SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYPertemuan 13

Matakuliah : O0072 / Pengantar Psikologi Tahun : 2008

Definition of Social Psychology

• Studies individuals as they interact with others– Aristotle: Man is by nature a social animal– Psychologists study

• Attractions• Needs• Influences

– Examine within social context of situations

Social Psychology

Groups and Social Influence

• Lynch mobs– Racial prejudice: lynching of African Americans– Deindividuation – anonymous, inidentifiable feeling

of group member

• Weakens restraints; are more aggressive• Uninvolved bystanders

– Murder of Kitty Genovese in New York– The larger the group, the less likely one will help– Diffusion of responsibility

Social Psychology

Working and Solving Problems in Groups

• Social facilitation: being in group improves individual performance

• Social loafing: individuals exert less effort in group than if by themselves (slack off)

• Nature of task affects behavior – Optimal levels of arousal– Easy/skilled tasks performed more quickly– Difficult/unfamiliar tasks performed more slowly

Social Psychology

Group Problem Solving

• Groupthink – – Faulty decision-making process in groups– President Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs invasion– NASA’s 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster– Causes

• Process of polarization (extreme views)• Cohesiveness of members of the group

(likelihood highest in tightly knit groups)• Size of the group

– Interactive dialogue vs. serial monologue

Social Psychology

Conformity, Social Roles, and Obedience

• Conformity – – Asch experiments

• Peer and cultural expectations• Conform for two reasons

– Gain rewards, avoid punishment– Gain social approval, avoid disapproval

Social Psychology

Yielding to group

pressure even when no direct

request to comply has been made.

X Y ZA

Conformity

– Autokinetic effect (Sherif)

• In ambiguous situation – one looks to others for information that influences judgment

• Likelihood of conformity causes– Size of group (increases with size)– Unanimous groups (reduced by dissent)– Culture and conformity– Gender and conformity (sterotypes changing, no longer

true)

Social Psychology

Decision Model of Helping

Yes

Know how to help?

Decide to help implement intervention?

Help victim

Interpret as an emergency?

Assume responsibility for helping?

Notice an event?

Do not help

2

No

No

No

No

3

4

5

1

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Social Roles and Social Norms• Every culture has

– Social roles – expectations of behavior– Social norms – standards for behavior in given

situations

• Zimbardo’s prison study – – Power of social roles influencing behaviors– Behavior changes to fit perceptions of role

• Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison scandal– Social roles coupled with intense emotions

Social Psychology

Obedience• Direct influence by authority figures

– Unthinkable atrocities of WW II– Milgram’s shock experiments

• Teacher less likely to give high voltage shock when learner in same room

• Positive sides of groups– Accomplish things that individuals cannot– Can be therapeutic: emotional support, lower stress

Social Psychology

Attitudes and Persuasion

• Attitudes – beliefs that predispose one to act or feel in certain ways– Learned directly from experience and others

• Persuasion and attitude change– Aristotle: persuasive arguments in oral debates– Ads in media use persuasion to induce behavior– Persuasion – process of changing another’s attitudes

by arguments and other related means

Social Psychology

Attitudes and Persuasion

• Characteristics of Speaker– Credibility – is speaker credible source of

information about specific argument being presented– Attractiveness – more effective to be attractive,

popular, famous, or likeable– Intent – what the rationale is behind it

Social Psychology

Attitudes and Persuasion• Characteristics of the message

– Fear appeals (emotional arousal)– Two-sided arguments (most effective)– Message framing (how argument is presented)

• Characteristics of listeners– Intelligence– Need for social approval– Self-esteem– Audience size– Social support

Social Psychology

Attitudes and Persuasion• Techniques of persuasion

– Foot-in-the-door (small request made, then progressively larger ones)

– Low-ball

• Cognitive dissonance theory– Explains discomfort of inconsistencies in attitudes

and behaviors– Humans usually reduce dissonance the easiest way

possible (ie: smoking and cancer)

Social Psychology

Cognitive Dissonance

Smoking cigarettes is unhealthy

or

The research on smoking is not conclusive

I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore

I smoke cigarettes

Smoking cigarettes is unhealthy

I smoke cigarettes

Unpleasanttension

state

Prejudice and Stereotypes

• Prejudice – harmful attitude based on inaccurate generalizations (ie: group, race)– Stereotypes: inaccurate generalizations that are

harmful for three reasons

• Reduce one’s ability to treat another as individual

• Narrow expectations for behavior• Lead to faulty attributions

– Attitudes lead to behaviors!!Attitudes lead to behaviors!!

Social Psychology

Prejudice and Stereotypes

• Automatic prejudice – everyone is prejudiced about something

• Causes of stereotypes and prejudice– Realistic conflict (frustration from competing with

another group for scarce resources)– Us versus them – human tendency of in-group and

out-group– Social learning (it is taught and learned)

Social Psychology

Prejudice and Stereotypes

• Combating prejudice– Recognize prejudice– Control automatic prejudice– Increase contact among prejudiced groups

• Two groups must be almost equal in status

• View each other as typical of their respective group; not the exception

• Engage in cooperative, not competitive tasks

• Contact must be informal

Social Psychology

Interpersonal Attraction

• Attribution - Making judgments about what causes people to behave the way they do– Fundamental attribution error

• Underestimating negative impact of situations on others

– Situational attribution –

• Blaming external cause for behavior– Dispositional attribution

• Blaming internal motive/trait for behavior

Social Psychology

Interpersonal Attraction

• Negative Information– The bad outweighs the good – cognitive

algebra

• Chemistry of love and social bonding– Appears people respond to sex hormones

•Androstadien (in human sweat)•Oxytocin (in blood and brain)

Social Psychology

Interpersonal Attraction

• Characteristics of the other person– Drawn to those with similar interests– Opposites attract – complements each other (gives

balance to relationship, avoids having competition)– Physical attractiveness

• attribute better qualities to beautiful people

• Most important factor in early stage meeting

• Self-fulfilling prophecy and perceptions

Social Psychology

Interpersonal Attraction

• Characteristics of perceiver– Personality traits influence person perception

• Neuroticist persons tend not to marry– Emotions and person perception

• Positive emotions are more attractive– Gender differences

• Men interested in falling in love• Majority of people think romantic love is

necessary for marriage

Social Psychology

Extraneous Factors

• Primacy effects – First impressions are very important; more

weight given than to later information

• Conditions lessen impact primacy effects– Prolonged exposure– Passage of time– Knowledge of primacy effects

• Cause of attraction– Proximity– Mutual liking

Social Psychology

Relationships

• Maintaining relationships– Balancing reality with expectations– Shift from passionate love to companionate love

signals unfulfilled expectations– Normal for personal changes to occur over time

• Equity in relationships– Equity theory

Social Psychology

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