Social Psychology Part 1 Psy 301 Lecture 16 4 07 04 Five Lessons in Social Psychology Power of situation Subjective construal Fallibility of human reason Presence of others matters Can systematically study complex social situations Punishment on Learning Punishment on Learning 1 teacher 1 learner Learn word pairs if wrong punished Set up learner Chair electrode on wrist condition Shock generator Slight moderate strong very strong intense extreme intensity danger severe XXX Sample 45V Something you should know Script 75 volts grunt 120 volts complains loudly 150 demands to be released from experiment As voltage increases protests become more vehement and emotional 285 volts agonized scream Soon thereafter no sound at all What would you do Pre test estimates All would refuse to obey Most won t go beyond 150v Psychiatrists estimated 1 1000 would go all the way 4 would reach 300v Results Avg max shock delivered 360v 65 went all the way to 450v 80 continued giving shocks after learner w heart condition complained Video short 4 Implications Obedience to Authority An experimenter influenced ordinary ppl to commit immoral acts on an innocent bystander Could the Holocaust have been an act of ordinary ppl exposed to extraordinary social conditions Reverend Moon 1983 2075 couples Parents Teachers Replications 1st experiments Yale undergraduates No relevance to ordinary people Yale undergraduates highly aggressive competitive bunch who step on each other s necks on the slightest provocation White collar workers unemployed people industrial workers SAME RATE Princeton Munich Rome South Africa and Australia 85 obedience What s going on P s caught in intense conflict btw 2 forces Immediate obligation to complete experiment experimenter Moral obligation to minimize human suffering learner By varying strength of opposing forces Variations on 65 Tuning in learner Learner in same room 40 Hand forced onto shock plate 30 Tuning out experimenter Experimenter calls in instructions 21 2 Experimenters disagree 0 2 Rebellious supporters 10 Many of the people were in some sense against what they did to the learner and many protested even while they obeyed Some were totally convinced of the wrongness of their actions but could not bring themselves to make an open break with authority They often derived satisfaction from their thoughts and felt that within themselves at least they had been on the side of the angels They tried to reduce strain by obeying the experimenter but only slightly encouraging the learner touching the generator switches gingerly When interviewed such a subject would stress that he asserted my humanity by administering the briefest shock possible Handling the conflict in this manner was easier than defiance Why do they Obey Stepwise involvement Norm of reciprocity Diffusion of responsibility Ineffective disobedience But Kate Did they tell them the truth at the end Video debriefing Lighten the mood If you could do anything humanly possible with complete assurance that you would not be detected or held responsible what would you do 11 categories of responses Aggression charity academic dishonesty crime escapism political activities sexual behavior social disruption interpersonal spying travel miscellaneous 26 criminal 11 sexual 11 spying rob a bank 15 of all responses 36 antisocial 19 non normative violating social norms no harm or help 9 prosocial PRISONERS COLLEGE STUDENTS There are no rules Wanted subjects for a psychology experiment There will be no opportunity to meet other participants What do people do under extreme anonymity Deviance in the Dark Continuous stream of conversation thru end Quickly found place to sitno less than 3ft to any other 5 touched accidentally none purposefully 30 felt sexual excitement Talk slacked off after 30 minutes was muted disjointed faltering Moved around fluidly All touched accidentally 90 purposefully 50 hugged another person 80 felt sexual excitement Frequency of behaviors in light dark Mass arrest for violation of Penal Codes 211 Armed Robbery and Burglary a 459 PC Suspects picked up at home charged warned of legal rights spread eagled against the police car searched and handcuffed Randomly Assigned Video roleplay short Lightened Again Getting people to do something good Water Conservation Setting Highly chlorinated pool Poster on saving water Sign poster See poster Mindful Excuse me About how long do you usually shower for Later in the showers Concealed stopwatch Who took the shortest showers WHY Find out next time Social Psychology The scientific study of how people s thoughts feelings and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others The power of the situation
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