PSYC 100 1st Edition Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture I Obedience II Dissonance Current Lecture Milgram s Experiments on Obedience can ordinary people be persuaded to apply severe physical punishment to another person Social influence principles illustrated by Milgram studies power of the situation and social norms fundamental attribution error attribute too much to personal characteristics and not enough to the situation persuasion tactics foot in the door effect person agrees to a small request and you up the request slippery slope start off with mild shocks and shock them with more and more gradually desensitization Many variables affect the probability that the subject would comply with the experimenter s commands By current IRB standards the experiment would not meet the minimal risk requirement because of the apparent risk level lack of informed consent deception coercion and questions about the cost benefit ratio Obedience are there important person variables Person x situation interactions Rotter s Locus of Control theory p 581 582 extent to which individuals believe that they can control the events that affect them Internalizer Externalizer Items without the right breaks one cannot be an effective leader capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities I have found that what is going to happen will happen Jonestown 1978 Jones was a preacherman More than 900 people died in the largest mass murder suicide in history Why would people who were considered otherwise rational drink cyanide laced Kool Aid in the jungles of Guyana Festinger and Carlsmith experiment subjects go through a long and boring experimental task they are then asked to help recruit new subjects by telling a lie this experiment is really interesting some subjects are given 1 for lying other subjects are given 20 for lying subjects are later asked to recall the experiment 1 subjects evaluate it as having been more interesting than the 20 subjects I wouldn t lie for 1 action not justified by payment People being paid 20 rationalize Maybe the experiment wasn t that boring Social Influence Persuasion tactics Low balling establish a commitment then up the ante Foot in the door get a person to agree to a small request then make a larger request Engaging the reciprocity norm people everywhere feel obliged to return favors Shared identity establish a personal relation with the pigeon person you re trying to influence Some of the effectiveness of these techniques of persuasion may be based on dissonance like processes the need for consistency among beliefs and actions Bell s experiment p 515 516 what happens when you combine foot in the door with the reciprocity tactic Start with a standard spiel about an AIDS foundation s good work Then CONTROL Ask for a donation FOOT IN THE DOOR First ask for a signature on a petition Then ask for a donation RECIPROCITY ENGAGEMENT pre giving Give the person an attractive brochure Then ask for a donation BOTH Ask for a signature then give the brochure then ask for a donation Pre giving and Foot in the door prove to be most effective over 2x as effective as neither and both Cognitive dissonance in children and animals Post decisional dissonance a state that is thought to occur when you have to make a chice between two equally attractive alternatives I just chose A and rejected B but B is still very attractive this is opportunity cost Have 4 year olds choose between one of two prizes M Ms stickers These were pre tested and found to be about equally attractive Then give the child a choice between the rejected alternative and a new alternative about as attractive as the first two Result children choose the new one over the rejected one So do adults So do monkeys in a modified version of this Explanation Derogating the originally rejected alternative is a way of reducing dissonance regrets lingering uncertainty