CHAPTER Social Psychology Social Cognition Social Influence Social

CHAPTER Social Psychology • Social Cognition • Social Influence • Social Relations © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. 14

Real World Psychology Things you’ll learn in Chapter 14 Q 1 Why do athletes often blame their losses on bad officiating? Q 2 How can taking a pill reduce attitude change? Q 3 Can reading books about Harry Potter increase positive feelings toward gay people? Q 4 If popular high-school students are anti-bullying and anti-drinking, does that reduce these behaviors among their peers? Q 5 Why are we so surprised when our preferred presidential candidate loses? Q 6 How does simple nearness (proximity) influence attraction? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Psychology • Social psychology – The branch of psychology that studies how others influence our: • Thoughts • Feelings • Actions – Social cognition (subfield of social psychology) • Examines the way we think about and interpret ourselves and others © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Attributions • Attribution defined • Attribution errors and biases – Fundamental attribution error (FAE) – Saliency bias – Self-serving bias – Actor-observer effect • Culture and attributional biases – Collectivistic cultures (e. g. China): more aware of situational constraints on behavior; FAE less likely than in individualistic cultures (e. g. U. S. ) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 1 Why do athletes often blame their losses on bad officiating? • Elite athletes more often attribute their wins to internal (personal) causes, such as their skill and effort, while attributing their losses to external (situational) causes, such as bad equipment or poor officiating. (Aldridge & Islam, 2012; Mackinnon et al. , 2015) Which type of bias does this illustrate? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. ?

Social Cognition Attributions (continued) FIGURE 14. 2 The actor-observer effect © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Attributions (continued) Tips for Reducing Attributional Biases To offset the often misguided preference for internal attributions, ask yourself these four questions: 1. Is the behavior unique or it is shared by others? (if large and increasing in number, it is most likely external/situational) 2. Is the behavior stable or unstable? 3. Was the cause of behavior controllable or uncontrollable? 4. What would I do in the same situation? (if same way, it is most likely external/situational) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Attitudes • Attitude defined • Attitude formation – Are learned; sources: • Direct instruction • Personal experience • Watching others • Attitude change – Cognitive dissonance How do our attitudes form over such things as air pollution or body image? • Culture and cognitive dissonance – Individualistic cultures: A bad decision poses more of a threat to one’s self-esteem © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Attitudes (continued) Attitude formation © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. FIGURE 14. 3

Social Cognition Attitudes (continued) FIGURE 14. 4 Cognitive dissonance: why cheap lies hurt more The classic 1959 Festinger & Carlsmith experiment showed that those who lied “for the money” felt low levels of cognitive dissonance compared to the “cheap” liars. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 2 How can taking a pain pill reduce attitude change? • A clever experiment found that taking a simple pain killer, like the one in the photo above, versus a placebo, can significantly reduce the amount of attitude change. Why? The acetaminophen reduced the individual’s overall pain, including the discomfort created from cognitive dissonance, so the person was less motivated to change his or her attitude. (De. Wall et al. , 2015) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Attitudes (continued) Understanding cognitive dissonance In this example: Why do some health professionals (who obviously know the dangers of smoking) continue to smoke? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. PROCES S DIAGRA M 14. 1 a

Social Cognition Attitudes (continued) Understanding cognitive dissonance (continued) In this example – Steps 2 and 3 – “I smoke cigarettes” – “I know smoking cigarettes leads to cancer” Step 4 – Actions: “I quit” – Feelings: “I don’t care… I love smoking!” – Thoughts: “Those studies that show smoking causes cancer were only performed on animals. ” © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. PROCESS DIAGRAM 14. 1 b

Social Cognition Prejudice • Prejudice defined – Literally means a “pre-judgement” – Three elements: • Affective (emotions) • Behavioral (discrimination) • Cognitive (stereotypes) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Prejudice (continued) FIGURE 14. 5 Prejudice versus discrimination © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Prejudice (continued) • Common sources of prejudice 1. Learning e. g. classical conditioning (ethnocentrism), observational learning, ethnocentrism, operant conditioning 2. Limited resources e. g. power / control / dominance 3. Displaced aggression e. g. scapegoating 4. Mental shortcuts e. g. stereotypes © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Prejudice (continued) Sources of Prejudice Which source best explains your own prejudices? FIGURE 14. 6 Prejudice & Immigration Can you identify which of the four sources of prejudice best explains this behavior? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. FIGURE 14. 7

Social Cognition Prejudice (continued) • Reducing prejudice 1. Cooperation with common goals 2. Intergroup contact - With close interaction, interdependence and equal status 3. Cognitive retraining - e. g. racial colorblindness 4. Cognitive dissonance 5. Empathy induction - Taking another’s perspective © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Cognition Prejudice (continued) FIGURE 14. 8 The high price of prejudice b) Slavery in the United States a) The Holocaust c) The 2016 nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 3 Can reading books about Harry Potter increase positive feelings toward gay people? • A clever study found that high school students who had read more books in the Harry Potter series had more positive feelings toward gay FIGURE people, and showed lower levels of 14. 11 prejudice toward immigrants. (Vezzali et al. , 2015) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence • Social influence defined – How situational factors other people affect us • Three key topics – Conformity – Obedience – Group processes © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. and

Social Influence Conformity • Conformity defined – A change in thoughts, feelings or actions because of real or imagined group pressure • Factors that drive conformity – Normative social influence – Informational social influence – Reference groups © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Conformity (continued) FIGURE 14. 12 Solomon Asch’s study of conformity Which line (A, B or C) is more like line X? (And, could anyone convince you otherwise? ) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 4 If popular high school students are antibullying and anti-drinking, does that reduce these behaviors among their peers? • One study found that by encouraging a small set of popular high school students to take a public stance against typical forms of conflict, such as bullying, overall levels of conflict were reduced by an estimated 30%. (Paluck et al. , 2016) • Popular high-school students’ attitudes about alcohol use have been shown to have a substantial influence on alcohol consumption by other students in their school. (Teunissen et al. , 2012) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Obedience • Obedience defined – The act of following direct commands, usually from an authority figure • Conformity & obedience are not always bad In what ways might conformity and obedience be adaptive and helpful? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Obedience (continued) FIGURE 14. 14 Milgram’s study on obedience Under orders from an experimenter, would you, as “teacher, ” use this shock generator (at left) to shock a man (“the learner”) who is screaming and begging to be released? Milgram was not investigating punishment and learning but obedience to authority. Even he was surprised to the degree that subjects obeyed the experiment’s prompts and commands to shock another human being. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Obedience (continued) FIGURE 14. 15 4 factors that affect why we obey © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Obedience (continued) Milgram’s factors that affect why we obey 1. Legitimacy and closeness of authority 2. Remoteness of the victim 3. Assignment of responsibility 4. Modeling or imitation of others © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Obedience (continued) Additional factors (from subsequent researchers) 5. Socialization to the authority figure - we’re taught to listen to and respect authority 6. Foot-in-the-door technique - an initial, small request used as a setup for a later, larger request 7. Adherence to ideologies 8. Relaxed moral guard - evil doesn’t always ‘look’ evil © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes • Group membership - The Zimbardo Stanford prison study • 4 prisoners released early from severe psychological reactions • Takeaways • 2 -week experiment ended after 6 days – Effects of roles on behavior – Demonstrated deindividualization Although this study is often cited as an “experiment, ” it really wasn’t for a variety of reasons. Can you cite why? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) • Group decision making – Group polarization • Group decisions tend to be riskier or more conservative that individual decisions • Evidenced in the U. S. jury system – Groupthink • Has been blamed for many highly publicized tragedies Have you or has someone you know ever served on a jury? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) Antecedent Conditions 1. A highly cohesive group of decision makers 2. Insulation of the group from outside influences 3. A directive leader 4. Lack of procedures to ensure careful consideration of the pros and cons of alternative actions 5. High stress from external threats with little hope of finding a better solution that favored by the leader FIGURE 14. 18 a © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) Strong desire for group consensus – the groupthink tendency FIGURE 14. 18 a © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) Symptoms of Groupthink 1. Illusion of invulnerability 2. Belief in the morality of the group 3. Collective rationalizations 4. Stereotypes of outgroups 5. Self-censorship of doubts and dissenting opinions 6. Illusion of unanimity 7. Direct pressure on dissenters FIGURE 14. 18 a © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) Symptoms of Poor Decision Making 1. An incomplete survey of alternative course of action 2. An incomplete survey of group objectives 3. Failure to examine risks of the preferred choice 4. Failure to reappraise rejected alternatives 5. Poor search for relevant information 6. Selective bias in processing information 7. Failure to develop contingency plans FIGURE 14. 18 a © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Influence Group Processes (continued) …which all leads to a probability of successful outcome Low How can the decision to marry be a form of groupthink? FIGURE 14. 18 b FIGURE 14. 18 a © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 5 Why are we so surprised when our preferred presidential candidate loses? On social media, we generally “friend” or follow” people who share our values and attitudes. • Research has found that this limited information pool described above creates a type of “political bubble, ” in which we’re more likely to post and read one-sided news stories and comments that we and our friends favor. (Bakshy et al. , 2015) • Furthermore, people tend to “unfriend” those with different political views. (John & Dvir-Gvirsman, 2015) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Aggression • Aggression defined • Explanations – Biological • Instinctual for all humans • Genetic predispositions • Brain injuries • Elevated testosterone • Lower levels of some neurotransmitters © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Aggression (continued) • Explanations (continued) – Psychosocial • Substance abuse • Aversive stimuli • Being raised in a culture with aggressive models • Entertainment with verbal and relational aggression • Consumption of violent media (TV & video games) Note: These last two remain highly controversial © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Aggression (continued) • Reducing Aggression 1. Catharsis – releasing aggression in nonharmful ways - Shown to be not helpful and may intensify feeling 2. Introduce incompatible responses - e. g. empathy; humor © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The APA’s recommendations for reducing U. S. gun violence 1. Primary prevention – e. g. teaching better social and communication skills to all ages 2. Secondary (selective) prevention – assist at-risk individuals – e. g. mentoring; conflict-mediation services 3. Tertiary (indicated) prevention – intensive services for those with a history of aggression – e. g. rehabilitation programs for juvenile offenders

Social Relations Altruism • Altruism defined • When and why do we help? – Evolutionary theory of helping • Altruism is instinctual – Egoistic model of helping • We help because of anticipated gain – Empathy-altruism hypothesis • We help because of empathy for someone in need © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. FIGURE 14. 19

Social Relations Altruism (continued) FIGURE 14. 20 Three models for helping altruism Which model fits this situation best? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Altruism (continued) • Why don’t we help? – The Kitty Genovese story – A series of interconnected events and decisions (notice the incident, interpret it as an emergency, accept personal responsibility for helping, know how to help and decide to help) • If the answer is ‘no’ at any point, the helping process ends – The bystander effect – The diffusion of responsibility © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Altruism (continued) PROCESS DIAGRAM 14. 2 When and Why Don’t We Help? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Altruism (continued) • Promoting helping – Better parental instruction – Simply ask, “Do you need help? ” Recognize that not everyone in need of help is going to be able to verbalize it – Popular television programs that honor and reward altruism (e. g. What would you do? and Heroes) – “Good Samaritan laws” • Project helpers from legal liability © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction • Interpersonal attraction defined – May include admiration, liking, friendship, intimacy, lust and/or love • Three compelling factors – Physical attractiveness • Perceived desirable physical characteristics – Proximity • Geographic nearness – Similarity • Shared tastes, interests and traits © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) • Physical attractiveness – Includes facial characteristics, body size, body shape and manner of dress – Standards are consistent across cultures Women are valued Men are valued more for looks and ambitiousness and financial youth (Better health resources (better able to and higher fertility) provide for mate and offspring) • However, what is judged as beautiful varies from era to era and culture to culture © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) • Proximity – Two people being in the same place at the same time – aka geographic nearness – Creates repeated exposure • Generally increases overall liking We tend to prefer reversed (mirror imaged) pictures of ourselves and non-reversed images of others Can you theorize why this is the case? FIGURE 14. 22 © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Q 6 How does simple nearness (proximity) influence attraction? • One examination of over 300, 000 Facebook users found that even though people can have relationships with people throughout the world, the likelihood of a friendship deceases as distance between people increases. (Nyegen & Szymanski, 2012) • In a very interesting experiment, the intranasal administration of oxytocin (a naturally occurring body chemical known to be a key facilitator of interpersonal attraction and parental attachment) stimulated men in monogamous relationships, but not single ones, to keep a much greater distance between themselves and an attractive woman during a first encounter. (Scheele et al. , 2012) © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) • Similarity – We tend to prefer and stay around those who are most like us – Elements of similarity • • • Ethnic background Social class Interests Attitudes Values So, does this mean that opposites really don’t attract? We tend to be drawn to those who have differing but complementary personality traits. However, we tend to seek those who are like us in values and backgrounds (similarity). © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) • Loving Others – Sternberg’s triangular theory of love – Components: • Intimacy • Passion • Commitment – Resulting types of love: • • FIGURE 14. 23 We all experience various forms C 0 nsummate and stages of love, but only true Romantic consummate love includes a healthy balance of intimacy, Companionate passion and commitment. Fatuous © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) FIGURE 14. 23 Sternberg’s triangular theory of love © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) Lasting love and on-line dating One study found a higher level of marital satisfaction and a significantly lower divorce rate for those whose marriages started on -line versus those that started offline. Can you theorize why relationships which start on-line may in fact be longer lasting and more satisfying that those that start in more traditional ways? © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Social Relations Interpersonal Attraction (continued) Love Over the Lifespan A typical long-term relationship over a period of time will see a gradual although unsteady decline in romantic love along with a corresponding and steady increase in companionate love. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.