Social Psychology What is Social Psychology Study of how thought feelings and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual imagined or implied presence of others Not only influenced by the people around us but also by people we expect will be around or imagine may be Thinking about others can influence our thought because it protects you from being manipulated and makes you more successful in a social world Social Influences Conformity behavior induced by social pressure Example we wear certain clothes based on the norm and attraction so we conform to cultural situations Compliance behavior induced by an overt request Example if someone walked up to you and asked for 5 would you comply Internalization becoming convinced of what is correct Example if some type of headphone is favored 98 over another you may internalize that this is truly the case and buy them because you think they are better Normative Influence Because of evolution it is clear that survival and prosperity are far more likely if we live and work together and therefore need to agree on common values and behaviors for the common good Learn to conform to rules of other people and the more we see people behaving in certain ways the more we feel the need to conform Family and friends apply the strongest influence Asch s Study 3 Vertical line test study in groups participants followed what others said whereas 100 answered correctly when isolated from everyone else When in the group 76 followed the other participants and only 18 answered correctly just one participant 4 people produce the highest level of conformity Informational Influence When we do not know how to behave we copy other people and they thus act as informational sources for how to behave because we assume they know what they are doing and we care about what others think about us Look to other people to see if it is right or not Occurs most when we are unsure of what to do so we look to others Situation Is ambiguous Crisis Others are experts Private acceptance when we genuinely believe the other person is right Public compliance copy other to avoid ridicule and rejection Sherif Group Norms and Conformity How far a light moved and did this with solo subjects and then with groups to measure group norms Alone initially people said 2 6 inches Group agreed or compromised on 4 both sides compromising After group compromise subjects were asked alone and went with 4 inches Smoke filled room study People did not tend to react much until they saw others around them reacting to the smoke filled room http www youtube com watch v KE5YwN4NW5o Little Bit of Both thought and behavior are shaped both by normative and informational influences Group Polarization decisions made by groups are far more extreme than made by an individual Persuasive arguments info influence each person goes into a group with their set of arguments and that increases as the group polarizes because everyone in a like minded situation has a different set of arguments supporting it so they all work together and have a more extreme or stronger argument Social Comparison normative influence retain consistency so we shift our beliefs to those of others and to be on the same scale as them but that increases polarization of a group Stamford Prison Study Mock prison They selected 23 student volunteers and divided them into two groups One group was chosen to be the prisoners They were picked up at their homes by actual police officers arrested and brought to the prison to be guarded by the other group of students the guards The two groups were placed in a setting that was designed to look like a real prison and the role play began After two days there was a revolt He believes that despite being normal people there are times when external circumstances can overwhelm us and we do things we never thought we were capable of and follow the norms of even cruelty Compliance and Obedience Compliance following a request but does not mean you necessary agree with the behavior you just agree to perform it Obedience when the request comes from an authority figure Milgram s Study of Obedience IN CLASSSS Compliance Gaining Techniques Foot in the Door A persuasion attempt in which we first get the target to accept a rather minor request and then ask for a larger request Example can you take me to the movies Can I have money for popcorn and can I have a later curfew Door In the Face make an excessive request that most naturally refuse and then lower it to a more reasonable request they are more likely to accept Example ask for 100 and then lower it to 10 Reciprocity Norm is a social norm reminding us that we should follow the principles of reciprocal altruism if someone helps us then we should help them back in the future and we should help people now with the expectation that they will help us later if we need it The Bystander Effect Kitty Genovese case murdered on side of the road people heard but only one person called cops after hours of arguing If people do not react like it is an emergency then it must not be one informational influence Attribution and Biases Attribution process of assigning a cause to an event Internal Attributions Dispositional factors He yelled at me because he is a jerk and angry External Attributions those influenced by situations Stress is making him overwhelmed thats why he yelled Fundamental Attribution Error This refers to the tendency to over estimate the internal and underestimate the external factors when explaining the behaviors of others Example driving and got cut off did you say to yourself What an idiot or something similar or did you say She must be having a rough day Self Serving Bias We tend to equate successes to internal and failures to external attributes Example Imagine getting a promotion Most of us will feel that this success is due to hard work intelligence dedication and similar internal factors But if you are fired well obviously your boss wouldn t know a good thing if it were staring her in the face Attitudes Balance Theory You feel a certain way based off of their relation to you and you alter your feelings based off of your knowledge You like a celeb who likes pink so you like pink as well You do not like eggs the celeb likes eggs so you like them a little less to balance your attitudes Cognitive Dissonance when we discover that certain thoughts disagree with each other this creates a state of negative arousal and try to change their attitude or behavior to
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