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Behavior in Social and
Cultural Context
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Why?
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Roles and Rules
 Norms- rules that regulate social life, explicit
laws and implicit cultural conventions
 Role- a given social position that is governed
by a set of norms for proper behavior
 Culture- a program of shared rules that
govern the behavior of people in a community
or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and
customs shared by most members of that
community (passed generation to generation)
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The Power of Social Roles
 The Obedience Study
 Stanley Milgram and coworkers investigated
whether people would follow orders, even
when the order violated their ethical
standards.
 Most people were far more obedient than
anyone expected.
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Every single participant complied with at least
some orders to shock another person
Results are controversial and have generated
much research on violence and obedience.
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 Obedience Study Continued
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Factors associated with participants disobedience
 When the experimenter left the room
 When the victim was right there in the room
 When two experimenters issued conflicting
demands
 When the person ordering them to continue was
an ordinary man
 When the subject worked with peers who
refused to go further
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The Power of Social Roles
 The Prison Study
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Zimbardo
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Random Assignment to Roles of Prisoner or
Guard
Basement of Stanford University Building
Ceased Study After Six Days
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Why People Obey
 Factors that increase obedience
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Allocating responsibility to the authority
Routinizing the task
Wanting to be polite
Becoming entrapped
 Entrapment: A gradual process in which
individuals escalate their commitment to a
course of action to justify their investment of
time, money, or effort.
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Social Influences on Beliefs
 Social Cognition- an area in psychology
concerned with social influences on thought,
memory, perception, and beliefs
 Attribution- assigning some quality or
character to a person or thing
 Attribution Theory The theory that people are motivated to
explain their own and other peoples’
behavior by attributing causes of that
behavior to a situation or a disposition.
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Attributions
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 Attribution (continued)
 Westerners believe that individuals are
responsible for their own actions
(individualism)
 Westerners and Self Serving Bias
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The tendency, in explaining one’s own behavior,
to take credit for one’s good actions and
rationalize one’s mistakes
Just World Hypothesis- the notion that many
people need to believe that the world is fair
and that justice is served, that bad people are
punished and good people rewarded
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Attitudes
 Attitude:
 A relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and
emotional feelings about a topic.
 Validity Effect:
 The tendency of people to believe that a
statement is true or valid simply because it has
been repeated many times.
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Influencing Attitudes
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Coercive Persuasion
 Person is under physical or emotional duress.
 Person’s problems are reduced to one simple
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explanation, repeated often.
Leader offers unconditional love, acceptance, and
attention.
New identity based on group is created.
Person is subjected to entrapment.
Person’s access to information is controlled.
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Individuals in Groups
 Conformity
 Groupthink
 The Anonymous Crowd
 Courage and Nonconformity
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Conformity
 Subjects in a group were asked to match line lengths.
 Confederates in the group picked the wrong line.
 Subjects went along with the wrong answer on 37%
of trials.
Sample
A B C
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Groupthink
 In close-knit groups, the tendency for all
members to think alike and suppress
disagreement for the sake of harmony.
 Symptoms of Groupthink:
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Illusion of invincibility
Self-censorship
Pressure on dissenters to conform
Illusion of unanimity
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The Anonymous Crowd
 Diffusion of Responsibility:
 In organized or anonymous groups, the
tendency of members to avoid taking
responsibility for actions or decisions because
they assume that others will do so.
 Deindividuation:
 In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of
one’s own individuality.
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Courage and Nonconformity
 Situational factors contributing to nonconformity:
 You perceive the need for intervention or help.
 Situation makes it more likely that you will take
responsibility.
 Cost-benefit ratio supports your decision to get
involved.
 You have an ally.
 You become entrapped.
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Us Versus Them: Group Identity
 Ethnic Identity
 Ethnocentrism
 Stereotypes
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Ethnic Identity
 Social Identity:
 The part of a person’s self-concept that is based on
identification with a nation, culture, or group or with
gender or other roles in society.
 Ethnic Identity:
 A person’s identification with a racial, religious, or
ethnic group.
 Acculturation:
 The process by which members of minority groups
come to identify with and feel part of the mainstream
culture.
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Acculturation Strategies
Acculturation is
Ethnic Identity is
Strong
Strong Bicultural
Weak
Assimilated
Weak Separatist
Marginal
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Ethnocentrism
 The belief that one’s own ethnic group,
nation, or religion is superior to all others.
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Robbers’ Cave Experiment
 Boys were randomly
separated into two groups
 “Rattlers” and “Eagles”
 Competitions fostered
hostility between the groups.
 Experimenters contrived
situations requiring
cooperation for success.
 Cross-group friendships
increased.
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Stereotypes
 Stereotype:
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A cognitive schema or a summary impression
of a group, in which a person believes that all
members of the group share a common trait or
traits (positive, negative, or neutral).
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Group Conflicts and
Prejudice
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Group Conflicts and Prejudice
 The Origins of Prejudice
 Varieties of Prejudice
 Reducing Prejudice and Conflict
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Reducing Prejudice and Conflict
 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.
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Bridging the Cultural Divide
 Tips for Successful Travel:
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Be sure you understand the other culture’s
rules, manners, and customs.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do as
much as possible.
Avoid stereotyping.
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