Social Psychology: Conformity, Obedience, Persuasion, and Group Behavior

Conformity

Changing one's attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm.

Obedience

An individual's compliance when given an order or command from someone in a position of authority.

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Illusion Study

Demonstrated how people's estimates of light movement converged in a group, illustrating informational influence.

Asch's Line Study

Showed people conforming to an obviously wrong answer given by the group, illustrating normative influence.

Milgram's Obedience Study

Found that a surprisingly high percentage of participants (65%) would administer what they believed to be a fatal (450 volts) shock to a confederate when instructed by an authority figure.

Factors Leading to a Decrease in Obedience

Being in the same room as the victim, witnessing others refuse, and instructions not coming from a person of status.

Persuasion

The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Central Route

Direct, relevant, logical messages that rely on the audience being motivated to think critically.

Peripheral Route

Relies on superficial cues or heuristics that have little to do with logic.

Three Conditions for Attitude Change

Persuasion is likely to occur based on the Source, Message, and Audience characteristics.

Source (Who)

Credibility, honesty, physical attractiveness, and likeability enhance persuasiveness.

Message (Quality)

Quality of the argument, including both sides of the argument, and timing (Primacy effect).

Audience (Target)

Characteristics like attention, self-esteem, intelligence, and age affect how susceptible a person is to the message.

Tricks of Persuasion

Techniques like Foot in the door, Door in the face, Sunk Cost Trap, and Scarcity.

Defense

Inoculation and Stinging.

Stereotypes

Thoughts or biased beliefs about a person based on their group membership, which are often overgeneralized and inaccurate.

Prejudice

Emotion/Attitude or bias against people based on their group membership, which can be explicit or implicit.

Discrimination

Behavior/Action that is biased against a person (or group) based on stereotyped beliefs about that group.

Stereotype Threat

The fear of confirming the stereotypes others have about one's group.

Implicit Biases

Unexamined biases that can be categorized as three types: Automatic, Ambiguous.

Automatic Biases

Biases that are immediate and unintended.

Ambiguous Biases

Biases that favor the in-group and distance from the out-group.

Social Identity Theory

Favoring one's in-group over another's out-group.

Aversive Racism

Unexamined racial bias that avoids inter-racial contact.

Ambivalent

Mixed feelings toward groups, explained by the Stereotype Content Model, which views social groups according to perceived warmth and competence.

Aggression

Any behavior intended to harm another person who does not want to be harmed.

Violence

Aggression intended to cause extreme physical harm (injury or death).

Relational Aggression

Intentionally harming another person's social relationships, feelings of acceptance, or inclusion (e.g., gossip, spreading rumors).

Hostile Attribution Bias

Tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as hostile.

Hostile Perception Bias

Tendency to perceive social interactions as generally aggressive.

Hostile Expectation Bias

Tendency to expect others to react to conflicts with aggression.

Bystander Effect

People are less likely to intervene when they are in a group compared to when they are alone.

Pluralistic Ignorance

Relying on others to define an ambiguous situation.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Assuming others will take responsibility.

Darley and Batson's Good Samaritan Study

Found that people in a hurry were significantly less likely to stop and help a person in distress.

Cost and Rewards

People use a cost-benefit analysis before deciding to help (If costs outweigh benefits, helping is less likely).

Egoistic Helping

The helper seeks to increase their own welfare (e.g., getting a social reward or avoiding guilt).

Altruistic Helping

The helper seeks to increase another's welfare and expects nothing in return, often motivated by empathy (Empathy-Altruism Model).

Sex Differences in Helping

Not really, except men are slightly more likely to help in dangerous situations.

Prosocial Personality

Individuals with high Agreeableness and a Prosocial Personality (characterized by other-oriented empathy and helpfulness) are more likely to help.

Cooperation

Behavior that occurs when people work together to achieve a shared goal.

Ultimatum Game

An exercise where one player (Proposer) offers a split of money, and the other player (Responder) can accept or reject the offer (if rejected, both get $0). The modal split is 50%-50%, and low offers are often rejected.

Commons-Dilemma Game

Mimics a common-pool resource. The dilemma, called the Tragedy of the Commons, is the risk of resource depletion if every individual overuses it without restraint.

Factors Promoting Cooperation

Open communication and a commitment to cooperate reduce the vulnerability of being exploited.

Group Identification

People who highly value and identify with a group are more likely to make sacrifices for the group's benefit.

Culture and Cooperation

People from cultures where interdependence is key to survival are generally more likely to cooperate than those from industrialized, independent cultures.