Social Psychology Chapter 12

Bystander effect

A person is less likely to provide help when there are other … present.

Diffusion of responsibility

A person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present.

Self-Serving Bias:

The tendency to perceive oneself favorably.

Social psychology

“the scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the real, imagined, or implied presence of others.”

Social influence

“the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individual.”

Conformity

“changing one’s own behavior to match that of other people.”

Asch’s study of conformity

A series of experiments conducted by Solomon … in the 1950s to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person’s willingness to conform.

Asch’s study of conformity results…

75% conformed at least once and overall, participants conformed to the incorrect majority answer about 37% of the time.

Asch’s results were startling because…

• There was no obvious pressure to conform

• There were no rewards for “team play”

• There was no punishment for individuality

Compliance

changing one’s behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change.

Four Ways to Gain Compliance

• Foot-in-the-door

• Door-in-the-face

• Low-ball

• That's-not-all.

Foot-in-the-door technique (Four Ways to Gain Compliance)

asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment.

Door-in-the-face technique (Four ways to Gain Compliance)

asking for a large commitment and being refused, and then asking for a smaller commitment.

Lowball technique (Four ways to Gain Compliance)

getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment.

That’s-not-all technique (Four ways to Gain Compliance)

persuader makes an offer and then adds something extra to make the offer look better before the target person can make a decision.

Obedience

changing one’s behavior at the command of an authority figure.

Milgram study

“teacher” administered electric shocks to a student (“learner”) for incorrect answers.

Milgram study is supposed to examine…

The effects of punishment on learning.

When ‘teachers’ became reluctant experimenters would say one of the four:

1. Please continue (or Please go on).

2. The experiment requires that you continue.

3. It is absolutely essential that you continue.

4. You have no other choice; you must continue.

These prompts were used to encourage persistence in administering shocks despite the teachers' hesitations.

Milgram’s study results

1. Not one participant stopped the experiment before reaching 300 volts.

2. 65% of the “teachers” went all the way through the experiment’s final 450 volt shock level, although many were clearly uncomfortable and begged to be allowed to stop.

3. No shocks were actually given.

Groupthink

“kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned.” This often leads to poor decision-making due to the suppression of dissenting viewpoints and the failure to critically analyze alternatives.

Groupthink examples

• • Titanic 

• • Pearl Harbor

• • The Bay of Pigs Invasion

• • The Vietnam War

• • Challenger

According to Janis, the soil from which groupthink sprouts includes:

• an amiable, cohesive group 

• relative isolation of the group from dissenting viewpoints 

• a directive leader who signals what decision he or she favors

Symptoms of Groupthink

• “Right & Might”  

• Uniformity

• “Close mindedness”

“Right & Might” (Symptoms of Groupthink)

• •Illusion of Invulnerability

• • Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality

• Stereotyping those who oppose the group

• Uniformity (Symptoms of Groupthink)

• • Conformity pressure

• • Self-censorship

• • Illusion of unanimity

• • Mind guards

• The tendency of group members to align their opinions and behaviors to maintain harmony and cohesiveness, often resulting in a lack of independent critical thinking.

Close mindedness (Symptoms of Groupthink)

• •Rationalization

• Stereotyped view of  opponents

Social facilitation

the tendency for the presence of other people to have a positive impact on the performance of an easy task. 

Social loafing 

the tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when working with others on that task.

Attitude

“a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation.”

… components of Attitude

• cognition

• affective(emotional)

• behavior

Attitudes are often…

poor predictors of behavior unless the attitude is very specific or very strong.

Formation of Attitudes

• Direct contact with the person, situation, object, or idea.

• Direct instruction from parents or others.

• Interacting with other people who hold a certain attitude.

• Watching the actions and reactions of others to ideas, people, objects, and situations.

Persuasion

“the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation.”

Key elements in persuasion are:

~ communicator,

~ the message, 

~ how the message is communicated, and 

~ the target audience.

Elaboration likelihood model (Persuasion)

people will either elaborate on the … message or fail to elaborate on it, and that the future actions of those who do elaborate are more predictable than those who do not.

Central-route processing (Persuasion)

• type of information processing that involves attending to the content of the message itself.

Peripheral-route processing

involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as the appearance of the source of the message, the length of the message, and other noncontent factors.

Making Persuasion Effective

Credibility – is the source believable?

Attractiveness – having qualities that appeal to the audience

~ Likeability

~ Physical appeal

~ Similarity

Cognitive dissonance

sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does not correspond with one’s cognitions (thoughts) or attitudes.

Cognitive dissonance characteristics

• Lessened by changing the conflicting behavior, 

• changing the conflicting attitude, 

• or forming a new attitude to justify the behavior.

Social cognition

“how people make sense of the social world around them.”

Impression formation

forming of the first knowledge a person has about another person.

Primacy effect

the very first impression one has about a person tends to persist even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

Social categorization

The cognitive process of classifying people into groups based on shared characteristics, such as race, gender, or age, which can influence perceptions and interactions.

“the assignment of a person one has just met to a category based on characteristics the new person has in common with other people with whom one has had experience in the past.”

Stereotype

“a set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category.”

Attribution

the process of explaining one’s own behavior and the behavior of others.

Dispositional cause

cause of behavior attributed to internal factors such as personality or character.

Situational cause

cause of behavior attributed to external factors, such as delays, the action of others, or some other aspect of the situation.

Fundamental attribution error

“the tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors.”

Prejudice

negative attitude held by a person about the members of a particular social group. (Attitude)

Discrimination

treating people differently because of prejudice toward the social group to which they belong. (Behavior/Action)

• Forms of prejudice include…

• ageism, sexism, racism, and prejudice toward those who are too fat or too thin.

In-groups (prejudice and discrimination)

groups with which an individual identifies and feels a sense of belonging.

Out-groups (prejudice and discrimination)

social groups with whom a person does not identify; “they.”

Homogeneity effect (prejudice and discrimination)

The tendency for people to perceive members of their own group as more similar to each other, while viewing members of other groups as more diverse. This can contribute to stereotypes and biases in intergroup relations.

Prejudice vs discrimination

• Prejudice  = negative attitude

• Discrimination  = negative behavior

Interpersonal attraction

liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person.

Proximity (Attraction)

physical or geographical nearness.

Similarity

people like people who are similar to themselves (matching phenomenon).

Reciprocity of liking

tendency of people to like other people who like them in return.

Love

a strong affection for another person due to kinship, personal ties, sexual attraction, admiration, or common interests.

Sternberg states that the … components of love are…

intimacy, passion, and commitment.

Romantic love

type of love consisting of intimacy and passion.

Companionate love

type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment.

Aggression is influenced by

• the amygdala and limbic system, 

• and testosterone and serotonin levels.

Social role

the pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is in a particular social position.

What is a cult

A … is a group with beliefs and practices that deviate from mainstream religions, often characterized by a strong devotion to a charismatic leader or ideology.

Characteristics of cults:

• People who join … tend to be under stress, unhappy, unassertive, lonely, dependent, want to belong, and idealistic.

• Young people are likelier to join … than are older people.

• … use love-bombing, isolation, rituals, and activities to keep the new recruits from questions and critical thinking.

Elaboration Likelihood Model Example

if we're persuaded to buy a cosmetic product because the spokesperson is attractive, not because of the information the spokesperson provides, we've been persuaded by the peripheral route and are likely to change cosmetics when a better product comes along.