social psych final

Prosocial behavior

voluntary behavior that is intended to benefit others

examples of prosocial behavior

donating money, volunteering, sharing resources

stanford prison experiment

designed to be a 2-week simulation of a prison environment examining the effects of situational variables on participants reactions and behaviors. experiment was ended early because the guard’s were being too abusive to prisoners.

effects of the stanford prison experiment

guards exemplified cruel behavior exhibiting willingness to be abusive. prisoners had extreme emotional disturbance, submissive, and had emotional breakdowns

Milgram’s experiment

investigated the extent to which individuals would obey orders from an authority figure. participants were instructed to administer electric shocks increasing in voltage if a learner got a question wrong, despite protests from learner.

Milgram experiment results

revealed a high degree of obedience to authority figures, even when leading to harmful actions

empathy vs compassion and sympathy

empathy- combination of affective and cognitive responses to emotional states of others that help one to understand why another person feels a certain way. compassion and sympathy are included under empathy

the bystander effect

the tendency for those who witness a victim in need to believe that someone else will come to their assistance when there are several witnesses. The more bystanders are present, the less likely that someone will assist the person in need

bystander effect: Kitty Genovese case

Kitty was a victim of a violent crime in NYC; many residents witnessed the crime but no one reported it. Witnesses believed it was Ok to not react because they assumed someone else would take responsibility.

Kin selection theory

• evolution says that it is necessary that our genes are transmitted to future generations

• evidence suggests a tendency to help those whom which we related to than we are not related to

• however, we still help those in which we are not related in hopes of reciprocal behavior, which still promotes transmission of genetics to future generations

social influence

efforts by one or more individuals to change attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviors of one or more people

• attitude change is known as persuasion

• compliance is a direct effort to change behavior of others

• change in behavior, primarily due to rules is conformity

• change in behavior due to direct commands is obedience

aggression

physical or verbal behavior intended to harm

• excludes: unintentional harm

• includes: kicks, slaps, threats, gossip, lying, destroyed property

frustration

anything that blocks us from attaining a goal

frustration-aggression theory

sometimes frustration produces aggression and sometimes it does not

• frustration can lead to irritation, not aggression

• the theory was revised to state that frustration produces anger, an emotional readiness to aggress

Responsibility of media in violence and aggression: media influence- television

behavior: the more violent a show it, the more aggressive the child

thinking: desensitization, social scripts, altered perceptions, cognitive priming

aggression cues

• violence is more likely when aggressive cues release pent up anger

• children who had just played with guns were more likely to knock down another child’s blocks

• Berkowitz: guns not only permit violence, but stimulate it as well

Responsibility of media in violence and aggression: media influence- pornography and sexual violence

• distorted perception of sexual reality

• men who were shown films with mild sexual violence towards women were more accepting of violence against women

• evidence shows that pornography may contribute to men’s aggressive attitudes towards women

influences on aggression- averse incidents

• pain heightens aggression in humans (physical or psychological pain)

• heat

• attacks: being attacked or insulted by another person is especially conducive to aggression

aggression: genetic predisposition

• even though there seems to be a genetic predisposition toward aggression, many psychologists reject the theory

• many theories recognize situational factors rather than innate factors as the cause of aggressive behavior

general aggression model

this theory suggests that aggression is triggered by a variety of variables that influence arousal and affect cognition

factors that affect cohesion

• a clear role for each member of the team

• willingness to make personal sacrifices for the good of the team

• quality of communication between team members

• shared goals for the team