Social Psych, Norm/Non-Norm Behavior, Learning, Theories of Attitude and Behavior Change, Individuals and Society Self-Identity

Conformity and Groupthink

 People act differently in groups than individually

Conformity – “peer pressure”, tendency for people to bring behaviour to line with group norms. Powerful.

 When behaviours are negative/wrong, why do people still conform to group norms?

 2 reasons why you’d conform:

 1) Informative influence: look to group for guidance when you don’t know what to do, and ask what to do.

 2) Normative influence: even if you know what’s right, do what group does to avoid social rejection.

 2 different ways a person can conform – publically or privately.

 If you privately conform, change behaviours to align with group. If publically you’re outwardly changing but

inside you maintain core beliefs.

Decision-making often takes place in groups. Group interactions shape the outcome.

 Group polarization is a phenomenon where group decision-making amplifies the original opinion of group

members. First, all the view does not have equal influence. Second, arguments made tend to favour popular

view and any criticism is minority – confirmation bias.

 Groupthink – occurs when maintaining harmony among group members is more important than carefully

analyzing problem at hand. Happens in very cohesive, insulated groups. Often have important/respected

leaders, and in the interest of group “unity” individuals suppress own opinions.

Conformity and Obedience

Refer to different, but related things. Conformity – how we adjust our behaviour/thinking to match group,

obedience – how we obey authority. Both are helpful in society.

 Anomie – breakdown of social bonds between an individual and community.

 We conform in little ways, ex. don’t question cereal is breakfast food, or obey traffic lights.

 Can have dark side – peer pressure can lead to questionable behaviours. Or the holocaust.

# of types of conformity and obedience.

 One is through compliance, situations where we do a behaviour to get a reward or avoid punishment.

Tendency to go along with behaviour without questioning why. Goes away once rewards/punishments

removed. Ex. paying taxes.

 Identification – when people act/dress a certain way to be like someone famous. Will do this as long as they

maintain respect for that individual.

 Internalization – idea/belief/behaviour has been integrated into our own values. Stronger than other types

of conformity.

 Normative Social Influence - If we do something to gain respect/support of peers, we’re complying with social

norms. Because of this we might go with group outwardly, but internally believe something differently.

 Informational Social Influence – when we conform because we feel others are more knowledgeable than us,

because we think they know something we don’t.

Asch Conformity Studies (Asch Line Studies)

One of most famous conformity experiments.

 Solomon Asch was part of the Gestalt Psychologists – believed not possible to understand human behaviour by

breaking down into parts, have to be understood as whole.

 “Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated.”

Holocaust influenced his studies of conformity. (Milgram)

 Many Nazis said they were “just following orders”.

Asch Conformity Study

Ex. Participant in study, many other participants too. The experiment is boring – holds target line and 3 comparison

lines, need to figure out which comparison line matches target.

 First trial, everyone gives what is obviously right answer.

 Second trial, same.

 Third trial, answer is obvious, but other participants all give wrong answer. 75% of participants conformed and

gave the wrong answer more than once, and 37% gave it wrong to everyone else.

 Other participants were confederates (actors, told what to do).

 No prize for doing well/poorly on the study – no actual pressure to perform, only perceived pressure.

 Example of normative social influence. Others reasoned if everyone else gave correct answer, must be

correct one – informational social influence. When we change our behavior. For some participants, errors

they made seemed to be perceptual error – truly believed answer given by others were correct.

Why not conform? Some were really confident, others not confident but stuck with their answers.

 Problems with study: population (all male undergrads), participant suspicions, ecological validity (line in lab not

same as real world), demand characteristics (how participants change behaviour to match expectations of

experimenter).

Migram Experiment on Obedience

Milgram studies were done to study willingness of participants, average Americans to obey authority figures that

conflicted with their personality and morals.

 Kept studies from finding out, he used deception – posted ad about memory/learning.

When arrived at lab, study that looked at effects of punishment on memory.

 Learner was hooked to electrodes, and told learner would be shocked when gave wrong answer. Teacher was

taken to different room without visual contact, sat in front of shock box. First 15V, and switches increased until

450V.

 Whenever they made error, teacher was instructed to give higher shocks with each wrong answer (no actual

shocks were given).

 After several increasing shocks, learner would cry out in pain and complain about their heart condition. As

shocks increased, continued to yell they want to quit.

 Finally, all responses would cease and only silence.

 Teacher instructed to continue, experiment requires you continue, it is absolutely essential you continue, you

have no choice.

 When results of study came out, very disturbing – 65% of participants shocked all the way. They had

protested and were trembling, but still obeyed commander. In conditions with heart condition actor,

dropped a bit, but not much – 63%.

What Can We Learn from Milgram Experiment

 Study has been replicated, no matter what time period/location.

 Study was perceived to be unethical at the time too.

 Things we should avoid:

 Many participants really felt ashamed about it, but tended to speak poorly of the victims – he wouldn’t have

been shocked if he answered correctly, the “just world phenomenon” – belief good things happen to good

people, and vice versa. Some people use this to justify their actions.

 Also, many participants were comforted by passing responsibility of actions to others (when experimenter

said they’d take full responsibility). “I was just following orders”.

 Also, caution ourselves against self-serving bias – that we could never commit acts like this, because most of

us would.

 Fundamental attribution error – focuses only on actions of others, tendency to believe that others in out-

groups behave a certain way based on inherent personalities/flaws. Idea of attributing character too

strongly to explain another group’s actions. Real takeaway of study – how easy it is to think others are

atrocious and evil, while people like us would only perform evil acts because they’re misguided. Truth is

we’re all misguided.

 Important to have compassion for all people – victims and aggressor, don’t know how you’d act in their place.

Zimbardo Prison Study – the Stanford Prison Experiment

Study was conducted in 1971, how conformity can result in acts different from usual. Complicated. In certain

situations can make otherwise ordinary people behave in strange ways. How social conventions can influence

behaviours of prisoners/guards.

 Got so caught up in roles had to stop experiment early.

 Participants knew all about the study – no deception. And participants were definition of normal, with no

medical/psychological problems. Male, middle class students.

 18 students randomly assigned to be guards or prisoners. All knew it was random.

 Had participants in prisoners arrested at unexpected times on a random day. No windows and clocks. Separate

prisoners from outside world.

 Also met with guards and told them they were not supposed to physically harm prisoners, but could create

fear/loss of control/loss of individuality. Given batons, and sunglasses. Instructed to refer to prisoners by #s and

not names.

Zimbardo Prison Study

 Day 1 uneventful. Then prisoners began to rebel against guards. Guards had to decide what to do. Guards

fought back. Prisoners cursed at guards. At some point, guards began to see prisoners as actual dangerous

prisoners. And used fire extinguishers on them and forced them to strip down.

 Prisoners put into solitary confine., couldn’t rest. After 36 hrs prisoners began to break down. Not only one.

 Day 3, situation went even further. Participants went on hunger strike. In response, forced to repeat their #s

over and over again, exercise, withheld bathroom privileges, and make them turn on each other.

 Day 5, same. Zimbardo involved himself as prison warden. Never realized things had gone wrong. 6 days his

girlfriend Maslach visited prison and so upset by what she saw she made him stop the experiment.

 By this time, half of prisoners already left from breakdowns. No guards had left.

Closer Look at the Stanford Prison Experiment

Prisoners did not band together usually, pretty distrustful of each other. And guards didn’t encourage solidarity,

tended to reward those they saw as good prisoners by giving better foods, etc. By giving privileges to some, broke

solidarity of prisoners.

 Some released early – none of the prisoners just stopped and left, even if told at beginning that they could.

 Guards placed most of their behaviours on the prisoners – thought they were wimps, troublemakers, or faking

distress.

 Shows us the influence situation can affect our behavior – might be due to: situational attribution (due to

situation), not dispositional attribution (internal characteristics)

 Also shows us becomes much easier to behave badly towards individuals who suffer from

deindividualization (loss of self) – prisoners forced to dress same, and addressed as number.

 Also shows bad behavior can result from cognitive dissonance – guards knowing their behavior was

inappropriate, justified by saying everything happened because of prisoners.

 Also role of internalization – prisoners incorporated their roles into beliefs, and let it influence their

attitudes/behaviours.

 But many problems – Zimbardo himself played role of prison warden, but by doing so he compromised

his objectivity. Allowed a lot of unethical behavior. Why didn’t stop? He said he thought they were just

faking it.

 Also, methodology weren’t goods. What were his operational definitions of dependent/independent

variables? What was being measured, where were controls, etc.? Also small sample size. Also good

example of demand characteristics (how much of behavior was influenced by how they thought

experimenter wanted them to behave).

 Also selection bias – no deception in study, so what kind of student willingly signs up to be in prison for 2

weeks? So, was this really random?

Factors that Influence Obedience and Conformity

Likelihood someone will conform (changing how they think):

 Group size – more likely to conform in groups of 3-5.

 Unanimity – when opinions of group are unanimous. We’re not aware of effects a defector can have (someone

who doesn’t conform).

 Group status – why children more likely to go along with popular group. Why we trust doctors over gardeners

about health.

 Group cohesion- if we feel no connection with group, feel less of need to go along with that group.

 Observed behaviour – whether we believe our behaviour is observed. Because participant came in late. If

response in Asch line was not shared with group, much less likely to conform.

 Public response – if we think we’re met with acceptance vs. shunning.

 Internal factors – prior commitments (if we say something earlier, less likely to say something different later). Or

feelings of insecurity – more likely to follow judgements of others.

Likelihood someone will obey – following orders without question/protest.

 Depends on type of authority giving orders.

 Our closeness to authority giving orders.

 Physical proximity – more likely to comply in Milgram when authority standing close by.

 Legitimacy of authority – if wearing labcoat

 Also institutional authority – well-respected university. Can also be symbolic, ex. police/government.

 Victim distance – in original Milgram study, couldn’t see participant. If could see participant, reduced likelihood

participant would obey. But still didn’t stop everyone.

 Depersonalization – when victim is made to seem less human.

 Role models for defiance – more likely to obey when we see others doing the same.

No one type of personality makes someone subjectable to authority. But people’s moods can have an effect – those

with rough day less likely to conform. Status and culture can play a role, those of low socioeconomic status are more

likely to conform. Also cultures like US/Europe that emphasize individual achievement less likely to conform than

collective cultures.

Just 1 non-conformer can make others not conform as well.

Bystander Effect

Person falls to ground nearby, would you help? People say yes, research says no. If in group, less likely to help. In

group, people feel less inclined to take action. Called bystander effect. Individual may feel less inclined to take

action because of presence of others in the group.

 Why? One may be lack of medical knowledge, or limited experience in assistance and think someone else would

do it – diffusion of responsibility theory. When individuals are in presence of others, feel less personal

responsibility.

 Amplified by amount of people in the group. If you were to collapse in small group, less chance of bystander

effect. If only few people, more likely that people would be more inclined to take action and help you. Feel more

personal responsibility.

 Bystander effect can lead to little happening by any individual. One example is story of Kitty Genovese who was

stabbed, raped, and robbed while 38 people were in vicinity. Spanned over half an hour.

Deindividuation – those in group are more likely to act inappropriately because crowd conceals person’s identity.

Good example is behavior of some on Black Friday. Presence of large group of individuals decreases their

inhibition/guilt. Or the internet.

Social Facilitation and Social Loafing

Social facilitation – how would presence of others affect your behavior? Help or hinder your performance?

 According to social facilitation, most dominant response for particular behavior would be shown. Dominant

response refers to response most likely to occur. If you practice inside and out, presence of others will lead you

to perform well. If you haven’t practiced well, presence of others will make you perform more poorly.

 Presence of others increases your arousal – nervous energy. Increased energy/arousal increases likelihood of

dominant response occurring. Whether correct or accurate depends on how easy the task is, and how well

you’ve learned it. Presence of others improves performance on simple tasks, and hinders it on difficult tasks.

Social loafing is a tendency to put forth less effort in group task if the individual contributions aren’t evaluated.

 Group-produced reduction of individual effort – groups experiencing social loafing put less productive, put

forth less effort, and perform poorly.

 Can be reduced by making task more difficult, or separate grades.

So does presence of others help or hinder performance? Depends.

Agents of Socialization

Socialization is a life-long process that we learn how to interact with others. Everything we consider to be normal is

learned through socialization – we walk/talk/feed ourselves, and behavioural norms that help us fit in.

Important agents of socialization – what’s used to transmit culture and pass it around. Agents include organizations

and institutions that help us learn about our social world.

 Our family, how to care for yourself, beliefs/values/norms, how to talk to others. How wealthy parents raise kids

vs. less fortunate parents raise children. One example is trip to doctors – wealthy parents encouraged to ask

questions, while less fortunate unlikely to criticize doctor. Wealthy kids encouraged to challenge authority, while

less wealthy kids taught to listen to authority.

 School is important. Schools teach life skills – don’t learn from academic curriculum, but learn social skills –

importance of obeying authority, act interested, etc. Part of the “hidden curriculum”, subtly taught by teachers.

 Peers teach us how to develop our behaviours. Contradict our parents at times, and influence us. Influence what

movies/music we watch and listen to.

 Mass media – exposed to a lot of content intended for mature audiences. Enforces gender and other

stereotypes.

What is Normal? Exploring Folkways, Mores, and Taboos

Norms are standards for what behaviours are acceptable, and which are not. Rules that dictate how person should

behave around certain group of people – defined by that group.

 Norms vary by culture and by country. Can change with time as individual’s behaviours change.

 Norms are reinforced by sanctions – rewards/punishments for behaviours in accord with or against norms.

 Formal norms are written down, informal norms are understood but less precise and have no specific

punishments.

Can be classified into 4 groups: folkways, mores, laws, and taboos. Dictate how important the norm is and

consequences for deviating.

 Folkways – the mildest type of norm, just common rules/manners we are supposed to follow. Traditions

individuals have followed for a long time, ex. opening the door, helping a person who’s dropped item, or saying

thank you. Consequences are not severe/consistent. No actual punishment.

 Mores – norms based on some moral value/belief. Generally produce strong feelings. Usually a strong reaction if

more is violated. Ex. truthfulness. Don’t have serious consequences.

 Laws – still based on right and wrong, but have formal consequences. Ex. if you lie under oath, done something

morally wrong but also violate laws of court.

 Taboos – completely wrong in any circumstance, and violation results in consequences far more extreme than a

more. Often punishable by law and result in severe disgust by members of community. Ex. incest and

cannibalism

Perspectives on Deviance: Differential Association, Labelling Theory, and Strain Theory

When norm is violated, it’s referred to as deviance. Not negative, just individuals behaving differently from what

society feels is normal.

 Ex. most Americans eat meat, but someone who’s vegetarian is deviant.

The Theory of Differential Association states that deviance is a learned behavior that results from continuous

exposure to others that violate norms and laws – learn from observation of others. Rejects norms/values and

believes new behavior as norm.

 Relationships a person forms are very important – if strong relationship to someone deviant, more likely to learn

deviance than someone not.

Labeling Theory – a behavior is deviant if people have judged the behavior and labelled it as deviant. Depends on

what’s acceptable in that society. Ex. steroids can be labelled as deviant and wrong by those who think so.

 Primary deviance – no big consequences, reaction to deviant behavior is very mild. Individual behaves in same

way without feeling wrong.

 Secondary deviance – more serious consequences, characterized by severe negative reaction that results in

stigmatizing behavior.

Strain Theory – if person is blocked from attaining a culturally accepted goal, may turn to deviance. Pushed to attain

certain goals, but may not have legitimate ways to achieve success.

Aspects of Collective Behavior: Fads, Mass Hysteria, and Riots

What happens when large numbers of individuals behave in ways not in line with societal norms?

Collective behavior is not the same as group behavior, because of a few reasons. First, collective behavior is time-

limited, and involves short social interactions, while groups stay together and socialize for long period of time.

 Collectives can be open, while groups can be exclusive.

 Collectives have loose norms, while groups have strongly defined norms.

 Collective behavior is often driven by group dynamics, such as deindividualization. Certain group dynamics can

encourage people to engage in acts they may consider wrong in different circumstances.

3 types of collective behavior: fads, mass hysteria, and riots.

 Fad is something that becomes incredibly popular very quickly, but loses popular just as quickly. Last for short

period of time, but reach influence of large # of people in that time. Perceived as cool/interesting by large group

of people. Good example is a “cinnamon challenge” – person has to eat large spoonful of ground cinnamon in

under a minute and posting video online.

 Mass hysteria is large # of people who experience delusions at same time, reach more people through rumours

and fears. Often takes the form of panic reactions and negative news. Ex. severe weather warnings (mild form).

Can also be result of psychology, when large amount of people believe they have same illness despite lack of

disease – mass psychogenic illness, or epidemic hysteria. Ex. after anthrax attack in US, over 2000 false alarms.

 Riots – characterized by large # of people who engage in dangerous behavior, such as vandalism. Chaotic and

cost cities millions in damages. Individuals who act case aside societal norms and behave in very destructive

ways, and violate laws. Often seen as a collective act of defiance/disapproval, due to perceived issue (ex. sports

game outcome).

Types of Learning

 Nonassociative learning – when an organism is repeatedly exposed to one type of stimulus, ex. habituation and

sensitization.

 In habituation, person tunes out the stimulus.

 Dishabituation occurs when previously habituated stimulus is removed.

 Sensitization is increase in responsiveness to a repeated stimulus.

 Associative learning – when one event is connected to another, ex. classical and operant conditioning.

Classical Conditioning: Neutral, Conditioned, and Unconditioned Stimuli and Responses

Ex. Guinea pig gets excited about carrot at first, but after time gets excited just at refrigerator door opening. Same

with every other time refrigerator door opened.

 Called classical conditioning. Classical does not involve change in behaviour like operant conditioning. op

 Carrot is an unconditioned stimulus because no one had to teach guinea pig to like carrots. Triggers excitement

in guinea pig, an unconditioned response.

 Unconditioned means it’s innate, and not learned. While conditioned means it’s a learned behavior.

 Right before guinea pig got carrot, heard refrigerator door – a neutral stimuli. Doesn’t cause excitement on its

own.

 Conditioning is produced when the neutral stimulus is presented shortly before the unconditioned stimulus –

pairing the two together. Occurs when neutral stimulus is able to elicit the same response as the unconditioned

stimulus).

 Ex. guinea pig was conditioned to refrigerator door.

 Refrigerator door becomes the conditioned stimuli, and elicits a conditioned response

Classical Conditioning: Extinction, Spontaneous Recovery, Generalization, Discrimination

 Recall last experiment, guinea pig also responds to desk door opening because it sounds similar to the

refrigerator door – generalization. Ability of something similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit the

conditioned response, and more similar they are the bigger the response.

 Generalization allows us to make appropriate response to similar stimuli. Ex. meeting someone new who

smiles, reminds us of other smiles.

 Guinea pig doesn’t respond to dresser drawer – discrimination, when you respond to some stimuli but not

others.

 If you open refrigerator door and don’t get a carrot anymore, over time she would no longer react – extinction.

 But suddenly she hears refrigerator door open later, and makes a response – spontaneous recovery (when old

conditioned stimulus elicits response). Don’t know why it happens, usually infrequently and less strong.

Operant Conditioning: Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment

 Associated with B.F. Skinner

 Operant conditioning focuses on the relationship between behavior and their consequences, and how those in

turn influence the behaviour (classical conditioning no change in behaviour)

 Behaviours have consequences – two types: reinforcement (increase a behavior) and punishment (decrease a

behavior)

 Positive reinforcement = something is being added to increase behavior, ex. a gas gift card for safe driving

 Negative reinforcement = taking something away to increase tendency safe behavior will occur again. Ex.

taking loud buzzing noise keeps going until you put on your seatbelt. Taking away sound of buzzer when you

put on seatbelt is negative reinforcement, because taking something away in effort to increase behavior.

 Positive punishment = punish behaviours that are unsafe. Positive punishment means something is added

to decrease tendency something will occur again. Ex. giving speeding ticket.

 Negative punishment = something taken away in effort to decrease chance it’ll occur again. Ex. taking away

your license.

 Primary reinforcers are innately satisfying/desirable, like food. Secondary reinforcers are those learned to be

reinforcers, such as previously neutral stimuli.

 Token economy – system of behaviour modification based on systematic reinforcement of target behaviour,

reinforcers are “tokens” that can be exchanged for other reinforcers (ex. Prizes).

Operant Conditioning: Shaping

“I want to learn to do a headstand” – emphasize learn. Learning through practice is shaping.

Idea is you successively reinforce behaviours that approximate the target behavior.

What is the target behavior? Ex. headstand.

 Showing up to yoga class, won’t necessarily make you learn it.

 Next, put hands on mat (downward dog). Then forearms on mat. Each is the reinforced behavior until next step.

 Finally, put legs up – the target.

Operant Conditioning: Schedules of Reinforcement

Most of our behaviours are on a partial reinforcement schedule – behavior is reinforced only some of the time.

More resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement.

 Fixed-Ratio – ex. car salesman gets bonus every 5 cars he sells. Reinforcement only occurs after a fixed # of

responses. Contingent on # of cars sold regardless of how long it takes.

 Fixed-Interval – ex. receives pay check every 2 weeks – in this case, time is constant. Doesn’t change if he sells 1

car or 100 cars. Less incentive.

 Variable-Ratio – Reinforcement is delivered after average # of right responses has occurred. Similar to fixed-

ratio, except # changes. Just fixed-ratio but varies. Ex. bonus can be 5 cars for first bonus, 3 for second, 7 for

third, 6, then 4 etc. Average is 5.

 Another example is slot machine.

 Variable-Interval – Responses are reinforced after a variable amount of time has passed. Ex. bonus can come

randomly on different days.

Operant Conditioning: Innate vs. Learned Behaviours

 Innate behavior is performed correctly the first time in response to a stimulus – they innately possess.

 Simple – reflexes (squint or blinking), taxis (bugs fly towards light, can be towards or away from stimulus – a

purposeful movement), kinesis (rats randomly scurrying in different directions – no purpose).

 Complex – fixed action patterns (mating dance), migration (birds flying south), circadian rhythms (biological

clock, waking up early to sing)

 Learned behaviours are learned through experience.

 Habituation – response to alarm decreases over time. Ex. curing phobia by repeated exposure to the fear

until intensity of emotional response decreases.

 Classical conditioning – associate alarm with fire

 Operant conditioning – consequences that follow behavior increase/decrease likelihood of behavior

happening again

 Insight learning – solve a problem using past skills, the “aha” moment is insight learning

 Latent learning- learned behaviour is not expressed until required

Operant Conditioning: Escape and Avoidance Learning

2 types of aversive control, situations where behavior is motivated by threat of something unpleasant – examples of

negative reinforcement (removing undesirable stimulus following correct behavior)

 Escape – escape an unpleasant stimulus ex. fire, element of surprise because you’re thrown in condition where

you have to find way to get out

 Avoidance – avoid fire before it arrives

Persuasion, Attitude Change, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model

Persuasion is a method for attitude/behavior change. The elaboration likelihood model explains when people will

be influenced by the content of a speech vs. more superficial features.

3 main characteristics that impact on how we are persuaded for/against a message:

 1) Message characteristics – message itself, clarity, how well thought message it. Also includes how well written

it was, does speaker have good grasp of grammar, appropriate vocabulary, length of talk, etc.

 2) Source characteristics – what is their level of expertise, trustworthy, and is information credible or not.

Physical environment, venue of event.

 3) Target characteristics – characteristics of listener such as mood, self-esteem, alertness, intelligence, etc. How

we receive a message.

According to model, we process info along 2 target paths: central and peripheral routes.

 Central – people are persuaded by the content of the argument. Leads to deep processing of information.

Results in a lasting attitude change. People will only choose this route when they are interested in the topic.

 Peripheral – don’t care about topic, little motivation/interest. Leads to shallow processing of information, such

as the speaker’s looks. Creates a temporary attitude change.

Reciprocal Determinism

Reciprocal determinism is the interaction between a person’s behaviours, personal factors (motivation), and

environment.

The Social-Cognitive Theory view behaviours as being influenced by people’s actions/cognitions and their social

context. Talking about interactions between individual and situation they’re in.

 Cognition -> Environment -> Behavior

 Ex. Meg is interested in soccer (cognition), joins a soccer team (environment), and spends time with soccer

players (behavior).

 Or, she can spend a lot of time with soccer players, become interested in it, and joins a soccer team. Behavior

leads to a cognition.

 Other direction: hangs with soccer players, so she joins a soccer team , and then after a while develop a real

interest in soccer, which then reinforces her hanging with the team.

This theory was developed by Bandura (same scientist who did work on observational learning).

Personal Control (Locus of Control, Learned Helplessness, and the Tyranny of Choice)

Important element of social cognitive theory is personal control. Internal or external.

 I should have studied harder – internal locus of control, can control fate of own destiny

 That was an unfair test – external locus of control, perceive outside forces that help to control your fate

Those internal achieve more in school/work, cope better with stress and lower depression. External do not as well

and higher rates of depression.

Learned helplessness – when tone is sounded dogs receive electric shock, but could press button to stop the shock.

Group 2 had no way to turn off the shocks.

 After, dogs placed in new environment and had 2 sides separated by low partition in middle. Given electric

shocks, but dogs in group 1 learned to escape shock by jumping over barrier. Dogs in group 2 didn’t try to escape

the shock.

 Therefore, uncontrollable bad events can lead to a perceived lack of control, which leads to general helpless

behavior.

Personal control

Increasing people’s control over very small things, like TV remote can increase the health and well-being of people in

nursery homes.

What about too much control? Too many choices can also negatively impact our cognition and behavior – the

tyranny of choice.

 Ex. too many choices at stores

 Those who had to pick 1/6 were more satisfied with their behavior, those who had to pick 1/30 less happy with

their choice.

 One result is information overload, and can lead people to decision paralysis and increased regret over choice

made.

Personal control is important, any control people have on environment even a little has good effect on well-being.

On other hand too much is not good either.

Self-Control

The ability to control our impulses and delay gratification.

Humans have desires which aren’t necessarily bad, but they can become a temptation (when they conflict with our

long-term values and goals).

 So self-control is focussing on long-term goals while putting off short-term temptations.

The most famous experiment is commonly referred to as the marshmallow test. Kids in preschool given

marshmallow and could eat it whenever, but if they waited 15 minutes they could get another marshmallow.

 Some ate it right away, but other kids licked it.

 Those who were able to wait tended to have better life outcomes when followed 10 years later.

Ego depletion – idea that self-control is a limited resource. If you use a lot of it it can get used up, and less to use in

the future.

 Demonstrated by experiment that those who resisted eating cookies ended up giving up sooner on another

unrelated task that also requires self-control.

 Muscle is used as a metaphor for self-control. Can be strengthened, but also depleted.

 Training self-control in one area can improve it in other areas.

How to improve self-control

 1) Change environment – ex. moving snacks to more difficult to reach shelf.

 2) Operant conditioning – reinforcing good behaviours with rewards. Positive/negative reinforcement or

punishment.

 3) Classical conditioning – ex. eat healthy chocolate every time you crave chocolate.

 4) Deprivation? – Removing something completely is problematic. Can make you want it more, and leads to ego

depletion.

Self Concept, Self-Identity, and Social Identity

Self-concept is how someone perceives/evaluates themselves, aka self-awareness.

 Development of self-concept has 2 parts: first, an existential self and then a categorical self.

 Existential self is most basic part of self-concept, the sense of being separate and distinct from others.

Awareness that the self is constant throughout life.

 Categorical self comes once baby realizes they’re separate – becoming aware that even though we’re

separate, we also exist in the world with others. And each of those entities have properties.

 Ex. age and gender are first babies learn, then skills and size. Then compare ourselves with others –

traits, comparisons, careers.

Rogers (Humanistic Theory), believed self-concept had 3 different components.

 Self-image: what we believe we are

 Self-esteem: how much value we place on ourselves

 Ideal-self: what we aspire to be

 When the ideal self and real self are similar, the result is a positive self-concept. When the ideal self does not

match the real self, the result is incongruity.

We can use the social identity theory – 2 parts: personal identity and social identity

 All humans categorize ourselves and others without really realizing it, ex. race/job/etc

 If we assign categories to others, we make pre-judgements about them.

 Next is identification. When we adopt identity of group, we see us as belonging – behaving and acting like the

category we belong to, ex. a student. Our self-esteem starts to become bound with this group identification and

sense of belonging.

 Final step is social comparison – how we comparing ourselves with other groups, to maintain our self-esteem.

Critical to understanding of prejudice, because once two groups develop as rivals, we compete to maintain self-

esteem.

Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Locus of Control

 Self-esteem is the respect and regard one has for oneself

 Self-efficacy – belief in one’s abilities to succeed in a particular situation. Developed by Bandora due to his

dissatisfaction with idea of self-esteem.

 People with strong self-efficacy recover quickly from setbacks, have strong interest, strong sense of

commitment, and enjoy challenging tasks (RISE)

 People with weak self-efficacy focus on personal failures, avoid challenging tasks, quickly lose confidence in

personal abilities, and believe they lack the ability to handle difficult tasks and situations (FALL)

 Look at these sources to determine if person has strong/weak sense of self-efficacy:

 1. Mastery of experience – strengthens self-efficacy

 2. Social modeling – seeing people like ourselves complete the same task

 3. Social persuasion – when someone says something positive to you, helps overcome self-doubt

 4. Psychological responses – learning how to minimize stress and control mood in difficult situations can

improve self-efficacy

A person with low self-esteem can have high self-efficacy, and vice versa. Ex. a perfectionist can have low self-

esteem but still see themselves as capable of doing tasks.

Locus of control – the extent to which people perceive they have control over events in their lives.

 Internal - when person believes he or she can influence events/outcomes. Results come primarily from their

own actions.

 External – attribute events to environmental events/causes.

Overview of Theories of Development

The theories of changes that occur in a lifespan, and each stage builds up over another.

Freud – Proposed the psychosexual theory of development.

 Believed early childhood was the most important age/period it developed. Plays large role in personality

development.

 5 stages – if completed successfully, result is a healthy issue. If issues aren’t resolved at a certain stage, then

fixation occurs

Erikson – Psychosocial development theory.

 Proposed personality/identity development occurs through one’s entire lifespan.

 Each stage depends on overcoming a conflict, and success/failure at each stage affects overall functioning of

theory.

 8 stages

Vygotsky – Sociocultural development theory

 Believed children learned actively through hands-on processes, and suggest parents/cultural

beliefs/language/attitudes are all responsible for higher function of learning.

 Child internalizes interactions with others.

Kohlberg – Moral development theory .

 Focused on moral reasoning and difference between right and wrong.

 Moral reasoning develops through cognitive development, and people pass through 3 stages of development

(each with 2 stages) – 6 levels total

In general, Freud and Erikson were interested in how personality develops, and Vygotsky and Kohlberg were

interested in how cognition develops

Freud’s Psychosexual Development

Proposed psychological development in childhood developed through these stages, and concept of tension and

pleasure – the build-up of tension could cause a lot of conflicts.

 Fixation was due to concept of libido – a natural energy source that fuels mechanisms of mind. And when

fixated, can have lifelong effect well into adulthood. Libido is centered at different parts of the body at different

times of development.

 First 5 years are crucial

(Mnemonic – OLD AGE PARROTS LOVE GRAPES)

 Old = oral, age = anal, parrots = phallic, love = latent, grapes = genital

Depending on what stage we’re at, going to be different fixation of energy at certain body part.

 For oral stage – focus is mouth. For anal stage, anus, phallic is genitals, latent is none, and genital stage is the

genitals.

Oral stage – age 0-1 yrs., libido is centered around baby’s mouth, vital for sucking/eating. Because completely

dependent on caretakers, baby also develops sense of trust and comfort.

 If fixation here, issues with dependency or aggression. Also smoking or biting fingers.

Anal stage – age 1-2, centered around anus, ex. toilet training. Leads to developing control/independence,

encouraging positive outcomes. Serve as basis for competent adults.

 If fixation occurs, have problems with orderliness and messiness.

Phallic stage – age 3-6, children discover difference between males and females. Oedipus complex (desire for sexual

involvement with other parent) also develops. Resoled through process of identification, where child starts to

understand and develop similar characteristics as same-sex parent.

 If fixation occurs, cause sexual dysfunction. Oedipus complex and Electra complex at this stage.

Latent period – no focus of libido. A period of exploration, libido present but directed into other areas such as

intellectual pursuits and social interactions. Important in development of social and communication skills.

 Fixation doesn’t develop into adult fixation.

Genital stage – back on libido, because individual develops strong sexual interests. Before this stage, focus on

individual needs. Now, focus on needs of others.

 No adult fixation – person is mentally healthy.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development

Greatly influenced by Freud, but his theory was based on culture and society

 Another key difference between his and Freud’s theory was he suggested there was plenty of room for growth

throughout one’s life (not just childhood).

 Assumed a crisis can occur at each stage of development, between needs of individual and society. Successful of

8 stages results in acquisition of basic virtues and healthy personality.

Failure in certain stage results in reduced ability to move on to further stages.

1 yrs., trust vs. mistrust. If an infant’s physical and emotional needs are not met, as an adult he or she may mistrust

everyone. Virtue is hope, and failing to acquire of virtue can lead to suspicion/fear/mistrust.

2 yrs., autonomy vs. shame/doubt. Around 18 months to 3 yrs. children develop independence by walking away

from mother, what they eat, etc. Critical that parents allow children to do that. Virtue achieved is will

(independence). If child is overly criticized/controlled, feel inadequate and lack self-esteem, and have shame.

3-5 yrs., initiative vs. guilt. Children feel more secure in their ability to lead others and play, so ask questions. Virtue

they reach is a sense of purpose in what they do and choices/decisions they make. If tendency to ask questions is

controlled, develop guilt – as if they’re annoying other people and act more as a follower. Inhibits their creativity,

and outcome is inadequacy.

6-12. industry vs. inferiority. Where teachers take an important role in a child’s life, and child works towards

competence. Child will gain greater significance and self-esteem, and try to win approval from others. Will feel

industrious, but if initiative is restricted child feels inferior. Some is good though, so child has modesty.

12-18, adolescence. identity vs. role confusion Transition from childhood to adulthood, so one of most important

crisis. Want to start feeling they belong in society. In this stage, the child has to learn rules, so may re-examine

identity to figure out who they are. Body image plays big role. Virtue is fidelity, seeing oneself as unique. Can cause

rebellion/unhappiness.

intimacy vs. isolation. Try to find love and relationships. Completion leads to comfortable relationships, avoiding

intimacy can lead to isolation/loneliness.

40-65, Generativity vs. stagnation so settle down, make families the center of their lives, and sense of being part of

bigger picture.. Adults feel like they give back through raising children/work/community activities, so develop sense

of care for others. Negative outcome is they feel stagnate and unproductive.

65+, integrity vs. despair slowing in productivity. Contemplate on lives, reminisce. May feel guilt about past or

unaccomplished, dissatisfied. Virtue is wisdom, but if we feel unproductive leads to despair/dissatisfaction upon

death.

Vygotsky Sociocultural Development

Studied the role social interaction plays in development of cognition.

 Focussed on social interactions between growing children and interactions with those around them in

development of higher order learning.

Said babies have 4 elementary mental functions:

 Attention, sensation, perception, and memory.

 These elementary mental functions are developed into more sophisticated and mental processes – higher

mental functions. Most develop from skillful “tutor” – a model, ex. parent/teacher.

 Independent learning and thinking

 1. Requires cooperative and collaborative dialogue from a MKO (more knowledgeable other).

 2. Zone of proximal development – part where most sensitive instruction/guidance should be given. Ex.

between ability of not being able to do something and being able to do something. ZPD is the link between

the zone of can’t do and can do.

 3. Language – the main means by which adults transmit info to children, and a powerful tool of intellectual

adaptation. Ex. private/internal speech, when people speak out loud to themselves – happens most in

children. Way for children to plan activities/strategies, and aids their development.

Kohlberg Moral Development

Moral theory of development, different from previous 3, but based on cognitive development similar to Vygotsy.

 Looked at how people developed their morals, and the way moral reasoning changes as people grow.

 Also looked at children. He told stories to children and gauged their response.

 Most famous story was the Heinz Dilemma, his wife was dying from cancer and drug was discovered made

my local chemist that could save her. Chemist charged 10x the price it took to make the drug, and more than

Heinz could afford. Only had half the family, so explained to chemist his wife was dying, but chemist refused.

He broke into chemist’s office at night and stole the drug.

 Asked children questions like what if Heinz didn’t love his wife, if person dying was a stranger, should he

have stolen it, and should police arrest chemist for murder if woman died.

 After analyzing these, he came up with 3 moral stages, each split into 2.

1. Pre-Conventional (pre-adolescent)

 1. Obedience vs. Punishment – reasoning is based on physical consequences of actions, so obeying the rules is a

means to avoid punishment.

 2. Individualism and Exchange – recognize not just one right view by authorities, different individuals have

different viewpoints.

2. Conventional

 3. Good Boy and Good Girl - Authority is internalized, but not questioned, and reasoning is based on group

person belongs. Individual is good in order to be seen as good by others, emphasis on conformity.

 4. Law and Order – maintaining social order, child is aware of wider roles of society and obeying laws.

3. Post-Conventional (moral)

 5. Social Contract – Individual becomes aware that even though rules and laws exist for greater good, there are

times this law works against interest of particular people.

 Ex. for Heinz, is protection of life more important than breaking/stealing? People at this stage said yes.

 6. Universal Ethical Principle – people develop own set of moral guidelines, which may or may not fit the law,

and principles apply to everyone. People who uphold and believe in these have to be prepared to act towards

these even if they have to obey consequences. Very few people who reach this stage, ex. Ghandi.

Social Influences

How imitation, roles, reference groups, and culture are all parts of social influence.

Imitation – a type of individual social influence, one of most basic forms of social behavior. Begins with

understanding there’s difference between others and self.

 Andrew Meltzoff questioned theory that understanding between self and others happens soon after birth.

Picture baby 12-21 days old, baby copies sticking tongue out. Imitating experimenter.

 Was it true imitation or something else? Picture you opening mouth, baby should also open mouth. Had to

ensure it wasn’t a reflex or conditioning either.

 Suggests we are born with built-in capacity to imitate others.

 Evidence suggests we have mirror neurons, when one fires another fires when we observe same action

performed by other person.

Roles – define what we do and who we are. Social norms are the accepted standards of behavior of a social group,

use it to guide our behaviours. We respond to their approval when we play our roles well, and disapproval when we

play roles badly. Expect people to behave in way that fits that role, and have them even more when roles are

stereotyped.

 Ex. Prison experiment

Reference groups – the group to which people refer in evaluating themselves. People’s beliefs, attitudes,

behaviours.

 Constantly looking for external groups that align with our beliefs/attitudes/behaviours. Influences our social

decisions.

Culture and socialization – important contributions of society to our personal development, the people and culture

in which we live.

George Herbert Mead: The I and the Me

Charles Cooley and George Herbert Mead both thought others could play a significant role in how we view

ourselves, but differed in how they thought this would happen.

 Cooley thought everyone a person interacts with in a lifetime influences their identity

 Mead thought this was more restricted – only certain people can and only in certain periods of life.

Mead developed the idea of social behaviourism, the mind and self-emerge through the process of communicating

with others (beginning of symbolic interactionism).

 Infants + children were not influenced by others in any way, merely imitate others, and see themselves as being

the focus of their own world and don’t care what others think of them. Lack ability to take perspective of

another person – related to Piaget’s concept of egocentrism.

As we grow up, how others perceive us is more important, 3 stages:

1. Preparatory stage – imitation, ex. play with pots and pans when parents are cooking. As they grow older, focus

more on communication with others instead of simple imitation, and get practice using symbols (gestures/words).

2. Play stage – more aware of social relationships, reflected in children’s tendency to pretend role play as others like

firefighters, doctors, etc.

 Mentally assuming perspective of others and acting based on their perceived point of view.

3. Game stage – Start to understand attitudes/beliefs/behavior of “generalized other” (society as a whole). With

this comes whole new understanding of society. Also realize people can take on multiple roles. Also realize others

perceive them, and are influenced by these perceptions and are concerned by reactions of others to what they do.

But don’t care about reactions of everyone, only significant others (important relationships, ex.

parents/teachers/close peers).

 Believe this last stage led to development of the “I” and “me”.

 Me = how the individual believes the generalized other perceives it, the social self, and the “I” is our

response to the “me”.

 I = the response of the individual to the “me” aka attitudes of others.

 Me = society’s view (that’s me!), the part of self-formed in interaction with others and social environment,

and I = individual identity stepping in and our personal responses to what society thinks.

 The “I” is the spontaneous and autonomous part of our unified self.

Charles Cooley – Looking Glass Self

Socialization describes the process by which people learn the attitudes, behaviours, and values expected by their

culture/community.

 Can be learned through parents, peers, person at supermarket, celebrity, etc.

 Socialization also shapes our self-image, and Charles Cooley used the term “looking glass self” to describe this

process – idea that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with others.

Thought this happened in 3 steps

1) How do I appear to others?

2) What must others think of me? (shy, intelligent, awkward)

3) Revise how we think about ourselves (based on correct OR incorrect perceptions).

Critical aspect of this theory is Cooley believed we are not actually being influenced by opinions of others, but what

we imagine the opinions of other people to be.

 Ex. Say we have teacher grading paper harshly, and doing it because they think that student has a lot of

potential. But student gets paper back, think the teacher did so because student is not very intelligent, and came

to conclusion they’re not very good at literary analysis. Might result in student putting less effort into the class.

 But can also be influenced by future interactions – student might talk to teacher, and student was able to revise

their incorrect perceptions and develop a different perspective.