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Chapter 14
Social Psychology
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How Does the Social Situation
Affect our Behavior?
Situationism –
View that environmental conditions
influence people’s behavior as much or
more than their personal dispositions do
(Person vs. Situation)
Social Standards of Behavior
Social roles –
socially defined patterns of behavior in a
given setting or group
Scripts
The Prison Study
•
•
•
•
•
Subjects were physically and mentally
healthy young men who volunteered
to participate for money.
They were randomly assigned to be
prisoners or guards.
Those assigned the role of prisoner
became distressed, helpless, and
panicky.
Those assigned the roles of guards
became either nice, “tough but fair,”
or tyrannical.
Study had to be ended after 6 days.
Individuals in Groups
•
•
•
•
Conformity.
Groupthink.
Obedience
Deindividuation
Conformity
The Asch studies
A
Standard line
1
2
3
Comparison lines
Groupthink - polarization
High +4
+3
+2
High-prejudice
groups
+1
Prejudice 0
Low-prejudice
groups
-1
-2
-3
Low -4
Before discussion
After discussion
• If a group is
like-minded,
discussion
strengthens its
prevailing
opinions
Groupthink
•
•
Symptoms of groupthink include
– Illusion of invincibility.
– Self-censorship.
– Pressure on dissenters to conform.
– Illusion of unanimity.
Groupthink can be counteracted by:
– Creating conditions rewarding
dissent
– Include “devil’s advocate”.
Why Do We Obey Authority?
Obedience
Milgram’s obedience experiment
• The shocking results…
Social Influence
• Milgram’s obedience experiment
Percentage
of subjects
who obeyed
experimenter
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
The majority of
subjects continued
to obey to the end
Moderate
Very
Extreme
XXX
Slight (75-120) Strong
strong Intense intensity Danger (435-450)
(15-60)
(135-180) (195-240) (255-300) (315-360) severe
(375-420)
Shock levels in volts
The Bystander Problem
• The murder of Kitty
Genovese
• Why didn’t people
help?
Bystander Intervention in an
Emergency
Deindividuation
• In groups or crowds, the
loss of awareness of one’s
own individuality.
• Factors influencing
deindividuation.
– Size of city, group.
– Uniforms or masks.
• Deindividuation can
influence unlawful as well
as friendly behaviors.
What Influences Our
Judgments of Others?
The judgments we make
about others depend not
only on their behavior but
on our interpretation of the
social situation
Social Cognition
• How do people’s perceptions of themselves and
others affects:
– Their relationships, thoughts, beliefs and
values.
• Attribution Theory
• Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
Social Thinking
Situational attribution
“Maybe that driver is ill.”
Tolerant reaction
(proceed cautiously, allow
driver a wide berth)
Dispositional attribution
“Crazy driver!”
Unfavorable reaction
(speed up and race past the
other driver, give a dirty look)
Negative behavior
The Actor Observer Effect
• Consists of the observer attributing the action of
the actor to the actor
• and his own actions to the situation
• Two explanations…
Attributions: more…
• Self-serving bias
• Just-world hypothesis
“Bad people are punished and good people are
rewarded.”
Attitudes
A relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and
emotional feelings about a topic.
• Affect (like – dislike)
• Belief (ideas about)
• Behavior (approach – avoid)
Changing attitudes
Peripheral route & Central route
Peripheral: Source of communication
expertise, credibility, attractiveness, status,
similarity
Validity effect (a.k.a., mere exposure effect)
Central: slow & difficult
Face to face communication is thought to
be more effective
Persuasion and Influencing
Others:
• Social Reciprocity
• Other persuasive techniques:
– “Foot-in-the-Door”
– “Door-in-the-Face”
Factors Influencing Attitude Change
• Change in social environment
• Change in behaviors.
• Due to a need for consistency.
– Cognitive Dissonance
Classic Experiment on
Cognitive Dissonance
(Festinger & Carlsmith)
Procedures
1.
2.
3.
4.
boring tasks
lie to another student
Paid either $1 or $20
Interviewed on feelings toward task
In the interview, one of these groups ($1 or $20)
expressed a negative attitude toward the task
(similar to the Control Group’s) while the other
group expressed a positive attitude.
?
Question: According to the Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance, which group should form a positive
attitude, and why?
Answer: The $1 group should form positive attitude.
They said something they didn’t believe with a
minimum amount of justification.
Need for Cognitive
Consistency
Stereotypes
• Summary impressions of a group, belief that
members share a common trait or traits
(positive, negative, or neutral).
• Allow us to quickly process new information
and retrieve memories.
• Distort reality in 3 ways.
– Exaggerates the differences between groups.
– Produce selective perception.
– Underestimates the similarities between groups.
Origins of Prejudice
• Psychological functions.
• Social and cultural functions.
• Economic functions.
Reducing Prejudice and Conflict
•
•
•
•
Groups must have equal legal status,
economic opportunities, and power.
Authorities and community institutions
must endorse egalitarian norms and
provide moral support and legitimacy
for both sides.
Both sides must have opportunities to
work and socialize together, formally
and informally.
Both sides must cooperate, working
together for a common goal.