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Social Interaction
Chapter 21: Social Interaction
Case Study: Acts of Altruism
Section 1: Group Behavior
Section 2: Conformity and Obedience
Section 3: Aggression and Altruism
Experiment: Applying What You’ve Learned
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Social Interaction
Case Study: Acts of Altruism
Raoul Wallenberg
• In 1944 the Nazis sent troops into Hungary for the purpose of
rounding up the country’s Jewish population.
• Wallenberg, a Swedish businessman, asked to be assigned as a
diplomat to Budapest, Hungary. During his time in Budapest,
Wallenberg managed to save thousands of Hungarian Jews.
Paul Rusesabagina
• In 1994 a long dispute between the two ethnic groups of Rwanda
exploded into a 100-day frenzy of slaughter and genocide. Nearly
one million were killed.
• Rusesabagina saved more than 1,200 people from the genocide by
harboring them in the hotel that he managed.
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
What do you think?
• Which groups did Wallenberg and Rusesabagina help?
• Would you risk your life to save other people? Can you
imagine circumstances under which you would do so?
What are those circumstances?
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Social Interaction
Section 1 at a Glance
Group Behavior
• People behave differently in groups than they do as
individuals.
• Being a member of a group does not always improve
individual performance.
• Many important decisions are made by groups rather
than by individuals.
• People tend to take greater risks as part of a group than
they would if they were acting alone.
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Social Interaction
Group Behavior
Main Idea
People behave differently in groups than they do as individuals. Often,
they are willing to take greater risks in a group.
Reading Focus
• What is social facilitation?
• How would you define social loafing and risky shift?
• What are some characteristics of group decision-making?
• What is group polarization?
• How would you describe group leadership?
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Social Interaction
Why would sports fans
riot, even though their
team had won?
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Social Interaction
Social Facilitation
• People may try harder, take greater risks, or make
different decisions when they are with others than they
would if they were alone. Why is this so?
• People often perform better when other people are
watching. The presence of other people seems to
facilitate and encourage one’s performance. This
phenomenon is called social facilitation.
• Evaluation apprehension, or the concern about the
opinion of others, is another reason the presence of other
people may improve performance.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Summarize
Who or what does social facilitation affect?
Answer: performance
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Social Interaction
Social Loafing and Risky Shift
• Being a member of a group does not always improve performance.
When people are working toward a common goal, they may “slack
off” and not try as hard. This behavior is called social loafing.
• Social loafing may occur because of diffusion of responsibility—
the tendency of people to feel less responsible for accomplishing a
task when the effort is shared among other members of a group.
• A related phenomenon is the risky shift—the tendency for people to
take greater risks when they are part of a group than they would as
individuals acting on their own.
• People may feel more powerful or less vulnerable as part of a group.
• The risky shift may help explain such events as prison riots and mob
attacks.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Find the Main Idea
What is diffusion of responsibility?
Answer: the tendency for people to feel less
responsible for accomplishing a task when the
effort is shared among members of a group
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Social Interaction
Group Decision-Making
Many important decisions are made by groups rather than
by individuals. Psychologists have identified a number of
social decision schemes, or rules that govern group
decision-making.
Majority-Wins Scheme
Truth-Wins Scheme
• In the majority-wins scheme, the
group agrees to a decision that was
initially supported by a majority of
group members.
• Often, the members of a group
come to realize that one option is
better than others after they learn
more about the choices available.
• The majority-wins scheme applies
most often to situations in which
there is no right or wrong choice.
• This is called the truth-wins
scheme.
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Social Interaction
Two-Thirds-Majority Scheme
First-Shift Scheme
• Some groups concur with a
decision after two-thirds of their
members come to an agreement
about the correct choice.
• The first-shift scheme applies to
groups that are deadlocked about a
decision.
• This is the two-thirds majority
scheme.
• If one person shifts from one side
to the other, others may shift to the
opposite side as well.
• It often applies to jury decisions.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Summarize
Which scheme applies to groups that are
deadlocked?
Answer: first-shift scheme
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Social Interaction
Group Polarization
• Members of a group usually share similar attitudes.
• Shared attitudes are often what attract people to particular groups in
the first place.
• The shared attitudes that group members hold are likely to grow
stronger over time.
• This strengthening of a group’s shared attitudes is called group
polarization.
• Polarization occurs as group members discuss and act upon the
attitudes they share.
• Polarization can be positive or negative.
– High-prejudice group members are likely to increase their prejudice.
– Low-prejudice group members are likely to decrease their prejudice.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Draw Conclusions
What is an example of negative group
polarization?
Answer: possible response—prejudice
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Group Leadership
• All groups have leaders who serve several important functions
in their groups.
– Identify goals
– Establish and implement plans
– Emotional support
• Some leaders are appointed by outsiders; others are chosen by
a vote of group members.
• Informal groups may not have official leaders, though some
members are likely to have more influence than others.
• Group leaders often have certain personality traits or skills.
Many are self-confident, outgoing, and intelligent.
• Leaders differ in how they operate.
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Social Interaction
Authoritarian Leaders
Democratic Leaders
• Authoritarian leaders exert
absolute control over all decisions
for the group.
• Democratic leaders encourage
group members to express and
discuss their ideas and, in addition,
to make their own decisions.
• Military leaders are authoritarian
leaders to those below them.
Laissez-Faire Leaders
• Laissez-faire leaders encourage
group members to express and
explore their own ideas.
• These leaders have a less active
role in the decision-making
process.
Comparing Leadership
Styles
• No one style of leadership is best
for every group.
• Different situations call for different
styles of leadership.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Analyze
What is an authoritarian leader?
Answer: a group leader who exerts absolute
control over all decisions for the group
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Social Interaction
Section 2 at a Glance
Conformity and Obedience
• People who conform bring their behavior into line with
that of a group.
• Solomon Asch investigated the extent to which people
conform to social norms.
• One of the most obvious influences on people’s behavior
is the power of people in authority to compel them to
obey.
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Social Interaction
Conformity and Obedience
Main Idea
The pressure to conform is an indirect social influence on behavior. The
power of people in positions of authority is a more direct social
influence.
Reading Focus
• Why are groups and social norms important?
• What were Asch’s studies of conformity?
• Why do people conform?
• What was the purpose of Milgram’s studies of obedience?
• Why do people obey?
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Social Interaction
Why did 500 ordinary
men commit mass
murder?
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Social Interaction
Importance of Groups and Social Norms
• How people behave toward each other depends upon a variety of
factors.
• The least direct social influence on behavior is the pressure to
conform. People who conform bring their behavior in line with that of
a group.
• Being accepted by a group can be important because groups help
people satisfy many needs, such as belonging, affection, attention,
and support during difficult times. Groups also may help people
accomplish things they could not accomplish on their own.
• Belonging to a group usually means conforming to the group’s social
norms. Social norms are standards of behavior that people share.
• Social norms can be explicit or implicit. Explicit norms are spoken or
written rules. Implicit norms are unspoken, unwritten rules.
• Social norms can be useful or harmful.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Find the Main Idea
What are implicit norms?
Answer: unspoken, unwritten rules
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Social Interaction
Asch’s Studies of Conformity
To what extent will people conform to social norms? Psychologist
Solomon Asch addressed this question in a series of well-known
experiments in 1955.
Procedure
Results
• Participants asked to indicate which
of three lines of varying length
matched a standard line
• Many study participants conformed,
even when an answer was
obviously wrong.
• Participants tested in groups; group
members were Asch’s associates
• Participants later admitted knowing
the answers were wrong, but that
they went along with the group so
as not to appear different.
• First few times Asch’s associates
answered correctly; then all gave
the same wrong answer
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Identify Cause and Effect
Why did participants conform to group
opinion?
Answer: so as not to appear different
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Why People Conform
• “Going along with the crowd” is
probably at least as common in
everyday life as it was in Asch’s
experiments.
• Why is conformity so common?
Several factors may contribute to
the tendency to conform.
Cultural Influences
• In collectivistic cultures greater
emphasis is placed on the group
than on individual members.
• Individuals in such cultures show a
greater tendency to conform.
Need for Acceptance
Other Factors
• Some people conform in order to
be liked and accepted by others.
• The chances of conforming to a
group’s norms increases as the
group grows in size.
• This stems from the belief that
people who appear different from
the group draw negative attention.
• Conformity is more likely when it is
unanimous within a group.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Find the Main Idea
What are some other factors besides
cultural influences and need for
acceptance that make conformity so
common?
Answer: group size, unanimity within the group
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Social Interaction
Milgram’s Studies of Obedience
• One of the most obvious and direct social influences on people’s
attitudes and behavior is the power of people in positions of authority.
• Most adults and children obey authority figures.
• Throughout history, however, many people have also obeyed orders
to commit immoral acts, such as killing innocent people.
• Are people who obey an order to commit immoral acts unusual or
abnormal? Or would most people be obedient in a similar situation?
• Psychologist Stanley Milgram investigated this question in a series of
studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.
• The purpose of Milgram’s research was to determine whether the
average person would obey the commands of authority figures.
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Social Interaction
Procedure
• Forty male volunteers were recruited and told they were investigating the
effects that punishment has on memory.
• All volunteers were assigned to be “teachers” and all “learners” were actually
associates of Milgram, though the volunteers were unaware of this.
• Learners memorized word pairs. Then the teachers read the words one at a
time. If the learner failed to provide the matching word, then the teacher was
to administer an electric shock to the learner. For each subsequent wrong
answer, the amount of shock would be increased. The equipment did not
actually administer shocks, but the teachers were unaware of this.
• Teachers were told they could quit at any time. However, if they hesitated,
they were urged by repeated commands from the researcher to continue.
• The researcher offered reassurances that the shocks, although painful,
would cause no permanent damage.
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Social Interaction
Results
• As learners made errors, teachers delivered stronger and stronger shocks. At
300 volts, learners pounded on the wall and screamed in make-believe pain.
• Despite this, 35 of 40 participants continued with the experiment. Two-thirds
continued through the full range of voltage. Nine participants refused to
continue somewhere between the 300-volt and 450-volt level.
• Participants continued even though they later admitted that they had been
afraid of harming the people receiving the shocks. Participants continued
even though they showed signs of distress as the shocks they delivered
increased in voltage.
• Milgram repeated the experiment and always at least half of the participants
obeyed the researcher and administered the entire series of shocks.
• Milgram’s studies showed that people will obey orders that conflict with their
own attitudes even if it causes them distress to do so.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Analyze
About what percentage of participants gave
shocks throughout the entire range of
voltage?
Answer: almost two-thirds
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Social Interaction
Why People Obey
• They have been socialized from
childhood to obey authority figures,
such as parents and teachers.
• Participants saw Milgram as an
authority figure because of his age,
gender, profession, and affiliation
with a prestigious school.
• People who are aware of their
attitudes are likely to behave in
accordance with those attitudes.
• Conversely, people who are less
aware of their attitudes are more
likely to behave in ways that are in
conflict with their attitudes.
• Foot-in-the-door effect, which is
the tendency for people to give in to
major demands once they have
given in to minor ones
• After participants in Milgram’s
studies delivered minor shocks, it
was easier to deliver larger ones.
• When people are buffered from the
consequences of their actions, they
are more likely to follow orders,
even immoral ones.
• The participants in Milgram’s
studies were separated from those
they were administering shocks to.
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Describe
What are buffers?
Answer: means by which people are prevented
from seeing the results of their actions
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Social Interaction
Current Research in Psychology
Cults and Conformity
• The People’s Temple, Jim Jones; 914 people died
• The Branch Davidians, David Koresh; about 80 people died
• Heaven’s Gate, Marshall Applewhite; followers committed mass suicide
• Why? Psychologist Philip Zimbardo believes we should be asking what was
so appealing about these groups that people joined them voluntarily.
• The cults mentioned possessed the following characteristics:
– Claimed a rigid division between the chosen people of the cult and the
rest of the world
– Complained that the world was against the cult
– Envisioned an apocalyptic showdown between the cult and the rest of
the world
– Envisioned the cult leader as a messiah or world dictator
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Thinking Critically
• What are some similarities shared by cults?
• What effect might the pressures to conform to a cult have
on the individual?
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Social Interaction
Section 3 at a Glance
Aggression and Altruism
• Aggression, words or actions that are intended to harm
other people, is a widespread social problem.
• Freud believed that aggressive urges are unavoidable
reactions to the frustrations of daily life.
• Cognitive psychologists maintain that aggressive
behavior is influenced by people’s values.
• An unselfish concern for the welfare of other people is the
hallmark of altruistic behavior.
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Social Interaction
Aggression and Altruism
Main Idea
Aggression refers to words or actions that can hurt people. Altruism
refers to words or actions that can help people.
Reading Focus
• How does biology influence aggression?
• What are some features of the psychoanalytic and cognitive views of
aggression?
• How do learning and sociocultural theorists think about aggression?
• What is altruism?
• What factors affect altruism?
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Social Interaction
How can both
sides win?
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Social Interaction
Biological View of Aggression
Aggression refers to words or actions that are meant to hurt
other people. It is a serious and widespread social problem.
Why are people aggressive? The brain and hormones
appear to be involved.
• In response to certain stimuli, many
lower animals react with instinctive
aggression.
• The male sex hormone
testosterone is involved in
aggression.
• Electrical stimulation of the
hypothalamus appears to trigger
this aggressive behavior in animals.
• Higher levels of testosterone result
in higher levels of aggression.
• Humans are more complex.
• Aggression can contribute to
survival, but now, intelligence and
organizational skills also matter.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Identify
What is the male sex hormone involved in
aggression?
Answer: testosterone
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Social Interaction
Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Views
Psychoanalysis and
Aggression
Cognitive Psychology and
Aggression
• Freud and the psychoanalytic view
see aggression as normal but
typically repressed.
• Cognitive psychologists maintain
that aggression is influenced by
people’s values, perceptions, and
choices.
• Freud believed repressed
aggression was likely to find other
outlets.
• Less harmful forms of aggression
were to be encouraged to vent the
pressure of repressed aggression.
• Psychologists refer to such venting
of aggressive impulses as
catharsis.
• People act aggressively because
they believe aggression is justified,
either in general or in particular
situations.
• Frustration and suffering may
trigger feelings of anger and these
feelings may cause people to act
aggressively.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Summarize
What is catharsis?
Answer: a less harmful expression of aggression,
such as cheering on a sports team
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Social Interaction
Learning and Sociocultural Views
Learning Theorists
Sociocultural Theorists
• Learning theorists believe that
people learn to repeat behaviors
that are reinforced.
• Sociocultural theorists argue some
cultures encourage independence
and competitiveness and that this
promotes aggression.
• Aggression may be reinforced
because it helps people get their
own way.
• In sports, aggression helps players
win games and winning earns
players admiration and money.
• Observation also plays a role.
People observe aggression on TV,
in movies, and in video games.
• The U.S. is a good example. Most
Americans place a high value on
individual rights and freedoms and
emphasize competition.
• When a person is strongly
encouraged to win over others,
hostility and aggression may result.
• Other cultures place greater value
on the group.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Contrast
What are examples of competitive and
cooperative societies?
Answer: The United States is an example of a
competitive society; Japan and Korea are
examples of cooperative societies.
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Social Interaction
Click on the image to play the Interactive.
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Social Interaction
Altruism and Others
• Altruism is an unselfish concern for the welfare of other people.
• Evolutionary psychologists believe that altruism, like aggression, is
linked to genetics.
• By helping their relatives survive and reproduce, early humans
indirectly pass their genes on the next generation. In this way, genes
for altruism have come to be a part of the human gene pool.
• The evolutionary explanation of altruism has been criticized because
no clear-cut genetic basis for altruistic behavior has been found, and
the tendency to act altruistically varies too widely under genetic
control.
• The evolutionary view has also been criticized for not explaining why
people act altruistically toward those to whom they are not related.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Summarize
Who believes that altruism is linked to
genetics?
Answer: evolutionary psychologists
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Factors Promoting and Inhibiting Altruism
• Several factors influence whether a person will help others.
• One factor is a person’s state of mind. People are more likely to help
others when they are in a good mood.
• People who have problems themselves and people who are
empathic may be more likely to act altruistically.
• Being competent to help others seems to make a person more likely
to act altruistically.
• People with a strong need for approval also may be more likely to act
altruistically.
• A sense of personal responsibility may increase the chances of
altruistic behavior.
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Social Interaction
Inhibiting Factors
• Several factors seem to make people reluctant to help others.
• A person may be unaware that someone needs his or her help.
• A person may think there is nothing he or she can do.
• A person may fear social blunder, ridicule, or personal injury.
Bystander Effect
• The chances of altruism depend on how many other people are
present to help.
• People are less likely to give aid when other bystanders are present.
This is the bystander effect.
• Psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané demonstrated the
bystander effect with their classic experiment.
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Social Interaction
Reading Check
Find the Main Idea
What is the bystander effect?
Answer: people’s reluctance to render aid when
bystanders are present
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Social Interaction
Cultural Diversity and Psychology
The Individual and the Group
• Sociocultural theorists argue that some cultures promote
competitiveness, while others encourage cooperation.
• Competitiveness has been linked to high levels of aggression, while
cooperation has been linked to low levels of aggression.
Thailand
• More than 90 percent of the population are Buddhists.
• An ancient tradition of Buddhism in Thailand stresses the importance of
becoming a monk. Many Thai men become monks for a short time.
• They live in a monastery where they meditate and study Buddhism.
• They leave their individuality behind and adapt to the values of the group.
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Social Interaction
Japan
• Japanese culture emphasizes group membership.
• Corporations blur the line between the individual and the group, and between
private life and work (uniforms, company songs, company housing).
Korea
• The teachings of Confucius have led Koreans to view the role of the individual
as essentially one of conforming to the norms of a wider social group.
• In Korean education, the needs of the class are above the individual.
United States
• Much of the world views the U.S. as “cowboy country.”
• The cowboy is representative of deep-seated American values such as
individual rights, independence, and a winner-takes-all mentality.
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Social Interaction
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Social Interaction
Thinking Critically
• What do you think might be the effect on the individual
worker of being provided with benefits such as housing?
• What are some of the costs and benefits of both cultural
styles? How does the United States go against the
stereotype?
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Social Interaction
Experiment: Applying What You’ve Learned
Revisiting Milgram
Stanley Milgram conducted his studies of obedience in the
1960s and 1970s. Are Milgram’s studies still relevant in the
world of the 21st century?
1. Introduction
2. Designing Your Experiment
• You will work in small groups to
design a new experiment that will
test Milgram’s original findings.
• Milgram hypothesized that the
average person has a tendency to
obey an authority figure.
• You will not perform your
experiment, but you will present
your proposal to the class for
discussion and comment.
• Your task is to design a new
experiment to test this hypothesis.
• Now answer the Part 2 questions.
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Social Interaction
Experiment (cont’d.)
3. Presenting Your
Experiment
•
Describe your experiment to
the class and address the
following:
4. Discussion
•
How successful was the class
at designing experiments to
test Milgram’s hypothesis?
•
What did the best
experiments have in
common?
•
What concerns do your
classmates have?
•
How would your classmates
improve your design?
•
What were some common
weaknesses?
•
Would your study be approved
by an ethical review board?
•
How could you apply what
you’ve learned about the
Milgram study to the world
today? Why does it matter?
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Social Interaction
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