EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY EIGHTH EDITION IN MODULES David Myers

EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY EIGHTH EDITION IN MODULES David Myers Power. Point Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University Worth Publishers, © 2011

Social Psychology 2

Social Influence Module 37 3

Prejudice § How Prejudiced Are People? § CLOSE-UP: Automatic Prejudice § Social Roots of Prejudice § Emotional Roots of Prejudice § Cognitive Roots of Prejudice 4

Aggression § The Biology of Aggression § Psychological and Socio-Cultural Factors in Aggression § THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Do Video Games Teach, or Release, Violence? Attraction § The Psychology of Attraction § CLOSE-UP: Online Matchmaking § Romantic Love 5

Altruism § Bystander Intervention § The Norms for Helping Conflict and Peacemaking § Social Traps § Enemy Perceptions § Contact § Cooperation § Communication § Conciliation 6

Social Relations Social psychology teaches us how we relate to one another through prejudice, aggression, and conflict to attraction, and altruism and peacemaking. 7

Prejudice Simply called “prejudgment, ” a prejudice is an unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group. Prejudice is often directed towards different cultural, ethnic, or gender groups. Components of Prejudice 1. Beliefs (stereotypes) 2. Emotions (hostility, envy, fear) 3. Predisposition to act (to discriminate) 8

How Prejudiced are People? Over the duration of time many prejudices against interracial marriage, gender, homosexuality, and minorities have decreased. Yet as overt prejudice wanes, subtle prejudice lingers. 9

Automatic Prejudice Modern studies of implicit, automatic attitudes indicate that prejudice is often more of a knee-jerk response than a decision. Consider this finding on race-primed perceptions (Payne 2006): When people viewed a White or Black face immediately followed by a gun or a hand tool they were more likely to misperceive a tool as a gun when preceded by a Black face. 10

How Prejudiced Are People? Although prejudice prevails against women, more people feel positively toward women than men. Women rated picture b [feminized] higher (66%) for a matrimonial ad (Perrett & others, 1998). Professor Dave Perrett, St. Andrews University 11

Social Roots of Prejudice Why does prejudice arise? 1. Social Inequalities 2. Social Divisions 3. Emotional Scapegoating 12

Social Inequality Prejudice develops when people have money, power, and prestige, and others do not. The “haves” often develop attitudes that justify inequality. The just-world phenomenon reflects an idea that we often teach our children – that good is rewarded and evil is punished. From this it is a short leap to the idea that those who succeed are good and those who do not are bad. 13

Us and Them: Ingroup and Outgroup Ingroup: People with whom one shares a common identity. Outgroup: Those perceived as different from one’s ingroup. Ingroup Bias: The tendency to favor one’s own group. Mike Hewitt/ Getty Images Scotland’s famed “Tartan Army” fans. 14

Emotional Roots of Prejudice According to the scapegoat theory prejudice provides an outlet for anger [emotion] by providing someone to blame. After 9/11 many people lashed out against innocent Arab-Americans. 15

Cognitive Roots of Prejudice One way we simplify our world is to categorize. We categorize people into groups by stereotyping them. To those in one ethnic group, members of another often seem more alike than they really are. The tendency to recall faces of one’s own race better than those of others is called the other-race effect or own-race bias and emerges during infancy. 16

Cognitive Roots of Prejudice In vivid cases such as the 9/11 attacks, terrorists can feed stereotypes or prejudices (terrorism). Most terrorists are non-Muslims. 17

Aggression can be any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy. It may be done reactively out of hostility or proactively as a calculated means to an end. Research shows that aggressive behavior emerges from the interaction of biology and experience. 18

The Biology of Aggression There are 3 biological influences on aggression: Genetic Influences: Animals have been bred for aggressiveness for sport and at times for research. Twin studies show aggression may be genetic. In men, aggression is possibly linked to the Y chromosome. Neural Influences: Some centers in the brain, especially the limbic system (amygdala) and the frontal lobe, are intimately involved with aggression. 19

The Biology of Aggression Biochemical Influences: Animals with diminished amounts of testosterone (castration) become docile, and if injected with testosterone aggression increases. Prenatal exposure to testosterone also increases aggression in female hyenas. 20

Psychological and Social-Cultural Factors in Aggression Biological factors influence the ease with which aggression is triggered, but what psychological and social-cultural factors can pull that trigger? 21

Aversive Events Although suffering can sometimes build character, it may also bring out the worst in us. Being blocked short of a goal can increase our readiness to aggress – known as the frustrationaggression principle. Frustration produces anger, which in some may generate aggression. 22

Aversive Events Like frustration, other aversive stimuli can evoke hostility. Even environmental temperature can lead to aggressive acts. Murders and rapes increased with the temperature in Houston. 23

Social and Cultural Influences Learning can alter natural reactions. When aggression leads to desired outcomes, one learns to be aggressive. Rejection often intensifies aggression. People led to feel socially isolated are more likely to disparage others. Cultural models reinforce and evoke tendencies toward violence. Crime rates are higher in countries with a great disparity between rich and poor. Cultures with minimal father care tend to have higher rates of violence. 24

Observing Models of Aggression Observational learning influences our natural reactions. Sexually coercive men are promiscuous and hostile in their relationships with women. This coerciveness has increased due to television viewing of R- and X-rated movies. 25

Do Video Games Teach or Release Violence? The general consensus on violent video games is that, to some extent, they breed violence. Adolescents who play a lot of violent video games view the world as hostile when they get into arguments and receive bad grades after playing such games. 26

Summary 27

The Psychology of Attraction Proximity: Geographic nearness is a powerful predictor of friendship. Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their attraction (mere exposure effect). Rex USA A rare white penguin born in a zoo was accepted after 3 weeks by other penguins just due to proximity. 28

The Psychology of Attraction Familiarity breeds fondness. In De. Bruine’s study, men liked other men and women liked other women, when one of their own features was morphed into the other person’s picture. Participants in Bailenson’s study were more likely to say they would vote for 29 candidates when shown pictures of them with their own features morphed in.

Psychology of Attraction Physical Attractiveness: Once proximity affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance. We perceive physically attractive people to be healthier, happier, more sensitive, and more successful. Conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture. 30

Psychology of Attraction For those taught that “beauty is only skin deep” the power of attractiveness might seem unfair. However: -People’s unattractive is unrelated to their selfesteem or happiness. - Attractiveness judgments are relative and change over time. 31

Psychology of Attraction Similarity: Similar views among individuals causes the bond of attraction to strengthen. Friends and couples are far more likely to share common attitudes, beliefs, and interests (and, for that matter, age, religion, race, education, intelligence, smoking behavior, and economic status) than are randomly paired people. 32

Romantic Love Passionate Love: An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship. Two-factor theory of emotion 1. Physical arousal plus cognitive appraisal 2. Arousal from any source can enhance one emotion depending upon what we interpret or label the arousal 33

Romantic Love Companionate Love: A deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined. Courtship and Matrimony (from the collection of Werner Nekes) 34

Romantic Love Two key ingredients to a loving, lasting relationship are: Equity – both partners receive in proportion to what they give Self-disclosure – revealing intimate details of oneself to others Love is ancient. This 5000 -6000 35 year old couple was found locked in an embrace.

Altruism is an unselfish regard for the welfare of others. Altruism became an important focus of social psychology after the Kitty Genovese incident in Queens, NY in 1964. 36

Bystander Intervention The decision-making process for bystander intervention. Akos Szilvasi/ Stock, Boston 37

Bystander Intervention In hundreds of experiments on bystander intervention the bystander effect has emerged – any particular bystander is less likely to help when others are present. 38

The Norms of Helping Why do we help? Social exchange theory: our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs. Reciprocity norm: an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them. Social-responsibility norm: an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them. 39

Conflict and Peacemaking Conflict is perceived as an incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas. The elements of conflict are the same at all levels. People become deeply involved in potentially destructive social processes that have undesirable effects. 40

Social Traps In some situations we harm the collective well-being by pursuing our own interests. These situations are called social traps. Social traps challenge us to find ways of cooperating for our mutual benefit. Social-trap matrix game. 41

Enemy Perceptions People in conflict form diabolical images of one another. These distorted images are ironically similar, so similar in fact that we call them mirror - image perceptions. These perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies, fueling a cycle of hostility. 42

Contact Does it help to put two conflicting parties in close contact? It depends. If the contact is noncompetitive and between parties of equal status, it usually helps. However, mere contact is not always enough. 43

Cooperation and Communication If given superordinate goals, shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation, can help people overcome conflict. Likewise, a shared predicament, such as a fearful situation, can help conflicting parties to work together. When real life conflicts become intense, a thirdparty mediator may facilitate much-needed communication. 44

Conciliation When understanding and cooperation are most needed, they are also least likely. Charles Osgood advocated Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (GRIT): This is a strategy designed to decrease international tensions. One side recognizes mutual interests and initiates a small conciliatory act that opens the door for reciprocation by the other party. 45