Social Psychology: The power of groups zTh z The study of the manner in which the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups.

Cultural influence zCulture dictates how you dress. zCulture specifies what you eat and do not eat. zPeople from different cultures seek different amounts of personal space. zCultural truisms: beliefs that most members of a society accept as self-evidently true. zNorms: shared ideas about how to behave.

Chameleon Effect Unconscious mimicry of posture, facial expression, accent, etc. zhttp:// /199911/were-all-copycatshttp:// /199911/were-all-copycats

Conformity  Conformity: voluntarily yielding to social norms, even at the expense of one’s preferences. Usually happens when the group is larger, the person is made to feel incompetent or insecure, the group is unanimous, the person has strong interest in being in the group, etc.  Increased by a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval; influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Conformity: The Asch Experiment

The more difficult the decision, the greater the conformity. Difficult judgments Easy judgments Conformity highest on important judgments Low High Importance 50%

Obedience zObedience: change of behavior in response to a command from another person, typically an authority figure. zFactors that increase obedience: uniforms, surveillance, seeing themselves as the agents of another person’s wishes.

Obedience: The Milgram Experiment

A good impact of being in a group: social facilitation  At times, people will improve their performance of tasks in the presence of others  Occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered  Expert pool players who made 71% of shots by themselves make 80% when 4 people are watching; poor pool players who made 36% alone made 25% when watched.  Laughter: comedy CDs that are mildly amusing in an uncrowded room seem funnier in a densely packed room (i.e. laugh tracks on TVs): “a good house is a full house”  Driving: After a light turns green, drivers take 15% less time to travel the first 100 yards than when alone  Can you think of activities that you do better when others are watching?

Social Facilitation in sports

The bad: social loafing  The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when working individually.  Ingham’s 1974 “tug of war” experiment: people exerted 82% as much effort when fooled into thinking that there were three people behind them.  People feel less accountable and worry less about what others think; view their contributions as dispensable; Group projects in school  When does this happen to you the most?

The bad: bystander effect zWe only help when a situation enables us to notice a situation, interpret it as an emergency, and assume responsibility zDiffusion of responsibility: the more people around, the less likely we are to help zThe story of Kitty Genovese zhttp:// e/serial_killers/predators/kitty_ge novese/1.htmlhttp:// e/serial_killers/predators/kitty_ge novese/1.html zHave you ever seen a car accident or other bad event and hesitated before getting involved, or decided not to get involved at all?

The bad: deindividuation  Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.  People in an experiment who wore hoods delivered twice as much electric shock to a victim; tribal warriors who depersonalize themselves with face paint or masks are more likely to kill or torture.  Concerts, mob violence, disguises, etc.; in big crowds people lose their self- consciousness and become more responsive to the group experience.  Soccer “hooliganism”  srv/national/daily/july99/woodstock29.ht m srv/national/daily/july99/woodstock29.ht m  What other kinds of things will people do when they are in a crowd or a mob?

The bad: group polarization  Over time, initial differences between different groups tends to grow  The effect of the internet, cable news, etc.  Do you spend most of your time with people who have the same opinions, or do you seek out differences?

Group polarization  If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

The bad: groupthink zWhen the desire for harmony in a decision- making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives: Challenger, Bay of Pigs, Iraq War, etc. zCan you think of other examples?