Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
CHAPTER 13:
Social Influences
Social Influences
Social Perception
Social Influence
Social Relations
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Making Attributions
 Social Perception

The processes by which we come to know
and evaluate other persons
 Attribution Theory

A set of theories that describe how people
explain the causes of behavior
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Kelley’s Attribution Theory
 For behaviors that are consistent, people make personal
attributions when consensus and distinctiveness are low.
 People will make stimulus attributions when consensus
and distinctiveness are high.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Fundamental Attribution Error

A tendency to overestimate the impact
of personal causes of behavior and to
overlook the role of situations
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Fundamental Attribution Error
 A simulated quiz show
gave questioners an
advantage over
contestants.
 Observers and contestants
still judged questioners as
more knowledgeable.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Fundamental Attribution Error:
A Western Bias?
 U.S. and Indian subjects
described the causes of
several behaviors.
 Cultural differences were
not seen in young children.
 With age, Americans made
more personal attributions
 However, Indians made
more situational
attributions.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Forming Impressions
Mixed Evidence: Does it Extinguish or
Reinforce First Impressions?
 Participants were asked to evaluate
a person’s academic potential and
had high or low expectations.
 Half watched videotape of person
taking achievement test.
 Without viewing the tape,
expectations influenced
evaluations.
 Viewing the videotape magnified
these initial expectations.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Forming Impressions
Behavioral-Confirmation Process
 We use our existing beliefs to interpret new
information, which affects our behavior.
 This may create false support for our biases.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Attraction
 Two important predictors of attraction are
similarity and physical attractiveness.
 Mere-Exposure Effect

The attraction to a stimulus that results from
increased exposure to it
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Perception
Attraction
Media Influences on the Attractiveness
Stereotype
 Participants watched film
clips with strong or weak
link between beauty and
goodness.
 Later they judged graduate
school applications which
included photo.
 Those exposed to the
stereotype favored the
attractive applicants more.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Social Influence as “Automatic”
The Chameleon Effect
 Participants worked
with a “partner”.
 Hidden cameras
recorded behavior.
 Participants mimicked
their partner without
realizing it.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Conformity
A Classic Case of Suggestibility
 Subjects in dark room
were shown a light and
while alone estimated the
distance the light moved.
 In three group sessions,
they again made distance
estimations.
 Subjects’ estimates
converged on a common
value thus establishing a
group norm.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Conformity
Line-Judgment Task Used in Asch’s Study
 Subjects in a group were asked which comparison line is
the same length as the standard line.
 Confederates in the group picked the wrong line.
 Subjects went along with the wrong answer on 37% of
trials.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Conformity
 Informational Influence


Conformity motivated by the belief that
others are correct
Seen in Sherif’s study
 Normative Influence


Conformity motivated by a fear of social
rejection
Seen in Asch’s study
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Private and Public Conformity
 Under conditions of low
motivation, the
difficulty of the task did
not influence
conformity.
 However, when
motivated, people
conform more when the
task is difficult and less
when it is easy.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Group Size and Conformity
 Conformity increases
with group size up to a
point.
 Fifteen people had no
more impact on
conformity than did
four people.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Obedience to Authority
 In Milgram’s studies of obedience, 65% of
participants fully obeyed the experimenter
and delivered 450 volts of electric shock.
 Three factors influence obedience.



The authority
The victim
The situation
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Attitudes and Attitude Change
 Persuasive Communications Involve:

The Source
• Credibility
• Likability

The Message
• Discrepancy
• Emotional appeal

The Audience
• Motivation
• Cognitive ability
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Attitudes and Attitude Change
Two Routes to Persuasion
 If the central route is taken, people are influenced by
strong arguments and evidence.
 If the peripheral route is used, people are influenced by
superficial cues (e.g., the attractiveness of the source).
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Attitudes and Attitude Change
Cognitive Dissonance Study
 Behavior that conflicts with
attitudes can arouse cognitive
dissonance.
 Dissonance creates tension,
which people are motivated to
reduce.
 Dissonance can be decreased by
changing the attitude that
conflicts with behavior.
 Group paid $1 to lie about
the boring task said they
liked it more.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Group Processes
Social Facilitation: The tendency for the
presence of others to enhance performance on
simple tasks and impair performance on complex
tasks.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Group Processes
Social Loafing


People tend to exert less
effort in group tasks for
which individual’s
contributions are
pooled.
The more people in the
group, the more each
individual’s effort
decreases.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Group Processes
Ways to Decrease Social Loafing
 Separate each individual’s performance
from that of the group’s effort.
 Make each individual’s contribution
necessary for overall group success.
 Reward individual as well as group.
 Increase cohesiveness of group.
 Make tasks personally meaningful.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Influence
Groupthink
A group decision-making
style by which group
members convince
themselves that they are
correct
 A group may over-emphasize
unity when members suppress
their own doubts and open
dissent is stifled by other
group members.
 This can lead to lower-quality
decisions made by the group.

Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Aggression


Behavior intended to inflict harm on another
person who is motivated to avoid it
Aggression is influenced by:
• Biology (e.g., testosterone)
• Aversive stimulation (e.g., pain)
• Situational Cues (e.g., weapons)
• Media violence
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Aggression
The Link Between Heat and Violence
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Aggression
 Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The theory that frustration causes
aggression
 Deindividuation

A loss of individuality, often experienced in a
group, that results in a breakdown of
internal restraints against deviant behavior
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Altruism

Helping behavior that is motivated primarily
by a desire to benefit others, not oneself
 Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

The theory that an empathic response to a
person in need produces altruistic helping
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Altruism
Two Pathways to Helping
 People have two reactions to someone in need:


Personal distress (guilt, anxiety, and discomfort)
Empathy (sympathy and compassion for the person)
 Both selfish and altruistic motives can lead to helping
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
The Bystander Effect

The finding that the
presence of others inhibits
helping in an emergency
 Diffusion of Responsibility

A tendency for bystanders
to assume that someone else
will help
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
A Model of Bystander Intervention
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
Social Relations
Bystander Intervention
Cyberhelping
 Individuals in an online
chat room exhibited the
bystander effect.
 However,when the
individual’s name was
identified, the presence of
others did not decrease
helping as measured by
the time it took people to
help.
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin