By:
Samantha Bender
Charla Johnson
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Give a detailed account including reasons or
causes
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Give the precise meaning of a word, phrase,
concept or physical quantity
Human beings are social
animals and we have a basic
need to “belong”
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An animal that exhibits in social behavior
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To have the proper qualifications,
especially social qualifications, to be a
member of a group
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People will adjust themselves to adapt to the
group
◦ Nada when she changed her music from rap to metal
in the skit
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People need to feel need and to fit in
This can be a positive effect or a negative
effect
◦ POSITIVE: if you are in a group of friends that have
good grades, you would try harder to get good grades
also
◦ NEGATIVE: if you hang out with a group of friends that
skip school , you would skip and then your grades
would fail
STUDY
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Asch Conformity Experiment (Asch
Paradigm)
Aim: to see whether the real participant
would change his answer and respond in
the same way
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A male participant was surrounded by 5-7
confederates.
One card had one line and the second had
three different length lines.
24% did not conform at all
75% conformed at least once
5% conformed every time
Culture influences behavior
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the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a
particular social, ethnic, or age group
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to move or impel (a person) to some action
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The way people are raised and the people
around them can affect the way they think
and act
Morality, Christianity, chastity
◦ If you have good morals, Christianity, chastity can
effect a persons relationship with others
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Drinking
◦ In America it’s a big deal when you’re 21 but in
Europe its typical when you are in your early
teens
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Milgrams Obedience Experiment
Aim: to investigate what level of obedience
would be shown when participants were told
by an authority figure to administer electric
shocks to another person
All went to 300 volts
65% went to 450 volts
35% stopped before
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3 roles: teacher, participant, confederate
teacher had participant raise volts of
electricity for confederate
When the participant said to not go one
the teacher stated simple continuations
Teacher told participant that the
confederate had a heart condition
Culture: taught to obey authority
Humans are social animals,
they have a social self
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A person’s individual identity
A group’s identity as a whole
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Because people are social they develop their
own social behavior
Nada’s actions when she was by herself and
with the group
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Social Identity Theory (Henri Tajfel and John
Turner)
◦ Portion of an individuals self-concept derived from
perceived membership in a relevant social group
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Explains a person’s behavior to events
Explains a person’s behavior in groups
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A group starts to have similar aspects and then
the group as a whole develops a social self
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It is through observations of people and groups
and how they socialize
People’s views of the world
are resistant to change
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An individual and personal perception,
judgment, or interpretation; an opinion
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A process I which ego opposes the
conscious recall of anxiety-producing
experiences
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If people have a mind set of an idea they will
refuse to change the way they think.
◦ Some eventually do change the way they think
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Black Civil Rights
◦ People were against rights for blacks because it
was different and not what they were used to
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Leon Festinger et al. “When Prophecy's
Fails” (1956)
Research was done by Festinger and his
team
They joined a cult to covertly observe a
religious group that thought the world
would end on December 21 and that aliens
would save them once god started to
destroy the world.
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Festinger and his team left the cult after
December 21.
The members of the cult were in doubt that
the aliens did not take them away and they
refused to believe that it was not the end of
the world or that the aliens were not
coming
they eventually came to the decision that
the aliens did not come because god
decided not to destroy the world
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What are the principles
Name three to four studies/theories from
the powerpoint and their aims
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Define Culture
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Define Social Self