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Social Psychologists look at human behavior in the context of societal rules and norms. They see human behavior as primarily shaped by social interactions. They recognize that people behave differently in the presence of others.

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Which of the Following Is an Example of a Group?

Cheerleaders at a schoolA high school football teamPeople lined up to voteWomen at a baby showerPedestrians at a crosswalk

Group

In order for there to be a group, there must be more than one person and there must be face-to-face interaction.

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Cheerleaders at a School

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Tennis Team

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People Lined Up to Vote

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Women at a Baby Shower

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Pedestrians in a Crosswalk

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Families, couples in love, street gangs, social clubs

Relationships that are face-to-face and personal

term “primary group”--coined by Charles Cooley

two or more people who have a significant amount of interaction with one another

must know a lot about one another, and share strong, intimate emotional ties

“the nurseries of human nature” The values and norms people learn in primary

groups tend to remain with them for life

Primary Groups

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Four Features of a Primary Group

Continuous, face-to-face interaction

Strong tiesMultifacetedEnduring

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Organized around specific, impersonal goals

Not as much interaction as in primary groups

School classes, political parties, sports teams

Lots of primary groups within the secondary group

Secondary Groups

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Secondary Group Characteristics

Limited face-to-face interaction Modest or weak personal identity with the

group Weak ties of affection Limited/shallow relations Not very enduring Task oriented

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Why Join a Group ?

To satisfy the need to belong To compare experiences To use group standards to evaluate

ourselves For companionship To lessen anxiety and provide comfort Group accomplishments

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Attribution Theory

People usually attribute others’ behavior either to internal dispositions or external situations.– INTERNAL or DISPOSITIONAL—attitude, work

ethic, morals, motivation– EXTERNAL or SITUATIONAL—other people, the

environment, the task, support

Fundamental Attribution Error

In judging others, we overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the influence of situations.– Billy failed the AP English exam because

he is dumb.– NOT, Billy failed because the teacher was

absent for 3 months on maternity leave.

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Actor-Observer Bias

We judge ourselves AND others. Actor part—When we are in the situation, we judge

ourselves on environmental/external factors.– I failed the test because the teacher sucked.

Observer part—When we are not in the situation, we judge others on dispositional/internal factors.– She failed the test because she didn’t study.

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Self-Serving Bias

How we judge ourselves:– Bad things happen because of

external situations. I failed the AP Computer Science test

because the test is too hard.

– Good things happen because of our internal dispositions/personal factors.

I passed the AP Biology test because I am amazingly smart.

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Self-Effacing Bias

In other cultures (for example, Asian cultures), people tend to do the opposite of the Self-Serving Bias.– Bad things are because of internal disposition.

I failed the AP Chemistry exam because I didn’t work hard enough.

– Good things are because of external situations. I passed the AP Chemistry exam because Mrs. Wagoner is a

beast.

Individualist vs. Collectivist Culture

Individualist: putting personal goals ahead of group goals & defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes, not group memberships

Collectivist: putting group goals ahead of personal goals & defining one’s identity in terms of the groups you belong to

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Social Facilitation

Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

Social Loafing

People tend to extend less effort when they are working in a group. They assume that the group will do the work.

Deindividuation

To be less self-conscious and less restrained when in a group; feels anonymous

Message boards/forums an example

Group Polarization

If a group is like-minded, discussions will strengthen its prevailing opinions.

If a group has opposing opinions, the opposing groups will polarize even more.

Risky Shift--making riskier choices when part of a group

Social Trap and Prisoner’s Dilemma

when students make decisions to help themselves at a cost of the class’s well-being (Social Trap) (overfishing, deforestation)

When two people don’t cooperate even if it is in their best interest to cooperate (Prisoner’s Dilemma)

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A group of friends or associates of about the same age and social position

Form cliques, clubs, gangs

Peer Groups

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A group that serves as a standard for evaluating one’s achievement, behavior, or values

Reference Groups

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Group Dynamics

The impact of group size

The dyad, or two-person group

The triad Multiples (division of

labor)

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The Triad

• In a triad, one person may make a big difference in the group

• when a couple has their first child, their lives change dramatically. Whenever they want to go somewhere, they either need to get together everything they need to take the baby along, or they need to hire a babysitter. Sleepless nights, day care, and preschool also present new challenges.

• Finally, the relationship between the parents may change as well.

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Leadership

Groups need leaders for two reasons

1. To direct tasks

2. Maintain good spirits Groupthink

– what happens when group members are isolated from their social or moral environment: they end up making decisions that appear from the inside to make perfect sense but are in fact fundamentally flawed

– Kennedy—Bay of Pigs/Cuba

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Groupthink

Emphasizes group decisions in large organizations

People working together will make better decisions than an individual

Sometimes individuals acting alone in large organizations or bureaucracies can make decisions that reflect their own personal bias. If that individual can convince other members in the group that such decisions are based on sound, fundamental ideas, then the organization starts to fall into groupthink.

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When Does Groupthink Occur?

When group members are unable to evaluate other available options

Inability to comprehend negative consequences

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Conditions for Groupthink

The group is isolated from the outside

There are time limits Not having an impartial

leader

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Examples of Groupthink

JFK’S invasion of Cuba Nixon’s Watergate fiasco Waco, Texas standoff

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A group with which a person identifies and feels that he or she belongs

A “greedy group”

In-groups

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Characteristics of In-groups

1. Sacrifice 2. Investment 3. Renunciation 4. Communication 5. Mortification 6. Transcendence

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A group with which a person does not identify and does not feel that he or she belongs to

Out-groups

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Gangs/Gang Locations

L.A. is the gang capital of America

Chicago, Seattle, Kansas City

Importance of drugs

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Why Join a Gang?

Power Identity A surrogate family Security

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Attitudes

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Definition of “Attitude”

A predisposition to respond in a particular way

3 main elements

1. A belief or opinion

2. A feeling about something

3. A tendency to act toward something in a particular way

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Attitudes

Are feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose our reactions to people, objects and events. If we feel that someone is mean, we may feel dislike for the person and act unfriendly.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Petty & Cacciopo– Central Route to Persuasion—using analytical

or systematic information regarding the issue to persuade others—more thoughtful, more durable

– Peripheral Route to Persuasion—incidental cues, endorsements cause snap judgments—less thoughtful, less durable—using colors, attractive salespeople

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Factors in Persuasion

SOURCE Factors: Who is persuading MESSAGE Factors: What is the message CHANNEL Factors: How is the message

delivered RECEIVER Factors: Who is being

persuaded

Source factors—Who?

Credibility Expertise Trustworthiness Likability Attractiveness Similarity

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Message factors—What?

Fear appeal vs. logic One-sided vs. two-sided argument Repetition

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Channel factors—By what means?

In person On television Via audio Others?

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Receiver factors—To whom?

Personality Expectations Preexisting attitudes Intelligence

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Cognitive Dissonance—Leon Festinger

We become aware that our attitudes and actions don’t coincide, so we experience this tension.

We try to bring them together.

– Rationalization– Changing actions– Denial

Zimbardo on Cog. Dissonance

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Cognitive Sources for Persuasion

Factual information Cognitive dissonance

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Emotional Sources for Persuasion

Strong feelings without knowing why– a commercial or political advertisement might try to

change people’s attitudes by employing a series of emotionally charged images accompanied by with some cognitive information like on-screen words or audio narration.

– pictures are processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, which also processes many of our emotions

Classical conditioning Subliminal techniques

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Size of an Object

Close-ups = larger than life, sense of urgency, used to sell necessary products

Far away = luxury items, removes the sense of urgency and replaces it with a feeling of extravagance

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Social Sources for Persuasion

CultureReference groups

as a standard for evaluation

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Behavioral Sources for Persuasion

Behavior itself can cause attitudes to change

“Doing is believing.”

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How Are Attitudes Measured?

Psychologists use many different techniques to measure attitudes

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Public Opinion Polls

Selecting a representative sample is crucial

Important to avoid biases (Social desirability bias)

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Attitude Scales

Likert Scale

1. Strongly agree

2. Agree

3. Undecided

4. Disagree

5. Strongly disagree

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Semantic Differential

asks people to rate others by using one of two adjectives that are polar opposites of one another

Good/bad Happy/sad Beautiful/ugly Wise/foolish Funny/humorless

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Unobtrusive Methods

Milgram/lost letter Letters addressed to less

“acceptable” groups and organizations were not mailed as often as letters addressed to charities or groups considered beneficial to society.

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How Are Attitudes Changed?

People are always trying to change your attitude

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Conformity

Asch conformity study, 1950 People will usually conform to other people’s ideas

even when they disagree with those ideas

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Asch’s Experiment

Which line segment, is closest in length to the sample line: a, b, or c?

Asch Experiment (2 min)

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Obedience to Authority

Stanley Milgram—1962 The psychologist as experimenter designed to determine the conditions under which people

would obey or defy authority Would they obey the commands of an authority figure or

pay attention to the cries of a victim who seemed to be undergoing extreme suffering?

Explains the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II?

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Who Were Milgram’s Subjects?

In all but one version of the experiment, the subjects were males

40%=skilled and unskilled 40%=white collar (sales and business) 20%=professionals

20 percent of subjects were in their 20s, 20 percent were in their 30s, and 20 percent were in their 40s

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The Set-Up

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Making Mistakes

After 75 volts are administered for a mistake, the learner moans

At 90 volts, the learner cries out in pain After 180 volts, the learner screams, saying

he cannot stand the pain, and then begins to bang on the wall

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39 Psychiatrists Surveyed Believed That…

Most subjects would stop at 150 volts Only 4% would go as high as 300 volts One in 1000 would go to 450 volts

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5 Versionsof the Experiment

First version: all men, 65% went all the way (450 volts)

Experimenter absent: 20.5% Women: 65% Experimenter chooses shock level: 2.5% High school students: 85%

By the way….

The shocks were not real!

Milgram Experiment 5 min

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Why Do People Obey?

American society places a high value on obedience to people in positions of authority

(Derren Brown)

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Prestige And Credibility

Volunteers were influenced by their role as a subject in an experiment

Done by a professor at Yale university

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Not Everyone Is Equally Obedient

Sadistic or obedient? Personality variables Life experiences

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Civil Disobedience

Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott

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Aggression

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Violent Crimes

1.5 million violent crimes are committed in the U.S. each year, including 90,000 rapes and 20,000 murders

3 ½ times more likely to be murdered by a relative

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Why Are We Aggressive?

Thanatos—Freud’s death instinct View of evolutionary

psychologists– our aggressive behavior is related to our

evolutionary heritage. It is a part of the Darwinian notion of “survival of the fittest.”

Hereditary aggression

The painting depicts a 10-year-old Vietnamese orphan girl who had been befriended by a U.S. Green Beret during the Vietnam War. He used to give her chocolate bars. She eventually shot and killed him.

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The Brain and Aggression

Amygdala Hypothalamus Prefrontal cortex

– plays a role in processing violent urges

– Years ago, surgeons often performed pre-frontal lobotomies on violent patients

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Hormones and Aggression

Testosterone, a primary male hormone

Alcohol and other drugs

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Learning and Aggression

People learn aggression by watching and imitating others

People become more aggressive if rewarded

Frustration-Aggression Model

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Pornography Connection

•According to some psychologists, there is a direct link between different types of pornography and sexual aggression—especially between violent pornography and rape. •Child pornography has a corresponding correlation with pedophilia and/or child molestation. •According to serial killer Ted Bundy pornography not only influenced his criminal behavior, but also influenced the behavior of every one of the inmates he came in contact with while he was sitting on death row in a Florida prison. •Bundy brutally killed more than 37 young women and was eventually executed.

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Altruism/Unselfishness Concern for Another’s Welfare

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The Cost–Reward Theory

People find the sight of another person being victimized as anxiety-provoking; helping relieves this anxiety

Diffusion of responsibility– Sometimes if there are others present

during a crisis, people assume that someone else will step in to aid in the situation.

Bystander Effect

Kitty Genovese

Darley & Latane, 1969

Diffusion of Responsibility

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Empathy-Altruism Theory

People are more likely to act altruistically—even when the cost of helping is high—if they feel empathy toward the person in need

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Evolutionary Theory

“Survival of the fittest”: A person will risk their life for someone else because if they survive, it increases the likelihood that their traits will endure through generations

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Attitude and Prejudice

Prejudice is a preconceived notion toward a person or a group

Prejudice is strengthened by stereotyping

Discrimination is an action motivated by prejudice

Attraction

Proximity—geographic nearness is friendship’s most powerful predictor

Mere Exposure Effect

If you are neutral about something, you tend to learn to be attracted to or start liking it if you have continued exposure.

Example: Remember the Titans Your own face—pictures

Laws of Attraction

Similarity Attractiveness

– Average– Symmetry

Reciprocity

Robber’s Cave Experiment

Superordinate Goals (Muzafer Sherif) Two competitive groups, when given a

superordinate goal, will work together for the good of both groups.

Example: Remember the Titans Example: When Democrats and

Republicans worked together after 9/11

Stanford Prison Experiment

Phil Zimbardo The Power of the Situation Social Roles: widely shared expectations

about how people in certain positions are supposed to behave

Stanford Prison Experiment 14 min

Social Influence Strategies

Foot-in-the-Door Technique: small request first, then bigger request

Lowball Technique: commit to an attractive proposition before revealing hidden costs

Door-in-the-Face Technique: Ask for something huge, get turned down, and then ask for something more reasonable

Representativeness Heuristic

When someone makes a judgment or choice based on how well a choice represents what you are looking for

Choosing Mrs. Crain over Mrs. Thomas for a basketball team before you even see what their skills are

Availability Heuristic

When someone makes a decision based on what has been readily available (in memory/experiences) rather than on real information

Example about parents’ worries