Chapter 16: Social Psychology

What is Social Psychology? Social Psychology: study of how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, & actions

Our Thoughts About Others Attribution: explanation for the cause of behaviors or events Heider (1958) concluded that people need to see the world as coherent and controllable – so we seek “logical” conclusions to feel safer and in control

Our Thoughts About Others To determine the cause of the behaviour we first decide whether the behavior comes from an: internal (dispositional) cause, such as personal characteristics, or external (situational) cause, such as situational demands.

Mistaken Attributions Our attributions are frequently marred by two major errors: 1. Fundamental Attribution Error – more likely to blame personal, dispositional attributions (blame the person rather than the situation) 2. Saliency Bias – focusing on only the most salient (noticeable) factors when explaining the cause of behaviour

Mistaken Attributions 3. Self-Serving Bias – when explaining our own behaviour we emphasize internal personality characteristics for our successes and external environmental attributions for our failures Ex. Student who does well on an exam = “I studied really hard” VS. Student who didn’t do well = “the teacher never taught us that concept” or “that wasn’t in the textbook for me to study”

Attitude Attitude: learned predisposition to respond cognitively, affectively and behaviourally to a particular object Cognitive = thoughts and beliefs Affective = feelings Behavioural = predisposition to act a certain way Cognitive Dissonance: feeling of discomfort caused by a discrepancy between an attitude and a behaviour or between two competing attitudes Can you think of an example?

Example: Smoking Conflict: Individuals who smoke but know that it is bad for their health Why would someone continue engaging in behavior they know is unhealthy? A person might decide that they value smoking more than his or her health, deeming the behavior "worth it" in terms of risks versus rewards. The smoker might convince himself that the negative health effects have been overstated. He might also assuage his health concerns by telling himself that he cannot avoid every possible risk out there. Smoker might try to convince himself that if he does stop smoking then he will gain weight, which also presents health risks. By using such explanations, the smoker is able to reduce the dissonance and continue the behaviour

Our Feelings About Others: Prejudice & Discrimination Prejudice: learned, generally negative, attitude toward members of a group Discrimination: negative behaviors directed at members of a group

Three Components of Prejudice Cognitive: thoughts associated with objects of prejudice) Stereotype: set of beliefs about the characteristics of people in a group generalized to all group members Affective: feelings associated with objects of prejudice Behavioral: actions associated with objects of prejudice - ie. Discrimination

Sources of Prejudice & Discrimination Learning Personal Experiences Mental shortcut In-group Favoritism: in-group viewed more positively than outgroup Outgroup Homogeneity Effect: outgroup judged as less diverse than in-group Economic & political competition Displaced aggression

Our Actions Toward Others: Social Influence Conformity: changing behavior because of real or imagined group pressure Obedience: following direct commands, usually from an authority figure

Our Actions Toward Others: Conformity Asch’s Conformity Study Participants were asked to select the line closest in length to X. When confederates first gave obviously wrong answers (A or C), more than 1/3 of true subjects conformed & agreed with the incorrect choices.

Our Actions Toward Others: Conformity (Cont’d) Why do we conform? Normative Social Influence: need for approval & acceptance Informational Social Influence: need for information & direction Reference Groups: we conform to people we like & admire because we want to be like them

Our Actions Toward Others: Obedience Remember Milgram’s obedience study? Participants serving as “teachers” were ordered to continue shocking someone with a known heart condition who is begging to be released. Result? 65% of “teachers” delivered highest level of shock (450 volts) to the pseudo-heart condition “learner.”

Our Actions Toward Others: Obedience (Cont’d) Four major factors affecting obedience: legitimacy & closeness of the authority figure remoteness of the victim assignment of responsibility modeling/imitation

Group Dynamics Group dynamics : studies groups and group processes. A group is defined as two or more people who are interacting with and/or influencing one another. Common Group Processes: Social facilitation —The mere presence of others can improve performance on well-practiced tasks (e.g., Ryan, a pool player, should perform better in front of a large crowd than while practicing his billiard moves alone). Social inhibition —The mere presence of others can impair performance on tasks that one is not particularly good at (e.g., a novice pool player will perform less well in front of a group). B. Both social

Common group processes Social loafing —On group tasks, people will sometimes exert less effort if individual contributions are not possible to identify (e.g., when working on a group project for class, only a few people from the group will do the majority of the task). Men are more likely to exhibit social loafing than women, and people from individualistic countries are more likely to exhibit this behavior compared to people from collectivistic countries.

Common Group Processes Bystander Effect – claims that behavior is influenced by the number of people available to intervene. Example —In 1964 Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in front of her apartment in New York City at 2:30 a.m. Her murder was overheard by 34 of her neighbors, yet none of them came to her aid. Why do you think this happened?

Diffusion of responsibility - tendency for individuals to think others will help, so they do not intervene. Example—If two students are walking down the hallway at school, and a pen falls out of one student’s pocket or backpack, the other student is more likely to tell the first student that he or she dropped something when the two students are alone in the hallway. If the hallway is crowded with people and a pen falls out of a student’s pocket or backpack, the same other student may think others will help, and, therefore, he or she may not say anything. Pluralistic ignorance – tendency to do nothing because others are doing nothing; everyone assumes everyone else must “know better,” and if others do not respond, then there must not be an emergency Example—An alarm is sounding and no one is moving. A person assumes that there is no real threat because everyone else is acting as if things are normal.

Our Actions Toward Others: Group Processes Group membership involves: Roles: set of behavioral patterns connected with particular social positions Deindividuation: anonymity leads to reduced inhibition, self-consciousness, & personal responsibility

Group Processes: Problems with Decision Making Group Polarization: group movement toward either a riskier or more conservative decision; result depends on the members’ initial dominant tendency Groupthink: faulty decision making occurring when a highly cohesive group seeks agreement & avoids inconsistent information

Our Actions Toward Others: Group Processes (Cont’d) Symptoms of Groupthink: Illusion of invulnerability Belief in group’s morality Collective rationalizations Stereotypes of out-groups Self-censorship Illusion of unanimity Direct pressure on dissenters

Group Processes: “Power of the Situation” Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study Students were randomly assigned to play the role of either “prisoner” or “guard.” Original study, scheduled for 2 weeks, was stopped after 6 days due to serious psychological changes in both “prisoners” & “guards.”

Our Actions Toward Others: Aggression Aggression: any behavior intended to harm someone

Our Actions Toward Others: Aggression (Continued) Biological Factors in Aggression: instincts, genes, brain & nervous system, substance abuse & other mental disorders, hormones & neurotransmitters

Our Actions Toward Others: Aggression (Continued) Psychosocial Factors in Aggression: Aversive stimuli Culture & learning Violent media/ video games

Our Actions Toward Others: Aggression (Continued) How can we control or reduce aggression? Catharsis (bringing repressed feelings to consciousness) Not a lot of support for this Introduce incompatible responses (e.g., humor) Improve social & communication skills

Our Actions Toward Others: Altruism Altruism: actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper Is there such thing as a self-less good deed?

Our Actions Toward Others: Altruism Why do we help? Evolutionary Model: favors survival of one’s genes Egoistic Model: helping motivated by anticipated gain Empathy-Altruism Model: empathy

Our Actions Toward Others: Altruism

Our Actions Toward Others: Altruism Why Don’t We Help? Diffusion of Responsibility: dilution, or diffusion, of personal responsibility Ambiguity of the Situation: unclear what help is needed