PSYC 1101 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Social Psychology Study of how the presence of others influences our thoughts actions and feelings Social influence Zimbardo The greatest contribution of social psychology is its study of how our attitudes beliefs decisions and actions are modeled by social influence One of most famous experiments Stanford Prison Experiment Philip o WHAT WAS IT Over 70 men volunteered Performed psychological tests and chose most normal people Half were guards got khaki uniforms handcuffs whistle club and silver reflecting sunglasses no one can see their eyes people act differently with masks on Other half were arrested blindfolded stripped naked put in uniform with no underwear and could only be referred to by their numbers Can good people do evil things Given some social pressure or identity Test power of the environment to transform normal people Photographs and videos o Main Events Guards authority challenged right away by the prisoners they became more authoritative No one told the guards what to do and no one stopped them so they kept going Rebellion on the first night Cursed at fought with the guards guards physically broke rebellion They thought of them as dangerous prisoners and treated them as such Prisoner 8612 had an emotional breakdown Guard believed they were weak or just faking Things started turning sexual made them strip etc Every day people started breaking down Very clearly genuine o The experiment changed Zimbardo as well His girlfriend convinced o WHAT DID THEY LEARN It s not a few bad apples it s the whole him to end it after 6 days system Factors of the Behavior in the Prison Experiment o Support from higher authority no one stopped them o Identity hidden through numbers and sunglasses o The idea that these are dangerous criminals Us and Them Ingroup people with whom one shares a common identity Outgroup those perceived as different from one s ingroup Ingroup Bias the tendency to favor one s own group Conforming to the Group standard Conformity adjusting one s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group o People are natural mimics Ex If one person crosses their arms the other person will tend to cross theirs as well Suggestibility subtle type of conformity adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard Solomon Asch o Experiment 5 confederates actors 1 subject in a group They are told to match two identical lines and all the confederate say the wrong one Over one third of subjects went with the wrong answer just because everyone else did o People don t want to stand out even when they are right Conditions that Strengthen Conformity One is made to feel incompetent or insecure The group has at least 3 people The group is unanimous One admires the group s status and attractiveness like hazing The group observes one s behavior Reasons for Conforming Normative social influence influence resulting from a person s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection Informational social influence the group may provide valuable information We have to recognize that we are not always right Sometimes we change our minds based on the information that other people give us Stanley Milgram SHOCK EXPERIMENT Obedience People comply with social pressures How would they respond to outright Stanley Milgram designed a study that investigates the effects of authority on command obedience o WHAT WAS IT Man in white lab coat authority figure He takes the subject and puts him alone in a room He tells him to read out questions and another subject who is really a confederate will be answering them from another room Every time he gets an answer wrong the subject must shock him going to a higher and higher voltage every time After each shock the confederate screams from the other room pretending to be in pain o RESULTS About 66 of the participants went all the way to the deadly 450 volts even after they themselves felt the lowest shock before beginning o Many of them were in angst and asked if they could stop but they still kept going This shed light on Nazi Germany people listening to commands A third of Milgram s participants resisted social coercion The power of social influence is enormous but so is the power of the Non violent fasts and appeals led by Gandhi led to the independence of India Individual Resistance individual from the British Bystander Effect Bystander Effect Tendency of any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present More bystanders less help in emergency situations everyone assumes someone else will call 911 or get help Many factors o Man vs woman men are much more likely to help women than another man o Appearance person in suit more likely to be helped than homeless CASE STUDY 1 Woman was mugged and beaten in NY The man heard noise from apartment so he ran away but when no one came to help he came back to rape and kill her Tons of people heard her scream but all assumed someone else would call police CASE STUDY 2 Man stabbed and bleeding right outside nightclub No one checked on him everyone just walked by and he bled to death In a big city most people don t react to body on the ground In a small village the inhabitants are very likely to check on body and help
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