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How Does the Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
Situationism –
View that environmental conditions influence people’s behavior as much or more than their personal dispositions do
(Person vs. Situation)

Social roles – socially defined patterns of behavior in a given setting or group
Scripts

• Subjects were physically and mentally healthy young men who volunteered to participate for money.
• They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards.
• Those assigned the role of prisoner became distressed, helpless, and panicky.
• Those assigned the roles of guards became either nice, “tough but fair,” or tyrannical.
• Study had to be ended after 6 days.

• Conformity.
• Groupthink.
• Obedience
• Deindividuation

The Asch studies
A 1 2 3
Standard line Comparison lines

High +4
+3
+2
+1
High-prejudice groups
Prejudice 0
-1
-2
Low-prejudice groups
-3
Low
-4
Before discussion After discussion
• If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

• Symptoms of groupthink include
– Illusion of invincibility.
– Self-censorship.
– Pressure on dissenters to conform.
– Illusion of unanimity.
• Groupthink can be counteracted by:
– Creating conditions rewarding dissent
– Include “devil’s advocate”.

Milgram’s obedience experiment
• The shocking results…

• Milgram’s obedience experiment
Percentage of subjects who obeyed experimenter
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
The majority of subjects continued to obey to the end
Slight
(15-60)
Moderate
(75-120) Strong
(135-180)
Very Extreme strong
(195-240)
Intense intensity
(255-300) (315-360)
XXX
Danger (435-450) severe
(375-420)
Shock levels in volts

• The murder of Kitty
Genovese
• Why didn’t people help?

• In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of one’s own individuality.
• Factors influencing deindividuation.
– Size of city, group.
– Uniforms or masks.
• Deindividuation can influence unlawful as well as friendly behaviors.

What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
The judgments we make about others depend not only on their behavior but on our interpretation of the social situation

• How do people’s perceptions of themselves and others affects:
– Their relationships, thoughts, beliefs and values.
• Attribution Theory
• Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

Negative behavior
Situational attribution
“Maybe that driver is ill.”
Tolerant reaction
(proceed cautiously, allow driver a wide berth)
Dispositional attribution
“Crazy driver!”
Unfavorable reaction
(speed up and race past the other driver, give a dirty look)

• Consists of the observer attributing the action of the actor to the actor
• and his own actions to the situation
• Two explanations…

• Self-serving bias
• Just-world hypothesis
“Bad people are punished and good people are rewarded.”

A relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and emotional feelings about a topic.
• Affect (like – dislike)
• Belief (ideas about)
• Behavior (approach – avoid)

 Peripheral route & Central route
 Peripheral: Source of communication expertise, credibility, attractiveness, status, similarity
Validity effect (a.k.a., mere exposure effect)
 Central: slow & difficult
 Face to face communication is thought to be more effective

• Social Reciprocity
• Other persuasive techniques:
– “Foot-in-the-Door”
– “Door-in-the-Face”

• Change in social environment
• Change in behaviors.
• Due to a need for consistency.
– Cognitive Dissonance

Classic Experiment on
Cognitive Dissonance
(Festinger & Carlsmith)
Procedures
1. boring tasks
2. lie to another student
3. Paid either $1 or $20
4. Interviewed on feelings toward task

In the interview, one of these groups ($1 or $20) expressed a negative attitude toward the task
(similar to the Control Group’s) while the other group expressed a positive attitude.
?
Question: According to the Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance, which group should form a positive attitude, and why?
Answer: The $1 group should form positive attitude.
They said something they didn’t believe with a minimum amount of justification.

• Summary impressions of a group, belief that members share a common trait or traits
(positive, negative, or neutral).
• Allow us to quickly process new information and retrieve memories.
• Distort reality in 3 ways.
– Exaggerates the differences between groups.
– Produce selective perception.
– Underestimates the similarities between groups.

• Psychological functions.
• Social and cultural functions.
• Economic functions.

• Groups must have equal legal status, economic opportunities, and power.
• Authorities and community institutions must endorse egalitarian norms and provide moral support and legitimacy for both sides.
• Both sides must have opportunities to work and socialize together, formally and informally.
• Both sides must cooperate, working together for a common goal.