Download Social Psychology - Solon City Schools

Social Psychology
Attitude
Attraction
Aggression
Group Behavior
Social Psychology - Studying the way
people think about, influence and relate to
others.
• Think about the last time you broke the
speed limit (not 5 miles over, but really
speeding)
• Why were you speeding?
• Think about the last time you saw
someone speed by you or drive
recklessly?
• How did you feel about the speeding
driver? Why were they so rude?
Thinking about ourselves and others
• Attribution Theory - how we
explain others’ behavior - by
attributing it either to their
external situation or their
internal disposition
• Situational Attribution
– External
• the environment/assigned
roles (teacher, president,
policeofficer)
• Dispositional Attribution
– Internal
• personality traits
– Example:
• Student’s hostility
– Situational – reaction to stress or
abuse
– Dispositional – aggressive personalit
Fundamental Attribution Error
How do
you view
your
teacher’s
behavior?
If you win it is because you are
awesome…if you lose, it must have
been the coach …We (Solon) won
they game …They (Solon) lost the
game
• Fundamental attribution error
- tendency to overestimate the role
of dispositional factors and
underestimate situational factors
• Can be attributed to:
– Self-serving bias – readiness to
perceive ourselves favorably
– explain strangers' behavior in terms
of personality traits and our own
behavior in terms of situational
constraints.
– More common in Individualistic
cultures
– Avoid by observing people in many
situations
Attitudes
• Attitudes - Feelings,
based on beliefs,
that guide our
behavior
• Advertising is ALL
based on attitude
formation.
4 Ways Attitudes Affect Actions
1.
Central Route of Persuasion - opinion change from
thoughtful focus on scientific evidence and arguments
–
More lasting, more likely to influence behavior, more often with
analytical people
–
Example: After seeing a political debate you decide to
vote for the candidate because you found her views and
arguments convincing.
2. Peripheral Route Persuasion –opinion change through
incidental cues (Speakers attractiveness,
endorsement of famous person, emotion evoking
music or images)
•
Occurs more rapidly
•
Example: after seeing a political debate you may decide
to vote for a candidate because you like the sound of the
person's voice, or the person went to the same university
as you did.
3. Social Pressure
1.
5 Ways Actions Affect
Attitudes
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon – persuasion
technique to get someone to agree first to a small
request to get them to comply later with a larger
request
– Example: “Can I borrow the car to go to the movies?
Can I borrow the car to go to OSU this weekend?”
2. Door-in-the-face phenomenon – persuasion
technique to get someone to comply by first
making an extremely large request, then
requesting something smaller
– Example: “Can I have a car for my 16th birthday?
Can I have a new iphone?”
3. Norms of reciprocity – social expectation that
people will respond to each other in kind
– Example: “I’ll let you copy off of my test in AP
Psych. Can I copy off of yours in AP Physics”
Fritz Heider concluded that people tend to
attribute others' behavior either to their
1. heredity or their
environment.
2. biological motives or their
psychological motives.
3. thoughts or their emotions.
4. dispositions or their
situations.
5. abilities or their effort.
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1. Central Route
Persuasion
2. Door in face
phenomenon
3. Peripheral route
persuasion
4. Fundamental
attribution error
5. Foot in door
phenomenon
Instead of providing arguments in favor of a political candidate,
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candidate with emotion-evoking music and images. This strategy
best illustrates
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1. Dispositional
attribution
2. Central route
persuasion
3. Situational attribution
4. Peripheral route
persuasion
5. Foot in door
phenomenon
A person's behavior is most likely to be
inconsistent with his or her attitudes when
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1. the attitudes are implicit
rather than explicit.
2. external influences on
behavior are minimal.
3. the person has not publicly
communicated those
attitudes.
4. the attitudes are
discrepant with most other
people's opinions.
5. our behavior is influenced
by powerful external
factors.
Role-Playing Affects
Attitudes
4. Role Playing
– Role– set of behaviors for a
specific social position
– Zimbardo - Stanford
Prison Study
– What did Zimbardo attribute the
guards and prisoner behavior to?
– How did the situation at Abu
Ghraib mirror Zimbardo’s
findings?
Cognitive Dissonance
5. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
(Festinger) - Discomfort we
feel when your thoughts and
behaviors or two thoughts are
inconsistent
You have a belief
that cheating on
tests is bad.
But you cheat on
a test!!!
– People want to have consistent
attitudes and behaviors….when
they are not they experience
dissonance (unpleasant tension).
– Usually they will change their
attitude or behavior.
The teacher was
really bad so in
that class it is OK.
• Example: You believe cheating in
wrong. You glance over at your
neighbors paper and copy a few
answers down, then convince
yourself that it’s not wrong if
person is careless enough to leave
their paper exposed
– How does this relate to social
injustice?
Cognitive Dissonance
Fetzinger’s study
• Hypothesis: If you believe x, but
publically state “not x”, you will
experience cognitive –the larger the
pressure used to elicit the behavior
(more $ paid), the smaller your
dissonance
• Independent variable: Paid $1 or $20
• Dependent variable: Ratings of
Interview questions
• Results: $1 had more dissonance
– When there is insufficient justification for
the behavior, the dissonance is larger, and
the attitude change is larger
Conformity
• Conformity - Adjusting
one’s behavior or
thinking to coincide
with a group standard
– You change your beliefs
or your behavior
– Example: Asch
conformity experiments
Conformity and Obedience
• Chameleon effectunconsciously
mimicking others’
expressions, postures
and voice tones
– Example: We yawn when
others yawn…look at the
ceiling when others do
• Mood linkage – sharing
up and down moods of
others
– Example: reading a sad
text creates mood contagion
in listeners
Asch’s Study of Conformity
Asch’s Conformity Experiment
• Independent •
Variable
• Dependent •
Variable
• Operational •
Definition
• Confounding •
Variables
# of wrong answers given
by the confederates
whether or not the
participants conform.
Record the # of times
the participant conformed
Participant guesses what
experiment is about and
goes along
Factors Increasing Conformity
Factors Decreasing Conformity
Lack of Group Unanimity / Agreement
Size of the Group
Conformity
tends to increase as the size of the group increases.
However,
there is little change in conformity once the group size reaches 6-8. 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).
Because
conformity does not seem to increase in groups larger than four, this is
considered the optimal group size.
When
one other person in the group gave a different
answer from the others, and the group answer was not
unanimous, conformity dropped.
Asch
(1951) found that even the presence of just one
confederate that goes against the majority choice can
reduce conformity as much as 80%.
This
suggests that individuals conform because they
are concerned about what other people think of them
(i.e. normative influence).
Answer in Private
Difficulty of Task
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.
When
participants were allowed to answer in private
(so the rest of the group do not know their response)
conformity decreases.
When
we are uncertain, it seems we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the This is because there is less groups pressure and
task the greater the conformity.
normative influence is not as powerful, as there is no
fear of rejection from the group.
Status of Majority Group
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).
The
higher the status of the group the higher the level of conformity.
http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html
Asch’s Results
• Asch’s Results
– About 1/3 of the participants conformed.
– 70% conformed at least once.
Conditions that Strengthen Conformity:
1. The group is unanimous
2. You are insecure within the group or made to feel
incompetent
3. The group is at least three people.
4. You admire the group’s status
5. You had made no prior commitment to any
response
6. The task is difficult (informational social
influence)
7. Your culture encourages respect for social
standards
Reasons for Conforming
Normative social influence – conform to others
to gain approval/avoid rejection
– Example: fads and fashions
Informational social influence – (aka Social
Proof) – conform to others because you think they are
right
• When we don’t know how to behave we copy other
people..they act as information sources on how to behave
• Occurs most often when:
– The situation is ambiguous. We have choices but do not know which to select.
– There is a crisis. We have no time to think and experiment. A decision is required
now!
– Others are experts. If we accept the authority of others, they must know better
than us.
– Examples:
» Go to a foreign county, follow what natives
do
» Listen to the weatherman and don’t drive to
Ohio State when she predicts a snowstorm
Compliance
• Compliance - a demand, request, or rule from
another person, group, or institution that
influences another to change their behavior
– You change your behavior but not necessarily your
beliefs
– Example: Your parents tell you to go to Ohio State
when you want to go to Michigan. You agree to
their request
– What strategies have we already discussed would
get someone to comply with a request??
• Foot in door, door in face phenomenon’s
Obedience
• Obedience – following orders without question
because they come from a legitimate
authority
– Examples:
• Milgram’s Experiment
• Stanford Prison Experiment
• Teacher asks you to take a test, you take it
without questioning her
Milgram’s Study Of Obedience
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Operational Definition
Ethics
Proximity of the learner
Amount of shock
administered
Record the highest amount
of shock administered
Informed Consent – not
truthful, harm to
participant (stress),
Debriefed, Confidentiality
Other tests: Prestige of the setting, Proximity of Authority, Presence of
rebellious peers
Results of the Milgram Study
What did we learn from
Milgram?
• Ordinary people can do shocking
things – evils can grow out of
compliance/obedience to others’
evils and situational attributes
• Factors that increase obedience:
– Experimenter in close proximity to
“teacher”
– Learner placed in a different room
– Experiment associated with
prestigious location (Yale)
• Ethics
– Harm- stress on participants
• David's history teacher asked him why so many
German people complied with Hitler's orders to
systematically slaughter millions of innocent Jews.
David suggested that the atrocities were committed
because the Germans had become unusually cruel,
sadistic people with abnormal and twisted
personalities. Use your knowledge of the
fundamental attribution error and Milgram's research
on obedience to highlight the weaknesses of David's
explanation.
• David is attributing the Germans actions to their
inner dispositions rather than situational factors.
Milgram's obedience research explains these
atrocities: Milgram's studies indicate that the
majority of people will follow orders by an authority
figure, even if those orders involve harming others.
Individual Behaviors in the
Presence of Others
1. Social Facilitation
2. Social Loafing
3. Deindividiation
Social Facilitation Theory
•
Social Facilitation – stronger performance
in the presence of others
• If you are really good at something (well
learned tasks)….or it is an easy task…you
will perform BETTER in front of a group.
• Why?
• Arousal
Examples:
– counting backwards from 10 to 1
– Home field advantage
– Comedy routines seem funnier in a
crowded room than in an uncrowded room
• Social Impairment - If it is a difficult
task or you are not very good at it…you
will perform WORSE in front of a group
• Why?
• Arousal
Example: Memorizing nonsense syllables
Social Loafing
• Social Loafing - the
tendency for people in a
group to exert less
effort when pooling
efforts toward a
common goal than if
they were individually
accountable.
– More common among men
and individualistic
countries
– Example – some teenagers
work harder on individual
projects than on group
projects
Deindividuation
• Deindividuation – presence of
others arouses people and
diminishes their
responsibility.
– Works with Social Facilitation
• Feel anonymous and aroused by
presence of others.
– Causes - Reduced self
awareness and accountability
when in a crowd
– Example - Rioting behaviors,
mob violence, Lord of the Flies
– How could this cause a social
injustice?
• A crowd at a soccer game starts to boo, yell at
the home team, and throw cups and trash at the
players after the team loses a very close match.
Explain how social facilitation and
deindividuation contribute to the crowd's
behavior.
• The principle of social facilitation may be influencing
the crowd to boo and yell more loudly at the players.
Our performance is enhanced when we are in the
presence of others, and these fans may be yelling
more loudly because they are in a crowd rather than
alone. In addition, deindividuation is most likely
influencing the fans' behaviors: In group situations
that involve arousal and anonymity (such as being in a
crowd at a soccer game), we tend to lose selfawareness and inhibitions, possibly leading to
aggressive behaviors such as throwing trash at
players.
2 effects of Group
Interaction
• Group Polarization
• Group Think
Group Polarization
• Group polarization - If a
group is like-minded,
discussion strengthens its
prevailing opinion.
– Groups tend to make more
extreme decisions than the
individual.
– Example: Some students think
Mr.. Jeter is a slightly better
teacher than Mrs. Joseph
After discussing it with each
other they think that Mr. Jeter
is definitely a better teacher.
Groupthink
• Groupthink - Group members
suppress reservations about
the ideas supported by the
group.
– Desire for group harmony.
– Worse in highly cohesive
groups—(group polarization).
– Avoided when leader welcomes
outside opinions
– Example: Challenger, Bay of
Pigs Invasion
Think pair share
• If representatives from the Republican and
Democratic parties gathered to discuss a minimum
wage bill, how might the concepts of group
polarization and groupthink influence the discussion
and eventual vote?
• Groupthink - might influence the eventual decision
if each group is united in its views about the
minimum wage bill and no one speaks against the
group decision. Groupthink occurs when an unwise
decision emerges from a group discussion in which
the group's opinion is united and no dissenting
views are heard.
• Group polarization- might occur if the Democratic
and Republican groups are united in their opinions,
and each group becomes more sure of its own
opinion. Group polarization theory predicts that a
group's preexisting like-minded belief will be
strengthened through discussion.
Cultural Influence
• Culture – behaviors, ideas, values,
and traditions shared by a group
• Example: Japanese culture
– Culture within animals
– Culture in humans
• Preservation of innovation
• Division of labor
Variations Across Cultures
• Norm – rules for accepted and
expected behavior
– Example:
• Personal space – the buffer
zone we like to maintain
around our bodies
– North Americans prefer more
than Latin Americans
• Pace of life
– More fast paced in U.S. than Mexico –
manana
• Expressiveness
– Mediterranean cultures more warm, but
less efficient than Northern Europe
Ethnocentrism
• Ethnocentrism - belief
that your own ethnic
group is superior to
others
– Judge others by our
own cultural standards
– How can ethnocentrism
lead to social injustice?
– It is one of the major
reasons for divisions
among races and
religious groups in
society,
Variation Over Time
• Changes over the generations
The Power of Individuals
• Social control – regulation of
peoples behavior through social
norms
• Personal control – the power of the
individual to do the opposite of
what is socially accepted
– Example – 3 soldiers at Abu Ghraib
prison
• Minority influence – the power of
one or two individuals to sway
majorities
– Holding consistently to opinion
– Self confidence
Social Relations –
how we relate to one another:
prejudice, aggression,
attraction, altruism,
peacemaking
Stereotypes, Prejudice and
Discrimination
Prejudice - unjustifiable and
usually negative attitude
toward a group and its members
• 3 components: beliefs,
emotions and predisposition to
action
•
Example: “I dislike fat people”
Stereotype - Overgeneralized
beliefs about a group of people.
•
Example: “obese people are
gluttonous”
Discrimination - An action based on
a prejudice (behavior).
•
Example: to not hire an obese person
Provide an example of prejudice,
stereotype and discrimination for each of
the following
• Solon Girls
• Teachers
• Americans
Prejudice
How Prejudiced Are People?
Which person would you want to have
a long term relationship with?
Automatic Prejudice
Automatic Prejudice
• Implicit racial associations: harboring unconscious
racial associations
• Unconscious patronization: evaluate performance
based on racial stereotypes
– low expectations result in inflated praise and insufficient
criticism hindering minority student’s academic achievement
• Racial influenced perceptions - people more often
mistakenly shot targets who were black.
• Seeing black – the more a person’s facial features are
perceived as typical of their racial category, the more
likely they are to elicit race-based responding.
• Reflexive bodily responses – studies have detected
implicit prejudice in facial responses and activation of
amygdala– demonstrates implicit prejudice.
Social Roots of Prejudice
1. Social inequalities – justify
stereotypes
– Blame the victim dynamic – victims of
mistreatment are held partially
responsible for their problems
• Examples:
– Poverty breeds higher crime rates, therefore, it’s o.k. to
discriminating against those in poverty.
– Slaves were lazy and ignorant
– Victims of rape are sexually provocative
– How does this create social injustice?
Social Roots of Prejudice
2. Us vs. Them
Social Identities – portion of our
self-concept that comes from
our membership in social groups
Example: I am an American, teacher,
Catholic
– In-Group – people with whom we
share a common identity
• Example: SHS Students
– Out-group – People with whom we
don’t share a common identity
• Example: Twinsburg Students
– In Group Bias – tendency to favor
our own group
• Example: SHS is better than Twinsburg
Solon vs. Twinsburg
Girls rule, boys drool
• What are your social identities?
• How many different cliques are there at
SHS?
• How do these groups differentiate
themselves to others?
• Who are your in-groups
• Who are your out-groups
• How can your group communicate to others
that members don’t fit the stereotype
Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
1. Categorization
Out-group homogeneity – overestimating the similarity within
other groups
Other-race effect (aka own-race bias, or cross-race effect) – the
tendency to recall faces of ones own group more accurately
than faces of other races
Example: “They all look alike”
2. Vivid cases – tend to remember vivid cases more easily
Cognitive Roots of Prejudice
3. Just-world phenomenon – tendency to believe that
people get what they deserve
–
–
Examples: Rich people got to be rich through hard work;
homeless through laziness.
Bad things happen to bad people, good things happen to
good people
Emotional Roots of Prejudice
1. Fear – 9/11
2. Anger
Scapegoat Theory –
theory that
prejudice offers an
outlet for anger by
providing someone to
blame
– Example: Jews in
Nazi Germany
Think Pair Share
• Jill, a female employee at ACME Industries, recently
complained that she had been sexually harassed by
one of her male supervisors. Upon hearing of this
complaint, Luis, a fellow employee, commented, “If
the women around here would stop some of their
flirting, they'd be left alone.” Jason, another coworker, quickly added, “If the women in this country
stopped trying to act like men, they'd all be treated
with more respect.” Explain how these insensitive
remarks illustrate some of the social, emotional, and
cognitive roots of prejudice.
• social roots - Bryan’s comment (“If the women in this country
stopped trying to act like men”) implies an ingroup bias: Jason
identifies an “outgroup” (women) as the cause of the problem
rather than his “ingroup” (men) as the reason for the
problem.
• emotional roots, Kurt‘s comment (“If the women around here
would stop some of their flirting”) provides an outlet for
discomfort and anger by identifying an outgroup to blame
(scapegoat theory) for the situation (“flirty” women).
• cognitive roots - both Kurt’s and Bryan’s comments are
examples of the just-world phenomenon: the tendency for
people to believe the world is just and people get what they
deserve (in this case, “flirty” women and women who “act like
men” are responsible for sexual harassment).
Psychology of Aggression
• Aggression – any physical or
verbal behavior intended to
hurt or destroy
– Always involves the intent to hurt
– Varies from culture to culture
• Not instinctual
• Two men fight for a piece of bread
• The warden of the prison executes a
convicted criminal
• A boxer gives his opponent a bloody nose
• A hunter kills an animal and mounts it as a
trophy
• A man viciously kicks a cat
The Biology of Aggression
• Instinctual? No, varies to much from culture to culture
• Genetic Influences
– Breeding
– Twin studies
– Y chromosome
• Neural Influences
– Limbic system – Frontal Lobe
amygdala
• Biochemical Influences
– Hormones
– Neurotransmitters
– alcohol
Aggression Theories
1. Aversive Events
– Frustration-aggression principle – blocking an attempt
to achieve a goal creates anger
• Fight or flight reaction to stress
– Adverse stimuli – physical pain, insults, high
temperatures etc. can create anger
• Example: pitchers frustrated by batter’s home run, will hit the
next player up to bat, or the batter the next time he is a bat
2. Social and cultural influences
– Reinforcement – experience has taught that aggression
pays
– Aggression higher when: Ostracized, high disparity
between rich and poor, minimal father care, stressed
• Aggression-replacement program – communication skills, anger
control, moral reasoning, modeling appropriate behavior
Aggression Theories
3. Observing models of aggression
– sexually explicit media models
• Rape myth – some women enjoy or invite rape and like it
– High TV Viewing = Acceptance of myth
– Greater use of pornography by sex offenders
4. Acquiring Social Scripts
– Social scripts – mental tapes for how to act provided by our
culture i.e. media
• Example: Sexual scripts or violent scripts obtained from movies
and T.V, that are acted out in real life
5. video games and violence
– Increase arousal, hostility, physical aggressiveness, lower
grades
– Catharsis hypothesis - disconfirmed
Figure 14.12 Biopsychosocial understanding of aggression Because many factors contribute to
aggressive behavior, there are many ways to change such behavior, including learning anger
management and communication skills, and avoiding violent media and video games.
© 2011 by Worth Publishers
• Your psychology class is studying aggression.
Phyllis, an outspoken student, says, “I think
one big cause of aggression are those horrible
violent video games. Boys are the only ones
who like those games, and they are way more
violent than girls.” Evaluate Phyllis' statement
according to psychological findings about the
biological factors of aggression and the
psychological and social-cultural factors of
aggression.
• biological factors of aggression
– relationship between testosterone and aggression
• Violent criminals tend to be young men with higherthan-average testosterone levels.
– psychological and social-cultural factors of
aggression
• Observing models of aggression (such as those in
violent video games) is associated with higher levels of
aggressive behavior.
Attraction
1. Proximity
2.Physical Attractiveness
3.Similarity
4.Reciprocal Liking
5.Reward Theory of Attraction
5 Factors of Attraction
1. Proximity
Mere exposure effectIncreased attraction
to novel stimuli that
become more
familiar
– The more we are
exposed to
something, the more
we like it
• Example: Taiwanese
man who sent 700
letters to his girlfriend
asking to marry him.
She did marry--
2. Physical Attractiveess
• The power of
physical
attractiveness
2. The Hotty Factor
• Being Beautiful…
– Predicts frequency of dating
– Perceived as healthier,
happier, more honest and
successful, but not more
honest and compassionate
– Unrelated to self-esteem and
happiness
– In the eye of the culture
– Evolutionary
– Symmetry
– Depends on our feelings for
someone
2.Physical Attractiveness and
Culture
Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's
white Moor Arab population that the
young girls are sometimes force-fed to
obtain a weight the government has
described as "life-threatening".
Are these cultures really that different?
2. Physical Attraction and
Biological “Universals”
• Symmetrical Face
• Youthful Appearance
• Healthy looking
2. Physical Attractiveness and
Psychology
• Led to believe
someone has
appealing traits
(honest, humorous,)
rather than
unappealing (rude,
unfair, abuses) – we
perceive the person
to be more
attractive
3. Similarity
• Paula Abdul was
wrong- opposites do
NOT attract.
• Birds of the same
feather do flock
together.
• Similarity breeds
content.
• More alike, the more
liking endures
4. Reciprocal Liking
• Reciprocal Liking - You
are more likely to like
someone who likes
you.
When our self
• Why? esteem is low
5. Reward theory of Attraction
• Reward Theory of
Attraction - We
continue relationships
that offer more
rewards than costs
– Associating with people
that are attractive is
socially rewarding
– When someone works
with us, it costs less
time and effort to
develop a friendship and
enjoy the benefits
• Love
Romantic Love
– Passionate Love – intense positive
absorption of another
• Key ingredient….arousal
• Two Factor Theory of Emotion
(Schachter/Singer)
– “My heart is beating, I think (cognition),
I’m in love
– If aroused will feel more attraction for
someone
– Companionate Love – deep
affectionate attachment
• Equity – both partners receive in
proportion to what they give
– Examples: sharing household chores
• Self-disclosure – revealing of intimate
details
• Research indicates that we often form more
positive impressions of beautiful people than
of those who are physically unattractive.
Explain how advertisements and movies might
encourage this tendency. Use your knowledge
of the factors that facilitate interpersonal
attraction to suggest how people could be
influenced to feel more positively about those
who are physically unattractive.
• Feel positively toward attractive people through two main
areas of attraction research: proximity and physical
attractiveness.
– Proximity - indicates that the closer we feel to others, the more
attractive we find them to be.
– Mere-exposure effect - predicts that the more often we see an
individual (such as someone in an ad or a movie), the more attractive
we find that person and the more positive our behavior toward the
person.
• Standards for attractiveness are influenced by
– cultural standards - e.g., for thinness
– biological “universals” e.g., a youthful-looking or healthy-looking
appearance and a symmetrical face
– People who meet these cultural and biological standards of
attractiveness are more likely to appear more often in ads and movies,
resulting in our positive behavior toward them.
Altruism
• Altruism - unselfish regard for the
welfare of others
• Example: 9/11 people across the
country donated time and money to
assist
Prosocial Behavior
Bystander Effect -
Tendency for
a bystander to be less likely to help if
other people are present
– Example: Kitty Genovese case in Kew Gardens
NY.
Diffusion of Responsibility – When
many people share the responsibility
we think someone else will help
Example – Latane’s study
Pluralistic Ignorance - People decide
what to do by looking to others – a
lack of reaction is interpreted as a
non-emergency situation
Altruism
Altruism
Norms for Helping
• Social exchange theory – we want to maximize the
benefits and minimize the costs
– Example: Donating blood – weigh costs (time, discomfort,
anxiety) vs. benefits (good feelings, social approval, less
guilt)
• Intrinsically rewarding – reward pathway in brain =
what neurotransmitter?
• Social Norms that Influence Altruism
• Reciprocity norm – we help someone who has
helped us
– Example: I’ll help you with your Psych homework because
you’ve helped me with my Chem homework
• Social-responsibility norm – we help people who need
our help
– Example: The elderly, children
• While walking through a busy city park, Mr.
Cruz experiences sharp chest pains that
indicate to him the onset of a heart attack.
Describe several things Mr. Cruz should do to
increase the chances that someone will come
to his aid and quickly provide him with
appropriate medical attention. Explain the
rationale for your advice in light of research
on altruism and the decision-making process
underlying bystander intervention.
Conflict and Peacemaking
• Conflict – a perceived
incompatibility of goals actions
and ideas
– Example: marital dispute
• Destructive Social Processes
– Social trap we harm our
collective well being by
following our personal interests
• Whalers believed that taking a
few whales wouldn’t hurt the
species and other Whalers would
take them if they didn’t …some
species became endangered….same
for buffalo
Enemy Perceptions
• Mirror-image perceptions –
mutual views seen by conflicting
people
– Example: We are ethical and
peaceful – they are evil and
aggressive and visa-versa
• Self-fulfilling prophecy –
perceptions that can lead to
their own fulfillment
– Example: If Thomas thinks Lisa is
annoyed with him, he may snub her
causing her to act in ways that
justify his perception
Conflict and Peacemaking
• Contact – non competitive and between
parties of equal status
• Cooperation
– Superordinate goals – shared goals
achieved through cooperation
• Example: 2 groups of boys at a summer
camp who hated each other, worked
together to fix the camp’s water system
• Communication - Mediators
• Conciliation
– GRIT – strategy designed to decrease
international tension
• Example: Kennedy gesture to banning
nuclear tests above ground led to the
Nuclear Test Ban treaty between the US