Social Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies how people think, feel, and behave in

social situations

Two Main Areas of Study

• Social Cognition--making sense of the social environment

• Social influence--how behavior is affected by situation and other people

Physical Attractiveness

• Implicit cultural message is “beautiful is good”• Attractive people are perceived as more intelligent,

happier, and better adjusted• Really no difference between attractive and less

attractive people having these characteristics• Attractive people are more likely to attribute other

people’s approval of their accomplishments to looks rather than effort or talent.

Attribution

• Process of inferring the causes of people’s behavior, including one’s own

• The explanation given for a particular behavior

Attribution Bias

• Fundamental attribution error

• Actor-observer discrepancy

• Blaming the victim (just-world hypothesis)

• Self-serving bias

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Tendency to blame the person and not focus on the situation.

• Blaming the victim- the tendency to blame an innocent victim of misfortune for having caused the problem or for not taking steps to prevent it.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Just world hypothesis- the assumption the world is fair and therefore people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

• Actor-observer discrepancy- “I slipped on ice, you’re a klutz”

• *We attribute our own behavior to the situation and others to them.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Self-serving bias- the tendency to attribute our own successful outcomes to internal causes and …

• Unsuccessful outcomes to external causes.

Using Attitudes as Ways to “Justify” Injustice

• Just-world bias– a tendency to believe that life is fair, e.g., it would

seem horrible to think that you can be a really good person and bad things could happen to you anyway

• Just-world bias leads to “blaming the victim”– we explain others’ misfortunes as being their fault:

– e.g., he deserved to be mugged, what was he doing in that neighborhood anyway?

In Class ExerciseGive Example

• Fundamental Attribution Error (elevator)

• Blaming the victim (they caused it)

• Just world hypothesis (world is fair)

• Actor-observer bias- (I slipped, you’re a klutz)

• Self-serving bias- (success internal, failure external).

Attitudes

What is an attitude?– predisposition to evaluate some people, groups, or

issues in a particular way– can be negative or positive– Has three components

• Cognitive—thoughts

• Affective—feelings or emotions

• Behavioral—your actions

Prejudice

A negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group

PrejudicePrejudice

Prejudice affects all of us -- majority group members as well as minority group members.

PrejudicePrejudice

Prejudice is dangerous, fostering negative consequences from lowered self-esteem to genocide.

PrejudicePrejudice

Over the past 30 years, blatant discrimination has been reduced; however, prejudice still exists in subtle -- and sometimes blatant -- forms.

PrejudicePrejudice

• Prejudice and Self-Esteem

Being a member of an oppressed group can lower a person’s self-esteem.

PrejudicePrejudice

• A Progress Report

Real progress has been made for women and minorities in the last few decades.

However, it would be a mistake to think that prejudice is no longer a serious problem in the United States.

Prejudice, Stereotyping and Prejudice, Stereotyping and DiscriminationDiscrimination

• Prejudice: The Affective Component

Prejudice is a hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group of people, based solely on their membership in that group.

Prejudice, Stereotyping and Prejudice, Stereotyping and DiscriminationDiscrimination

• Stereotypes: The Cognitive Component

A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members.

Prejudice, Stereotyping and Prejudice, Stereotyping and DiscriminationDiscrimination

• Discrimination: The Behavioral Component

Discrimination is an unjustified negative or harmful action towards a member of a group, simply because of his or her membership in that group.

Social Categories

• In-group—the social group to which we belong– In-group bias—tendency to make favorable

attributions for members of our in-group

• Out-group—the social group to which you do not belong– Out group homogeneity effect—tendency to

see members of the out-group as more similar to each other

Social Influence

How behavior is influenced by the social environment and the presence of other people

• Conformity

• Obedience

• Helping behaviors

Conformity• Adopting attitudes or behaviors of others

because of pressure to do so; the pressure can be real or imagined

• 2 general reasons for conformity– Informational social influence—other people can

provide useful and crucial information– Normative social influence—desire to be

accepted as part of a group leads to that group having an influence

Asch’s Experiments on Conformity

• All but 1 in group was confederate

• Seating was rigged • Asked to rate which line

matched a “standard” line

• Confederates were instructed to pick the wrong line 12/18 times

Comparison linesStandard lines1 2 3

Asch’s Experiments on Conformity

• Results– Asch found that 75% participants conformed to at least one

wrong choice

– subjects gave wrong answer (conformed) on 37% of the critical trials

• Why did they conform to clearly wrong choices?– informational influence?

– subjects reported having doubted their own perceptual abilities which led to their conformance – didn’t report seeing the lines the way the confederates had

When Do People Conform?

• Group size (5)

• Difficult to be a minority of one

• Cohesion- more bound together, more power it has over members

• Status- high status more impact

• No previous commitment!

©PhotoFest

Why Conform?

• People conform because they want to be liked (normative)

• People conform because they want to be right. (informational)

© Ken Lambert/ The Washington Times Photo Agency

Who Conforms?

• According to Kurt Lewin, every psychological event depends on the person and the environment

• Asch’s study crosses cultures, except Zimbabwe which frowns on conformity

©Mark Peterson/SABA

Obedience

• Obedience– compliance of person

is due to perceived authority of asker

– request is perceived as a command

• Milgram interested in unquestioning obedience to orders

Stanley Milgram’s Studies

Basic study procedure– teacher and learner

(learner always confederate)

– watch learner being strapped into chair

– learner expresses concern over his “heart condition”

Stanley Milgram’s Studies• Teacher goes 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• If teacher protested, ‘the experiment

requires that you continue”

Stanley Milgram’s Studies• Learner protests

more and more as shock increases

• Experimenter continues to request obedience even if teacher balks

120

150

300

330

“Ugh! Hey this really hurts.”

“Ugh! Experimenter! That’s all. Get me out of here. I told you I had heart trouble. My heart’s starting to bother me now.”

(agonized scream) “I absolutelyrefuse to answer any more.Get me out of here. You can’t hold me here. Get me out.”

(intense & prolonged agonized scream) “Let me out of here. Let me out of here. My heart’s bothering me. Let me out, I tell you…”

Obedience

• How many people would go to the highest shock level?

• 65% of the subjects went to the end, even those that protested

• When asked to predict results professionals and college student predicted wrong!

Obedience

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

– Some quit at the 315volt level…

Explanations for Milgram’s Results

• Obedience framework--subjects volunteered and accepted payment

• Context--prestige and “advancement of science”

• Experimenter self-assurance and acceptance of responsibility

• Separation of learner and experimenter• New situation and no model of how to behave

Percentage of subjects administeringthe maximum shock (450 volts)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Follow-Up Studies to Milgram

• Original study

• Different building

• Teacher with learner• Put hand on shock

• Orders by phone

• Ordinary man orders

• 2 teachers rebel

• Teacher chooses shock level

What Breeds Obedience?

• Emotional distance of the victim

• Closeness and legitimacy of the authority

• Institutional authority• The liberating effects

of group influence© Stanley Milgram, 1965,

From the film Obedience, distributed by the Pennsylvania State University

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?

Why Don’t People Always Help Others in Need?

• Latané 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 onto others

• Kitty Genovese incident

Kitty Genovese incident

• Led to research on altruism and prosocial behavior (Lantane and Darley)

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

• Bystander effect--the greater the number of people present, the less likely each person is to help

Factors that Increase Likelihood of Helping

• Feel good do good effect

• Feeling guilty

• Seeing others willing to help

• Perceiving person as deserving of help

• Knowing how to help

• Personalized relationship with person

Factors that Decrease Likelihood of Helping

• Presence of other people

• Being in a big city or small town

• Vague or ambiguous situation

• When personal costs or helping outweigh the benefits

• Prosocial behavior--any behavior that helps another person regardless of underlying motive

• Altruistic behavior--helping another person without expectation of personal reward or benefit

Would you help?

• You are in a moderately crowded swimming pool and you see someone under water; close to the side of the pool, who has not moved for a minute or so.

Would you help?

• You are driving down the road and see a very old woman struggle to change a flat tire on her car.

Would you help?

• You see a child knock a younger and smaller child to the ground and then jump on and pound the younger and smaller child.

Would you help?

• You are about to enter a 7-11 when you see someone holding a knife on the clerk.

Would you help?

• As you walk through your neighborhood, you see an adult who has fallen off a bicycle and is bleeding. You do not know the person.

Why Do We Help?

• Gaining rewards, avoiding punishment– Social exchange- we are most likely to help

someone who approval we desire– We weigh the cost and benefits of helping– Internal rewards

• Guilt• mood• Feel good, do good• Rewards can also be external

Persuasion

Lets see how good you are at persuasion…

Class Exercise

• 1. Pedro is running for office. You want someone to put a huge sign that says, “Vote for Pedro” in their front yard. How?

• You have a job as a used car salesman. You need to sell a 1992 Saturn for $3400. You meet a man who wants to spend $3000. How do you get him to agree?

Does Behavior Determine Attitudes?

• The foot-in-the-door phenomenon- People are more likely to do big favor if you first get them to agree to a small favor…small sign

• Low-ball technique- Get person to agree to price then add on $.

© Phil Zimbardo

Return the favor…

We feel obliged to return favors, even those we did not want in the first place

– salesperson gives something to customer with idea that customer will feel compelled to give something back (buying the product)

– even if person did not wish for favor in the first place

Defense against Persuasion Techniques

• Sleep on it—don’t act on something right away

• Play devil’s advocate—think of all the reasons you shouldn’t buy the product or comply with the request

• Pay attention to your gut feelings—if you feel pressured, you probably are being pressured