Psychology 100:12 Chapter 13 Self & Social Cognition II

Outline Conformity, Obedience & helping Social influences on behaviour Killing, hurting and (not) helping others Study Question: Compare and contrast social facilitation with social loafing. Why does the presence of others sometimes improve performance and other times impair it?

Quiz 2 QuestionABCD Answer B C B C D A C B A B C D A Social Psychology

Quiz 2 QuestionABCD Answer A B C A A B D B C C B B Social Psychology

Social Influences on behaviour –Latanés social impact theory >Source: Person exerting the social force. >Target: Person receiving the social force. >Three Propositions.  Impact is a product of the strength, immediacy, and number of sources.  Impact of each additional source decreases as the number increases  Impact is inversely related to the number of targets

Social Psychology Social Influences on behaviour –Example: Stage fright >Strength, immediacy, and number of sources  Stage fright increases with status and size of audience. >Impact of each additional source decreases as the number increases  Slope of the anxiety function diminishes as audience gets larger >Impact is inversely related to the number of targets  Anxiety decreases with increasing number of actors.

Social Psychology Social Influences on behaviour –Other’s requests >Social impact theory predicts that we will comply  When requester has higher status (strength)  When the requester is in front of you (immediacy)  There are more than one requester (number)

Conformity – Asch’s experiment >Results over 76 % make at least one error  Busking and float money;  Canned laughter A B C Social Psychology

Obedience & authority –Person perception and authority >Wilson’s (1968) study.  Participants judged the height of a visiting speaker Introduced as Average height judgment >Student >Demonstrator 70.5 >Lecturer 71.0 >Sr. Lecturer 71.5 >Professor 72.5

Blind obedience –Obedience ---> social order, law. –Blind Obedience ---> Ethnic cleansing. Milgram’s experiment –Prediction: Less than 1% would go all the way. >Results: 63 % (cf. Milgram’s 37) >Learner in same room, half a meter away: 40% >Force the hand onto the shock plate:30% >Other teachers continue: 72% >Other teacher quits: 11% SlightModerateStrongVery Strong Intense Extremely Intense DANGER XXX Shock Level Social Psychology

Performance Arousal LowHigh Low Easy task Moderate Task Difficult Task Social Psychology Social Facilitation, Inhibition, and Loafing –Triplett (1897) >Social Facilitation: Enhanced performance due to the presence of others. >Social Inhibition: Impaired performance due to the presence of others. –Zanjonc’s theory >Yerkes - Dodson Law  Home field disadvantage?

Social Psychology Social Loafing –Ringleman’s tug of war >Force = 8 X individuals + Social facilitation >Results: About 1/2 the force of the 8 individuals >Latané’s shouting experiment  Individual assessment --> Social facilitation  No Individual assessment --> Social loafing  Responsibility --> No loafing.

Bystander Intervention –Good Samaritan Day (March 13) > Kitty Genovese –When do we help? >When we notice the situation (Latane & Darley)  Students fill out questionnaires (self vs group)  Smoke starts to pour into the room  Solitary students notice immediately  Students in groups significantly slower to notice Social Psychology

–When do we help? >Assume Personal responsibility (Darly & Latané)  Participants in separate rooms and are told they were going to have a discussion over an intercom system. Subjects think a confederate is having seizure Believed they were alone, or that one or four others had heard –Number of others present Helping response 090% 160% 225%

Social Psychology Disposition vs. Situation (Darley & Batson) –Theological seminary students >Asked to think about a Good Samaritan speech or something else. >Told to go to another building to record the speech  “ It will be a few minutes before they are ready for you, but you might as well head over”  “They were expecting you a few minutes ago so you better hurry” >Along the way-pass man sitting in doorway slumped over, head down, coughing and groaning.  Unhurried - 66% stopped to help  Hurried - 10% stopped to help