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CHAPTER
Many of our
attitudes and
beliefs are
based on the
behaviors of
others. Here
we look at
cultural and
group origins.
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20
Sociocultural
Influences:
Attitudes and
Beliefs
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Culture is a set
of beliefs, attitudes
and values that are
held in common
by people.
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Race is a set of
hereditary physical
characteristics that
distinguish one
major group from
another.
An ethnic group is
made up of people
who share
important cultural
and racial
features, including
national origin.
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Multicultural America
1%
White
4%
10%
African
Americans
Hispanics
11%
Asian Americans
74%
Native
Americans
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Multicultural Psychology
All people are shaped by their culture.
Most psychological studies have been in America
and Europe. Thus, psychology itself has a bias. We
are not sure how much of the results apply to other
cultures.
When minorities are studied they are compared with
the dominant white culture. The reason of just being
different is rarely used.
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Group Influences
Group Effects
When people think in similar ways, both positive and
negative things occur. When goals are admirable, it is good.
When goals are deceitful, it is bad.
Reference Groups
A reference group is a particular group that an individual
identifies with and that provides standards of behavior. You
may have many reference groups.
Fitting Attitudes to the Group
An attitude is a general, long-lasting evaluation that includes
emotional responses and a tendency to act in a certain way.
People get their initial attitudes from families. Later,
reference
groups become more influential.
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The Prisoner - Guard Experiment
Dr. Philip Zimbardo set up a mock prison at Stanford
University. He hired 20 college students for the
experiment. Half were randomly assigned to be either a
prisoner or a guard.
Each group had either prisoner
or guard clothes. This served to
deindividualize the students and
align them with their reference
groups.
By the end of six days, the
experiment had to be called off.
(continued . . .)
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The Prisoner - Guard Experiment (continued)
The guards became very
hostile and violent. The
prisoners became withdrawn
and passive.
The students in this study
never forgot the experiment.
Several suffered emotional
problems. They never realized
they were capable of such
behavior.
This study has been relevant and distressing to
many people. Ethical standards would prevent
this experiment from being repeated today.
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How We View Others
Stereotypes
A stereotype is a
generalization about a
member of a group.
Stereotypes are usually
broad in scope and
inclusive. They are used
to convey ideas about
individuals that may or
may not be true.
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Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice is a biased judgment of other people based on
partial information. Discrimination occurs when people
are treated differently because of their memberships in
different groups.
Illusory correlations are formed when people see only
behaviors that fit the stereotype and ignore ideas and
behaviors that do not follow the stereotype.
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Overcoming Prejudice
Interacting with individuals from a different group
changes people’s attitudes.
In face-to-face encounters,
people are willing to help
someone who belongs to a
different group.
In a non-face-to-face encounter, people are not likely
to help someone from another group.
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Scapegoats
People will blame others for the troubles of some.
This leads to prejudice toward the one group.
By using scapegoats, one
does not have to assume
responsibility for behavior.
It is someone else’s fault.
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Changing Attitudes
Cognitive Dissonance
When some beliefs are contrary to other beliefs,
cognitive dissonance occurs, creating an imbalance. To
decrease cognitive dissonance, people either justify the
belief as reasonable or change the belief.
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Yielding to Others (Conformity)
Members of groups tend to conform.
In one experiment, people had to judge the length of lines.
The people working with the experimenter judged the length
of lines as either too short or too long.
(The idea was to put pressure on the third person to change
an answer to conform to the other two people.)
Which line
(B,C,D)
matches
line A in
length?
A
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B
C
D
Roughly 25%
of the people
changed their
answers to
conform to
the incorrect
group answer.
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Compliance with Authority (Milgram Experiment)
A learner was asked to memorize and repeat a list of
paired words.
If the learner made an error,
the “teacher” was asked to
shock the learner. The learner
never actually received any
shocks. But, the “teacher”
believed he or she did.
(Actually, today this experiment
would not be done because of
ethical standards!)
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(When psychiatrists were asked to predict how many people
would administer the full “450 volts,” they replied fewer
than 5%.)
Amazingly, in Milgram’s experiment, over 65% obeyed
the instructions to give the severe shocks. There were no
differences between males and females!
VOLTAGE
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Verbal Persuasion
Psychologists develop defenses against persuasion called
immunization.
The techniques include
 creating a two-sided argument comparing opposing
viewpoints.
 preparing a position paper defending an opposing belief.
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Verbal Persuasion
(continued)
Psychologists studying persuasion note that
But, you
know I
love you.
 people do not like to admit that their
behavior has been influenced by
others.
 people are more likely to believe an
expert rather than a movie star.
 how something is said is more important than what is
being said.
 if the source of information is reliable, people tend to
agree with it (credibility).
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Effective Ways to Influence Attitudes
Repeat ideas
often.
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Have an expert
endorse
the product.
Make the
message
sound
believable.
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Social Influence: Brainwashing
 Friendliness If the “enemy” is friendly,
it causes confusion. If the enemy is
hateful, it can unite a group of people.
 Sensory Deprivation In experiments,
prisoners have been deprived of all sensation.
As a result, they feel confused, have
hallucinations, and are mentally weakened.
 When a person receives special privileges for
giving information, it divides the group, setting one
apart from the others.
 Compliance by small request gets people to agree to
small steps and then follows up with a large request.
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Summary of Main Topics Covered
Cultural Diversity
Multicultural Psychology
Group Influences
How We View Others
Changing Attitudes
Verbal Persuasion
Social Persuasion: Brainwashing
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