General Psychology PSYC 200 Social Psychology Definition study

General Psychology PSYC 200 Social Psychology

Definition • study of interpersonal behavior • relate to one another • influence each other • think about each other • ordinary or extraordinary

Overarching Theme • the power of the situation • complements the study of personality

• Milgram’s obedience studies (1960 s) • strong authority figure • teacher/learner paradigm • no actual shock was used • 65% went to top level • digging deeper • many different variations • many different results • ethics • Does this mean we are all evil?

Milgram’s Obedience Studies http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=W 147 yb. Odgp. E

With Openly Rebellious Confederates w/ Fully Obedient Confederates Gave Order by Phone Required to Touch Victim In Same Room as Victim Ordinary Person Giving Orders Run-Down Office Building Baseline-Females Baseline-Males Percent Who Fully Obeyed

Prejudice and Racism

• shooting of Michael Brown • August 9, 2014 • Ferguson, Missouri http: //media 3. s-nbcnews. com/i/newscms/2014_39/633526/140824 -michael-brown-4 p_e 151133 bf 82 ab 2 e 33 cf 09 a 4 fe 0 ebb 405. jpg

• Eric Garner • July 17, 2014 • Staten Island, NY

• “islamaphobia” • Are Muslims the new blacks? http: //i. imgur. com/Gxyi. C. jpg

• subtle biases • microaggressions • http: //www. buzzfeed. com/hnigatu/racial-microagressions-you-hear-on-a-daily-basis

• A coin a day makes a thousand coins in a thousand days. In time, a rope may saw through a tree, and dripping water can wear away stone. (Zhang Guiya, Southern Song Dynasty)

Two Themes • power of the situation • diversity is a social influence • our awareness of our differences shapes our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings about ourselves and others • diversity is socially constructed • we perceive the world through our own filters

Which orange circle is bigger?

• % who believe blacks are treated as well as whites

• % who believe that blacks have as good a chance as whites to get any job for which they are qualified

• % who believe that the Michael Brown shooting raises important questions about race that need to be discussed 90 80 70 80 60 50 40 37 30 20 10 0 Black White

Causes • • • Sociological Factors Personality Factors Social Factors Cognitive Factors Unconscious Factors

Sociological Factors • • • criminal justice system wages and wealth power and politics education de facto segregation etc. https: //blogs. staffs. ac. uk/mikehamlyn/files/2014/02/level-playing-field. png

• What’s in a name?

Personality Factors • • • trait ego protection power and status fear and anxiety belief in a just world frustration

Social Factors • • • competition learned attitudes and beliefs conformity group decision-making inequality itself

Cognitive Factors • byproduct of how our brain processes information

Which would a wealthy, 59 -year old business man from New England like most? • • going to the circus being tickled keeping up with the Kardashians reading the newspaper

• categorization • we have a strong tendency to sort people into groups • • extraverts couch potatoes morning people those who can drive a stick shift tree huggers Honda owners etc • natural and unavoidable • adaptive and efficient …

http: //www. incrediblethings. com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/usa-stereotypes-map. jpg

• … but it leads to bias • in-group favoritism and out-group derogation • • Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees RMC vs. Hampden-Sydney democrats vs. republicans etc. • Social Identity Theory

How many dots are in the following picture?

• minimal intergroup discrimination effect • even with the most trivial of distinctions, we tend to notice ingroups and outgroups • favor ingroups • “us v. them”

• Jane Elliott https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=u. QAmd. Zv. Kf 6 M

• outgroup homogeneity bias • we assume the outgroup is homogeneous • “they are all alike” • yet we see variety in our ingroup • “we are heterogeneous” • Why?

• own race bias • recall faces of our own race more accurately than faces of other races • “they all look alike”

• Ronald Cotton • Jennifer Thompson

Listen to these words: • • • count backwards from 1000 by 7 s name the seven dwarfs slumber? dream? rest? sleep?

Words About Sleep • rest • tired • awake • dream • snore • bed • eat • slumber • sounds • comfort • wake • night

• biased memory • fill in gaps with information that fits our stereotypes • automatic maintenance • leads to biased interpretations of ambiguous events • Who started the fight? • Was that a dirty look?

• self-fulfilling prophecies • expectations create behavior • perpetuates a vicious cycle

• stereotype threat Test Performance 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Black White Diagnostic Nondiagnostic

Unconscious Factors • stand up and balance on one foot • now close your eyes • implicit bias • unconscious, automatic, unintentional • dual attitude system • can influence our behavior

• shooter bias • shoot or don’t shoot?

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=r. Ykd--pc. JRo 6 minutes 2012

Project Implicit

• “If we tell ourselves that the only problem is hate, we avoid facing the reality that it is mostly nice, non-hating people who perpetuate racial inequality. ” (Ellis Cose)