Social Psychology HW pg 723-730

Social psych is the scientific study of how a person’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others.

______tries to explain how people determine the cause of what they observe. • People usually attribute others’ behavior either to their natural disposition or their external situations • Example a teacher may wonder about a student’s hostility – aggressive personality (______) or a reaction to a stressful situation (______) • Juliette never talks in class but Jack always talks nonstop at the coffee house. So we decide that Julie is shy and Jack is outgoing which could be valid BUT it is important to not fall prey to ______– over estimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence or situation. Examples? ______

• In an experiment researchers had college students talk one at a time with a young woman who acted either aloof and critical or warm and friendly. Before hand they told half the students she would act spontaneously the other half they told she had been ______to act aloof or friendly. What was the difference between the two groups? • NONE – they ______the information. If she acted friendly – she was genuinely nice, if she acted aloof – she was genuinely a cold person. In other words they ______her behavior to her disposition even when told that her behavior was situational. • In general the ______you know someone the more likely you are to attribute their behavior to their personality. For example if your best friend treats you like crap one day you will assume something is wrong and attribute their bad behavior to a bad situation not their personality.

• Now the fundamental attribution error was named fundamental because it was believed to be very widespread. Scientists today say that the error is very cultural and found more often in individualistic cultures rather than ______cultures (I cannot remember if we ever defined what these cultures were earlier in the year- I will assume we did because I am lazy). The researchers who first discovered the fundamental attribution error and assumed it was widespread in all cultures were suffering from the ______. The false-consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the number of people who feel how you feel. If you lived in New York you would probably love the Yankees. You would assume that there are SO many Yankee fans because you are around them all the time. In reality, the Yankees are the most hated team in the USA. Yankee fans suffer from the false-consensus effect, kind of like Red Wing fans – although we know everyone LOVES the wings!

• ______– the tendency to take more credit for good outcomes and less credit for bad ones. So when you all pass the AP Psych test I will take all the credit because of my great teaching skills. However if you all do poorly it will be because you never actually read the book, studied, or the test was completely unfair. Example? ______

• ______– In 1968 two researchers Rosenthal and Jacobson, conducted a very famous, yet controversial, experiment called "Pygmalion in the Classroom". They gave a test to a bunch of elementary school children. Then they randomly took a bunch of students and told the teachers that these were the students that were on the verge of great academic growth. In reality, the scores did not matter because the students were chosen at random. Five months later, they gave the test again to the students. Incredibly, the students who were randomly chosen to be in the group that the teachers were told were smarter, had much higher IQ scores than the rest of the kids. How did this happen? Well, think about it. The teachers were told that these group of students were on the verge of academic greatness. They then began to treat the students as if they were smarter. The students responded and actually became smarter. In psychology we call this concept a self-fulfilling prophecy; where preconceived notions about people ______the way we act towards them, often making the notions a reality. If I think you hate me (and pretend you do not), I will begin to ______you badly. If I treat you badly, you will actually begin to hate me. My belief (even though it was originally false) created a reality- powerful stuff.

All of this is important because we often struggle to explain other’s actions. • If you are on jury – was it malicious or self defense • In hiring – who is the best applicant for the job • And remember that your ______of the situation can have an affect A happily married couple would attribute a sharp remark from a mate as situational (must have had a bad day) compared to an unhappily married one (Why is I marry such a hostile person?)

Attitudes and Actions • Attitudes are feelings based on our beliefs that predispose our reactions to objects, people, and events. • ______– The more you are exposed to something the more you will come to like it. I usually hate a song the first time I hear it on the radio but then after a few times it grows on me. • When it comes to advertising the more attractive a spokesperson is the more persuasive they are. (Although new research says that more educated people are less persuaded by advertisements. Examples? ______

• Although most of us would assume that your attitudes lead to your actions it can also be the other way around. • In the 1930s a researcher ______was examining prejudice against Asians in the US. He traveled with an Asian couple around the country and watched how they were treated, on only one occasion was the couple treated badly due to race. After the trip, LaPiere contacted all of the establishments they had visited and asked about their attitudes towards Asian patrons. Over 90% of the respondents said they would not serve Asians. The finds showed that attitudes do not perfectly ______.

• ______– a tendency for people who agree to a small action to comply later with a larger one. • During the Korean War some prisoners of war changed their personal beliefs while captured in prisons run by Chinese communists. The Chinese began with harmless requests that later lead to larger ones. Ex. Having prisoners write or speak trivial statements…copy or create something more important perhaps the flaws of capitalism, then maybe to gain privileges participate in group discussions, wrote self-criticisms, or uttered public confessions. After doing so many POWs adjusted their beliefs to align with these statements. • Studies have also shown this…when asked to put an ugly lawn sign “Drive Carefully” in California only 17% of people said yes. Another group was only asked to display a 3inch “Be safe driver” and nearly all agreed. 2 weeks later to allow the larger ugly sign 76% now said yes. Examples ______

• ______– After a large request people will look more favorably to a request that seems small. You ask your mom for 100 dollars to fill up your gas tank and she tells you to get a job. So you ask her for 5 dollars for McDonalds. Examples ______

• ______– it is common courtesy to think that when someone does something nice for you, you should do something nice for them. Make your mom dinner and then ask for the 100 dollars. Examples? ______

Role-Playing Affects Attitudes • When you adopt a new role, become a college student, marry, start anew job – you strive to follow the ______. At first the behaviors may feel phony, because you are acting the role. Before long however what started as an act becomes you. • Remember the ______– the guards and prisoners were playing a role but their attitudes and behavior changed dramatically after only a day or two. In real life this has been in seen in the Abu Ghraib prison. • So why do we do this??? One theory is that when we become aware that our actions and attitudes don’t coincide we experience tension or ______. So in order to relieve this tension we bring our attitudes closer to our actions – Cognitive Dissonance Theory (______) • When the war in Iraq stated it was to get rid of WMD. 80% of people believed that they would be found. Only 38% of people at the tell felt that the war was justified even if there were no WMD. Very soon it became apparent that no WMD were going to be found. Very soon the 58% of people now supported the war even though WMD were not found because now the war was to liberate oppressed people. This is all to alleviate the cognitive dissonance. • Another example suppose you think that studying is only for geeks. If you then study for 8 hours for an AP Psychology test, your attitude will not match your actions and you will experience cognitive dissonance. Since you cannot change your actions (you already studies for 8 hours), the only way to reduce the dissonance is to change your attitude and decide that studying does not make someone a geek. (be aware this change does not happen on a conscious awareness) • Although this has mostly been bad behavior…this also works in positive ways. If you are unhappy with your life talk in a positive way and you will become more positive. Changing our behavior can change how we think about others and about how we feel about ourselves. Examples? ______

Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination • ______are ideas about what certain groups are like. They can be both positive or negative. Piaget would view stereotypes as strict ______about various groups of people. • ______– is an undeserved, usually negative attitude towards a group of people. Stereotyping can lead to prejudice when negative stereotypes are applied to all members of a group.

• ______– involves an action. When one discriminates, they act on a prejudice. • For example, Mrs. Mackson went to that scary Livonia school south of 96. When she was looking for a job and had to sub she would not sub at SHS because all the kids there were stuck up. Lucky for all of you there was a job opening here and I wanted a full time job! • We are not sure where prejudice comes from, but many psychologists point to Bandura and modeling behavior. If that is true, than prejudices can be unlearned. One theory is called ______. Bring two hostile groups together and give them a ______. (For example, they have done this with teenagers in Israel and Pakistan with very positive results)

• ______– The just-world phenomenon is a term referring to people's tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve. Because people want to believe that the world is fair, they will look for ways to explain or rationalize away injustice - often by blaming the victim. This can also be called the ______

• ______– A group that you identify with or the group that you do not.

• ______- Scapegoat theory is a social psychological term that relates to prejudice. According to this theory, people may be prejudice toward a group in order to vent their anger. In essence, they use the group they dislike as their target for all of their anger…as a vent. One example that has been suggested is the ______. According to scapegoat theory, the Germans used the Jews as scapegoats for all of their countries problems (which included economic problems across the country), focused all of their anger on the Jews, allowed their anger and hatred to build, and focused all of their anger, frustration, and problems on the Jews. (This is not "the" explanation for the holocaust, but one component of it.)

Aggression HW pg 749-771

There are many theories to why aggression exists. Freud may view it as a defense mechanism or as a overdeveloped id. Skinner may view aggression as a reinforced behavior. But there are two popular theories of aggression: • ______: this theory states that when one becomes frustrated, they are more likely to become aggressive. Go home and annoy a brother or sister until they can't deal with you anymore and see what happens. Or when your computer crashes you get frustrated and want to smash it. • The second theory of aggression comes from Albert ______and his concept of observational learning. Remember Bandura's ______doll experiment. He showed time and time again that when an adult models aggressive behavior (in his case hitting the Bobo doll), the child will copy that behavior. If this theory is even a tiny bit accurate, turn on the cartoon channel and think about what we are teaching our kids.

Heat • If it is extremely hot, does this ______with higher acts of violence. • Studies to prove this? o Consider the following ♣ The riots occurring in 79 US cities between 1967 and 1971 were more likely on a hot than cool days. ♣ Not only do hotter days have more ______, so do hotter seasons of the year and hotter summers ♣ During the 1986 to 1988 major league baseball seasons, the number of batters hit by a pitch was two-thirds greater for games played in the 90s than games played in below 80 degrees. Pitchers weren't wilder on hot days - they had no more walks or wild pitches. They just ______more batters o IMPORTANT - ______♣ Ex. Maybe the weather drives more people to the streets, than other factors take over.

Effects of ______on Aggression • Movies - Does watching violence on screen lead to violence in real life? o Study - Subjects watched a scene from the movie ______, staring Kirk Douglas. In this scene Kirk Douglas is subjected to a grotesque beating. o After the viewing the subjects were told to judge the merit of a drawing made by a young man whose outline could be seen behind a screen. If they didn't like his work they were to administer a ______. (Shocks not real but seemed real to subjects). All drawing were the same for all groups ♣ One group - artist name is "Kirk" - administered more shocks then the group whose artist was named something else. ♣ We can ______with violent behavior and carry the activity on the screen to real life. o Same set up - But in this test the subjects were told before viewing the scene that a bad guy was receiving the beating, while another group was told a good guy was. First group – ______. The second - unjustified ♣ Those that thought a bad guy got beat up ______. ♣ This study shows – justified violence bred greater violence. o IMPORTANCE - Justified violence is likely to breed more violence - Few of us ever feel that we are not justified in "______." o How long does it last? - The good thing about violence from movies - the ______for aggression lasts only about 20 minutes and then levels go back to normal.

______- if someone is being attacked would you help? • It is 3:00 am and a young woman Kitty is being attacked on a street in front of her apartment. She lets out endless bloodcurdling screams and breaks free twice, only to be caught again and attacked once more. It will take the attacker over a half hour to kill her, during which time ____ of her neighbors heard her cries for help. In fact the killer even left at one point then comes back 10 minutes later finding Kitty crawling up into her building. One neighbor even opened his door, goes to the top of the stairs, watching the attacker below him, and then returns to his apartment. Later this man will be the first to call police. • Why didn't anyone do anything???? • Studies - what happened o People are in a room when one of three things happen ♣ 1. ______begins to seep into a room through a vent ♣ 2. A man has a ______♣ 3. A women fell down in an adjacent room – obviously injured - moaning, noise o Start with one person, then 2, then 3, then 4, etc. o What happens? ♣ The more people in the room, the less likely a person is to help.

100%

80%

60% Respond by end of seizure

40% Respond at all

20%

0% 1 person 2 people 6 people

♣ Conclusions o When others are present, we are inhibited from acting for fear of looking like a fool. This is called ______. For example if we are sitting here and hear a loud noise in the hall I may look at you and if the students do nothing, I may think to myself “they must know what the noise is” and you may look at me and think “she’s not worried, she must know what is going on” and thus No one does anything!!!! o Other present - Someone else's problem ______. o ______– less likely to provide help when they are in a group. o Why don't phone? - admit there's a real problem, then they have to do something about it. o In a ______? - Less likely to help.

Social Influence HW pg 730-748

Consider the following • One person laughs, coughs, or yawns others in the group soon do the same • A cluster of people stand gazing upward and passersby pause and do likewise • Bartenders and street musicians know to “______” their tip containers with money to suggest that others have given

______• We naturally ______other people’s expressions, postures, and voice tones. • In an experiment students had to work alongside a confederate. Sometimes the confederate rubbed their faces, other times they shook their foot. Sure enough participants did the same action • Such automatic mimicry is a part of ______. The most empathic people mimic – and are liked – the most. • Sometimes the effects of ______are more serious – After Columbine every state but Vermont saw copycat threats of violence • ______seem to occur in clusters with one leading to more. • Try testing this at lunch today. Put your hands on your face and see what happens. To get the best results you need a minimum of 3 people to do it. Results? ______

Group Pressure and Conformity • ______– adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard • Remember the study we discussed with Research and how much people perceive stationary light moved based on others in the room? (Sherif)

______• Participants are given three lines to compare to a standard line and tell which one matches • In the original experiment there were 7 people in the room • Only the 6th person was the ______• At first everyone gets the trials correct • Than an interesting thing happens – all of the other participants pick the ______and then it gets to you, what do you do, follow everyone else or answer correct? Will you be an “oddball” or correct? • ____ of the time the real participant will answer wrong while when doing the experiment alone less than 1% get the same question wrong. Although almost 70% of participants got at least one trial wrong with the confederates.

Conditions that strengthen conformity • One is made to feel ______or insecure • The group has at least 3 or more people. In fact Asch found up to 4 people there is an increase in conformity but not after that point • The group is ______(the dissent of just one other person greatly increases social courage) • One admires the group’s ______and attractiveness • One has made no prior commitment to any response • Other’s in the group observe one’s behavior • One’s ______strongly encourages respect for social standards. For example rerunning this experiment in the United States today has found conformity rates have decreased from the 1950s numbers. On the other hand in other cultures such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Zimbabwe have much higher conformity rates. (If done online – rates appear the same) • Women and men have similar rates when conducted online but if required to do in person women are slightly more likely to conform.

Reasons for Conformity • Frequently it is to avoid social rejection or to gain social approval • We respond to what is called ______– we are sensitive to social norms – understood rules for accepted and expected behavior – because the price we pay for being different may be severe. • When the situation seems ______or the information important participants (A subject line-up vs. the lines) are less likely to conform if the task is easy if the task becomes difficult we are most likely to conform.

Obedience • Remember the ______experiment – would you continue to shock the learner if told to by the experimenter? • In a survey Milgram conducted before the actual experiment most people declared that they would stop the shock before it became “sadistic” • In the experiment ______complied fully right up to the last shock

______is highest when 1. The person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate ______figure 2. The authority figure was supported by a ______. (Milgram’s experiment saw a slightly lower conformity rate when he dissociated his experiments from Yale University) 3. The victim was ______or at a distance from them 4. There were no role models for defiance; that is, no other participants were seen disobeying the experimenter • One of the reasons that the Holocaust was so affective was the removal of direct contact to the death. They also dehumanized them by giving them numbers, shaving their hair, etc.

What does this all mean? • Good people put in the right situation can do some pretty ______. (Nazi’s) • In the Milgram experiment worked for a variety of reasons – Discussion • Even people we see as evil – Mohamed Atta was reportedly sane, rational person who had been a “good boy” and an excellent student from a close knit family – not exactly our image of a evil monster.

Group Influence • ______– When in the presence of other’s one’s own performance improves. This is true for sports, and easier tasks. HOWEVER • When doing a tougher task people perform less well when others observe or are working on the same task. (Remember the example on the IV DV worksheet – pool players)

• What happens when you are in a group, does this same idea have affect? • In a study where subjects were blindfolded and then told to pull as hard as they could on a rope and were then tricked into thinking that there were 3 more people behind them exerted only 82% as much effort compared to when they knew they were pulling alone. This is known as ______

• ______– in a group people feel less self-awareness and self-restraint occurs because people feel more powerful and anonymous. People do not think of individual consequences – this can help to explain food fights, riots, lynchings, etc. o Study - On Halloween when children were given the opportunity to steal money from a bowl about 2 feet away from the candy bowl. Only 8% of kids stole if they were ______and knew the home owner The rate jumps to 20% if they were in a group and knew the person – ______ Again it jumps to 57% if they were in a group but didn't know the person. And finally if the experimenter (Lady at house) opened the door and pointed to the smallest kid and said she would personally hold him responsible if money was gone, the rate rose to 80%… They now had someone to blame.

• ______– The enhancement of a group’s prevailing tendencies. If you take a group of conservative minded people and put them in a group to talk they will leave with even stronger beliefs. For example take the issue of the death penalty. If asked by yourself if you would give a defendant the death penalty you may waiver, then you get in a group with other death penalty supporters you will probably give the defendant the death penalty. o It has also been seen in high ______– when they discuss racial issues they become more prejudice. o Terrorist organizations see this happen. As these groups get together to talk they grow more and more extreme.

• ______- the practice of approaching problems or issues as matters that are best dealt with by consensus of a group rather than by individuals acting independently. o For example in the late 1950’s after ______failed with the Cuban invasion the question became “How could we be so stupid?” When the plan was being formed, any dissenting views were suppressed or self-censored. Since no one spoke out everyone assumed consensus support. o After 9/11 and the decision to invade Iraq – no one spoke up in military meetings although ______people said they felt it was the wrong action to take. o Other examples – Titanic (not enough lifeboats), Challenger (some knew there were parts on the shuttle that were faulty) o Why does ______happen??? - Members feel that they can’t fail and are morally correct. They usually have stereotypical views of those who disagree as weak, stupid, or unreasonable. People don’t want to “rock the boat” • One way to stop groupthink is when a leader welcomes various opinions, invites experts’ critiques, and assigns people to identify possible problems. Also voting should be done by secret ballot and everyone is equally responsible for group decisions and held accountable.

Social Psychology HW pg 723-730

Social psych is the scientific study of how a person’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others.

Attribution theory tries to explain how people determine the cause of what they observe. • People usually attribute others’ behavior either to their natural disposition or their external situations • Example a teacher may wonder about a student’s hostility – aggressive personality (dispositional) or a reaction to a stressful situation (situational) • Juliette never talks in class but Jack always talks nonstop at the coffee house. So we decide that Julie is shy and Jack is outgoing which could be valid BUT it is important to not fall prey to fundamental attribution error – over estimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence or situation. Examples? ______

• In an experiment researchers had college students talk one at a time with a young woman who acted either aloof and critical or warm and friendly. Before hand they told half the students she would act spontaneously the other half they told she had been instructed to act aloof or friendly. What was the difference between the two groups? • NONE – they disregarded the information. If she acted friendly – she was genuinely nice, if she acted aloof – she was genuinely a cold person. In other words they attributed her behavior to her disposition even when told that her behavior was situational. • In general the less you know someone the more likely you are to attribute their behavior to their personality. For example if your best friend treats you like crap one day you will assume something is wrong and attribute their bad behavior to a bad situation not their personality. • Now the fundamental attribution error was named fundamental because it was believed to be very widespread. Scientists today say that the error is very cultural and found more often in individualistic cultures rather than collectivistic cultures (I cannot remember if we ever defined what these cultures were earlier in the year- I will assume we did because I am lazy). The researchers who first discovered the fundamental attribution error and assumed it was widespread in all cultures were suffering from the false-consensus effect. The false-consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the number of people who feel how you feel. If you lived in New York you would probably love the Yankees. You would assume that there are SO many Yankee fans because you are around them all the time. In reality, the Yankees are the most hated team in the USA. Yankee fans suffer from the false- consensus effect, kind of like Red Wing fans – although we know everyone LOVES the wings!

• Self-serving bias – the tendency to take more credit for good outcomes and less credit for bad ones. So when you all pass the AP Psych test I will take all the credit because of my great teaching skills. However if you all do poorly it will be because you never actually read the book, studied, or the test was completely unfair.

• Self-Fulfilling prophecy – In 1968 two researchers Rosenthal and Jacobson, conducted a very famous, yet controversial, experiment called "Pygmalion in the Classroom". They gave a test to a bunch of elementary school children. Then they randomly took a bunch of students and told the teachers that these were the students that were on the verge of great academic growth. In reality, the scores did not matter because the students were chosen at random. Five months later, they gave the test again to the students. Incredibly, the students who were randomly chosen to be in the group that the teachers were told were smarter, had much higher IQ scores than the rest of the kids. How did this happen? Well, think about it. The teachers were told that these group of students were on the verge of academic greatness. They then began to treat the students as if they were smarter. The students responded and actually became smarter. In psychology we call this concept a self-fulfilling prophecy; where preconceived notions about people influence the way we act towards them, often making the notions a reality. If I think you hate me (and pretend you do not), I will begin to treat you badly. If I treat you badly, you will actually begin to hate me. My belief (even though it was originally false) created a reality- powerful stuff.

All of this is important because we often struggle to explain other’s actions. • If you are on jury – was it malicious or self defense • In hiring – who is the best applicant for the job • And remember that your perception of the situation can have an affect A happily married couple would attribute a sharp remark from a mate as situational (must have had a bad day) compared to an unhappily married one (Why is I marry such a hostile person?)

Attitudes and Actions • Attitudes are feelings based on our beliefs that predispose our reactions to objects, people, and events. • Mere-exposure effect – The more you are exposed to something the more you will come to like it. I usually hate a song the first time I hear it on the radio but then after a few times it grows on me. • When it comes to advertising the more attractive a spokesperson is the more persuasive they are. (Although new research says that more educated people are less persuaded by advertisements.

• Although most of us would assume that your attitudes lead to your actions it can also be the other way around. • In the 1930s a researcher LaPiere was examining prejudice against Asians in the US. He traveled with an Asian couple around the country and watched how they were treated, On only one occasion was the couple treated badly due to race. After the trip, LaPiere contacted all of the establishments they had visited and asked about their attitudes towards Asian patrons. Over 90% of the respondents said they would not serve Asians. The finds showed that attitudes do not perfectly predict behaviors.

• Foot-in-the-door phenomenon – a tendency for people who agree to a small action to comply later with a larger one. • During the Korean War some prisoners of war changed their personal beliefs while captured in prisons run by Chinese communists. The Chinese began with harmless requests that later lead to larger ones. Ex. Having prisoners write or speak trivial statements…copy or create something more important perhaps the flaws of capitalism, then maybe to gain privileges participate in group discussions, wrote self-criticisms, or uttered public confessions. After doing so many POWs adjusted their beliefs to align with these statements. • Studies have also shown this…when asked to put an ugly lawn sign “Drive Carefully” in California only 17% of people said yes. Another group was only asked to display a 3inch “Be safe driver” and nearly all agreed. 2 weeks later to allow the larger ugly sign 76% now said yes. Examples ______

• Door-in-the-face phenomenon – After a large request people will look more favorably to a request that seems small. You ask your mom for 100 dollars to fill up your gas tank and she tells you to get a job. So you ask her for 5 dollars for McDonalds. Examples ______

• Norms of Reciprocity – it is common courtesy to think that when someone does something nice for you, you should do something nice for them. Make your mom dinner and then ask for the 100 dollars.

Role-Playing Affects Attitudes • When you adopt a new role, become a college student, marry, start anew job – you strive to follow the social prescription. At first the behaviors may feel phony, because you are acting the role. Before long however what started as an act becomes you. • Remember the Stanford Prison Experiment – the guards and prisoners were playing a role but their attitudes and behavior changed dramatically after only a day or two. In real life this has been in seen in the Abu Ghraib prison. • So why do we do this??? One theory is that when we become aware that our actions and attitudes don’t coincide we experience tension or cognitive dissonance. So in order to relieve this tension we bring our attitudes closer to our actions – Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger) • When the war in Iraq stated it was to get rid of WMD. 80% of people believed that they would be found. Only 38% of people at the tell felt that the war was justified even if there were no WMD. Very soon it became apparent that no WMD were going to be found. Very soon the 58% of people now supported the war even though WMD were not found because now the war was to liberate oppressed people. This is all to alleviate the cognitive dissonance. • Another example suppose you think that studying is only for geeks. If you then study for 8 hours for an AP Psychology test, your attitude will not match your actions and you will experience cognitive dissonance. Since you cannot change your actions (you already studies for 8 hours), the only way to reduce the dissonance is to change your attitude and decide that studying does not make someone a geek. (be aware this change does not happen on a conscious awareness) • Although this has mostly been bad behavior…this also works in positive ways. If you are unhappy with your life talk in a positive way and you will become more positive. Changing our behavior can change how we think about others and about how we feel about ourselves.

Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination • Stereotypes are ideas about what certain groups are like. They can be both positive or negative. Piaget would view stereotypes as strict schemas about various groups of people. • Prejudice – is an undeserved, usually negative attitude towards a group of people. Stereotyping can lead to prejudice when negative stereotypes are applied to all members of a group.

• Discrimination – involves an action. When one discriminates, they act on a prejudice. • For example, Mrs. Mackson went to that scary Livonia school south of 96. When she was looking for a job and had to sub she would not sub at SHS because all the kids there were stuck up. Lucky for all of you there was a job opening here and I wanted a full time job! • We are not sure where prejudice comes from, but many psychologists point to Bandura and modeling behavior. If that is true, than prejudices can be unlearned. One theory is called contact theory. Bring two hostile groups together and give them a mutual goal. (For example, they have done this with teenagers in Israel and Pakistan with very positive results)

• Just world phenomenon – The just-world phenomenon is a term referring to people's tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve. Because people want to believe that the world is fair, they will look for ways to explain or rationalize away injustice - often by blaming the victim. This can also be called the Defense Attribution.

• In-Group vs. Out Group – A group that you identify with or the group that you do not.

• Scapegoat Theory - Scapegoat theory is a social psychological term that relates to prejudice. According to this theory, people may be prejudice toward a group in order to vent their anger. In essence, they use the group they dislike as their target for all of their anger…as a vent. One example that has been suggested is the holocaust. According to scapegoat theory, the Germans used the Jews as scapegoats for all of their countries problems (which included economic problems across the country), focused all of their anger on the Jews, allowed their anger and hatred to build, and focused all of their anger, frustration, and problems on the Jews. (This is not "the" explanation for the holocaust, but one component of it.)

Aggression HW pg 749-771

There are many theories to why aggression exists. Freud may view it as a defense mechanism or as a overdeveloped id. Skinner may view aggression as a reinforced behavior. But there are two popular theories of aggression: • frustration-aggression hypothesis: this theory states that when one becomes frustrated, they are more likely to become aggressive. Go home and annoy a brother or sister until they can't deal with you anymore and see what happens. Or when your computer crashes you get frustrated and want to smash it. • The second theory of aggression comes from Albert Bandura and his concept of observational learning. Remember Bandura's Bobo doll experiment. He showed time and time again that when an adult models aggressive behavior (in his case hitting the Bobo doll), the child will copy that behavior. If this theory is even a tiny bit accurate, turn on the cartoon channel and think about what we are teaching our kids.

Heat • If it is extremely hot, does this correlate with higher acts of violence. • Studies to prove this? o Consider the following ♣ The riots occurring in 79 US cities between 1967 and 1971 were more likely on a hot than cool days. ♣ Not only do hotter days have more violent crimes, so do hotter seasons of the year and hotter summers ♣ During the 1986 to 1988 major league baseball seasons, the number of batters hit by a pitch was two-thirds greater for games played in the 90s than games played in below 80 degrees. Pitchers weren't wilder on hot days - they had no more walks or wild pitches. They just clobbered more batters o IMPORTANT - correlations do not show causation ♣ Ex. Maybe the weather drives more people to the streets, than other factors take over.

Effects of Mass Media on Aggression • Movies - Does watching violence on screen lead to violence in real life? o Study - Subjects watched a scene from the movie The Champion, staring Kirk Douglas. In this scene Kirk Douglas is subjected to a grotesque beating. o After the viewing the subjects were told to judge the merit of a drawing made by a young man whose outline could be seen behind a screen. If they didn't like his work they were to administer a shock. (Shocks not real but seemed real to subjects). All drawing were the same for all groups ♣ One group - artist name is "Kirk" - administered more shocks then the group whose artist was named something else. ♣ We can identify with violent behavior and carry the activity on the screen to real life. o Same set up - But in this test the subjects were told before viewing the scene that a bad guy was receiving the beating, while another group was told a good guy was. First group – justified violence. The second - unjustified ♣ Those that thought a bad guy got beat up shocked more. ♣ This study shows – justified violence bred greater violence. o IMPORTANCE - Justified violence is likely to breed more violence - Few of us ever feel that we are not justified in "paying someone back." o How long does it last? - The good thing about violence from movies - the arousal level for aggression lasts only about 20 minutes and then levels go back to normal.

Helping behavior - if someone is being attacked would you help? • It is 3:00 am and a young woman Kitty is being attacked on a street in front of her apartment. She lets out endless bloodcurdling screams and breaks free twice, only to be caught again and attacked once more. It will take the attacker over a half hour to kill her, during which time 38 of her neighbors heard her cries for help. In fact the killer even left at one point then comes back 10 minutes later finding Kitty crawling up into her building. One neighbor even opened his door, goes to the top of the stairs, watching the attacker below him, and then returns to his apartment. Later this man will be the first to call police. • Why didn't anyone do anything???? • Studies - what happened o People are in a room when one of three things happen ♣ 1. Smoke begins to seep into a room through a vent ♣ 2. A man has a seizure ♣ 3. A women fell down in an adjacent room – obviously injured - moaning, noise o Start with one person, then 2, then 3, then 4, etc. o What happens? ♣ The more people in the room, the less likely a person is to help.

100%

80%

60% Respond by end of seizure

40% Respond at all

20%

0% 1 person 2 people 6 people

♣ Conclusions o When others are present, we are inhibited from acting for fear of looking like a fool. This is called pluralistic ignorance. For example if we are sitting here and hear a loud noise in the hall I may look at you and if the students do nothing, I may think to myself “they must know what the noise is” and you may look at me and think “she’s not worried, she must know what is going on” and thus No one does anything!!!! o Other present - Someone else's problem diffusion of responsibility. o Bystander Effect – less likely to provide help when they are in a group. o Why don't phone? - admit there's a real problem, then they have to do something about it. o In a strange environment? - Less likely to help.

Social Influence HW pg 730-748

Consider the following • One person laughs, coughs, or yawns others in the group soon do the same • A cluster of people stand gazing upward and passersby pause and do likewise • Bartenders and street musicians know to “seed” their tip containers with money to suggest that others have given

Chameleon Effect • We naturally mimic other people’s expressions, postures, and voice tones. • In an experiment students had to work alongside a confederate. Sometimes the confederate rubbed their faces, other times they shook their foot. Sure enough participants did the same action • Such automatic mimicry is a part of empathy. The most empathic people mimic – and are liked – the most. • Sometimes the effects of suggestibility are more serious – After Columbine every state but Vermont saw copycat threats of violence • Suicide’s seem to occur in clusters with one leading to more. • Try testing this at lunch today. Put your hands on your face and see what happens.

Group Pressure and Conformity • Conformity – adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard • Remember the study we discussed with Research and how much people perceive stationary light moved based on others in the room? (Sherif)

Asch Experiment • Participants are given three lines to compare to a standard line and tell which one matches • In the original experiment there were 7 people in the room • Only the 6th person was the real participant • At first everyone gets the trials correct • Than an interesting thing happens – all of the other participants pick the wrong line and then it gets to you, what do you do, follow everyone else or answer correct? Will you be an “oddball” or correct? • 1/3 of the time the real participant will answer wrong while when doing the experiment alone less than 1% get the same question wrong. Although almost 70% of participants got at least one trial wrong with the confederates.

Conditions that strengthen conformity • One is made to feel incompetent or insecure • The group has at least 3 or more people. In fact Asch found up to 4 people there is an increase in conformity but not after that point • The group is unanimous (the dissent of just one other person greatly increases social courage) • One admires the group’s status and attractiveness • One has made no prior commitment to any response • Other’s in the group observe one’s behavior • One’s culture strongly encourages respect for social standards. For example rerunning this experiment in the United States today has found conformity rates have decreased from the 1950s numbers. On the other hand in other cultures such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Zimbabwe have much higher conformity rates. (If done online – rates appear the same) • Women and men have similar rates when conducted online but if required to do in person women are slightly more likely to conform.

Reasons for Conformity • Frequently it is to avoid social rejection or to gain social approval • We respond to what is called normative social influence – we are sensitive to social norms – understood rules for accepted and expected behavior – because the price we pay for being different may be severe. • When the situation seems serious or the information important participants are less likely to conform if the task is easy if the task becomes difficult we are most likely to conform.

Obedience • Remember the Milgram experiment – would you continue to shock the learner if told to by the experimenter? • In a survey Milgram conducted before the actual experiment most people declared that they would stop the shock before it became “sadistic” • In the experiment 63% complied fully right up to the last shock

Obedience is highest when 5. The person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate authority figure 6. The authority figure was supported by a prestigious institution. (Milgram’s experiment saw a slightly lower conformity rate when he dissociated his experiments from Yale University) 7. The victim was depersonalized or at a distance from them 8. There were no role models for defiance; that is, no other participants were seen disobeying the experimenter • One of the reasons that the Holocaust was so affective was the removal of direct contact to the death. They also dehumanized them by giving them numbers, shaving their hair, etc.

What does this all mean? • Good people put in the right situation can do some pretty evil things. (Nazi’s) • In the Milgram experiment worked for a variety of reasons – Discussion • Even people we see as evil – Mohamed Atta was reportedly sane, rational person who had been a “good boy” and an excellent student from a close knit family – not exactly our image of a evil monster.

Group Influence • Social Facilitation – When in the presence of other’s one’s own performance improves. This is true for sports, and easier tasks. HOWEVER • When doing a tougher task people perform less well when others observe or are working on the same task. (Remember the example on the IV DV worksheet – pool players)

• What happens when you are in a group does this same idea have affect? • In a study where subjects were blindfolded and then told to pull as hard as they could on a rope and were then tricked into thinking that there were 3 more people behind them exerted only 82% as much effort compared to when they knew they were pulling alone. This is known as Social Loafing.

• Deindividuation – in a group people feel less self-awareness and self-restraint occurs because people feel more powerful and anonymous. People do not think of individual consequences – this can help to explain food fights, riots, lynchings, etc. o Study - On Halloween when children were given the opportunity to steal money from a bowl about 2 feet away from the candy bowl. Only 8% of kids stole if they were alone and knew the home owner The rate jumps to 20% if they were in a group and knew the person – Group Bravado Again it jumps to 57% if they were in a group but didn't know the person. And finally if the experimenter (Lady at house) opened the door and pointed to the smallest kid and said she would personally hold him responsible if money was gone, the rate rose to 80%… They now had someone to blame.

• Group Polarization – The enhancement of a group’s prevailing tendencies. If you take a group of conservative minded people and put them in a group to talk they will leave with even stronger beliefs. For example take the issue of the death penalty. If asked by yourself if you would give a defendant the death penalty you may waiver, then you get in a group with other death penalty supporters you will probably give the defendant the death penalty. o It has also been seen in high prejudice – when they discuss racial issues they become more prejudice. o Terrorist organizations see this happen. As these groups get together to talk they grow more and more extreme.

• Groupthink - the practice of approaching problems or issues as matters that are best dealt with by consensus of a group rather than by individuals acting independently. o For example in the late 1950’s after Kennedy failed with the Cuban invasion the question became “How could we be so stupid?” When the plan was being formed, any dissenting views were suppressed or self- censored. Since no one spoke out everyone assumed consensus support. o After 9/11 and the decision to invade Iraq – no one spoke up in military meetings although afterward people said they felt it was the wrong action to take. o Other examples – Titanic (not enough lifeboats), Challenger (some knew there were parts on the shuttle that were faulty) o Why does groupthink happen??? - Members feel that they can’t fail and are morally correct. They usually have stereotypical views of those who disagree as weak, stupid, or unreasonable. People don’t want to “rock the boat” • One way to stop groupthink is when a leader welcomes various opinions, invites experts’ critiques, and assigns people to identify possible problems. Also voting should be done by secret ballot and everyone is equally responsible for group decisions and held accountable.