PSY150 Ch13 Social 2012 - Wofford College

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 13

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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

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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

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5 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

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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 • Introduction • Social Cognition




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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

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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?

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ATTRIBUTION THEORY

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Is the action performed regularly?

Consistency Regularity Attribution

Dispositional

Situational

Yes

No

Are similar actions

performed?

Are similar actions

performed?

Distinctiveness Generality

No

Yes

Do others perform this

action?

Do others perform this

action?

Consensus Typicality

No

Yes

ATTRIBUTION THEORY EXAMPLE

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Does your roommate sit around on a

regular basis?

Do they do other things?

Do other people just sit

around?

Do other people just sit

around?

Consistency Regularity

Distinctiveness Generality

Consensus Typicality Attribution

Dispositional Lazy

Situational Tired

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Do they do other things?

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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

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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…

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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

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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

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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

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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

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ROBBER’S CAVE: BREEDING A COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT

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10

20

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Pre-Cooperation Post-Cooperation

Eagles Rattlers

% o

f boy

s who

had

a

best

frie

nd in

th

e ou

t-gro

up

Sherif et al. (1961)

Camp truck breakdown





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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

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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

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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

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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

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• Social Influence •  Social Norms •  Conformity •  Obedience •  Diffusion of responsibility


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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

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CONFORMITY

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A 1 2 3

CONFORMITY 38

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

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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

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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

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

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OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY

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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

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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

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

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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

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





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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

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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

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INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION Sternberg’s triangular theory of love

•  Passion – sexual passion and desire

•  Intimacy – honesty and understanding

•  Commitment – devotion and sacrifice

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ATTRACTION 54

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

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PSY150 Ch13 Social 2012 - Wofford College