Social Interaction
Case Study:
Acts of Altruism
Section 1:
Group Behavior
Section 2:
Conformity and Obedience
Section 3:
Aggression and Altruism
Experiment:
Applying What You’ve Learned
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Social Interaction
Case Study: Acts of Altruism
Raoul Wallenberg
• In 1944 the Nazis sent troops into Hungary for the purpose of rounding up the country’s Jewish population.
• Wallenberg, a Swedish businessman, asked to be assigned as a diplomat to Budapest, Hungary. During his time in Budapest,
Wallenberg managed to save thousands of Hungarian Jews.
Paul Rusesabagina
• In 1994 a long dispute between the two ethnic groups of Rwanda exploded into a 100-day frenzy of slaughter and genocide. Nearly one million were killed.
• Rusesabagina saved more than 1,200 people from the genocide by harboring them in the hotel that he managed.
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
What do you think?
• Which groups did Wallenberg and Rusesabagina help?
• Would you risk your life to save other people? Can you imagine circumstances under which you would do so?
What are those circumstances?
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Social Interaction
Section 1 at a Glance
Group Behavior
• People behave differently in groups than they do as individuals.
• Being a member of a group does not always improve individual performance.
• Many important decisions are made by groups rather than by individuals.
• People tend to take greater risks as part of a group than they would if they were acting alone.
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Social Interaction
Group Behavior
Main Idea
People behave differently in groups than they do as individuals. Often, they are willing to take greater risks in a group.
Reading Focus
• What is social facilitation?
• How would you define social loafing and risky shift?
• What are some characteristics of group decision-making?
• What is group polarization?
• How would you describe group leadership?
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Social Interaction
Why would sports fans riot, even though their team had won?
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Social Interaction
Social Facilitation
• People may try harder, take greater risks, or make different decisions when they are with others than they would if they were alone. Why is this so?
• People often perform better when other people are watching. The presence of other people seems to facilitate and encourage one’s performance. This phenomenon is called social facilitation .
• Evaluation apprehension , or the concern about the opinion of others, is another reason the presence of other people may improve performance.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: performance
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Social Interaction
Social Loafing and Risky Shift
• Being a member of a group does not always improve performance.
When people are working toward a common goal, they may “slack off” and not try as hard. This behavior is called social loafing .
• Social loafing may occur because of diffusion of responsibility — the tendency of people to feel less responsible for accomplishing a task when the effort is shared among other members of a group.
• A related phenomenon is the risky shift —the tendency for people to take greater risks when they are part of a group than they would as individuals acting on their own.
• People may feel more powerful or less vulnerable as part of a group.
• The risky shift may help explain such events as prison riots and mob attacks.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: the tendency for people to feel less responsible for accomplishing a task when the effort is shared among members of a group
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Social Interaction
Group Decision-Making
Many important decisions are made by groups rather than by individuals. Psychologists have identified a number of social decision schemes , or rules that govern group decision-making.
Majority-Wins Scheme
• In the majority-wins scheme, the group agrees to a decision that was initially supported by a majority of group members.
• The majority-wins scheme applies most often to situations in which there is no right or wrong choice.
Truth-Wins Scheme
• Often, the members of a group come to realize that one option is better than others after they learn more about the choices available.
• This is called the truth-wins scheme.
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Social Interaction
Two-Thirds-Majority Scheme
• Some groups concur with a decision after two-thirds of their members come to an agreement about the correct choice.
• This is the two-thirds majority scheme.
• It often applies to jury decisions.
First-Shift Scheme
• The first-shift scheme applies to groups that are deadlocked about a decision.
• If one person shifts from one side to the other, others may shift to the opposite side as well.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: first-shift scheme
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Social Interaction
Group Polarization
• Members of a group usually share similar attitudes.
• Shared attitudes are often what attract people to particular groups in the first place.
• The shared attitudes that group members hold are likely to grow stronger over time.
• This strengthening of a group’s shared attitudes is called group polarization .
• Polarization occurs as group members discuss and act upon the attitudes they share.
• Polarization can be positive or negative.
– High-prejudice group members are likely to increase their prejudice.
– Low-prejudice group members are likely to decrease their prejudice.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: possible response —prejudice
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Group Leadership
• All groups have leaders who serve several important functions in their groups.
– Identify goals
– Establish and implement plans
– Emotional support
• Some leaders are appointed by outsiders; others are chosen by a vote of group members.
• Informal groups may not have official leaders, though some members are likely to have more influence than others.
• Group leaders often have certain personality traits or skills.
Many are self-confident, outgoing, and intelligent.
• Leaders differ in how they operate.
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Social Interaction
Authoritarian Leaders
• Authoritarian leaders exert absolute control over all decisions for the group.
• Military leaders are authoritarian leaders to those below them.
Laissez-Faire Leaders
• Laissez-faire leaders encourage group members to express and explore their own ideas.
• These leaders have a less active role in the decision-making process.
Democratic Leaders
• Democratic leaders encourage group members to express and discuss their ideas and, in addition, to make their own decisions.
Comparing Leadership
Styles
• No one style of leadership is best for every group.
• Different situations call for different styles of leadership.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: a group leader who exerts absolute control over all decisions for the group
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Social Interaction
Section 2 at a Glance
Conformity and Obedience
• People who conform bring their behavior into line with that of a group.
• Solomon Asch investigated the extent to which people conform to social norms.
• One of the most obvious influences on people’s behavior is the power of people in authority to compel them to obey.
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Social Interaction
Conformity and Obedience
Main Idea
The pressure to conform is an indirect social influence on behavior. The power of people in positions of authority is a more direct social influence.
Reading Focus
• Why are groups and social norms important?
• What were Asch’s studies of conformity?
• Why do people conform?
• What was the purpose of Milgram’s studies of obedience?
• Why do people obey?
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Social Interaction
Why did 500 ordinary men commit mass murder?
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Social Interaction
Importance of Groups and Social Norms
• How people behave toward each other depends upon a variety of factors.
• The least direct social influence on behavior is the pressure to conform . People who conform bring their behavior in line with that of a group.
• Being accepted by a group can be important because groups help people satisfy many needs, such as belonging, affection, attention, and support during difficult times. Groups also may help people accomplish things they could not accomplish on their own.
• Belonging to a group usually means conforming to the group’s social norms . Social norms are standards of behavior that people share.
• Social norms can be explicit or implicit. Explicit norms are spoken or written rules. Implicit norms are unspoken, unwritten rules.
• Social norms can be useful or harmful.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: unspoken, unwritten rules
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Social Interaction
Asch’s Studies of Conformity
To what extent will people conform to social norms? Psychologist
Solomon Asch addressed this question in a series of well-known experiments in 1955.
Procedure
• Participants asked to indicate which of three lines of varying length matched a standard line
• Participants tested in groups; group members were Asch’s associates
• First few times Asch’s associates answered correctly; then all gave the same wrong answer
Results
• Many study participants conformed, even when an answer was obviously wrong.
• Participants later admitted knowing the answers were wrong, but that they went along with the group so as not to appear different.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: so as not to appear different
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Why People Conform
• “Going along with the crowd” is probably at least as common in everyday life as it was in Asch’s experiments.
• Why is conformity so common?
Several factors may contribute to the tendency to conform.
Need for Acceptance
• Some people conform in order to be liked and accepted by others.
• This stems from the belief that people who appear different from the group draw negative attention.
Cultural Influences
• In collectivistic cultures greater emphasis is placed on the group than on individual members.
• Individuals in such cultures show a greater tendency to conform.
Other Factors
• The chances of conforming to a group’s norms increases as the group grows in size.
• Conformity is more likely when it is unanimous within a group.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: group size, unanimity within the group
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Social Interaction
Milgram’s Studies of Obedience
• One of the most obvious and direct social influences on people’s attitudes and behavior is the power of people in positions of authority.
• Most adults and children obey authority figures.
• Throughout history, however, many people have also obeyed orders to commit immoral acts, such as killing innocent people.
• Are people who obey an order to commit immoral acts unusual or abnormal? Or would most people be obedient in a similar situation?
• Psychologist Stanley Milgram investigated this question in a series of studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.
• The purpose of Milgram’s research was to determine whether the average person would obey the commands of authority figures.
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Social Interaction
Procedure
• Forty male volunteers were recruited and told they were investigating the effects that punishment has on memory.
• All volunteers were assigned to be “teachers” and all “learners” were actually associates of Milgram, though the volunteers were unaware of this.
• Learners memorized word pairs. Then the teachers read the words one at a time. If the learner failed to provide the matching word, then the teacher was to administer an electric shock to the learner. For each subsequent wrong answer, the amount of shock would be increased. The equipment did not actually administer shocks, but the teachers were unaware of this.
• Teachers were told they could quit at any time. However, if they hesitated, they were urged by repeated commands from the researcher to continue.
• The researcher offered reassurances that the shocks, although painful, would cause no permanent damage.
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Social Interaction
Results
• As learners made errors, teachers delivered stronger and stronger shocks. At
300 volts, learners pounded on the wall and screamed in make-believe pain.
• Despite this, 35 of 40 participants continued with the experiment. Two-thirds continued through the full range of voltage. Nine participants refused to continue somewhere between the 300-volt and 450-volt level.
• Participants continued even though they later admitted that they had been afraid of harming the people receiving the shocks. Participants continued even though they showed signs of distress as the shocks they delivered increased in voltage.
• Milgram repeated the experiment and always at least half of the participants obeyed the researcher and administered the entire series of shocks.
• Milgram’s studies showed that people will obey orders that conflict with their own attitudes even if it causes them distress to do so.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: almost two-thirds
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Social Interaction
Why People Obey
• They have been socialized from childhood to obey authority figures, such as parents and teachers.
• Participants saw Milgram as an authority figure because of his age, gender, profession, and affiliation with a prestigious school.
• People who are aware of their attitudes are likely to behave in accordance with those attitudes.
• Conversely, people who are less aware of their attitudes are more likely to behave in ways that are in conflict with their attitudes.
• Foot-in-the-door effect , which is the tendency for people to give in to major demands once they have given in to minor ones
• After participants in Milgram’s studies delivered minor shocks, it was easier to deliver larger ones.
• When people are buffered from the consequences of their actions, they are more likely to follow orders, even immoral ones.
• The participants in Milgram’s studies were separated from those they were administering shocks to.
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: means by which people are prevented from seeing the results of their actions
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Social Interaction
Current Research in Psychology
Cults and Conformity
• The People’s Temple, Jim Jones; 914 people died
• The Branch Davidians, David Koresh; about 80 people died
• Heaven’s Gate, Marshall Applewhite; followers committed mass suicide
• Why? Psychologist Philip Zimbardo believes we should be asking what was so appealing about these groups that people joined them voluntarily.
• The cults mentioned possessed the following characteristics:
– Claimed a rigid division between the chosen people of the cult and the rest of the world
– Complained that the world was against the cult
– Envisioned an apocalyptic showdown between the cult and the rest of the world
– Envisioned the cult leader as a messiah or world dictator
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Thinking Critically
• What are some similarities shared by cults?
• What effect might the pressures to conform to a cult have on the individual?
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Social Interaction
Section 3 at a Glance
Aggression and Altruism
• Aggression, words or actions that are intended to harm other people, is a widespread social problem.
• Freud believed that aggressive urges are unavoidable reactions to the frustrations of daily life.
• Cognitive psychologists maintain that aggressive behavior is influenced by people’s values.
• An unselfish concern for the welfare of other people is the hallmark of altruistic behavior.
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Social Interaction
Aggression and Altruism
Main Idea
Aggression refers to words or actions that can hurt people. Altruism refers to words or actions that can help people.
Reading Focus
• How does biology influence aggression?
• What are some features of the psychoanalytic and cognitive views of aggression?
• How do learning and sociocultural theorists think about aggression?
• What is altruism?
• What factors affect altruism?
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Social Interaction
How can both sides win?
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Social Interaction
Biological View of Aggression
Aggression refers to words or actions that are meant to hurt other people. It is a serious and widespread social problem.
Why are people aggressive? The brain and hormones appear to be involved.
• In response to certain stimuli, many lower animals react with instinctive aggression.
• Electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus appears to trigger this aggressive behavior in animals.
• Humans are more complex.
• The male sex hormone testosterone is involved in aggression.
• Higher levels of testosterone result in higher levels of aggression.
• Aggression can contribute to survival, but now, intelligence and organizational skills also matter.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: testosterone
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Social Interaction
Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Views
Psychoanalysis and
Aggression
• Freud and the psychoanalytic view see aggression as normal but typically repressed.
• Freud believed repressed aggression was likely to find other outlets.
• Less harmful forms of aggression were to be encouraged to vent the pressure of repressed aggression.
• Psychologists refer to such venting of aggressive impulses as catharsis .
Cognitive Psychology and
Aggression
• Cognitive psychologists maintain that aggression is influenced by people’s values, perceptions, and choices.
• People act aggressively because they believe aggression is justified, either in general or in particular situations.
• Frustration and suffering may trigger feelings of anger and these feelings may cause people to act aggressively.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: a less harmful expression of aggression, such as cheering on a sports team
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Social Interaction
Learning and Sociocultural Views
Learning Theorists
• Learning theorists believe that people learn to repeat behaviors that are reinforced.
• Aggression may be reinforced because it helps people get their own way.
• In sports, aggression helps players win games and winning earns players admiration and money.
• Observation also plays a role.
People observe aggression on TV, in movies, and in video games.
Sociocultural Theorists
• Sociocultural theorists argue some cultures encourage independence and competitiveness and that this promotes aggression.
• The U.S. is a good example. Most
Americans place a high value on individual rights and freedoms and emphasize competition.
• When a person is strongly encouraged to win over others, hostility and aggression may result.
• Other cultures place greater value on the group.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: The United States is an example of a competitive society; Japan and Korea are examples of cooperative societies.
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Social Interaction
Click on the image to play the Interactive.
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Social Interaction
Altruism and Others
• Altruism is an unselfish concern for the welfare of other people.
• Evolutionary psychologists believe that altruism, like aggression, is linked to genetics.
• By helping their relatives survive and reproduce, early humans indirectly pass their genes on the next generation. In this way, genes for altruism have come to be a part of the human gene pool.
• The evolutionary explanation of altruism has been criticized because no clear-cut genetic basis for altruistic behavior has been found, and the tendency to act altruistically varies too widely under genetic control.
• The evolutionary view has also been criticized for not explaining why people act altruistically toward those to whom they are not related.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: evolutionary psychologists
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Factors Promoting and Inhibiting Altruism
• Several factors influence whether a person will help others.
• One factor is a person’s state of mind. People are more likely to help others when they are in a good mood.
• People who have problems themselves and people who are empathic may be more likely to act altruistically.
• Being competent to help others seems to make a person more likely to act altruistically.
• People with a strong need for approval also may be more likely to act altruistically.
• A sense of personal responsibility may increase the chances of altruistic behavior.
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Social Interaction
Inhibiting Factors
• Several factors seem to make people reluctant to help others.
• A person may be unaware that someone needs his or her help.
• A person may think there is nothing he or she can do.
• A person may fear social blunder, ridicule, or personal injury.
Bystander Effect
• The chances of altruism depend on how many other people are present to help.
• People are less likely to give aid when other bystanders are present.
This is the bystander effect .
• Psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané demonstrated the bystander effect with their classic experiment.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Answer: people’s reluctance to render aid when bystanders are present
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Social Interaction
Cultural Diversity and Psychology
The Individual and the Group
• Sociocultural theorists argue that some cultures promote competitiveness, while others encourage cooperation.
• Competitiveness has been linked to high levels of aggression, while cooperation has been linked to low levels of aggression.
Thailand
• More than 90 percent of the population are Buddhists.
• An ancient tradition of Buddhism in Thailand stresses the importance of becoming a monk. Many Thai men become monks for a short time.
• They live in a monastery where they meditate and study Buddhism.
• They leave their individuality behind and adapt to the values of the group.
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Social Interaction
Japan
• Japanese culture emphasizes group membership.
• Corporations blur the line between the individual and the group, and between private life and work (uniforms, company songs, company housing).
Korea
• The teachings of Confucius have led Koreans to view the role of the individual as essentially one of conforming to the norms of a wider social group.
• In Korean education, the needs of the class are above the individual.
United States
• Much of the world views the U.S. as “cowboy country.”
• The cowboy is representative of deep-seated American values such as individual rights, independence, and a winner-takes-all mentality.
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Social Interaction
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Thinking Critically
• What do you think might be the effect on the individual worker of being provided with benefits such as housing?
• What are some of the costs and benefits of both cultural styles? How does the United States go against the stereotype?
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Social Interaction
Experiment: Applying What You’ve Learned
Revisiting Milgram
Stanley Milgram conducted his studies of obedience in the
1960s and 1970s. Are Milgram’s studies still relevant in the world of the 21st century?
1. Introduction
• You will work in small groups to design a new experiment that will test Milgram’s original findings.
• You will not perform your experiment, but you will present your proposal to the class for discussion and comment.
2. Designing Your Experiment
• Milgram hypothesized that the average person has a tendency to obey an authority figure.
• Your task is to design a new experiment to test this hypothesis.
• Now answer the Part 2 questions.
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Social Interaction
Experiment (cont’d.)
3. Presenting Your
Experiment
• Describe your experiment to the class and address the following:
• What concerns do your classmates have?
• How would your classmates improve your design?
• Would your study be approved by an ethical review board?
4. Discussion
• How successful was the class at designing experiments to test Milgram’s hypothesis?
• What did the best experiments have in common?
• What were some common weaknesses?
• How could you apply what you’ve learned about the
Milgram study to the world today? Why does it matter?
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Social Interaction
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