Behavior in Social and Cultural Context

C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Behavior in Social 10 and Cultural Context

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Definitions 10 Norms Rules that regulate social life, including explicit laws, and implicit cultural conventions Role A given social position that is governed by a set of norms for proper behavior Culture A program of shared rules that governs the behavior of members of a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and customs shared by most members of that community

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry The Obedience Study 10 Stanley Milgram investigated whether people would follow orders even when the orders 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. Two-thirds shocked the learner to the full extent. Results are controversial and have generated further research on violence and obedience.

• When the experimenter left the room • When the victim was in the same room • When two experimenters issued conflicting orders • When the person ordering them to continue was not the experimenter • When the participant worked with peers who refused to go further with the project

• Students agreed to live in a “simulated” prison for two weeks.

• They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards.

• Those assigned the role of prisoner became distressed and helpless.

• Those assigned the role of guards became either nice, “tough but fair,” or punitive and harsh.

• The study had to be ended after six days.

• Guard John Wayne’s inspiration for his role was . • 416’s strategy to revolt: . • Fellow prisoners given ultimatum: – Lose blankets and release prisoner 416 – Keep blankets and have him remain in solitary. – Proves that “Power Corrupts”

• Do you believe Zimbardo’s role as the Prison Superintendent created a bias that inadvertently derailed the experiment? How/Why…

• Did this decision to play a dual role compromise the integrity of the experiment? How/Why…

• What is dissociation?

• Why would Guard John Wayne rely on this defense mechanism when face to face with 416 after the experiment came to an end?

• Why?

• This is an example of Attribution Theory © 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Class Discussion ?’s 10

• Why didn’t the other guards question Guard John Wayne’s authority/behavior?

• What is the Bystander Effect?

• Q: Did the APA ever review the experiment's ethics? • A: Yes. In 1973 Professor Zimbardo asked the American Psychological Association to conduct an ethics evaluation, and the APA concluded that all existing ethical guidelines had been followed.

• Q: Has Professor Zimbardo ever apologized for the suffering that occurred? • A: Yes. In his book The Lucifer Effect, Professor Zimbardo wrote: "I was guilty of the sin of omission -- the evil of inaction -- of not providing adequate oversight and surveillance when it was required... the findings came at the expense of human suffering. I am sorry for that and to this day apologize for contributing to this inhumanity." (pp. 181, 235)

• IN 2002, Dr. Zimbardo became the President of the APA and later served as an expert witness in the trial of the US Soldiers of Abu Ghraib Prison.

What makes good people do bad things? 10

Former APA president drew from research to help explain evil under the backdrop of recent Iraqi prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib.

By MELISSA DITTMANN Monitor Staff October 2004, Vol 35, No. 9

“As the story goes, Dr. Jekyll uses a chemical to turn into his evil alter ego Dr. Hyde. In real life, however, no chemical may be needed: Instead, just the right dose of certain social situations can transform ordinarily good people into evildoers, as was the case with Iraqi prisoner abusers at Abu Ghraib, argued former APA president Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD…

"That line between good and evil is permeable," Zimbardo said. "Any of us can move across it....I argue that we all have the capacity for love and evil--to be Mother Theresa, to be Hitler or Saddam Hussein. It's the situation that brings that out.“

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry 10 Seduced into evil In fact, the classic electric shock experiment by social psychologist Stanley Milgram, PhD, showed that when given an order by someone in authority, people would deliver what they believed to be extreme levels of electrical shock to other study participants who answered questions incorrectly.

Zimbardo said the experiment provides several lessons about how situations can foster evil: • Provide people with an ideology to justify beliefs for actions. • Make people take a small first step toward a harmful act with a minor, trivial action and then gradually increase those small actions. • Make those in charge seem like a "just authority." • Transform a once compassionate leader into a dictatorial figure. • Provide people with vague and ever-changing rules. • Re-label the situation's actors and their actions to legitimize the ideology. • Provide people with social models of compliance. • Allow dissent, but only if people continue to comply with orders. • Make exiting the situation difficult. • Particularly notable, Zimbardo said, is that people are seduced into evil by dehumanizing and labeling others. • "They semantically change their perception of victims, of the evil act, and change the relationship of the aggressor to their aggression--so 'killing' or 'hurting' becomes the same

as 'helping,'" he said. By MELISSA DITTMANN © 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Monitor Staff October 2004, Vol 35, No. 9 C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Why People Obey 10 Entrapment A gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort

The first stages of entrapment pose no difficult choices. But as people take a step, or make a decision to continue, they will justify that action in order to feel that it is the right one and that they haven’t done anything foolish or unethical.

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Abu Ghraib… 10 • http://www.cbsnews.com/news/exposing- the-truth-of-abu-ghraib/

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Social Cognition 10 An area of social psychology concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perception, and beliefs Researchers are interested in how people’s perceptions of themselves and others influence: • Relationships • Perceptions • Beliefs • Values

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Attributions 10 Attribution theory A theory that people are motivated to explain their own and others’ behavior by attributing causes of behavior to a situation or a disposition Fundamental attribution error The tendency to overestimate personality factors and underestimate situational influence when explaining others’ behaviors

The bias to choose the most flattering and forgiving attributions of our own lapses

The bias that we are better, smarter, and kinder than others

The bias to believe that the world is fair Just-world hypothesis: the belief that bad people are punished and good people are rewarded © 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Attitudes 10 A belief about people, groups, ideas, or activities

Explicit: Attitudes that we are aware of, that shape our conscious decisions and actions; can be directly measured

Implicit: Attitudes about which we are unaware and that influence our behavior in ways we do not recognize; can be measured indirectly

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Cognitive Dissonance 10 • A state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent or when a person’s belief is incongruent with his or her behavior

• Often leads to motivation to reduce the dissonance by changing attitudes or behaviors

• Often leads to relying on Defense Mechanisms to cope.

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Changing Opinions and 10 Beliefs Familiarity effect The tendency of people to feel more positive toward a person, item, product, or other stimulus with which they are more familiar

Validity effect The tendency of people to believe that a statement is true or valid simply because it has been repeated many times

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Genes and Attitudes 10 Ideological belief systems may have evolved in human societies to be organized along a left–right dimension, consisting of two core sets of attitudes:

(1) Whether a person advocates social change or supports the system as it is

(2) Whether a person thinks inequality is a result of human policies and can be overcome, or is inevitable and should be accepted as part of the natural order

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Persuasion or 10 Brainwashing? The person is subjected to entrapment. The person’s problems, personal and political, are explained by one simple attribution. The person is offered a new identity and is promised salvation. The person’s access to disconfirming (dissonant) information is severely http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/jonestown.aspx controlled. http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov02/cults.aspx

In close-knit groups, the tendency for all members to think alike and suppress disagreement for the sake of harmony

Symptoms • Illusion of invulnerability • Self-censorship • Pressure on dissenters to conform • Illusion of unanimity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dxk-lNkwjk

Groupthink can be reduced if:

1. leaders reward expressions of doubt and dissent. 2. leaders encourage minority views. 3. alternate solutions to problems are solicited. 4. open-mindedness and independent thinking are fostered. 5. group members are encouraged to identify with a collective goal that benefits the group.

The Wave: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ICng-KRxXJ8

Diffusion of responsibility In groups, the tendency of members to avoid taking action because they assume others will

Deindividuation In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of one’s own individuality

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry What is Bystander Effect? 10 • The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others hinders an individual from intervening in an emergency situation.

• Social psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley popularized the concept following the infamous 1964 Kitty Genovese murder in Kew Gardens, New York. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JozmWS6xYEw

• Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment three times, while bystanders who observed the crime did not step in to assist or call the police. In the case, each onlooker concluded from their neighbors' inaction that their own personal help was not needed.

• Latané and Darley attributed the bystander effect to the diffusion of responsibility (onlookers are more likely to intervene if there are few or no other witnesses) and social influence (individuals in a group monitor the behavior of those around them to determine how to act).

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Altruism and Dissent 10 Situational factors involved in overcoming bystander apathy and helping others: 1.You perceive the need for intervention or help. 2.Cultural norms encourage you to take action. 3.You have an ally. 4.You become entrapped.

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Ethnocentrism 10 The belief that one’s own ethnic group, nation, or religion is superior to all others Aids survival by making people feel attached to their own group and willing to work on group’s behalf

May even be embedded in the language of some cultures

© 2015, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. C H A P T E R Invitation to Psychology, 6e Carole Wade, Carol Tavris, & Maryanne Garry Origins of Prejudice 10 Psychological causes People inflate their own self-worth or self-esteem by disliking groups they see as inferior.

Social causes Based on the pressure to conform to the views of friends, relatives, or peers Economic causes Legitimizes unequal economic treatment

Cultural and national causes Bonds people to their own ethnic or national group and its traditions

Social distance and microaggressions Reluctance to get too close to members of another group; slights and indignities experienced by many minorities Unequal treatment Racial discrimination in the “war on drugs” What people do when they are stressed or angry Prejudice sometimes reveals itself during heightened emotional states. Brain activity What parts of the brain are involved in such attitudes? Implicit attitudes The speed of associations may reveal prejudicial attitudes.