Social Influence Chapter 14 Why Don t People Always Help Others in Need Diffusion of responsibility presence of others leads to decreased help response we all think someone else will help so we don t Why Don t People Always Help Others in Need Latane studies several scenarios designed to measure the help response found that if you think you re the only one that can hear or help you are more likely to do so if there are others around you will diffuse the responsibility to others majority position stronger after a group discussion in which a minority is arguing Kitty Genovese incident Social Pressure in Group Decisions Group polarization against the majority point of view Why does this occur informational and normative influences Social Pressure in Group Decisions Groupthink group members try to maintain harmony and unanimity in group can lead to some better decisions and some worse decisions than individuals Influence of Others Requests Compliance Sales techniques and cognitive dissonance four walls technique question customer in such a way that gets answers consistent with the idea that they need to own object feeling of cognitive dissonance results if person chooses not to buy this thing that they need Sales Techniques and Cognitive Dissonance Foot in the door technique ask for something small at first then hit customer with larger request later small request has paved the way to compliance with the larger request cognitive dissonance results if person has already granted a request for one thing then refuses to give the larger item The Reciprocity Norm and Compliance We feel obliged to return favors even those we did not want in the first place opposite of foot in the door salesperson gives something to customer with idea that they will feel compelled to give something back buying the product even if person did not wish for favor in the first place Combining Sales Techniques What happens if you combine reciprocity norm with foot in the door Hypothesis the 2 techniques will cancel each other out Bell et al 1994 study Evidence supports hypothesis Preventing Reactance Against Pressure Psychological reactance if pressure is too blatant has opposite of intended effect leads to salespeople using softer techniques so that person feels they have a choice often phrase pressure into questions would you please put your books and notes away for the quiz Obedience Obedience Stanley Milgram s Studies Basic study procedure heart condition compliance of person is due to perceived authority of asker request is perceived as a command Milgram interested in unquestioning obedience to orders teacher and learner learner always confederate watch learner being strapped into chair learner expresses concern over his Stanley Milgram s Studies Teacher to another room with experimenter Shock generator panel 15 to 450 volts labels slight shock to XXX Asked to give higher shocks for every mistake learner makes Stanley Milgram s Studies Learner protests more and more as shock increases Experimenter continues to request obedience even if teacher balks Explanations for Milgram s Results Abnormal group of subjects numerous replications with variety of groups shows no support People in general are sadistic videotapes of Milgram s subjects show extreme distress Explanations for Milgram s Results Authority of Yale and value of science Experimenter self assurance and acceptance of responsibility Proximity of learner and experimenter New situation and no model of how to behave Critiques of Milgram Although 84 later said they were glad to have participated and fewer than 2 said they were sorry there are still ethical issues Do these experiments really help us understand real world atrocities action inaction will benefit individual but harm others in the group and cause more harm than good to everyone if everyone takes that course Cooperation and Social Dilemmas Social dilemma Use of games to study social dilemmas one shot prisoner s dilemma iterative prisoner s dilemma effect of adding players One Shot Prisoner s Dilemma Game 2 prisoners must decide between silence and confession Both silent both get relatively short prison sentences Both confess both get moderate prison sentences One confesses confessor gets no sentence partner gets very long sentence No communication between players until both have chosen One Shot Prisoner s Dilemma Game Game in lab setting choice to cooperate or defect consequence is monetary highest vs lowest individual payoff highest vs lowest total payoff Iterative Prisoner s Dilemma Game 2 players play same game repeatedly Rapoport s Tit for Tat TFT strategy Iterative nature changes logic for players first time you meet new partner cooperate for all other trials do to partner what they did to you on previous trial can t win with TFT this strategy gets others to cooperate Iterative Prisoner s Dilemma Game Why is TFT effective in gaining cooperation it s nice cooperates from the start encouraging cooperation it s not exploitable discourages defection by reciprocating each defection it s forgiving as soon as partner begins cooperating TFT reciprocates it s transparent partner quickly learns that best strategy is to cooperate Emotions and Cooperation Cooperation cooperation Failure to cooperate failure to cooperate Cooperation failure to cooperate Failure to cooperate cooperation Social Identity and Cooperation Social identity theory as an in group for you Sherif s camp study states that when you re assigned to a group you automatically think of that group 11 12 year old boys at camp boys were divided into 2 groups and kept separate from one another each group took on characteristics of distinct social group with leaders rules norms of behavior and names Sherif s Camp Study Leaders proposed series of competitive interactions Led to 3 changes between groups and within groups within group solidarity negative stereotyping of other group hostile between group interactions Sherif s Camp Study Overcoming the strong we they effect establishment of superordinate goals e g breakdown in camp water supply overcoming intergroup strife research stereotypes are diluted when people share individuating information Summary When we help others when we don t presence of others diffusion of responsibility Group decision making group polarization groupthink Summary Compliance Obedience Cooperation sales techniques Milgram s studies Sherif s camp study