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Chapter 14
Social Psychology
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ISBN: 0-131-73180-7
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Social Psychology
Social psychology –
The branch of psychology that studies the
effects of social variables and cognitions on
individual behavior and social interactions
Social context –
The combination of
(a) People
(b) The activities and interactions among people
(c) The setting in which behavior occurs, and
(d) The expectations and social norms governing
behavior in that setting
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
How Does the
Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
We usually adapt our
behavior to the demands of
the social situation, and in
ambiguous situations we
take our cues from the
behavior of others in that
setting
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
How Does the
Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
Situationism –
The view that environmental conditions
influence people’s behavior as much or
more than their personal dispositions do
(remember: fundamental attribution
error…)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Social Standards of Behavior
Social role –
One of several socially defined patterns of
behavior that are expected of persons in a
given setting or group (read about the Stanford
prison experiment at the start of this chapter)
Script –
Knowledge about the sequence
of events and actions that is
expected in a particular setting
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Social Standards of Behavior
Social norms –
A group’s expectations regarding what is
appropriate and acceptable for its
members’ attitudes and behavior (think:
socially “normal”)
Social norms influence these students’
views on just about any topic
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Conformity:
The Solomon Asch studies
Which line matches the line on the left?
A
Standard line
1
2
3
Comparison lines
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Conformity:
The Asch studies
What would you say if you were in a room
full of people who all picked line number
three?
A
Standard line
1
2
3
Comparison lines
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Conformity
Correct estimated (percent)
No opposition (control)
100
With partner
80
60
Alone against majority
40
20
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Critical trials
8
9
10
11
12
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Group Characteristics That Produce
Conformity
Conformity=tendency to adopt the behaviors,
attitudes, and opinions of other members of a
group
Asch identifies three factors that influence
whether a person will yield to pressure:
• The size of the majority
• The presence of a partner who dissented from the
majority
• The size of the discrepancy between the correct
answer and the majority position
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Groupthink
In “groupthink,” members of the group
attempt to conform their opinions to what
each believes to be the consensus of the
group. This means each person in the
group changes their opinion to match
what they think is the entire group’s
agreement.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Conditions Likely to Promote
Groupthink
Conditions likely to promote groupthink
include:
•
•
•
•
Isolation of the group
High group cohesiveness
Directive leadership
Lack of norms requiring methodical
procedures
• Homogeneity of members’ social
background and ideology
• High stress from external threats with low
hope of a better solution than that of the
group leader
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Obedience to Authority
Imagine if an experimenter studying “the
effects of punishment on memory” asked
you to deliver painful electric shocks to a
a middle-aged man who had been
treated for a heart condition
Each time the man missed
an answer, you would be
instructed to deliver an
increasingly powerful shock
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Stanley Milgram’s Shock
Generator (Yale)
Shock Generator
Caution
On
Amp Meter
Amps
Slight
Shock
Moderate
Shock
Intensity
Strong
Shock
Resistance
Very
Strong
Shock
Intense
Shock
Extreme
Shock
Danger
XXX
Would you deliver a “Moderate Shock?”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Milgram’s Shock
Generator
Shock Generator
Caution
On
Amp Meter
Amps
Slight
Shock
Moderate
Shock
Intensity
Strong
Shock
Resistance
Very
Strong
Shock
Intense
Shock
Extreme
Shock
Danger
XXX
Would you refuse the experimenter’s instruction
to deliver an “Extreme Shock?”
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Milgram’s Shock
Generator
Shock Generator
Caution
On
Amp Meter
Amps
Slight
Shock
Moderate
Shock
Intensity
Strong
Shock
Resistance
Very
Strong
Shock
Intense
Shock
Extreme
Shock
Danger
XXX
What if the victim was screaming in agony?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Milgram’s Shock
Generator
Shock Generator
Caution
On
Amp Meter
Amps
Slight
Shock
Moderate
Shock
Intensity
Strong
Shock
Resistance
Very
Strong
Shock
Intense
Shock
Extreme
Shock
Danger
XXX
Two thirds of participants delivered the maximum
450 volts to the learner
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Obedience to Authority
In Milgram’s experiment
The victim was an actor
The victim received no actual shocks
Nevertheless, this controversial experiment
demonstrated how powerful effects of
obedience to authority are
Situational factors, and not personality
variables, appeared to effect people’s
levels of obedience
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Obedience in Milgram’s
Experiments
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Ten Steps Toward Evil-Getting Good People to Harm Others
1. Provide people with an ideology to justify
beliefs for actions
2. Make people take a small first step toward
a harmful act with a minor, trivial action
and then gradually increase those small
actions
3. Make those in charge seem like a “just
authority”
4. Slowly transform a once compassionate
leader into a dictatorial figure
5. Provide people with vague and ever
changing rules
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Ten Steps Toward EvilGetting Good People to Harm Others
6. Re-label the situation’s actors and their
actions to legitimize the ideology
7. Provide people with social models of
compliance
8. Allow verbal dissent but only if people
continue to comply behaviorally with
orders
9. Encourage dehumanizing the victim
10. Make exiting the situation difficult
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Bystander Problem
Diffusion of responsibility –
Dilution or weakening of
each group member’s
obligation to act when
responsibility is
perceived to be shared
with all group members
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Bystander Problem
In one experiment, a student was led to
believe that the he or she was taking part
in an experiment with between one and
five other students (over an intercom)
The student then heard what sounded like
another student having a seizure and
gasping for help
The researchers timed how long it would
take the students to ask for help
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Bystander Intervention in an Emergency
100
2-person groups
Percentage helping
80
3-person groups
60
6-person groups
40
20
0
20
80
120
160
200
240
280
Seconds from beginning of emergency
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Increasing your chances to receive help…
1) Ask for help
2) Reduce ambiguity
3) Identify specific individuals
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Constructing Social Reality:
What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
The judgments we make
about others depend not only
on their behavior but also on
our interpretation of their
actions within a social
context
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Constructing Social Reality:
What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
Social reality –
An individual’s subjective
interpretation of other people
and of relationships with them
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Interpersonal Attraction
Reward theory of attraction –
A social learning view that says we
like best those who give us maximum
rewards at minimum cost
Proximity
Similarity
Self-Disclosure
Physical
Attractiveness
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Expectations and the
Influence of Self-Esteem
Matching hypothesis –
Prediction that most people will find
friends and mates that are about their
same level of attractiveness
Expectancy-value theory –
Theory that people decide whether or not
to pursue a relationship by weighing the
potential value of the relationship against
their expectations of success in
establishing the relationship
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Self-Esteem…
People with low opinions of themselves
tend to establish relationships with
people who share their views, often with
people who devalue them
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Attraction and Self-Justification
Cognitive dissonance –
A highly motivating state in which people
have conflicting cognitions, especially
when their voluntary actions conflict with
their attitudes
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Making Cognitive
Attributions
Fundamental attribution error –
Tendency to emphasize internal causes
and ignore external pressures
Self-serving bias –
Attributional pattern in which one takes
credit for success but denies
responsibility for failure
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice –
A negative attitude toward an
individual based solely on his or
her membership in a particular
group
Discrimination –
A negative action taken against an
individual as a result of his or her
group membership
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Prejudice and Discrimination
In-group –
The group with which an individual
identifies
Out-group –
Those outside the group with which
an individual identifies
Social distance –
The perceived difference or
similarity between oneself and
another person
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
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Causes of Prejudice
Dissimilarity and Social Distance
Economic Competition
Scapegoating
Conformity to Social Norms
Media Stereotypes
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Other Topics in Social Psychology
Social facilitation –
An increase in an individual’s
performance because of being in a group
Social loafing –
A decrease in performance because of
being in a group
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Other Topics in Social Psychology
Deindividuation –
Occurs when group members lose their
sense of personal identity and
responsibility and the group “assumes”
responsibility for their behavior
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Other Topics in Social Psychology
Group polarization –
When individuals in a group have similar,
though not identical, views, their opinions
become more extreme
Groupthink –
An excessive tendency to seek
concurrence among group members
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Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love…
for example—romantic love, infatuation,
complete love
Passion
Intimacy
Commitment
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What Are the Roots of
Violence and Terrorism?
The power of the situation can
help us understand violence
and terrorism, but the broader
understanding requires
multiple perspectives that go
beyond the boundaries of
traditional psychology
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Robbers’ Cave:
An Experiment in Conflict
In the Robbers Cave experiment, conflict
between groups arose from an intensely
competitive situation
Cooperation, however, replaced conflict
when the experimenters contrived
situations that fostered mutual
interdependence and common goals for
the groups
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Robbers’ Cave:
An Experiment in Conflict
Violence and aggression –
Terms that refer to behavior that is
intended to cause harm
Cohesiveness –
Solidarity, loyalty, and a sense of group
membership
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Robbers’ Cave:
An Experiment in Conflict
Mutual interdependence –
Shared sense that individuals or groups
need each other in order to achieve
common goals
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Terrorism
Terrorism –
The use of violent, unpredictable acts by
a small group against a larger group for
political, economic, or religious goals
Taking multiple perspectives can provide
important insights on the problems of
aggression, violence, and terrorism
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
End of Chapter 14
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007