Week 7-10 Study Guide Answers

Asch Conformity Experiment Findings

About 30% conformed to the wrong majority but most of the time, people actually never changed their perceptions but just changed their self reports to not stand out

How big does the majority group need to be to maximize the tendency to conform?

Conformity peaks when the group is around 4 members

Effects on Conformity

Public responses are most likely to conform, private had the least conformity, having an ally cuts conformity in half due to social support

Public Dissent (Going against the majority)

Risks losing respect and acceptance from others, people in the minority are more likely to conform in public to avoid social costs especially in ingroups

Milgrim Obedience Studies Surprise

found that more than half of subjects would deliver maximum shock given certain conditions, much higher than what students and psychiatrists previously thought.

Burger’s replication of Milgrim Obedience Experiment

Used a confederate who refused at a low shock level (early on in the experiment), encouraged subjects to not be subjected to total obedience

How do men and women differ in the Obedience experiments?

No significant sex differences, people who cared about the wellbeing of the participants resisted more

How does personally identifying with goals of the experimenter affect obedience?

If the participant is able to relate or personally identify with the goals of the experimenter, they are more likely to be obedient

Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

explains how people are persuaded. It suggests that when we receive a message, we process it through one of two routes: the central route (deep thinking about the arguments) or the peripheral route (focusing on superficial cues).

Peripherals

Cues (attractiveness)

Central

Deep thinking

What are the specific conditions which we are most likely to process something using the central route processing?

When the topic is personally relevant, important, and the person has the capacity to think

How do ability and motivation to elaborate influence how persuasive messages are processed?

People high in NFC (need for cognition), and cognitive reflection are more likely to use central processing and be less likely to fall for dumb shit

Central and Peripheral Processing (News)

Found that people with high CR judged fake news as less accurate regardless of political orientation/bias

Door in the face effect

After refusing a big request, people are more likely to comply with a smaller one (norm of reciprocity)

Weapons effect

Weapons can prime aggressive/violent thoughts and make violence more likely (people are more likely to give shocks)

Dictator game

Most people give away about 30%, showing they care a little about fairness but mostly keep the money for themselves.

Egoism

self-interest

altruism

welfare of others

collectivism

helping your group

princilism

moral principles

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

Empathy triggers actual altruism, when you feel real empathy for someone in need, you’re genuinely motivated to help them

Shallow pond argument

if you are willing to help a drowning child, you should also be willing to help others in need, regardless of where they physically are in the world

Good Samaritan Study

Being in a rush reduces helping, even if you’re primed to be a “good person.”