Social Psychology Recitation 2 Aggression behavior whose purpose is to harm another Premeditated aggression people consciously decide to use aggress to achieve their goals Impulsive aggression people aggress spontaneously without premeditation Relational aggression not physical Frustration aggression principle people aggress when their goals are thwarted Gender differences exist in types of aggressive behavior Hostile aggression pain is the end goal Instrumental aggression pain as a means to a goal more likely male Altruism behavior that benefits another without benefitting ourselves Reciprocal altruism behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future It feels good to help people but there are social benefits of altruism Kin selection the process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives Groups collection of two or more people who believe they have something in common Changes in behavior due to groups are powerful Social facilitation is the tendency for people to do better on simple tasks and worse on complex tasks when they are in the presence of other people and their individual performance might be evaluated Anxiety gets in the way Zajonc 1965 Cockroaches Running in a maze Faster through simple maze with other roaches but slower through complex with other roaches Influence of Groups Performance Social loafing is the tendency to do worse on simple tasks better at complex tasks due to the presence of other people When we don t think we will be evaluated We are relaxed Pulling power Ringelman 1913 When more people are added they try less o 2 men Each 93 productive vs alone o 4 men Each 77 productive vs alone o 8 men Each 49 productive vs alone Social facilitation vs loafing Presence of others Individual efforts can be evaluated arousal better at simple tasks and worse at complex tasks Presence of others Individual efforts cannot be evaluated relaxation worse on simple tasks better at complex tasks Avoid social loafing by evaluate our contribution Make individual contributions identifiable We are less likely to loaf when others can Make the task meaningful challenging or important We are less likely to loaf if work is for a good cause Emphasize that individual effort leads to better overall performance Increase interpersonal cohesiveness Gender effect men are more likely to loaf Cultural effect collectivist cultures less likely to loaf Influence of groups morality Deindividuation getting lost in the crowd loosening of normal constraints when in a crowd which leads to an increase in impulsive or deviant behaviors Mob mentality less accountable less likely to abide by own moral values Examples riots genocide lynch mobs Suicide baiting when crowds of people encourage someone to commit suicide Analysis of newspaper reports found o Suicide baiting 2 as likely to occur with a large crowd present 300 people or o 4 as likely to occur at night after 6 pm because more anonymous more more baiting Examples Mullen 1986 Analysis of newspaper accounts of 60 lynchings between 1899 and 1946 Most frequently occurred at night Larger the mob the more save technique Watson 1973 Analysis of warriors across 24 cultures Warriors that hid identity before going to battle masks face paint more likely to kill torture and mutilate captive prisoners Uniforms children playing handball played more aggressively when given uniforms than when playing in their street clothes Presence of others influences how people act Darley and Latane in the 1960s smoke filled room study alone vs presence of others 1 out of 10 left and the others stayed for 6 minutes while coughing Bystander Effect the greater the number of bystanders who witness the emergency the less likely anyone is to help This is due to diffusion of responsibility Ex Kitty Genovese murder Lead to Good Samaritan Laws o Some cases oblige people to give reasonable assistance to injured ill or in peril o Generally protects people who do so from legal action Influence of Groups decision making Groupthink is when the maintenance of group solidarity is more important than realistically considering the facts This happens when the group is cohesive isolated and stressed and the group does not consider alternatives dissention not allowed and illusion of vulnerability Ex Bay of Pigs Iraq War Causes and Effects o Antecedents highly cohesive groups strong leader insulated from outside opinions no procedures for evaluating alternative external stress or threat o Symptoms feeling vulnerable illusion of unanimity belief in inherent morality of group stereotype out groups pressure on dissenters self censorship no backup plan Preventing groupthink group leader should refrain from making opinion known at first The leader should discuss decision with each member individually Bring in outside opinions Assign a devils advocate Develop a plan B Conformity is the tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it Asch s conformity study 75 of participants conformed at least once They didn t want to look foolish in front of others Now if people go around saying the wrong thing out loud and you write your answer secretly on a piece of paper then conformity was reduced Normative vs informational social influence o Normative based on desire to be liked People conform when group size is 3 or more important and no allies in the group o Informational based on desire to be right or accurate Negative conformity eating disorders in sororities Bulimia can be predicted from bulimic symptoms of friends Binge drinking in fraternities Compliance strategies norm of reciprocity door in the face foot in the door lowballing hard to get and pique technique Obedience is the tendency to do what authorities tell us to do simply because they tell us to do it Milgram s study examined obedience to instructions that could cause someone else distress or pain Procedure teacher real participant is told by the experimenter to administer shocks to the learner confederate when learner answers a question incorrectly Shocks increased in voltage each time Hypothesis people will not comply with instructions to give higher voltage shocks 5 of participants will administer the maximum of 450 volts Influences of obedience Learner s health no effect Proximity to the learner victim if in the same room obedience is 40 if in the same room and required to apply shock directly to learner obedience is 30 Closeness and status