Social Psychology
Study through experimentation of
how we think about, influence,
and relate to other people
Focus: Influence
• Conformity (Solomon Asch)
– Adjustment in behavior or thinking to match a
group standard
– Result of unconscious or social pressure?
– Comes from the desire for security in a group
– Chameleon Effect
– Mood Linkage
– Reasons for conformity
• Normative Social Influence
• Informational Social Influence
Focus: Influence
• Obedience
– A person’s response to commands
– Stanley Milgrim experiment
• What Asche and Milgrim Showed Us
– We often go against our morals/beliefs because
of what is expected of us
– Social influences can lead us to conform
Focus: Influence
• Group Influence - How do we behave
around other people?
• Social Facilitation
– Increased performance on simple tasks around
others
– Audience Effect
– Coaction Effect
– Decreased performance on difficult tasks
• *think Yerkes Dodson Law*
Focus: Influence
• Group Influence - How do we behave
around other people?
• Social Loafing
– Exerting less effort when working in a group
– Less accountability or effect may be viewed as
dispensible
• Deindividuation
– Loss of self-awareness/self-restraint in group
– Fosters arousal and loss of anonymity
– Anti-normative behavior is released
Focus: Influence
• Effects of Group Interaction
– Group Polarization
• Enhancement of a group’s tendencies over
time
– Groupthink
• Thinking that occurs when the desire for
harmony in the group over rides all other ideas