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Social PsychologyWhat is social psychology’s focus?

Social thinking

Social influence

Social relations

What Is SocialPsychology’s Focus?

Social psychologistsUse scientific methods to study how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Study social forces that explain why people act differently in different situations

Personality psychologistsStudy personal traits and processes that explain why individuals may act differently in a given situation

Social Thinking

The fundamental attribution error

Attitudes and actions

Social Thinking

Fundamental attribution errorThe tendency, when analyzing others’ behavior, to overestimate the influence of personal traits and underestimate the effects of the situation

Most likely to occur when a stranger acts badly

Has real-life and social consequences

Napolitan and colleagues (1979)Students attributed behavior of others to personal traits, even when they were told that behavior was part of an experimental situation

Social Thinking

Attitude most influences behavior when:External influences are minimal

The attitude is stable

The attitude is specific to the behavior

The attitude is easily recalled

Social Thinking

Attitudes follow behavior

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

People agreeing to a small request will find it easier to later agree to a larger one

Principle works for negative and positive behavior

ATTITUDES FOLLOW BEHAVIORCooperative actions, such as those performed by people on sports teams feed mutual liking. Such attitudes, in turn, promote positive behavior.

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Social Thinking

Cognitive dissonance: Relief from tensionWe act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) clash

Brain regions become active when people experience cognitive dissonance

Through cognitive dissonance we often bring attitudes into line with our actions (Festinger)

Driving to school one snowy day, Marco narrowly misses a car that slides through a red light. “Slow down! What a terrible driver,” he thinks to himself. Moments later, Marco himself slips through an intersection and yelps, “Wow! These roads are awful. The city plows need to get out here.” What social psychology principle has Marco just demonstrated? Explain.

How do our attitudes and our actions affect each other?

When people act in a way that is not in keeping with their attitudes, and then change their attitudes to match those actions, theory attempts to explain why?

Social Influence

Conformity and obedience

Group influence

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The internet as social amplifier

Social Influence

Conformity and obedienceChartrand and colleagues (1999)

Demonstrated chameleon effect with college students

Automatic mimicry helps people to empathize and feel what others feel

The more we mimic, the greater our empathy, and the more people tend to like us

Social Influence

Group pressure and conformity research findings

People are more likely to conform when they:

Are made to feel incompetent or insecureAre in a group in which everyone else agreesAdmire the group’s status and attractivenessHave not already committed to any responseKnow that others in the group will observe our behaviorAre from a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards

Which of the three comparison lines on the right is equal to the standard line? The photo on the left (from one of the experiments) was taken after five people, who were actually working for Asch, had answered, “Line 3.” The student in the center shows the severe discomfort that comes from disagreeing with the responses of other group members.

ASCH’S CONFORMITY EXPERIMENTSWilliam Vendivert/Scientific American

Which of the following strengthens conformity to a group?

a. Finding the group attractive

b. Feeling secure

c. Coming from an individualist culture

d. Having already decided on a response

Social Influence

ObedienceMilgram investigated the effects of punishment on learning

Experiments involved commands to shock someone using up to a 450-volt final level

More than 60 percent followed orders

STANLEY MILGRAM (1933–1984) This social psychologist’s obedience experiments “belongto the self-understanding of literate people in our age” (Sabini, 1986).

MILGRAM’S FOLLOW UP OBEDIENCE EXPERIMENTIn a repeat of the earlier experiment, 65 percent of the adult male “teachers” fully obeyed the experimenter’s commands to continue. They did so despite the “learner’s” earlier mention of a heart condition and despite hearing cries of protest after they delivered what they thought were 150 volts, and agonized protests after 330 volts. (Data from Milgram, 1974.)

Social Influence: Obedience

Milgram’s later research: Obedience was highest when

The person giving orders was in close proximity and perceived as a legitimate authority figure

The authority figure was supported by a well-known institution

The victim was depersonalized or at a distance

No models existed for defiance

Lessons From the Conformity and Obedience Studies

Strong social influences can make people conform to falsehoods or give in to cruelty

Social control and personal control interact

Minority influence is most effective if a position is taken firmly

In psychology’s most famous obedience experiments, most participants obeyed an authority figure’s demands to inflict presumed life-threatening shocks on an innocent person. Which social psychologist conducted these experiments?

In the obedience experiments, people were most likely to follow orders in four situations. What were those situations?

Social Influence

Social facilitationResponses on individual tasks are stronger in the presence of others (Triplett)

The presence of others sometimes helps and sometimes hurts (Guerin and others)

GANDHI As the life of Hindu nationalistand spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi(right) powerfully testified, a consistent and persistent minority voice can sometimes sway the majority. His nonviolent appeals and fasts helped India win its independence from Britain in 1947.

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Social InfluenceHome team advantage• When others observe

us, we perform well-learned tasks more quickly and accurately.

• But on new and difficult tasks, performance is less quick and accurate.

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Social Influence

WORKING HARD, OR HARDLY WORKING?In group projects, such as this Earth Day beach cleanup, social loafing often occurs, as individuals free ride on the efforts of others.

Social loafing • The tendency for people in a

group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Causes• Acting as part of a group and

feeling less accountable• Feeling that individual contribution

does not matter• Taking advantage when there is

lack of identification with a group

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Social Influence

DeindividuationA loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Thrives in many different settings

During England’s 2011 riots and looting, rioters were disinhibited by social arousal and by the anonymity provided by darkness and their hoods and masks. Later, some of those arrested expressed bewilderment over their own behavior.

DEINDIVIDUATION

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GROUP POLARIZATION

• If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens existing opinions

• Talking about racial issues increased prejudice in a high-prejudice group of high school students and decreased it in a low-prejudice group (Myers & Bishop, 1970)

• How did researchers capture group polarization in the 2005 “Deliberation Day” experiment? (See page 348)

The internet as social amplifierNegative

Can isolate people from those with different opinions

May create support for shared ideas and suspicions

Can foster abusive or violent behavior

PositiveCan connect friends and family members

Helps in coping with challenges

Fosters social ventures

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Social Influence

GroupthinkMode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

ExamplesEscalation of Vietnam war

Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident

U.S. space shuttle Challenger explosion

WMD in Iraq

What is social facilitation, and under what circumstances is it most likely to occur?

People tend to exert less effort when working with a group than they would alone, which is called ________.

When a group’s desire for harmony overrides its realistic analysis of other options, ________ has occurred.

You are organizing a meeting of fiercely competitive political candidates. To add to the fun, friends have suggested handing out masks of the candidates’ faces for supporters to wear. What effect might these masks trigger?

Social Relations

Prejudice

CLOSE-UP: Automatic prejudice

Aggression

Attraction

CLOSE-UP: Online matchmaking and speed dating

Altruism

Conflict and peacemaking

Social Relations

Prejudice• Means “prejudgment”• Is an unfair negative attitude

toward some group• Often targets different cultural,

ethnic, or gender groups

Components• Beliefs• Emotions• Predispositions to action (to

discriminate)

How Prejudiced Are People?

Open prejudice lessens; subtle prejudice lingers

Prejudice can also be automatic and unconscious

Worldwide, gender prejudice and discrimination exist

Gays and lesbians cannot comfortably be themselves

Fathers are perceived as more intelligent than mothers

More women live in poverty; 163 million “missing women”

Prejudice Over Time

Americans’ approval of interracial dating has soared over he past half-century. (Gallup surveys reported by Carroll, 2007.)

Social Relations

Social roots of prejudiceSocial inequalities: Have often developed attitudes that justify the status quo

Just-world phenomenon: Good is rewarded and evil is punished

Stereotypes: Rationalize inequalities

GroupsThrough social identities people associate themselves with others

Evolution prepares people to identify with a group

Automatic prejudiceImplicit racial associations: Negative associations linked to the denial of racial prejudice

Race-influenced perceptions: Perceptions influenced by expectations

Reflexive bodily responses: Telltale signs of selective body responses to another person’s race

THE INGROUPScotland’s famed “Tartan Army” soccer fans, shown here during a match againstarchrival England, share a social identity that defines “us” (the Scottish ingroup) and “them” (the English outgroup).

• Ingroup: Social definition of who we are—and are not• Ingroup bias: A favoring of our own group

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Emotional Roots of Prejudice

Scapegoat theoryProposes that when things go wrong, finding someone to blame can provide an outlet for anger

Research evidence (Zimbardo)Prejudice levels tend to be high among economically frustrated people

In experiments, a temporary frustration increases prejudice

Cognitive Roots of Prejudice

Forming categoriesHumans categorize people by race: mixed-race people identified by minority identity

Similarities are overestimated during categorization; creating “Us and They”

Overestimation also occurs; other-race effect or bias

CATEGORIZING MIXED-RACE PEOPLE

When New Zealanders quickly classified 104 photos by race, those of European descent more often than those of Chinese descent classified the ambiguous middle two as Chinese (Halberstadt et al., 2011).

Dr. Jamin Halberstadt

Cognitive Roots of Prejudice

Remembering vivid cases

The 9/11 Muslim terroristscreated, in many minds, an exaggerated stereotype of Muslims as terrorism prone.

People often judge the likelihood of events by recalling vivid cases that readily come to mind.

When a prejudiced attitude causes us to blame an innocent person for our problems, we have used that person as a ________.

Biology of Aggression

Biology influences aggression at three levelsGenetic influences

Evidence from animal studies and twin studies; Y chromosome genetic marker

Biochemical influencesTestosterone is linked with irritability, assertiveness, impulsiveness, and a low tolerance for frustration

Alcohol is associated with aggressive responses to frustration

Neural influencesNeural systems facilitate or inhibit aggression when provoked

Aggression is more likely to occur with frontal lobe damage

Psychological and Social-Cultural Influences onAggression

Reinforcement, modeling, and self-controlModeling and rewarding sensitivity and cooperation at an early age fosters more positive behavior

Self-control curbs aggression; poor self-control is correlated with crime

Psychological and Social-Cultural Influences onAggression

Adversive eventsFrustration-aggression principle: Frustration creates anger, which can spark aggression

Other aversive stimuli: Hot temperatures, physical pain, personal insults, foul odors, cigarette smoke, crowding, and a host of others

TEMPERATURE AND RETALIATION

Psychological and Social-Cultural Influences onAggression

Media models for violenceRepeatedly viewing on-screen violence tends to lessen sensitivity to cruelty and teaches social scripts

Social scripts provide cultural mental files for how to act

Research confirms that people sometimes imitate what they have viewed

Viewing explicit sexual violence is linked to men’s aggression against women

Psychological and Social-Cultural Influences onAggression

Do violent video games teach social scripts for violence?

Nearly 400 studies of 130,000 people suggest video games can prime aggressive thoughts, decrease empathy, and increase aggression

Some researchers dispute this finding and note other factors: Depression, family violence, and peer influence

COINCIDENCE OR CAUSE? In 2011, Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo, and then went to a youth camp, where he shot andkilled 69 people, mostly teens.

How is this related to effects of media violence?

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What psychological, biological, and socialcultural influences interact to produce aggressive behaviors?

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “ATTRACTIVE”?

The answer varies by culture and over time. Yet some adult physical features, such as a youthful form and face,

seem attractive everywhere.

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Attraction

Psychology of attractionProximity

Physical attractiveness

Similarity

Online Matchmaking•1500 on-line dating services; 30 million users; estimated one-fifth of U.S. marriages today•Internet-formed friendships and romantic relationships last, on average, 2 years longer than face-to-face relationships•Controlled studies are needed

Speed Dating

•Unique opportunity to study first impressions•Findings;•Men are more transparent•Given more options, people make more superficial choices•Men wish for more contact with more of their speed dates; women are more selective

People tend to marry someone who lives or works nearby. This is an example of proximity and the

________ in action.

How does being physically attractive influence others’ perceptions?

Romantic Love

Passionate loveTwo-factor theory of emotion

Emotions have two ingredients—physical arousal and cognitive appraisal

Arousal from any source can enhance an emotion, depending on how we interpret and label the arousal

Sexual desire + a growing attachment = the passion of romantic love

LOVE IS AN ANCIENT THING- In 2007, skeletons of a 5000- to 6000-year-old “Romeo and Juliet” young couple were unearthed, locked in an embrace, near Rome.

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Romantic Love

Companionate lovePassionate love seldom endures

Passion feeding hormones (testosterone) give way to oxytocin that supports feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding

Attraction and sexual desire endure, without the obsession of early-stage marriage

Equity is an important key to a satisfying and enduring relationship

Self-disclosure deepens intimacy

How does the two-factor theory of emotion help explain passionate love?

Two vital components for maintaining companionate love are ________ and ________.

Altruism

AltruismUnselfish concern for the welfare of others

Bystander intervention (Darley and Latané)Necessary conditions

Notice incident

Interpret event as emergency

Assume responsibility for helping

Bystander Intervention

Bystander Effect

When people thought they alone heard the calls for help from a person they believed to be having an epileptic seizure, they usually helped

But when they thought four others were also present a third responded. (From Darley & Latané, 1968a.)

RESPONSES TO A STAGED PHYSICAL EMERGENCY

Bystander Effect

What contributes to the odds that a person will help someone?

The Norms for Helping

Positive social norms encourage generosity and enable group living.

Socialization normSocial expectation that prescribes how we should behave

Reciprocity normExpectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefits

Social-responsibility normExpectation that people should help those who depend on them

ConflictPerceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

Mirror-image perceptionsMutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive

Conflict and Peacemaking

Enemy perceptionsPeople in conflict form negative, distorted images of one another (mirror-image perceptions)

“Us” versus “Them” develops

A vicious cycle of hostility emerges at individual or national level

Perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies

Promoting Peace

Research indicates that in some cases contact and cooperation can be transformational

ContactMost effective when contact is free of competition and equal status exists

Across a quarter-million people studied in 38 nations, friendly contact with ethnic minorities, older people, and people with disabilities has usually led to less prejudice

Contact is not always enough

Promoting Peace

CooperationSherif used shared predicaments and superordinate goals to turn enemies into friends

Cooperative contact, not conflict alone, reduced conflict

Experiments with teens in 11 countries confirm that cooperative learning can maintain or enhance student achievement

This could be applied to activities focused on making friends of former enemies

Promoting Peace KOFI ANNAN “Most of us have overlapping identitieswhich unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what—and who—we are not.

We can thrive in our own tradition, even as welearn from others” (Nobel lecture, 2001).

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Why do sports fans tend to feel a sense of satisfaction when their archrival team loses? Why do such feelings, in other settings, make conflict resolution more challenging?

What are two ways to reconcile conflicts and promote peace?