Table of Contents Exit Social Behavior. Table of Contents Exit Social Psychology: Scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social

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Social Psychology: Scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social situations; how people act in the presence (actual or implied) of others

Culture: Ongoing pattern of life that is passed from one generation to another

What is Social Psychology? Some Definitions


Social Role: Patterns of behavior expected of people in various social positions (e.g. daughter, mother, teacher, President) Ascribed Role: Assigned to a person or not

under personal control (son, daughter) Achieved Role: Attained voluntarily or by

special effort (teacher, mayor, President)

Role Conflict: When two or more roles make conflicting demands on behavior

Social Roles


Group Structure: Network of roles, communication, pathways, and power in a group

Group Cohesiveness: Degree of attraction among group members or their commitment to remaining in the group Cohesive groups work better together

Status: Level of social power and importance

Groups


Norm: Accepted, but usually unspoken, standard of appropriate behavior

The functioning of any group is greatly affected by its norms.

Does the amount of trash already discarded in an area affect the likelihood that people will add to the litter? -

Norms

Fig. 20.1 Results of an experiment on norms concerning littering. The prior existence of litter in a public setting implies that littering is acceptable. This encourages others to “trash” the area. (From Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990.)


Seeing others had littered implied a lax norm about whether littering was acceptable

The cleaner the public is kept, the less it will need cleaned

Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990

Littering Anyone?


Personal Space -Area surrounding the body that is defined as private and is subject to personal control

Proxemics: Systematic study of human use of personal space, especially in social settings

Personal Space


1. Intimate Distance: Most private space immediately surrounding the body; 18 inches from the skin. Reserved for special people or special circumstances

2. Personal Distance: Maintained in interactions with friends. 18 inches to 4 feet from body; arm’s length

3. Social Distance: Impersonal business & casual interaction takes place; 4 to 12 feet

4. Public Distance: Formal interactions take place; 12 feet or more /for meetings and speeches

Spatial Norms

Fig. 20.2 Typical spatial zones (in feet) for face-to-face interactions in North America. Often, we must stand within intimate distance of others in crowds, buses, subways, elevators, and other public places. At such times, privacy is maintained by avoiding eye contact, by standing shoulder to shoulder or back to back, and by positioning a purse, bag, package, or coat as a barrier to spatial intrusions.


Mere Exposure Effect - Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking of them

EX) Hear a new song on the radio, don’t initially like it. But a week later after hearing it over and over on the radio you love it!

Mere Exposure Effect


There mere exposure effect works for human faces as well and promotes fondness for the people with whom we spend time.

Two researchers (Moreland & Beach) demonstrated the mere exposure effect by enrolling 4 women, all whom were judged equally attractive, in 1 200-student college class. First never attended class Second went 5 times Third 10 times Fourth attended 15 classes

After the course ended, students judged who they felt was most attractive



The students judged the woman who had attended most often as the most attractive

Why?

Our ancestors benefited from the mere exposure effect. Familiar faces were less likely to be dangerous or threatening than unfamiliar faces. Some researchers believe we are born with a tendency to bond with those who are familiar to us, and to be leery of those we don’t know.



Attribution Theory: Making inferences about the causes of one’s own behavior and others’ behavior Consistency: Person’s behavior

changes very little in many different circumstances

Distinctiveness: Noticing that a behavior only occurs under certain circumstances

Social Perception- Behind the Mask


Fundamental Attribution Error (Actor-Observer Bias: ):

Tendency to attribute behavior of others to internal causes (personality, motives, and traits). Ignoring any external causes

Tendency to attribute behavior of ourselves to external causes (situations & circumstances)

More Attribution Concepts


Situational Demands: Pressures to behave in certain ways in particular settings and social situations

Examples?

Social Perception (cont.)


Discounting: Downgrading internal explanations of behavior when a person’s actions seem to have strong external causes

Famous athlete endorsing a product. You know they don’t really love or use that shaving ceam

Consensus: Degree to which people respond alike. In attribution, implies that responses are externally caused

Other Attribution Concepts


Need to Affiliate: Desire to associate with other people; appears to be a basic human trait

Social Comparison: Making judgments about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. E.g. comparing our feelings and abilities to those of other people

Affiliation- The need to affiliation-Come Together


Downward Comparison: Comparing yourself with someone who ranks lower than you on some area (e.g. money, attractiveness)

Upward Comparison: Comparing ourselves to someone who ranks higher than we do on some area; may be used for self-improvement (something we strive for)

Social Comparison


Video

Halo Effect


Interpersonal Attraction –affinity to another person

Physical Proximity: Physical nearness to another person in terms of housing, school, work, and so on

Physical Attractiveness: Person’s degree of physical beauty as defined by his or her culture

Halo Effect: Tendency to generalize a favorable impression to unrelated personal characteristics, ignore the bad and focus on the one good thing

Interpersonal Attraction


Similarity: Extent to which two people are alike in terms of age, education, attitudes, and so on Similar people are attracted to each other

Homogamy: Tendency to marry someone who is like us in almost every way

Interpersonal Attraction (cont.)


Page 657

Selecting a Mate- Reflections in a Social Mirror


Self-Disclosure - Process of revealing private thoughts, attitudes, feelings and one’s history to others Should be used cautiously and sparingly when

you are the therapist performing therapy May lead to countertransference in therapy

Reciprocity: moderate self-disclosure leads to Return of sharing private thoughts in kind

Overdisclosure: Self-disclosure that exceeds what is appropriate for a relationship or social situation

Self-Disclosure


Page 658

Gendered Friendships


Social Exchange – transfer of attention, information, affection, favors between two people

Social Exchange Theory: Rewards must exceed costs for relationships to endure; we unconsciously weigh social rewards and costs

Comparison Level: Personal standard used to evaluate social rewards and costs in a social exchange/ individual and based on one’s history

Relationship needs to be profitable enough to maintain it

Social Exchange Theory


Romantic Love: Marked by high levels of interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and heightened arousal

Liking: Relationship based on affection without passion and commitments

Secure Attachment: Stable and positive emotional bond Mutual Absorption: When two lovers almost always attend

only to each other Avoidant Attachment: Fear of intimacy and a tendency to

resist commitment to others Ambivalent Attachment: Mixed emotions about

relationships; conflicting feelings of affection, anger and emotional turmoil

Love and Attachment


Evolutionary Psychology – the study of the evolutionary origins of human behavior patterns

Let us read: Evolution and Mate Selection, pg. 660

Evolution and Mate Selection


Social Influence - Changes in a person’s behavior induced by the actions of another person Someone else influences your

decision: husband, wife, mother, peer, etc.

Peer pressure: Rudy is swayed by Fanny to go see “The Hunger Games” when he really wanted to see “The Avengers”

Social Influence


Conformity - Bringing one’s behavior into agreement with norms or the behavior of others

Solomon Asch’s Experiment In 33% of the trials, the real subject conformed to group pressure even when the group’s answers were obviously incorrect!

Conformity

Fig. 20.5 Stimuli used in Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments.


Groupthink: Compulsion by decision makers to maintain each other’s approval, even at the cost of critical thinking, not wanting to “rock the boat” causes members to disregard suggestions of discontent or disagreement

Group Sanctions: Rewards and punishments administered by groups to enforce conformity ( laughter, staring)

Unanimity: Unanimous agreement (having at least one person in your corner can greatly reduce your urge to conform, and secure your opposition/ Jury room)

Group Factors in Conformity


Social Power: Capacity to control, alter or influence the behavior of another person

Reward Power: Rewarding a person for complying with desired behavior

Coercive Power: Based on ability to punish a person for failure to comply

Social Power


Legitimate Power: Accepting a person as an agent of an established social order

Referent Power: Respect for, or identification with, a person or a group

Expert Power: Based on possession of knowledge or expertise

More Power Concepts


Obedience - Conformity to the demands of an authority

Would you shock a man with a known heart condition who is screaming and asking to be released?

Milgram studied this; the man with a heart condition was an accomplice and the “teacher” was a real volunteer. The goal was to teach the learner word pairs.

Obedience (Milgram)

Fig. 20.6 Scenes from Stanley Milgram’s study of obedience: the “shock generator,” strapping a “learner” into his chair, and a “teacher”being told to administer a severe shock to the learner.

© Stanley Milgram, The Pennsylvania State University


65% obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on the “shock machine” even though the learner eventually could not answer any more questions The learner screamed and provided no

further answers once 300 volts (“Severe Shock”) was reached

Group support can reduce destructive obedience

Milgram’s Results

Fig. 20.7 Results of Milgram’s obedience experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused to provide shocks, even at the most extreme intensities. The first substantial drop in obedience occurred at the 300-volt level (Milgram, 1963).

Fig. 20.8 Physical distance from the “learner” had a significant effect on the percentage of subjects obeying orders.


Milgram Experiment

Video


Stanley Miilgram

Kitty Genovese- Bystander effect


Compliance - Bending to the requests of one person who has little or no authority or social power

Foot-in-the-Door Effect: A person who has agreed to a small request is more likely later to agree to a larger demand. (little to big) Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is almost a

sure thing Door-in-the-Face Technique: A person who has

refused a major request will be more likely later on to comply with a smaller request ( big to little) After the door has been slammed in your face (major

request refused), person may be more likely to agree to a smaller request

Compliance


Low-Ball Technique: Commitment is gained first to reasonable or desirable terms, which are then made less reasonable or desirable Henry accepts the price he states for a new

car. Then, later, Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry “The business would lose too much money on that price; can’t you take a bit less and add all these options?”

Passive Compliance: Passively bending to unreasonable demands or circumstances

Compliance (cont.)


Page 669

How to Drive a Hard Bargain


Instruction in how to be self-assertive Self-Assertion: Standing up for your rights by

speaking out on your own behalf; direct, honest expression of feelings and desires

Aggression: Hurting another person or achieving ones goals at the expense of another person Attempt to get ones way no matter what No regard for other people's feelings

Broken Record: Self-assertion technique that involves repeating a request until it is acknowledged Good way to be assertive without being aggressive

Overlearning – self- assertion technique, practice that continues after an initial skill/ role-playing assertive behavior

Assertiveness Training

Fig. 18.9 In an experiment done at an airport, a smoker intentionally sat or stood near non-smokers. Only 9 percent of the non-smokers asked the smoker to stop smoking, even when no-smoking signs were clearly visible nearby (Gibson & Werner, 1994).

©Michael Newman/PhotoEdit


Social Traps - Any social situation that rewards individual actions that will have undesired effects in the long run Anya buys things on credit for immediate satisfaction and

then gets a HUGE bill later, which she cannot afford Tragedy of the Commons: Type of social trap

where individuals share a scarce resource. Each person acts in his or her self-interest, which causes the resource to be used up, so eventually everyone suffers No efforts made, for example, to conserve water, gasoline,

electricity, or food Some social behaviors produce immediate rewards

but have significant consequences in the long run

Social Traps

Documents

Table of Contents Exit Social Behavior. Table of Contents Exit Social Psychology: Scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social