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Invitation To Psychology
Carol Wade and Carol Tavris
PowerPoint Presentation by
H. Lynn Bradman
Metropolitan Community College-Omaha
Wade and Tavris © 2005
Prentice Hall
10-1
Behavior in Social and Cultural
Context
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Prentice Hall
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Behavior in Social and
Cultural Context
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Roles and Rules
Social Influences on Beliefs
Individuals in Groups
Us Versus Them: Group Identity
Group Conflicts and Prejudice
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Roles and Rules
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Roles and Rules
• The Obedience Study
• The Prison Study
• The Power of Roles
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The Obedience Study
• Stanley Milgram and coworkers investigated
whether people would follow orders, even when
the order violated their ethical standards.
• Most people were far more obedient than
anyone expected.
– Every single participant complied with at
least some orders to shock another person
• Results are controversial and have generated
much research on violence and obedience.
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The Power of Roles
• Factors that cause people to obey
– Allocating responsibility to the authority
– Routinizing the task
– Wanting to be polite
– Becoming entrapped
• Entrapment: A gradual process in which
individuals escalate their commitment to a
course of action to justify their investment of
time, money, or effort.
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Social Influences on Beliefs
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Social Influences on Beliefs
• Attributions
• Attitudes
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Attributions
• Attribution Theory:
– The theory that people are motivated to explain their own
and other peoples’ behavior by attributing causes of that
behavior to a situation or a disposition.
• Fundamental Attribution Error:
– The tendency, in explaining
other people’s behavior,
to overestimate personality
factors and underestimate
the
influence of the situation.
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Attitudes
• Attitude:
– A relatively stable opinion containing
beliefs and emotional feelings about a
topic.
• Validity Effect:
– The tendency of people to believe that
a statement is true or valid simply
because it has been repeated many
times.
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Influencing Attitudes
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Coercive Persuasion
• Person is under physical or emotional duress.
• Person’s problems are reduced to one simple
explanation, repeated often.
• Leader offers unconditional love, acceptance,
and attention.
• New identity based on group is created.
• Person is subjected to entrapment.
• Person’s access to information is controlled.
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Individuals in Groups
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Individuals in Groups
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Conformity
Groupthink
The Anonymous Crowd
Courage and Nonconformity
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Conformity
• Subjects in a group were asked to match line lengths.
• Confederates in the group picked the wrong line.
• Subjects went along with the wrong answer on 37% of
trials.
No, it’s
not hard!
Sample
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Groupthink
• In close-knit groups, the tendency for
all members to think alike and suppress
disagreement for the sake of harmony.
• Symptoms of Groupthink:
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Illusion of invincibility
Self-censorship
Pressure on dissenters to conform
Illusion of unanimity
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The Anonymous Crowd
• Diffusion of Responsibility:
– In organized or anonymous groups,
the tendency of members to avoid
taking responsibility for actions or
decisions because they assume that
others will do so.
• Deindividuation:
– In groups or crowds, the loss of
awareness of one’s own individuality.
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Courage and Nonconformity
• Situational factors contributing to
nonconformity:
– You perceive the need for intervention or
help.
– Situation makes it more likely that you will
take responsibility.
– Cost-benefit ratio supports your decision to
get involved.
– You have an ally.
– You become entrapped.
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Us Versus Them: Group Identity
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Us Versus Them: Group
Identity
• Ethnic Identity
• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotypes
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Ethnic Identity
• Social Identity:
– The part of a person’s self-concept that is
based on identification with a nation, culture,
or group or with gender or other roles in
society.
• Ethnic Identity:
– A person’s identification with a racial,
religious, or ethnic group.
• Acculturation:
– The process by which members of minority
groups come to identify with and feel part of
the mainstream culture.
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Acculturation Strategies
Acculturation is
Ethnic Identity is
Strong
Strong Bicultural
Weak
Assimilated
Weak Separatist
Marginal
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Ethnocentrism
• The belief that one’s own ethnic group,
nation, or religion is superior to all
others.
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Robbers’ Cave Experiment
• Boys were randomly
separated into two groups
– “Rattlers” and “Eagles”
• Competitions fostered
hostility between the
groups.
• Experimenters contrived
situations requiring
cooperation for success.
• Cross-group friendships
increased.
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Stereotypes
• Stereotype:
– A cognitive schema or a summary
impression of a group, in which a
person believes that all members of
the group share a common trait or
traits (positive, negative, or neutral).
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Group Conflicts and Prejudice
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Group Conflicts and
Prejudice
• The Origins of Prejudice
• Varieties of Prejudice
• Reducing Prejudice and Conflict
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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.
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Bridging the Cultural Divide
• Tips for Successful Travel:
– Be sure you understand the other
culture’s rules, manners, and customs.
– When in Rome, do as the Romans do
as much as possible.
– Avoid stereotyping.
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