Chapter 16

Social Psychology

Attempts to explain how the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others influences the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals.

n Deception

• Research where the participant is not initially aware of the means or intent of the research

• An important part of social psychology research

• Follows guidelines established by the American Psychological Association

n Confederates

• People who pose as participants in research but who are actually assisting the experimenter

n Naïve subject

• Participant in an experiment that is not aware that deception is being used to conceal its real purpose

Social Perception

The process we use to obtain critically important social information about others

n Primacy effect

• Tendency of an overall impression to be influenced more by the first information that is received than by information that comes later

n Information that is consistent with the first impression is often accepted

• Strengthens the impression

n Inconsistent information is usually disregarded

n When you are asked to name your qualities, list your positive qualities first!

n A firm handshake makes a powerful first impression

• Conveys that the person is confident and outgoing

n Mood affects impressions

• When we are happy, our impressions of others are usually positive

Attributions

Assignment of a cause to explain the behavior of self or another

n Situational attribution

• Attributing a behavior to some external cause or factor

n After failing an exam you say, “The test was unfair.”

n Dispositional attribution

• Attributing a behavior to some internal cause

n Personal trait, motive, or attitude

n After failing an exam you say, “I am no good at school” (lack of ability)

Attributions

n Actor-observer effect

• Tendency to attribute one’s own shortcomings to situational factors and the behavior of others primarily to dispositional factors

• Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland

n Each one attributes the violence to the other group

• “They are murderers and evil.”

n Each justifies their own violence with situational causes

• “We have to protect ourselves from the evil ones.”

n Fundamental attribution error

• Tendency to attribute others’ behavior to dispositional factors

n Self-serving bias

• Tendency to attribute one’s successes to dispositional causes and one’s failures to situational causes

n Athletes attribute success to skill and failure to “poor officiating”

Factors Influencing Attraction

Factors Influencing Attraction

n Physical attractiveness

n Halo effect

• Tendency to assume that a person has generally positive or negative traits after observing one major positive or negative trait

• Additional favorable qualities are attributed to attractive people

n Exciting, personable, interesting, and socially desirable

n Job interviewers are more likely to recommend highly attractive people

n Thin people also are rated higher than overweight or obese individuals

n Strongest impact on strangers rather than acquaintances

Romantic Attraction and Mating

n Matching hypothesis

• People tend to have lovers or spouses who are similar to themselves in physical attractiveness and other assets

n Mismatched couples are more likely to end the relationship

n Fear of rejection keeps many from pursuing mismatched attractiveness

n Similarities that have the most influence:

• Personality

• Physical traits

• Intelligence

• Religion

• Ethnicity

• Socio-economic status

• Attitudes

Choosing a Mate

n Similar political background

n Similar religious background

n Good health

n Good looks

n Similar education

n Pleasing disposition

n Refinement/neatness

n Sociability

n Good financial prospects

n Dependable character

n Mutual attraction/love

n Ambition and industriousness

n Chastity

n Desire for home and children

n Education and intelligence

n Emotional stability and maturity

n Favorable social status or rating

n Good cooking/housekeeping skills

Conformity

Changing or adopting a behavior or attitude in an effort to be consistent with the social norms of a group or the expectations of other people

n Social Norms

• The attitudes and standards of behavior expected of members of a particular group

• Some conformity is necessary for society to function

n Driving on the right side of the road in the U.S.

• Teens who attend schools where a majority of students don’t drink or smoke are less likely to use substances themselves

• Conforming to other’s expectations to have their esteem, approval, friendship, love, or company

Conformity

Obedience

Compliance

Acting in accordance with the wishes, suggestions, or direct requests of other people

n Foot-in-the door technique

• Strategy designed to gain a favorable response to a small request at first

• Intent to get a person to agree to a larger request later

n Door-in-the-face technique

• Someone makes a large unreasonable request

• Expects the person will refuse

• Person will be more likely to agree to a smaller request later

n Low-ball technique

• Someone makes a very attractive initial offer to get a person to commit to an action

• Makes the terms less favorable after commitment

Social Facilitation

n Any positive or negative effect on performance that can be attributed to the presence of others

• Either as an audience or as co-actors

n Audience effects

• Impact of passive spectators on performance

n Co-action Effects

• Impact on performance cause by the presence of other people engaged in the same task

• Bike racers pedal faster against racers than against the clock

Social Facilitation

Performing in the Presence of Others

Group Influence

n Social loafing

• Tendency to exert less effort when working with others than when working alone

• Occurs in situations where a person’s contribution to the group can be identified

• Individuals are neither praised for a good performance or blamed for a poor one

• Workplace problem, especially where there is unlimited Internet access

• Achievement motivation levels may facilitate social loafing

n Low achievement motivation: individuals contributed little when paired with a hard worker

n Did the opposite when paired with others who didn’t work hard

Group Influence

n Social roles

• Socially defined behaviors considered appropriate for individuals occupying certain positions within a given group

• Can shape our behavior quickly and dramatically

n Positively or negatively

• Stanford prison experiment

n Demonstrated negative effect of social roles

n Participants role-played prisoners and guards so well that study ended in only 6 days

• Positive influence

n Palinscar & Brown study with learning disabled

n Assigned participants to be a teacher or student

n Participants summarized reading assignments more effectively, and learned more from it, when functioning as teacher than when assigned to be the student

Zimbardo’s Experiment with Social Roles

Zimbardo simulated the prison environment by randomly assigning participants to the social roles of prison guard or inmate. The social roles influenced the participants’ behaviors. The prisoners began acting like real prisoners, and the prison guards like real prison guards.

Attitude and Attitude Change

n Attitude

• Relatively stable evaluation of a person, object, situation, or issue

• Ranges from positive to negative on a continuum

n Three components

– Cognitive

§ Thoughts and beliefs about the attitudinal object

– Emotional

§ Feelings toward the attitudinal object

– Behavioral

§ Predispositions concerning actions towards the object

n Acquired by first-hand experience or observing

• People, objects, situations, issues, etc.

• Mass media

• Strengthened by associating with others who share them

The Three Components of Attitudes

An attitude is a relatively stable evaluation of a person, object, situation, or issue

Cognitive Dissonance

n Unpleasant state that can occur when people become aware of inconsistencies between their attitudes or between their attitudes and their behavior

n Results from a desire to maintain self-esteem and reduce discomfort

n People try to reduce the dissonance by:

• Changing the behaviors or attitudes

• Explaining away the inconsistency or minimizing its importance

Methods of Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

Persuasion

n A deliberate attempt to influence the attitudes and/or behavior of another person

n Four elements of persuasion

• Source of the communication

n Influence is increased by:

• Credibility, expertise, and trustworthiness

• Attractiveness and likeability

• Audience

n Low IQ persons easier to persuade

• Message

n What is being said

• Medium

n The means by which the message is transmitted

Persuasion

n One-sided message is more persuasive if audience not informed

n Two-sided messages best when audience is better informed, fairly intelligent, and initially opposed to the point of view

n Appeals based on fear most effective when definite actions are outlined so audience can avoid feared item

n Nutritional messages more effective when benefits are outlined

n Two-sided appeal will have more sway than one-sided

n Repetition — the more often something is presented the more it will be believed

n People scrutinize contrary arguments carefully and exert more effort to refute them

• Will judge such arguments as being weaker than those they support

n Messages are less persuasive if vivid elements are included

• Colorful language, striking examples, etc.

Prosocial Behavior

n Behavior that benefits others, such as helping, cooperation, or sympathy

• Young children usually respond sympathetically to companions in distress before their second birthday

n Altruism

• Behavior that is aimed at helping another, requires some sacrifice, and is not performed for personal gain

• Empathy

n Ability to take the perspective of another person

• Commitment

n More likely to behave altruistically when commitment is high

• More likely to donate a kidney to a family member than a stranger

• Society

n In U.S., more likely to help anyone in life-threatening situations, but only family members in moderately dangerous situations

Altruism

Altruistic acts, such as donating blood, may be motivated by social responsibility norms.

Bystander Effect

As the number of bystanders at an emergency increases, the probability that the victim will receive help from them decreases.

Help is delayed when the number of bystanders increases.

Diffusion of Responsibility

n Feeling among bystanders at an emergency is that the responsibility for helping is shared by the group

• “Someone else must be doing something.”

n Makes each person feel less compelled to act than if he or she was alone bore the entire responsibility

• “I must help, no one else can.”

n When others seem calm, common to conclude nothing is wrong and no intervention is necessary

n Catastrophes reduce the bystander effect

Aggression

Intentional infliction of physical or psychological harm on others

n Has many forms

n Takes place in a variety of locations

• Home

• Work

• On the road

• Spectator sports

Biological Factors in Aggression

n Freud

• Aggressive instinct

n Turned inwards as self-destruction

n Turned outwards as aggression or violence toward others

n Genetics

• Meta analysis twin study estimates heritability about .50 for aggression

• Link for criminal behavior also established

• Adoptees with criminal biological parents 4 times more likely to commit crimes

• Adoptees with both criminal biological and adoptive parents 14 times more likely to commit crimes

• Genes may increase sensitivity to models of aggression

• Low arousal of the autonomic nervous system

n Linked to antisocial and violent behavior

n Seek stimulation, excitement, and exhibit fearlessness in the face of danger

Biological Factors in Aggression

n Men are more physically aggressive than women

• High testosterone levels and aggressive behaviors are positively correlated

n Negatively correlated with prosocial behaviors

• Low levels of serotonin associated with violent behaviors

n Brain damage, brain tumors, and temporal lobe epilepsy are related to aggressive and violent behavior

• Even higher association with alcohol abuse

n In children, aggression correlated with

• High levels of lead exposure

• Lower IQ

• Attention problems

Possible Biological Causes of Aggression

CAUSE EVIDENCE

Heredity If one identical twin is aggressive, there is a 50% chance that the other twin is aggressive as well. Adopted children’s aggressive tendencies are more like those of their biological parents than their adopted parents.

Low arousal People with low levels of arousal seek stimulation and excitement to increase arousal

High High levels of testosterone have been correlated testosterone with some forms of aggression, such as intimate partner abuse, in both men and women.

Neurological Brain tumors and other neurological diseases have disorders been linked to aggressive behavior.

Alcohol abuse People who are intoxicated commit the majority of murders and most other violent crimes.

Other Influences on Aggression

n Frustration-aggression hypothesis

• Frustration produces aggression

• Likely if it is intense, seems unjustified, and arouses negative emotions

• Pain, loud noise, bad odors, and extreme heat linked to aggression

n Scapegoating

• Displacing aggression onto members of minority groups or other innocent targets not responsible for the frustrating situation

• Children angry at parents may take it out on younger sibling

n Cognitive-neoassociationistic model

• Anger and aggression result from aversive events and unpleasant emotions

n Sadness, grief, and depression

n Attributions of the people’s motives initial reaction can be intensified, reduced, or suppressed

Other Influences on Aggression

n Personal space

• Area surrounding each person, like an invisible bubble, that the person considers part of themselves and uses to regulate the level of intimacy of others

• Protects privacy and regulates level of intimacy with others

• Size varies according to person(s) with whom an individual interacts and the nature of the interaction

• Reduced space can lead to aggression

n Crowding

• Subjective judgment that too many people are in a crowded space

• Leads to higher physiological arousal

• Varies by culture

• Group member’s beliefs influence aggression

n Superiority, “chosenness,” a means of “justice,” and vulnerability

Social Learning Theory of Aggression

n People learn to behave aggressively by observing aggressive models and by having their aggressive responses reinforced.

• Higher rates among groups and cultures that condone aggression

• Bandura believes role models, the family, and media elevate aggression

n One-third of abused people go on to become abusers

n One-third do not

n One-third may if stress levels are high enough

n Majority of abused and neglected children do not become abusive

• Some become withdrawn, isolated, and passive

• Media violence enhances children’s and adolescents’ aggression in interactions with strangers, classmates, and friends

n May stimulate physiological arousal, lower inhibitions, cause unpleasant feelings, and decrease sensitivity to violence, making it more acceptable

• Aggression and video game link may be due to a preference towards entertainment that features violence

Social Learning Theory of Aggression

n Sexual aggression

• Any kind of sexual contact in which one or more participants are either unable to give consent or are forced into participation

• Includes

n Sexual assault

• Forcing or coercing someone into any kind of sexual activity

n Rape

• Sexual assault that includes penetration

n Date/aquaintance rape

• Rape that occurs in the context of a social relationship

n Sexual abuse

• Sexual assault directed at a vulnerable individual

n A child or elderly person

Factors Contributing to Sexual Aggression Against Women

Among Perpetrators Among Victims

*History of early sexual contact *Reluctance to report sexual

or victimization violence to authorities

*Extreme views about sex-role *Nonforceful verbal resistance

stereotypes of unwanted advances

*Hostility toward women *Extreme views about sex-role

*Fantasies about sexual violence stereotypes

*Involvement with pornography *Acceptance of rape myths

*Association with sexually *Poverty

aggressive peers *Alcohol and/or drug use

*Acceptance of rape myths

(women enjoy being raped)

*Poverty

*Alcohol and/or drug use

Prejudice and Discrimination

n Prejudice

• Attitudes, usually negative, toward others based on their gender, religion, race, or membership in a particular group

• Involves beliefs and emotions

n Discrimination

• Behavior (usually negative) directed toward others based on their gender, religion, race, or membership in a particular group

n Many groups in the U.S. have experienced prejudice and discrimination

Ÿ Minority racial groups (racism) Ÿ The handicapped

Ÿ Women (sexism) Ÿ Religious groups

Ÿ The elderly (ageism) Ÿ Homosexuals

The Roots of Prejudice and Discrimination

n Realistic conflict theory

• View that as competition increases among social groups for scarce resources so do prejudice, discrimination, and hatred

n The Native Americans and settlers in the U.S.

n In-group

• Social group with a strong sense of togetherness and from which others are excluded

n College fraternities and sororities

n Out-group

• Social group made up of individuals specifically identified by the in-group as not belonging

• Can lead to us-versus-them thinking increasing competition, hostility, prejudice, discrimination, and even war.

The Roots of Prejudice and Discrimination

n Social cognition

• Mental processes that people use to notice, interpret, and remember information about the social world

• Processes used to simplify, categorize, and order the social world are the same process that distorts our view of it

n Stereotypes

• Widely shared beliefs about the characteristic traits, attitudes, and behaviors of members of various social groups

n Racial, ethnic, or religious

• Includes the assumption that the members of such groups are usually all alike

The Roots of Prejudice and Discrimination

n Stereotypes

• People attend to information that confirms a stereotype

• More diversity is perceived to in-groups and more similarity among almost all out-group members

• Can be based on gender, age, or any other characteristic

n “They all look the same.”

• Age stereotypes can be more pronounced than gender

n Ethnocentricism

• The tendency to look at situations from one’s own racial or cultural perspective

• Groups will have varying views of the same situation

n Both can be correct, just different

Is Prejudice Decreasing?

n Allport:

• “Defeated intellectually, prejudice lingers emotionally.”

n Some people intellectually opposed to prejudice may still harbor some prejudice feelings

n Most people feel guilty when having prejudiced thoughts or discriminatory behavior

n Both White and African Americans overwhelmingly agree conditions have improved over the past several decades

n Marked differences of opinion among ethnic groups about problem of racism among minority groups

n People cite fear of rejection as reason they don’t engage in more social contact with others of different races

Perceptions of Racism in the U.S.

Unlearning Prejudice

n Intergroup contact

• Can lead to either increased or decreased stereotyping

• College attendance and interactions can provide context for unlearning prejudice

n Jigsaw technique

• Group exercise where each participant is given a small amount of information and must teach it to the other members

• All pieces of the information are needed to solve the problem

• Helps increase interaction and develop empathy

n Seminars by colleges and business

• Teach differing racial and cultural perspectives

• Identification of behaviors construed as racist