Download Social Psychology 11 Jan 13

Social Psychology
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The way we perceive ourselves in relation to the rest of the world plays an important
role in our choices, behaviors and beliefs. Conversely, the opinions of others also impact
our behavior and the way we view ourselves. Social psychology is a branch of psychology
concerned with how social phenomena influence us and how people interact with
others
Understanding social psychology can be useful for many reasons. First, we can better
understand how groups impact our choices and actions. Additionally, it also allows us to
gain a greater appreciation for how our social perceptions affect our interactions with
other people.
Outcomes.
 describe the basic human need for interaction with
others: Are we really social beings?
 discuss the ways individuals form impressions of one
another. Stereotypes and Attraction.
 describe the interactive patterns with groups: Conformity
Vs. Standing out.
 cite the sources of attitude change
 describe prejudice and its relationship to stereotypes and
roles
Big Questions
 Are we inherently good or evil?
 Are you praised or disciplined more often?
 Is it easier to find faults or gifts in people?
 Do you think selfishness is the root cause of evil?
 Why is it so hard to get along with people?
 Why is doing the right thing more difficult?
Social psychology is about understanding
individual behavior in a social context.
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Baron, Byrne & Suls (1989) define social psychology as .......-
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“the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual
behavior in social situations”. (p. 6).
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It therefore looks at human behavior as influenced by other people and the social
context in which this occurs.
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Social psychologists therefore deal with the factors that lead us to behave in a given
way in the presence of others, and look at the conditions under which certain
behavior/actions and feelings occur. Social psychology is to do with the way these
feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions and goals are constructed and how such
psychological factors, in turn, influence our interactions with others.
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Topics examined in social psychology include: the self concept, social cognition,
attribution theory, social influence, group processes, prejudice and discrimination,
interpersonal processes, aggression, attitudes and stereotypes.
Basic Aspects of Social Behavior
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There are some basic aspects of social behavior that play a large role in our actions and how we see ourselves.

Social behavior is goal-oriented. Our interactions serve goals or fulfill needs. Some common goals or needs include the need for social
ties, the desire to understand ourselves and others, the wish to gain or maintain status or protection and the need to attract
companions.
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The interaction between the individual and the situation helps determine the outcome. In many instances, people behave very
differently depending upon the situation. Environmental and situational variables play an important role and have a strong influence
on our behavior.

People spend a great deal of time considering social situations. Our social interactions help form our self-concept and perception.
One method of forming self-concept is through the reflected appraisal process in which we imagine how other people see us. Another
method is through the social comparison process whereby we consider how we compare to other people in our peer group.
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We also analyze and explain the behavior of those around us. One common phenomenon is the expectation confirmation, where we
tend to ignore unexpected attributes and look for evidence that confirms our preexisting beliefs about others. This helps simplify our
worldview, but it also skews our perception and can contribute to stereotyping.

We often believe that a person's behavior is a good indicator of their personality. Another influence on our perceptions of other
people can be explained by the theory of correspondent inferences. This occurs when we infer that the actions and behaviors of
others correspond to their intentions and personalities. While behavior can be informative in some instances, especially when the
person's actions are intentional, it can also be misleading. If we have limited interaction with someone, the behavior we see may be
atypical or caused by the specific situation rather than by the persons overriding dispositional characteristics.
Key Research
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Much of the key research in social psychology developed following World War II, when
people became interested in the behavior of individuals when grouped together and in
social situations. Key studies were carried out in several areas.
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Some studies focused on how attitudes are formed, changed by the social context and
measured to ascertain whether change has occurred. Amongst some of the most
famous work in social psychology is that on obedience conducted by Milgram in his
“electric shock” study, which looked at the role an authority figure plays in shaping
behavior. Similarly, Zimbardo’s prison simulation notably demonstrated conformity to
given roles in the social world.
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Wider topics then began to emerge, such as social perception, aggression, relationships,
decision making, prosocial behavior and attribution, many of which are central to
today’s topics and will be discussed throughout this website.

Thus the growth years for social psychology occurred during the decades following the
1940s.
Famous Experiments
 Allport (1920) – Social Facilitation: Allport introduced the notion
that the presence of others (the social group) can facilitate certain
behavior. It was found that an audience would improve an actors’
performance in well learned/easy tasks, but lead to a decrease in
performance on newly learned/difficult tasks due to social
inhibition.
 Bandura (1963) – Social Learning Theory: Bandura introduced the
notion that behavior in the social world could be modeled. Three
groups of children watched a video where an adult was aggressive
towards a ‘bobo doll’, and the adult was either just seen to be
doing this, was rewarded by another adult for their behavior or
were punished for it. Children who had seen the adult rewarded
were found to be more likely to copy such behavior.
Dissonance, Attribution and Identity
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Festinger (1950) – Cognitive Dissonance Festinger, Schacter and Black brought the idea that when we hold
beliefs, attitudes or cognitions which are different, then we experience dissonance – this is an inconsistency that
causes discomfort. We are motivated to reduce this by either changing one of our thoughts, beliefs or attitudes or
selectively attending to information which supports one of our beliefs and ignores the other (selective exposure
hypothesis).
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Dissonance occurs when there are difficult choices or decisions, or when people participate in behavior that is
contrary to their attitude. Dissonance is thus brought about by effort justification (when aiming to reach a modest
goal), induced compliance (when people are forced to comply contrary to their attitude) and free choice (when
weighing up decisions).
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Tajfel (1971) – Social Identity Theory: When divided into artificial (minimal) groups, prejudice results simply from
the awareness that there is an “out-group” (the other group). When boys were asked to allocate points to others
(which might be converted to rewards) who were either part of their own group or the out-group, they displayed
a strong in-group preference. That is, they allocated more points on the set task to boys who they believed to be
in the same group as themselves. This can be accounted for by Tajfel & Turner’s social identity theory, which
states that individuals need to maintain a positive sense of personal and social identity: this is partly achieved by
emphasizing the desirability of one’s own group, focusing on distinctions between other “lesser” groups.
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Weiner (1986) – Attribution theory: Weiner was interested in the attributions made for experiences of success
and failure and introduced the idea that we look for explanations of behavior in the social world. He believed that
these were made based on three areas: locus, which could be internal or external; stability, which is whether the
cause is stable or changes over time: and controllability.
Social Influence
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Milgram (1963) – Shock Experiment: Participants were told that they were taking part in a study on learning, but always
acted as the teacher when they were then responsible for going over paired associate learning tasks. When the learner
(a stooge) got the answer wrong, they were told by a scientist that they had to deliver an electric shock. This did not
actually happen, although the participant was unaware of this as they had themselves a sample (real!) shock at the start
of the experiment. They were encouraged to increase the voltage given after each incorrect answer up to a maximum
voltage, and it was found that all participants gave shocks up to 300v, with 65 per cent reaching the highest level of
450v.
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Haney, Banks, Zimbardo (1973) – Prison Study: Volunteers took part in a simulation where they were randomly
assigned the role of a prisoner or guard and taken to a converted university basement resembling a prison environment.
There was some basic loss of rights for the prisoners, who were unexpectedly arrested, given a uniform and an
identification number (they were therefore deindividuated).
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It seems that obedience is most likely to occur in an unfamiliar environment and in the presence of an authority figure,
especially when covert pressure is put upon people to obey. It is also possible that it occurs because the participant felt
that someone other than themselves was responsible for their actions.
The study showed that conformity to social roles occurred as part of the social interaction, as both groups displayed more
negative emotions and hostility and dehumanization became apparent. Prisoners became passive, whilst the guards
assumed an active, brutal and dominant role. Although normative and informational social influence had a role to play
here, deindividuation/the loss of a sense of identity seemed most likely to lead to conformity.
Both this and Milgram’s study introduced the notion of social influence, and the ways in which this could be
observed/tested.
Factors Increasing Conformity
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Size of the Group
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Conformity tends to increase as the size of the group increases.
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However, there is little change in conformity once the group size reaches 4-5. With one other person (i.e. confederate) in the group
conformity was 3%, with two others it increased to 13% and with three or more it was 32% (or 1/3).
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Because conformity does not seem to increase in groups larger than four, this is considered the optimal group size.
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Difficulty of Task
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When the (comparison) lines (e.g. A, B, C) were made more similar in length it was harder to judge the correct answer and conformity
increased.
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When we are uncertain, it seems we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the task the greater the conformity.
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Status of Majority Group
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If someone is of high status (e.g. your boss) or has a lot of knowledge (e.g. your teacher), they might be more influential, and so
people will conform to their opinions more (e.g. informational influence).
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The higher the status of the group the higher the level of conformity.
Conformity//Group Behavior
 Conformity is a type of social influence involving a
change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a
group.
 This change is in response to real (involving the
physical presence of others) or imagined (involving
the pressure of social norms / expectations) group
pressure.
Factors Decreasing Conformity
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Social Support
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When one other person in the group gave a different answer from the others, and
the group answer was not unanimous, conformity dropped.
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Asch (1951) found that even the presence of just one confederate that goes against
the majority choice can reduce conformity as much as 80%.
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This suggests that individuals conform because they are concerned about what
other people think of them (i.e. normative influence).
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Answer in Private
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When participants were allowed to answer in private (so the rest of the group do
not know their response) conformity decreases.
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This is because there is less groups pressure and normative influence is not as
powerful, as there is no fear of rejection from the group.
 Group Conformity Asch
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA
 Brown Eyes Vs. Blue Eyes
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeK759FF84s
Roles
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Role theory argues that human behavior is guided by expectations held both by the individual and
by others in the community.
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A role is a set of rules or norms that function as plans or blueprints to guide behavior within a
particular society.
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IE: husbands have roles, wives have roles, we use these to guide our behavior.
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Roles can be occupational or relational. An occupational role relates to a person's individual
function (for example, a profession). A relational role governs how the individual behaves towards
others (for example, being a father or a boss).
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Role theory is structural functionalist in that it seeks to explain human behavior by looking at what
social function is fulfilled by holding a given role.
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Role theory suggests that a substantial proportion of observable, day-to-day behavior is simply
people carrying out roles and negotiating which role to prioritize. Once you understand
someone’s role and which of their many roles they are prioritizing, you can predict how they are
going to behave.
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Examples of roles include father, mother, son, brother, sister, friend, girlfriend, boss, CEO,
employee, and secretary. All of these "titles" incorporate social and individual expectations for
behavior.
Questions
 How does social media, online relationships and virtual
worlds allow us to change roles?
 In the real world, how do we transition between roles? What
happens when we fail to transition between roles?
Social Development
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Adolescents ponder "Who am I and what can I be?", marking adolescence with a stage of
development known as identity vs. role confusion.
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According to Erikson's psychosocial theory of development, adolescence (ages 13-19 years) is
the fifth stage of development known as identity vs. role confusion.
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In this stage, the adolescent is consumed by the existential question, "Who am I and what can I
be?" and is newly concerned with how they appear to others.
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Initially, they are apt to experience some role confusion—mixed ideas and feelings about the
specific ways in which they will fit into society—and may experiment with a variety of behaviors
and activities.
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During this time, conflicts and confusion regarding religious, political, and sexual identities are
common, along with decisions about career choice.
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According to Erikson, adolescents who are allowed the space and time to explore various
possibilities are able to establish a clear sense of identity and self-awareness.
Social Identity
 Do we put too much pressure on students to find their
role and identity in High School?
 Where does your identity come from?
 Where should your identity come from?
 Who are you when no one else is around? Is this the real
you?
 If not, when are you, you?
Attitudes
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An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for
something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event. This is
often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object,
meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in
question.
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An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for
something.
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Attitudes develop when our beliefs influence our feelings. Believing that someone is unfriendly, for
instance, may cause us to dislike someone and act unfriendly.
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Attitude a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, events, or ideas in one's environment
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Implicit Attitude The positive or negative thoughts, feelings, or actions towards objects which arise due
to past experiences which one is either unaware of or which one cannot attribute to an identified
previous experience.
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Explicit attitudes are attitudes that an individual is aware of and can explain.
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Cognitive Dissonance A conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistencies between one's beliefs and
one's actions or other beliefs.
How Attitudes Form
 Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a
function of experience. In addition, exposure to the
'attitude' objects may have an effect on how a person forms
his or her attitude.
 Attitudes are formed from direct contact, direct instruction,
interaction with others, and observational learning.
 What’s an important attitude that you’ve seen change in
your life recently?
Changing attitudes.
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Attitudes are also not as stable as may commonly be believed. For
example, if someone has the attitude that smoking is unhealthy but
often smokes, then they will mostly likely change their attitude about
smoking instead of changing their behaviors. One reason for this
change is because it is very difficult to quit smoking, and it is much
easier to simply change your beliefs about smoking. Another reason
for this change is due to an effect called cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is an imbalance between
attitudes or behaviors. Dissonance is experienced as a sort of mental
discomfort over this internal conflict, and needs to be resolved for this
discomfort to go away. Because the fastest way to resolve this type of
imbalance is by changing an attitude, our attitudes are often changed
to resolve cognitive dissonance.
Effects of Group Size on Attitudes and Behavior
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Size (number of people involved) is an important characteristic of
groups, organizations and communities in which social behavior
occurs.
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A social group has been defined as two or more humans who
interact with one another, share similar characteristics and
collectively have a sense of unity. Groups can be categorized
according to size.
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Individual behavior has been shown to be influenced by the
presence of others. For example, an individual’s performance at
work or the individual’s decision-making processes (as in the term
"groupthink").
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Dyads and triads are the smallest social groups. Social interaction
in a dyad is typically more intense because neither member shares
the other's attention with anyone else. A triad is more stable
because one member can act as a mediator if the relationship
between the other two become strained.
Group Growth.
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As an organization or community grows in size it is apt to experience changes in
the way it operates. As the size of a group increases, the need for more
organization or leadership also becomes more obvious.
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German sociologist Georg Simmel argued that as the group becomes greater, the
individual becomes separated and grows more alone, isolated and segmented.
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Social Group A collection of humans or animals that share certain characteristics,
interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the
group, and share a common identity.
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Imagine your nuclear family as an example of a small, cohesive group. All
members are invested in one another and remain committed to achieving the
group's goals. On the other hand, a country is an example of a large group.
Americans are united by nationality, but there is wide variation in how individual
members seek to achieve goals and determine what the nation's goals should be.
Groups Can Strengthen Extreme Opinions
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Group polarization is the phenomenon that when placed in group situations, people will make
decisions and form opinions to more of an extreme than when alone. The phenomenon has
shown that after participating in a discussion group, members tend to advocate more extreme
positions and call for riskier courses of action than individuals who did not participate in any such
discussion.The notion that the gap between initial differences within a group interaction widens
over time is known as group polarization. Group polarization can have positive effects, such as
increased awareness, but it may also have negative effects, such as increased prejudice.
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When like-minded individuals form groups and are isolated together, away from outside
influences, their mentality becomes more extreme. Psychologists have found this to be true for
terrorist organizations, in which extreme views are usually developed over time.
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The Internet also provides enough social isolation for a group to polarize viewpoints, such as
when websites foster white supremacy.
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Isolated groups may also experience groupthink. Groupthink refers to a phenomenon where an
isolated group pressured to make a decision agrees on a more extreme or less practical outcome
due to in-group and out-group pressures.
Vocab

Group Polarization The tendency for groups to make decisions that are
more extreme than the initial inclination of its members.
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Social Isolation A complete or near-complete lack of contact with society
for members of a social species.

Groupthink psychological phenomenon in which people strive for
consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their own
personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. People who
are opposed to the decisions or overriding opinion of the group as a
whole frequently remain quiet, preferring to keeping the peace rather
than disrupt the uniformity of the crowd..

When surrounded by support for a specific position with few to no
dissenters, it becomes likely that a group's opinion will tend to the
extreme.
 How does the Internet lead to Group Polarization?
 In a study conducted by Sia et al. in 2002, group polarization was
found to occur with online (computer-mediated) discussions. In
particular, this study found that group discussions conducted when
discussants are in a distributed (cannot see one another) or
anonymous (cannot identify one another) environment, the level
of group polarization tends to be higher in comparison to
traditional meetings. This is attributed to the greater numbers of
novel arguments generated (due to persuasive arguments theory)
and the higher incidence of one-upmanship behaviors (due to
social comparison).
Questions
 What purpose do groups play in our social circles?
What benefit do we receive from groups?
 What purpose do groups play in our society?
Examining Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency to selectively seek information which supports our beliefs and
disregard information to the contrary.
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Confirmation bias can contribute to people possessing an overconfidence in their personal
beliefs.
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Confirmation bias can also maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.
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Some psychologists use "confirmation bias" to refer to any way that people avoid rejecting a
belief, whether in searching for evidence, interpreting it, or recalling it from memory.

Experiments have repeatedly found that people tend to test hypotheses in a one-sided way by
searching for evidence consistent with the hypothesis they hold at a given time. Rather than
searching through all relevant evidence, they ask questions that are phrased so that an
affirmative answer supports their hypothesis. They look for the consequences that they would
expect if their hypothesis were true, rather than what would happen if it were false.

Confirmation Bias In social psychology, this refers to the tendency of
people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses and
minimizes evidence to the contrary.

Illusory Correlation The phenomenon of seeing the relationship one
expects in a set of data even when no such relationship exists.

Attitude Polarization A phenomenon in which a disagreement becomes
more extreme as the different parties consider evidence on the issue.

An example of confirmation bias occurs when a person believes that
she's having a bad day. Instead of recognizing all of the things that go
well in the course of her day, she focuses on the one or two minor things
that go wrong to support her theory that she is having a bad day.