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Social psychology
 Social psychology: branch of psychology that studies
individuals as they interact with others
 How does being a part of a group influence our
behavior? What influence does group membership
have on the way that we think? (sociology is similar,
but focuses more on patterns of group behavior)
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Social facilitation
 Being in a group improves the performance of individual
members in a group
 Can you think of examples where you try harder because
everyone else around is working towards the same
activity/goal?
 But, are there some times when you work less hard
because you are in a group? Think about tug-of-war…
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Social loafing
 when people work less hard because they can “blend in”
with the group
 This happens when group performance is measured
 Social facilitation v social loafing
 Measuring individual performance v group performance
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Deindividuation
 Think about the word – de – individual
 Being in a group sometimes make you feel less like an
individual
 When you are in a group, you are less aware of your
individual behavior
 So, you may do things that you wouldn’t normally do
 Sports fans?
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Sometimes group membership can change the way you
think
 Group polarization – when people’s views become more
extreme when they are in a group environment
 Dilemma discussions: when asked about moral dilemmas
individually, people tend to be more moderate, in groups,
more extreme
 Groupthink
 The faulty decision making process that may occur in groups
 In groups, bad decisions are made because of polarization
and the cohesiveness of the group
 Example: Bay of Pigs Invasion
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Conformity
 Tending to behave like others in the group
 Ashe conformity experiment
 Volunteers?
 After class demonstration


What happened?
Evidence of conformity?
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Bystander theory
 Read story of Kitty Genovese
 Effects on group membership on individual
responsibility?
Element A: How does the social
environment influence individuals?
 Obedience
 Watch Milgram obedience study
 Group influences on obedience?
 Obedience increases when personal responsibility
decreases – when its someone else’s fault, we listen
Element B: Social Judgments and
attitudes
 Attribution Theory: