Social Psychology

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 13 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Understand social cognition and interpreting the behavior of others • Discuss the role of stereotypes and social schemas Understand how social influence affects behavior • Discuss bystander effect, conformity, and obedience to authority Understand how relations with others are established • Discuss the aspects of like and love

1 OUTLINE

• Introduction • Social Cognition • Attributions and Impressions • Stereotypes and Prejudice • Persuasion • Social Influence • Social Norms • Conformity • Obedience • Groups • Social Behavior • Attraction 3

INTRODUCTION

Social Psychology is the study of the ways in which thoughts, feelings, perceptions, motives, and behavior are influenced by interactions and transactions between people Social Context • Presence of others, interaction, setting of interaction, expectations and norms • Governs our behaviors through our social cognitions and the behaviors of others 4

2 OUTLINE

SOCIAL COGNITION

Processes by which people come to understand others Human brain appears to be specialized for social cognition • Medial pre-frontal cortex is active when people think about the attributes of other people, but not about inanimate objects • Another person is the most important “object” that you will encounter in the environment • We spend a great deal of time analyzing and interpreting the behavior of others • Greatest benefits for survival and the greatest costs 6

3 SOCIAL COGNITION

Person perception • Attention • Our system has limited resources • Perception • Bottom up (features) - Physical appearance • Top down (schema) - Social schema, infer elements that may not have been present • Interpretation • Most social behaviors have multiple meanings • Judgment • Memory 7

OUTLINE

4 HOW WE FORM IMPRESSIONS OF OTHERS?

BIASES IN OUR IMPRESSIONS

Implicit Personality Theory • We assume that certain traits go together

Halo Effect • We attribute positive characteristics/traits to people we like/ find attractive (e.g., they are intelligent, pleasant, trustworthy) • Actors and politicians use this to their advantage

5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuometYfMTk

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

Dispositional attributions – explanations that refer to things within people: abilities, traits, moods, efforts Situational attributions – explanations that refer to outside events: weather, accidents, actions

What is this related to from our personality chapter? 12

6 ATTRIBUTION THEORY

Consistency Distinctiveness Consensus Regularity Generality Typicality Attribution Are similar Do others Yes actions perform this Dispositional performed? action? Is the action No No performed regularly? Are similar Do others No actions perform this Situational performed? action? Yes Yes 13

ATTRIBUTION THEORY EXAMPLE

Consistency Distinctiveness Consensus Regularity Generality Typicality Attribution Do other Do they do Dispositional Yes people just sit other things? Lazy around? Does your roommate sit No No around on a regular basis? Do other Do they do Situational No people just sit other things? Tired around? Yes Yes 14

7 ATTRIBUTION PROCESSES

Joe dropped out of high school. Why do you think this could have happened? Fundamental Attribution Error – focus on dispositional factors • …and we tend to underestimate external factors • Tend to use for others • Example: a student failed to turn in a paper on time because they are lazy and irresponsible Actor-Observer Bias – focus on situational factors • Tend to use for self

ACTOR-OBSERVER BIAS other people’s behavior = dispositional factors; self = situational factors

Role of perceptual salience • We notice other people’s behavior more than the situation in which it occurred • We notice the situation (or are able to include) the situation when making attributions about our behavior

8 CLASSIC ACTOR- OBSERVER EXAMPLE

Dear Ann Landers: • I’m writing you in desperation, hoping you can help me with a problem I am having with my mother. A little over a year ago, I moved in with my boyfriend despite my mother’s protests. She has never like “Kevin.” I’ll admit he’s far from perfect, and we’ve had our our problems. He’s an alcoholic, has a bad temper, is mentally abusive, is a compulsive liar and cannot hold a job. I am in debt over my head because of him but my biggest problem is that my mother is obsessed with my situation. I understand her concern, but I can take only so much…

OVER-MOTHERED IN MICHIGAN

WHICH BIAS IS ANN SHOWING?

Dear Over-Mothered • Your mother didn’t write to me. You did. So you’re the one who is going to get the advice. Get into counseling at once and find out why you insist on hanging on to an alcoholic, abusive, unemployed liar…

9 OUTLINE

PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, AND STEREOTYPES

Prejudice (attitude) • a hostile or negative attitude toward people in a specific group (out-group) based solely on their membership in that group Stereotype (thoughts) • a generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of that group Discrimination (behaviors) • Unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because of group membership

10 Why do you think stereotypes evolved?

STEREOTYPES

Categorization is important in speeding up processing of information Stereotyping is the same process but for people • Useful in interacting with others. But has a negative connotation. • Stereotypes can be inaccurate • Stereotypes can be overused • Greater diversity in-group than out-group • Stereotypes can be self-perpetuating • Perceptual confirmation • Self-fulfilling prophecy • Stereotype threat 22

11 STEREOTYPE THREAT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGEUVM6QuMg

PREJUDICE

Divisive attribute of culture • Learned attitude towards another group, involving negative feelings (dislike or fear) and negative beliefs (stereotypes) that justify the attitude • Behavioral intention to control, dominate or eliminate the other group Causes • Dissimilarity and Social Distance • Economic competition • Scapegoating or blaming the innocent • Conformity to a social norm • Media stereotypes • News after 9/11 depicting Muslims

12 HOW CAN WE REDUCE STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, AND DISCRIMINATION?

Contact Hypothesis • Exposing ourselves to the out-group will reduce prejudice • This was the driving force behind school desegregation in the South in the 1960s. • Caveat… • Conditions needed: • Mutual interdependence • A common goal • Informal, interpersonal contact • Multiple contacts • Social norms of equality

SOCIAL COGNITION – COMBATING PREJUDICE

Sherif’s Robbers Cave experiment • Two groups dubbed ‘eagles’ and ‘rattlers’ • Isolated from each other for about a week • Competition • Near riot-like behavior • Many attempts to quiet hostility failed • Propaganda, non-competitive situations Education is possibly the least effective tool to overcome prejudice • People usually avoid or discount information 26

13 ROBBER’S CAVE: BREEDING A COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT 40

20 Eagles Rattlers

% of boys whoa had in friend best out-group the 0 Pre-Cooperation Post-Cooperation Camp truck breakdown

Sherif et al. (1961)

OUTLINE

14 ATTITUDES CAN BE CHANGED THROUGH PERSUASION Attitudes Mere exposure • Exposure to material may be enough Elaboration likelihood model • Central route • Peripheral route Cognitive dissonance • Motivated to rectify the dissonance 29

OUTLINE

15 SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Social influence is the control of one person’s behavior by another People have three basic wants that make them susceptible to social influence • Hedonic motive or desire to experience pleasure and avoid pain • People offer rewards and punishments as influence over behavior • People have a need for approval or desire to be accepted • Uniformities in certain behaviors are noted • Coercive power, painful Rs • Ridicule • Reeducation • Rejection • People have a desire to be accurate • Explicit rules of behavior • Implicit rules of behavior 31

OUTLINE

16 SOCIAL NORMS

Specific expectations for socially appropriate attitudes and behaviors that are embodied in the stated or implicit rules of the group Adjustment to norms occurs: • Uniformities – everyone acts this way • Negative consequences – or else Importance • Regulate interactions between people • Plan or script for situations • Boundaries on what is acceptable 33

SOCIAL INFLUENCE - SOCIAL NORMS

Longitudinal study by Theodore Newcomb at Bennington College in Vermont • Similar to Wofford, many of the first year students were more conservative than faculty • But graduated with liberal social and political views • Primary reference group • Greatest when in total situation • Isolated from contrary points of view 34

17 OUTLINE

• Introduction • Social Cognition • Attributions and Impressions • Stereotypes and Prejudice • Persuasion • Social Influence • Social Norms • Conformity • Obedience • Diffusion of responsibility • Social Behavior • Attraction 35

CONFORMITY

Tendency for a group of people to standardize opinions and behaviors Two forces lead to conformity • Informational – desire to be correct • Normative – wanting to be liked 36

18 CONFORMITY

A 1 2 3 37

CONFORMITY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sno1TpCLj6A 38

19 SOCIAL INFLUENCE - CONFORMITY

Size of group (at least 3), ally, and size of discrepancy were important Conformity more likely when… • Judgment is difficult or ambiguous • Group members seen as competent • Responses are public • Majority is unanimous, but once broken, conformity disappears 39

OUTLINE

20 OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

Nazi and the Holocaust Stanley Milgram Obedience paradigm • Study of memory and learning • Deliver shocks to learner when wrong • Teacher, learner, white coat authority • Level of shock 41

OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

Test Paradigm • Learner • Teachers • Learner protested • Authority • Protest 42

21 OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

Results • When asked, experts predicted that no one would exceed 150 volts. • No one stopped below 300 volts • 65% went to the end, 450 volts • Most dissented, but few disobeyed Why do we obey? • Peer modeled obedience by complying • Victim was remote from subject and could not be seen or heard • ‘Teacher’ was under direct surveillance • Authority figure has slightly higher status than subject (teacher) • No personality traits distinguish 43

OUTLINE

22 DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY Kitty Genovese • 37 people allegedly watched as she was stabbed 2 times under a street lamp • No one immediately called the police Latané and Darley • Contrived emergencies • In the field and in the lab • Calculated how much time it took to react to emergency • People are less likely to help if more and more people are part of the group 45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac&NR=1

23 SOCIAL LOAFING

The tendency to put forth less effort when working with others than when working alone Social loafing is common • When individual contributions to a group project cannot be identified • Among people who score low in achievement motivation • In individualistic societies

HOW DO GROUP POLARIZATION AND GROUPTHINK INFLUENCE DECISION MAKING? Group polarization • Occurs when, after discussion, group members shift to more extreme positions in the directions they were already leaning Groupthink • Occurs when a group’s desire to maintain solidarity outweighs other considerations, a process that often leads to poor decisions

24 SOCIAL ROLES: STANFORD PRISON STUDY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlIyD15KS6s

OUTLINE

25 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

Liking • Human friendship is strongly influenced by environmental factors Theories of Liking Reward theory - We like those who give us maximum rewards at minimum cost Proximity - Frequent contact is best predictor Similarity - Attracted to most similar to self Self-disclosure - More and more confidence Physical attractiveness - More rewarding to associate with physically attractive people, halo effect of the beautiful 51

INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

What is love and what is it good for? • Evolutionary perspective – provides tight, close-knit groups • Helps with children and infirm and may have genetic underpinnings Two-factor theory of love • Passionate love • Intense emotional reaction • Another person • Compassionate love • Less intense, may be more lasting 52

26 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

Sternberg’s triangular theory of love • Passion – sexual passion and desire • Intimacy – honesty and understanding • Commitment – devotion and sacrifice

ATTRACTION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yosfPU3dWgc 54