© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 1 Social Psychology 16

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 2 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 3 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 4 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 5 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 6 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 7 Yielding to group pressure even when no direct request to comply has been made. XYZA

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 8 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 9 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 Yes

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 10 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 11 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 12 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 13 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 14 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 Social Psychology –Audience size –Social support

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 15 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 16 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 Unpleasant tension state

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 17 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!! Social Psychology

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 18 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 19 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 20 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 21 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 22 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 23 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 24 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 25 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

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 26 The End 16 Social Psychology