – who is it that we actually like the best?

• Extreme attractiveness can be a liability – especially if you are gorgeous or handsome and also shy!


Exceptions to the Reward Theory of

Attraction

Matching hypothesis –

Prediction that most people will find friends and mates that are about their same level of attractiveness

Expectancy-value theory –

Theory that people decide whether or not to pursue a relationship by weighing the potential value of the relationship against their expectations of success in establishing the relationship


Attitudes and Behaviors – do ours match?

Cognitive dissonance – (Carl Rogers)

A highly motivating state in which people have conflicting attitudes and behaviors(e.g., Voluntarily signing up for an AP course and then realizing it is a tough course).

Dissonance causes discomfort, so we either change our behavior or attitudes. (Have to justify taking the course, so you rationalize it and say, “This is going to make me a better student in the end and I want to be the best so I will do my work.” Or, you decide to give up and rationalize it by saying, “I didn’t necessarily want this course, and it’s someone else’s fault I got put here.”)

• Either way, we reduce the discomfort we are feeling through a change of attitude or a change of behavior


Making Cognitive Attributions

Fundamental attribution error –

Tendency to emphasize internal causes and ignore external pressures

Klutz or Cabinet?

Self-serving bias –

Attributional pattern in which one takes credit for success but denies responsibility for failure

(what serves me best?)


Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice –

A negative attitude toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group

Discrimination –

A negative action taken against an individual as a result of his or her group membership


Prejudice and Discrimination

In-group –

The group with which an individual identifies

Out-group –

Those outside the group with which an individual treats differently

Social distance –

The perceived difference or similarity between oneself and another person – in-group is closer; out-group is placed further away.

Ethnocentrism – The belief that one’s culture is superior to others – they are so used to their own culture that it becomes the norm on which to judge other cultures.


Causes of Prejudice

Dissimilarity and Social Distance


Causes of Prejudice


Economic Competition


Causes of Prejudice



Scapegoating


Causes of Prejudice



Scapegoating

Conformity to Social Norms a.k.a. The Just-World

Phenomenon


Causes of Prejudice



Scapegoating

Conformity to Social Norms

Media Stereotypes


Combating Prejudice

Research suggests that the possible tools for combating prejudice include:

New role models (e.g., sports figures, politicians)

Equal status contact – when people are placed together under equal status, where neither wields power over the other, then understanding increases.

Legislation – Can we legislate morality? Studies show that it could be harmful to do so and to do so may increase prejudicial attitudes.

“When the law requires people to act in a less discriminatory fashion, people have to justify their new behavior by softening their prejudiced attitudes

(lessens the dissonance.)”


Other Topics in Social Psychology – group dynamics

Social facilitation –

An increase in an individual’s performance because of being in a group

Social loafing –

An decrease in performance because of being in a group (happens when groups are too large).


Other Topics in Social Psychology –

Group Dynamics

Deindividuation –

Occurs when group members lose their sense of personal identity and responsibility and the group “assumes” responsibility for their behavior (e.g. riots).


Other Topics in Social Psychology -

Compliance

•

• Compliance Strategies

When people use certain strategies to get others to comply with their wishes.

Foot-In-The-Door: A compliance strategy in which you get people to agree to a small request and then they will more likely to agree to a follow-up request that is larger.

Norms of Reciprocity:

People tend to think that when someone does something nice for them, that they ought to do something nice in return.

Door-In-The-Face: A compliance strategy that states that after people refuse a large request, they will look more favorably on a follow-up request that seems more reasonable .


Other Topics in Social Psychology:

Group Polarization

• A group’s shared attitudes tend to grow stronger with discussion.

In one study involving high school students, a discussion of racial issues increased prejudice in the highprejudice groups and decreased it in the lowprejudice groups.


Loving Relationships – How Do We Know

When Attraction Becomes Love?

Romantic love –

A temporary and highly emotional condition based on infatuation and sexual desire


Robert Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

Romantic Love = High on passion and intimacy, low on commitment.

Friendship = intimacy but no passion and commitment.

Infatuation = High passion but no intimacy or commitment

Complete love = all three

Passion

(attraction)

Intimacy Commitment

(sharing feelings) (putting the other person first)


What Are the Roots of

Violence and Terrorism?

The power of the situation can help us understand violence and terrorism, but the broader understanding requires multiple perspectives that go beyond the boundaries of traditional psychology


Terrorism

• Terrorism –

The use of violent, unpredictable acts by a small group against a larger group for political, economic, or religious goals – every culture can breed violent people who terrorize others (not just limited to an outside threat from foreigners!)

• Taking multiple perspectives can provide important insights on the problems of aggression, violence, and terrorism.

• Herbert Kellman’s Approach (Israelis and

Palestinians).


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