Social Psychology I Influencing Other People and How They Influence Us Social Perception and Cognition 04 29 2014 I Stereotypes and Prejudice a Stereotype b Prejudice i Belief about a particular group of people i Negative attitude toward a group of people 1 Often results in discrimination unfair treatment c No one admits their prejudices anymore i But almost all of us have them ii We don t ask people directly about prejudices because they lie iii We study them in sneaky ways d Implicit Association Test i Reaction time test ii Measures reactions to combinations of category pairings iii We react faster to pairings that conform to our prejudices even subconsciously iv What s the point 1 Even when we deny being prejudices 1 That kind well meaning people have prejudices a Even if we aren t aware of them e Overcoming Prejudice i Cooperation instead of competition ii Requires in depth repeated contact with the group you are prejudiced against 1 As roommates 2 Members of the same sports team 3 Working toward a common goal Robbers Cave study II Interpersonal Influence a Social facilitations i Mere presence of others can increase our performance e g if in a group if being watched 1 On difficult task our performance suffers b Social Comparison others i We evaluate our beliefs and behaviors by comparing them to 1 If unsure of how to act we act like others do ii Mass Hysteria and Urban Legends 1 Believed because repeated so many times and play on our negative emotions a Pool urine detectors HIV needles at movie theaters Pop Rocks and soda snotes com c Giving in to Others Conformity i Conformity changing your beliefs or behavior in order to follow group norms 1 Asch s study ii We are more likely to conform when 1 All other group members are unanimous 2 There are several people in the group d Giving in to Others Compliance i Compliance changing your behavior because someone asks e Giving in to Others Obedience i Obedience Changing your behavior because someone told you you to do ii I was just following orders 1 Nuremberg trials Abu Ghraib 2 Milgram s shock study a 65 of people will shock someone to a lethal level when told to do so by an authority figure b Most likely to obey when an authority figure is very close by and when we feel less responsibility 3 It s all about the situation Social Psychology Part 2 Interpersonal Influence I Social Influence Diffusion of Responsibility 04 29 2014 a Definition Social phenomena occurring in groups where responsibility is not explicitly assigned i People are less likely to engage in helping behavior in the presence of others Bystander apathy 1 1964 Kitty Genovese case and others a Many people heard her yet no one called the police until half an hour later 2 Lab fire experiment 70 vs 13 a Alone 70 got help b Not alone 13 got help ii Pluralistic ignorance seeing others not act iii enlightenment effect II Deindividuation a Deindividuation is a state of lower self awareness or personal identity as being part of a group i Zimbardo s Stanford Prisoner Study 1971 1 The power of the role that you are assigned ii 2004 Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse 1 Untrained guards let go of their individualism moralism and took on the role they believed was expected of them III Persuasion Two routes to attitude change a Central Route i For important decisions ii Requires careful use of evidence logic and evaluation b Peripheral Route i For minor decisions lacking any importance ii Requires little other than appearance number or arguments etc c 4 Persuasion Techniques i Foot in the Door 1 Ask somebody for a relatively small request 1 to feed cats for a week 2 Then ask for a bigger request 5 to feed them for a month ii Door in the Face iii Bait and Switch expensive iv That s not all 1 Asking for a big thing hoping to get the small thing a EX Asking for 5000 knowing the person won t donate then reducing it and getting less 250 1 Getting you to agree to something that doesn t exist and selling them something close to it that is more 1 They convince you that you need more d Key Concepts Affecting Persuasion i Delayed Influence 1 Sleeper Effect let them sleep on it a An initial rejection toward an argument allows the person you are trying to convince to think about it 2 Minority Effect Socialist Party a Through repeated pushing of an agenda that could not pass other people begin pushing it so that it becomes a goal of the majority ii Audience Variables of Concern 1 Intelligence and interest a Consider the intelligence of the audience Central b Little interest Peripheral c Great interest Central 2 Resistance Effects a Inoculation vs forewarning effects i Inoculation you inadvertently laid on a peripheral route and realized your mistake of giving weak and then strong arguments b Forewarning effect i I want to talk to you about 1 Gives them time to come up with counterexamples iii Presenter variables of concern 1 Fear message but not always effective a Including a convincing argument of fear unsafe b Be able to prove it 2 Similarity to audience or another group useful 04 29 2014