OUTLINE 52 53 54 55 Social Psychology Read Module 54 o Attitudes and Social Cognition Read Module 55 Social Influence o Conformity o Obedience to Authority o Groups Read Module 56 o Prejudice and Discrimination Read Module 57 Pos Neg Social Behavior o Helping o Aggression Read o Liking and Loving Read NOTE YOU BETTER READ CHAPTER 18 VERY CAREFULLY MANY TEST QUESTIONS ON SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY WILL COME FROM THE TEXT SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Social Influence CONFORMITY Def a change in behavior due to real or imagined influence of other people Giving into perceived group pressure Acting in a certain way because of others Acting differently than if you were alone EX Teens dressing alike Laughing at a bad joke Doing the wave at a football game SOCIAL INFLUENCE Classic study in conformity ASCH STUDY conformity in an unambiguous situation Method 1 Groups of subjects participate in a perceptual judgment task Only one person was a real subject the rest were confederates 2 View a target line and 3 comparison lines 3 Each person says which comparison line matches the target line Notes line First few trials confederates say correct line Then all the confederates say the same incorrect Results 1 If tested alone 99 accuracy 2 When tested with the group of confederates 76 subjects conformed at least once 37 of responses were conforming Elevator Video confederates faced the back of the elevator which made the subject turn around as well WHY CONFORMITY Informational influence Def the influence of other people that leads us to conform because we see them as a source of correct information and use it to guide our behavior We conform because we may not know what is the right behavior to commit so we look to others Information from others conformity EX taking communion at a Catholic wedding when you have no idea what to do because you re not Catholic so you just do what everyone else is Normative Social Influence Def the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them Desire for acceptance conformity EX smoking a cigar Asch study WHEN CONFORMITY What factors lead to conformity 1 Group size Increases from 1 to 5 Over 5 people not much increase in conformity 2 Group unanimity When everyone agrees BUT when there is one dissenter then the pressure to conform drops 3 Group cohesion Are you attached to the group friends and does the group have strong bonds 4 Group individual status Person conforming s status high vs low Group s status high vs low 5 Prior commitment Backing down 6 Private vs public conformity Alone vs with others Writing down answer vs saying out loud Social Influence OBEDIENCE Def instance in which someone in a position of authority simply tells another person to do something and they DO IT The most famous social psychology study Stanley Milgram Obedience to Authority studies Would people obey commands from a relatively powerless stranger who told them to inflict considerable pain on another person Interest came from observing the tragic events of the holocaust during WWII OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY MILGRAM STUDY Method Experimenter told Subjects that they were taking part in a study on learning and punishment Pair of subjects Learner really a confederate Teacher the real subject The teacher would read a list of words to the learner and the learner would have to respond with the correct word from memory The Teacher had to punish the Learner for every mistake he made on the learning test Errors were punished by delivering increasing levels of shock to the learner 15 450 volts When necessary the experimenter would prod the teacher subject to continue with the shocks Please continue or Please go on The experiment requires that you continue It is absolutely essential that you continue You have no other choice you must go on OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY MILGRAM STUDY Results 65 of the subjects in this study shocked the learner all the way up to 450 volts Why do people obey when it is destructive Factors that increase destructive obedience 2 Emotional Distance of the victim Cover your face bomb from a plane can t see victim 3 Real distance of the authority figure Distance between authority and subject is small 4 Transfer of responsibility Obey authority if you believe you re not responsible 5 Legitimacy of Authority figure institution How they look speak act setting of experiment lab v mall 6 Pace of the commands Quick pace more destructive obedience 7 Small increments in obedience greater destruction 15 30 45 60 450 GROUPS Two types of people gatherings Social collective Def people in the same place at the same time NOT really interacting BUT can influence each other EX People waiting in line for a bus fans at a football game psych 100 lecture Social Group Def people interacting with each other and are interdependent same goals rely on each other EX Athletic teams survivor tribes Groups SOCIAL FACILITATION Two parts If the task is simple and well learned then Presence of others performance improvement EX Cycling study to determine their place in the race every individual racer would do the race ahead of time by themselves and time it Each bicyclist raced slower by themselves than when they were racing other bicyclists When you re with other people you measure yourself against them and push harder If the task is difficult then Presence of others performance declines EX Difficult cognitive tasks maze learning measured subjects by themselves or with 3 other people Would always work individually People are slower with 3 other people than if they are by themselves Groups SOCIAL FACILITATION cont Why can the presence of others lead to 2 different outcomes Arousal Dominant Response Mere presence of others is arousing Arousal improves performance on easy tasks and hinders performance on hard tasks why Arousal makes the dominant response more likely Dominant response Easy tasks success correctness speed Hard tasks failure errors slow downs Social Facilitation Def the strengthening of the dominant response in the presence of others EX You decide to stop at a local pool hall and shoot a few racks Will you perform better or worse if people are watching you Who is good at pool play with others watching Who is bad at pool play alone Groups SOCIAL LOAFING Def the tendency to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone Your individual performance is not evaluated Rather the group performance is evaluated EX Tug of war study told to pull as hard as they can half
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