Download Chapter 18: Social Behavior

Chapter 18: Social Behavior
Social psychology: scientific study of how individuals think, behave, and feel in
social situations
-belong to many overlapping social groups
-families, teams, churchgroups, work groups
-in each group, we have a position in the structure of the group
-social roles: patterns of behavior expected in various social positions
-different expectations for role of mother, student, boss
Ascribed roles: assigned, not under personal control
-male, son, adolescent
Achieved roles: voluntary, obtained by special effort
-spouse, teacher
Role conflicts: 2 or more roles make conflicting demands on behavior
-teacher flunking her friend’s child
-mother with full-time job
Zimbardo: college students assigned roles as guards or prisoners in simulated
prison
-after 2 days, prisoners became restless and defiant
-guards became brutal
Group structure and cohesion
-group structure: network of roles, communication pathways and
power in a group
-group cohesiveness: degree of attraction among group members
or their commitment to remaining in group
-cohesive group: sit closer, listen better to each other
-better at working together and solving
problems
Status: individual’s position in a social structure, especially with respect to
power, privilege, or importance
-people more compliant with request from well-dressed person
Norms: accepted standard for appropriate behavior
-not sing loudly in grocery store
-more likely to litter if litter already there
-convergence of attitudes, beliefs, and behavior
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Personal Space
-area surrounding the body that is regarded as private and subject to
personal control
-waiting in line, casual conversation, formal business
-proxemics: systematic study of rules for personal space
Spatial Norms
-cultural differences
-face-to-face interactions in N. America
-intimate distance: 18 inches
-special people or circumstances: making love, cuddling
children
-personal distance: 18 inches to 4 feet
-social distance: 4 to 12 feet
-impersonal business; casual social gatherings
-public distance 12 feet or more
-lectures
Social perception
Attribution: process of making inferences about the causes of one’s own
behavior and that of others
Attribution Theory
-consistency (behavior changes little across occasions)
-distinctiveness (behavior occurs only in specific circumstances)
Deduce causes of behavior
-take into account actor, observer, setting, situational demands,
consensus
Actor and observer
-fundamental attribution error: tending to attribute behavior of others to
internal causes
-actor-observer bias: attribute one’s own behavior to external causes
-tendency to attribute men’s success to skill and women’s to luck
Need for affiliation
-need to associate with other people
-basic human trait
-told getting shocked: most females preferred to wait with others.
-prefer to be with people in circumstances similar to ours
-social comparisons as guide for behavior
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Social comparison theory
-fulfilled by group membership
-compare self with others when no objective standards
-meaningful evals based on comparisons with those of similar
background, abilities, circumstances
-influences which groups we join
-downward comparisons: decrease in work hours not as bad as friend
without job, offers comfort
-upward comparisons may either discourage or motivate
Interpersonal attraction
-affinity to another person
-choice of friends based on physical proximity
Physical attractiveness
-degree of physical beauty, as defined by this culture
-beautiful rated as more appealing, intelligent, warm
-beauty does not correlate with IQ or talent
-halo effect: tendency to generalize a favorable first impression to
unrelated personal characteristics
-in females, looks are related to dating frequency, not for men
-takes more than beauty to make a lasting impression
Competence: attracted to people who are competent but imperfect
Similarity: pick friends similar in age, race, sex
-reinforce our attitudes, beliefs
Self-disclosure: reveal private thoughts feelings, personal history
-essential in close relationships
-over disclose: suspicion
-moderate disclosure: reciprocity
General friendships
-in N. America, most male friendships are activity-based: companionship
without closeness
-female friendships based on shared feelings and confidences
Social exchange theory
-transfers of attention, information, affection, favors
-people try to maximize rewards by minimizing costs
-unconsciously weight social rewards and costs
-balance based on past relationships
-for relationship to last, must be profitable enough to both parties
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Liking: affection without passion or deep commitment
Loving: deep mutual absorption
-attend almost exclusively to each other
-idealize each other, overlook faults
Love and Attachment
-early attachments in childhood impact how we relate to others
-secure attachment: stable and positive emotional bond
-caring, intimacy, understanding, support
-comfortable depending on others
-avoidant attachment style: fear of intimacy, resistance to commitment
-hard to trust, depend on others
-ambivalent attachment style: mixed emotions about relationships
-see self as misunderstood,
Unappreciated
Evolution and Mate Selection
-evolutionary psychology: study of origins of human behavior patterns
-males: -more interested in casual sex
-younger, attractive partners
-more jealous over sexual infidelity than loss of emotional
Commitment
-females: -slightly older partners who are industrious, higher in status or
economically successful
-more upset by male’s emotional involvement with others than
sexual infidelity
-females invest more time and energy in reproduction and nurturing young
than men
-evolved: interest if partners will stay with them and have
resources to provide for children
-males: reproductive success depends on mates’ fertility
-health, youth, beauty
Social Influence
-changes in behavior induced by actions of another
-daily behavior most influenced by group pressure for conformity
-conformity: bring one’s behavior into agreement with norms, behavior of
Others
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Asch experiment
-group matches line
-you agree with group for several trials, then disagree
-75% yielded t group at least one time
-more likely to conform: lack of self-confidence, anxious, want approval
Group factors in conformity
Group Sanction
-rewards and punishment (such as approval and disapproval)
administered by groups to enforce conformity among members
Social Power
-capacity to control, alter, influence behavior of others
-reward power: ability to reward others for compliance
-teachers, bosses
-coercive power: ability to punish person for failure to comply
-laws, fines
-legitimate power: accepting a person as an agent of established social
order
-elected officials, teachers
-referent power: respect for identification with person or group
-expert power: recognition that other person has knowledge necessary for
achieving goal
-psychologist, M.D., plumber
-power in one situation may not be powerful in another situation
Obedience
-Milgram
-teacher read list of words to learner
-learned shocked for each mistake
-increased shock with each mistake
-heart condition, screams, told to continue
-65% obeyed and administered highest shock
-decreased with teacher and learner in same room
-more decrease if face-to-face
Compliance
-foot in the door effect
-person first agrees to small request, then more likely to comply
with larger demand
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-door-in-the-face effect
-refuse a major request, later agree to small request
-low-ball technique
-getting person committed to act than making terms less desirable
-give person money, they say they need it for 1 month
-give them a ride, they need to get there earlier
-passive compliance
-quietly bending to unreasonable demands
-take test, loud noise, few complain