Lecture Guide Chapter 12 Social Psychology The Power of the Situation part of the Discovering Psychology Series Annenberg Media General Psychology F09 Psychology in general focus on individuals how they think feel and behave Social Psychology Works to understand human behavior in its social context Examines how our thoughts behaviors feelings are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others For better others generally enhance and enrich our lives Or for worse influence of others can also threaten our integrity and even our lives Sample questions for social psychology How can the power of leaders turn rational individuals into blindly obedient masses How do groups change the behavior of individuals 4 Classic Social Psych Studies that Demonstrate the Incredible Power of the Situation on Our Behavior Lewin 1939 Leadership Style and Resulting Behavior including how group identity impacts behavior Experiment 3 groups of boys 3 types of leaders Autocratic leaders make all decisions for the group Laissez Faire leaders allow complete freedom with little guidance Democratic leaders actively encouraged and assisted group decision making Findings Behaviors of same boys under Autocratic leader worked hardest when watched most hostile aggressive Laissez Faire leader least productive poorest quality Democratic leader highest motivation most original and playful most praise Conclusion leadership style and social situation created differences not individual personality 1 Asch 1955 Studies on Conformity Conformity changing one s behavior to match that of other people Not necessarily bad it is adapted and a way to educate ourselves in many situations conformity is actually beneficial other times conformity works against us ex being pressured into something we don t want to have to do Experiment 70 side with wrong at least once Findings Many felt bad if they didn t Increased group size up to 4 As long as one dissents stops Recent studies still powerful Milgram 1963 Studies on Obedience Obedience changing behavior at the command of an authority figure vs conformity and compliance Not necessarily bad if you are a child and running into the street and mom yells stop and you obey it can save your life Experiment Series of shocks Findings Many objected but still obeyed even though heard complaints and told possibly lethal 2 3 went all the way expert predictions o Extremely difficult for most to disobey authority even if it goes against own values Men women old young Yale Conclusion Blind obedience not limited to fascist mentality part of basic human condition brought out by situations Contributing Factors to Obedience Authority claims responsibility Demands placed escalate gradually Ex frog Targeted individual shifts perspective to how well am I doing what s asked vs what am I really doing Authority figure close by Authority appears to be legitimate and prestigious Victim out of sight See others obeying no role model for disobeying Ex 2 authority figures who disagree 2 Zimbardo early 1970s The Stanford Prison Experiment Experiment Six days random assignment to roles create behavior differences Dehumanize quickly uniforms Hour long documentary Quiet Rage Findings Even with equal chance at group placement Nice boys became brutal guards healthy kids got sick extreme stress reactions Active boys became passive and zombie like All participants easily lost all perspective When situations end people return back to regular behavior Fundamental Attribution Error FAE tendency to overestimate the role of internal factors personality traits and underestimate the situational factors to people s behavior when other people succeed or fail When people succeed we overestimate the personal qualities that lead to that and underestimate the situational factors that lead to that When people fail its vice versa Why do we all do this regularly 1 We have trouble admitting how influenced we are by situations and the environment 2 Our society emphasizes individual accomplishments Ethical Concerns have been raised about both the Milgram and the Zimbardo studies Ethical guidelines and approval procedures are in place today that would make it highly unlikely that either of the studies would be allowed today Conformity Obedience Compliance Compliance change your behavior at the request of someone else Another form of social influence Conformity you choose Obedience someone commands you Compliance someone requests you to Seeing Through Compliance Tactics Social influence the process through which the real or implied presence of others directly or indirectly influences the thoughts feelings and behaviors of an individual Compliance tactics CTs work via social influence CTs are used by advertisers salespeople fundraisers neighbors enemies and friends All know how to increase the chance that you will do what they want you to do 3 CTs are techniques used specifically to coax compliance certain behavior out of others Despite the fact that many of these are somewhat dishonest they are used widely Being alert to the tactics should help you see through them and should help you avoid doing things and buying things that are not good for you Awareness should help you agree only to things that you would have agreed to or would have done anyway without the use of the CT by others Compliance tactics CTs can be broken into groups based on the principle they target We will look at three of these groups A Consistency Commitment B Reciprocity C Scarcity A Consistency Principle Takes advantage of people s needs to be or look consistent to self and to others Get the target to commit agree to 1 thing and then change the terms or conditions People tend to stay with their first commitment even when it is no longer to their advantage People like to be consistent Meaning people are more likely to agree to a second larger thing if they have already said yes to a smaller thing 1 Foot in the Door Technique Get people to agree to a little request to increase the chance they ll agree to a larger request Ex Get them to answer a few questions then people are more likely to let you in to their house rather than if you had ask to come in first Overall increase in compliance to the larger request by 13 This is less likely to work if 1 Second request made too quickly after the first 2 First request is too small or insignificant to register 3 Second request is just too unreasonable 2 Lowball Technique Get target to commit to an attractive proposition before
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