1. Social Psychology

2. Social psychology Two major assumptions –Behavior is driven by context –Subjective perceptions guide our behavior

3. Conformity and obedience Social norms –Your example? –Milgram –Conclusions: Anxiety prevents us from breaking norms We need to justify our actions Context directs our feelings and behavior

4. Conformity and obedience Would you resist group pressure? –Studies say: Probably not.

5. Asch study Demonstrates suggestibility as a form of conformity.

6. Milgram study Subjects believed they were participating in a study on the effects of punishment on learning –Shock was delivered for each mistake made –Each shock was larger than the previous one Milgram found that obedience is highest when: –Authority figure is nearby –Authority figure is convincing and associated with a powerful institution –Victim is depersonalized and/or distant –Disobedience has not been modeled by others

7. Conformity and obedience Conditions that strengthen conformity:  One is made to feel incompetent or insecure.  The group has at least three people.  The group is unanimous.  One admires the group’s status and attractiveness.  One has no prior commitment to a response.  The group observes one’s behavior.  One’s culture strongly encourages respect for a social standard.

8. Conformity and obedience Why do we conform? –To be liked –To be right –To be alike

9. Group influence Individual behavior is influenced by the presence of others –Social facilitation –Social loafing –Disindividuation

10. Group influence Individual behavior may also influence the behavior of the group

11. Group influence Group behavior is influenced by the interactions within a group –Group polarization –Groupthink

12. Social relations How we relate to one another through a variety of attitudes and actions

13. Prejudice An unjustifiable, most unconscious, attitude toward a group and its members –Beliefs –Emotions –Predisposition to act Discrimination = behavior How common is prejudice? –Implicit association test

14. Social roots of prejudice Social inequalities increase prejudice Social divisions increase prejudice Emotional scapegoating

15. Cognitive roots of prejudice Categorization Availability heuristic Just-world phenomenon

16. Attraction Influenced by: –Proximity –Physical attractiveness –Similarity

17. Romantic love Passionate love Companionate love

18. Social thinking Attribution theory - our interpretation about the cause of someone else’s behavior –Dispositional attribution –Situational attribution Fundamental attribution error Self-serving bias

19. Attitudes and actions Attitudes are beliefs that influence who we feel and act –Attitudes direct our behavior –Our actions can also direct our attitudes

20. Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment Examined the effects of role playing on attitudes and behavior –Arbitrarily assigned volunteers to play the role of prisoner or prison guard –Demonstrated that role playing can have a strong effect on beliefs

21. Cognitive dissonance Tension that results from opposition between actions and beliefs

22. Foot-in-the-door phenomenon Strategy for gaining compliance –People who agree to a small request will later agree to a larger request Charities Alliances

23. Can attitudes be legislated? Can people’s beliefs be changed by creating laws that enforce specific behaviors?