Chapter 12 Social Psychology Textbook Notes Introduction Social psychology is the scientific study of how a person s thoughts feelings and behavior are influenced by the real imagined or implied presence of other people Section 1 Social Influence Conformity Group Behavior Compliance and Obedience 12 1 What factors influence people or groups to conform to the actions of others and how does the presence of others affect individual task performance Solomon Asch 1951 used a set of comparison lines and a standard line to experiment with conformity finding that subjects conformed to group opinion about one third of the time increased as the number of confederates rose to four and decreased if just one confederate gave the correct answer Used lines off diff lengths in experiment in 1950 60s in social psychology interest in Nazi Germany Conformity research Muzafer Sherif 1936 auto kinetic effect participants put in dark room shown single point of light point of light seemed to move bc of tiny involuntary movements of the eye participants were not told of this effect When a confederate a person chosen to manipulate situation also gave estimates the original participants made estimates of motion similar to the confederate criticized bc judgements made were ambiguous vague light wasn t really moving so any estimate w in reason would sound good need to be more specifically measurable and certain Cross cultural research has found that collectivistic cultures show more conformity than individualistic cultures Gender differences do not exist in conformity unless the response is not private in which case women are more conforming than men Groupthink occurs when a decision making group feels that it is more important to maintain group unanimity and cohesiveness than to consider the facts realistically Minimizing groupthink involves holding group members responsible for the decisions made by the group Group polarization occurs when members take somewhat more extreme positions and take greater risks as compared to those made by individuals When the performance of an individual on a relatively easy task is improved by the presence of others it is called social facilitation When the performance of an individual on a relatively difficult task is negatively affected by the presence of others it is called social impairment When a person who is lazy is able to work in a group of people that person often performs less well than if the person were working alone in a phenomenon called social loafing Deindividuation occurs when group members feel anonymous and personally less responsible for their actions On April 20 2010 an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico Oil flowed into the Gulf for three months but the environmental impact will no doubt be felt for years Relates to groupthink At first the man in the foreground seems to be paying attention to the woman making the presentation But if you look carefully at his computer screen you ll see he s actually engaging in some serious social loafing How do you think his colleagues around the room might feel about his behavior Social psychologist Irving Janis 1 Table 12 1 Characteristics of Groupthink Characteristic Invulnerability Rationalization Lack of introspection Members do not examine the ethical implications of their decisions bc they believe that Description Members feel they cannot fail Members explain away warning signs and help each other rationalize their decision they cannot make immoral choices Members stereotype their enemies as weak stupid or unreasonable Members pressure each other not to question the prevailing opinion Stereotyping Pressure Lack of disagreement Members do not express opinions that differ from the group consensus Self deception Insularity narrow mindedness Section 2 Compliance Members share in the illusion that they all agree w the decisions Members prevent the group from hearing disruptive but potential useful info from ppl who are outside the group 12 2 How is compliance defined and what are some ways to gain the compliance of another Compliance occurs when a person changes behavior as a result of another person asking or directing that person to change Three common ways of getting compliance from others are the foot in the door technique the door in the face technique and the lowball technique People who join cults tend to be under stress unhappy unassertive gullible dependent idealistic and they want to belong Young people are also likelier to join cults than are older people Cults use love bombing isolation rituals and activities to keep the new recruits from questioning and critical thinking Cults also use the foot in the door technique In 1978 the Reverend Jim Jones leader of the People s Temple in Jonestown Guyana ordered his followers to drink poisoned drinks or shoot each other Of the cult members 640 adults died and 274 children were either killed by their own hands or those of their parents Chidester 2003 Section 3 Obedience 12 3 What factors make obedience more likely Obedience involves changing one s behavior at the direct order of an authority figure Milgram did experiments in which he found that 65 percent of people obeyed an authority figure even if they believed they were hurting injuring or possibly killing another person with electric shock Thought 1 would get all the way to 150 V but it was actually 62 in 1st experiment 2 3rds of the ppl made it all the way through Results were surprising In Stanley Milgram s classic study on obedience the participants were presented with a control panel like this one Each participant teacher was instructed to give electric shocks to another person the learner who only pretended to be shocked by pounding on the wall and playing a pre recorded audio tape of grunts protests and screams Statements similar to the learner s script Table 12 2 Sample Script Items Similar to Those in Milgram s Classic Experiment Voltage of Shock 120 150 300 Ouch Experimenter let me out of here I m through Please I have heart trouble I don t want to go on That s it enough I will not be part of this experiment let me out now Scream of pain heard in background I am not doing this anymore you can t make me stay here Get me out get me out Louder and longer scream of pain Get me out get me out my heart my heart My chest hurts get me 330 2 out of here let me out of here you have no right to do this Let me out of here Social Influence the ways in which a person