Social Psychology Chapter 12 Overview Bystander Effect Social

Social Psychology Chapter 12

Overview • • • Bystander Effect Social Perception Attribution Theory Prejudice Conformity/Obedience Attraction & Love

Social Psychology • Our actions are greatly influenced by our social environment • Example: The Bystander Effect – In 1964 Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in her Queens apartment complex – At least 38 people were present and saw it happening – No one called for help – Why?

Social Psychology • The bystander effect been replicated in many social psychology experiments • Why didn’t people call for help? • Diffusion of responsibility • Tendency for an individual to feel diminished responsibility to assist in an emergency when many bystanders are present – We think that someone else will surely call the police. . . – It’s not my responsibility. . . – https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Q 9 Qf_om. TFJE

Social Psychology • Social psychology is a field of psychology concerned with how social influences affect our behavior • Types of Q’s: – How do we think socially? • Social perception, attributions, attitudes – How are we influenced by other’s socially? • Obedience, conformity – How do we interact w/ others? • Attraction, aggression

Social Perception • Think of the multitude of people you encounter each day – Your parents – People working in stores – Classmates • We form impressions or perceptions of them after only brief encounters • Social perception is the way in which we perceive, evaluate, categorize, and form judgments about the qualities of other people

Social Perception • These impressions (perceptions) have a critical influence on how we interact w/ others • They are more important than the actual attitudes & behaviors of those around us • Bystanders did not intervene b/c they thought others would, not b/c they saw others intervening • You may withdraw from a friend b/c you think they are mad at you, not b/c they actually are

Factors that influence our perceptions of others 1. Person Schemas/Stereotypes 2. Physical Appearance

Person Schemas q Schemas are conceptual frameworks used to make sense of our world q Person schemas are generalized assumptions we make about certain groups of people q What are your assumptions about lawyers? Professors? Cheerleaders? Jocks? q Once we fit a person into a schema, we use it to interpret their behavior and discount anything that does not conform q A cheerleader we think of as brainless, who gets the best grade in the class. q We say to ourselves, “she must have cheated”

Physical Appearance q Don’t judge a book by it’s cover… q Good looking people grab our attention & hold it longer than unattractive people (Maner et al. , 2007) q Judgments of others are also swayed by appearance q The “what is beautiful is good stereotype” q Attractive people are often thought to be intelligent, kind, competent, & sensitive q Research shows little relation between beauty & personality q Why do these stereotypes persist? q Attractive people overrepresented in media

Attribution Theory q Attributions are the judgments we make about why people behave as they do q. What is causing another’s behavior? q Attribution theory: Theory that we attempt to make sense out of other’s behavior by attributing it to either dispositional (internal) causes or situational (external causes) q Dispositional Causes: caused by a person’s stable, enduring personality traits q. Agreeable, shy, neurotic, clumsy, irritable, etc. q Situational Causes: caused by the social environment or situation person is in

Attribution Theory q Examples of Dispositional and Situational Causes: q Me walking into the classroom and tripping over a power cord. You ask yourself, “Why did she trip? ” q. Dispositional (internal) : q She’s a naturally clumsy person q. Situational (external) q The power cord was in her way q A classmate fails a test. You ask yourself, “Why? ” q. Dispositional/Internal Cause? q That guy is dumb q. Situational/External Cause? q That test was REALLY hard

Attribution Theory • How we explain another’s behavior effects how we respond to it

Attribution Errors q When making judgments (attributions) we are not always accurate q We are often wrong about the cause of another person’s behavior q Fundamental Attribution Error

Fundamental Attribution Error q Tendency to overestimate dispositional(internal) causes and to underestimate situational (external) causes when explaining OTHER people’s behavior q When it is ourselves it is just the opposite q. Me tripping q. You think…She must be a naturally clumsy person q. You tripping q. You think…The cord was in my way q How might this impact how we view the causes of poverty and unemployment? q Example: “He’s unemployed or poor because he’s lazy. ”

Prejudice q. A negative, unjustifiable, and inflexible attitude toward a group and its members q. Groups: Gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, SES q. No attention to differences among groups members q. Based on inaccurate information q. Are learned and show great resistance to change, even in the face of contradictory evidence

Prejudice q. Is built on stereotypes q. Preconceived & oversimplified beliefs about a particular group q. Example: All women are bad at math q. The consequence or behavior that prejudice causes is called discrimination q. One group treated differently than another q. Ex: a person being fired for their race or gender q. But what causes prejudice?

Causes of Prejudice 1. As humans, we seem to have a natural tendency to define ourselves according to the group we belong to q. We all tend to categorize ourselves q. Race, age, education, SES q. All those who do not share same category are DIFFERENT q. We divide our world into two groups: US vs. Them q. Ingroup (us) vs. outgroup (them) q. Creates an ingroup bias q. Tendency to see one’s own group in a favorable light

Causes of Prejudice 2. Prejudice & hostility are likely to develop where there is conflict over scarce resources (food, water, money, etc) • Competition between people breeds prejudice & discrimination • Those in the outgroup are looked at as a threat to these resources – Jobs in hard economic times – You will hear people talking about immigrants trying to steal “our” jobs • Dominant group exploits the minority

Causes of Prejudice 3. Frustration can also lead to prejudice (and aggression) • People who are frustrated about their stature in life vent their frustration on scapegoats(members of minority groups) – From 1882 -1930 as the price of cotton decreased, the lynching of blacks increased

Conformity Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conformity q The Chameleon Effect = Unconscious conformity q We naturally mimic other’s behavior q Ex. = Yawns, laughs, expressions, postures q. Research: q. P’s work in room with confederate* (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999) q. When confederate did something participants did so also q. Copycat violence (Columbine) q. Within 8 days all U. S. States experienced threats of violence q. Famous suicides are often copied *Confederate = a researcher who is pretending to be another participant in a study

Conformity q Asch’s (1955) conformity experiments q. Participants ask to match standard line with comparison line (alone v. in a group) q. All but one of p’s was a confederate (e. g. , an actor acting like he/she is participating in study) q. Confederate always answered WRONG line q. Would participant conform?

Conformity q Results Revealed: q When alone (vs. in a group) P’s picked the correct line 99% of the time q When part of a group, P’s picked the incorrect line about 1/3 of the time q http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=i. Rh 5 qy 09 n. Nw&feature= related

Conformity q When are we most likely to conform? q Conformity increases when: qone feels incompetent or insecure q. Group = >3 people q. Unanimous q. One admires group’s status & attractiveness q. Culture values respect for social standards

Why Do We Conform? q. Two Reasons: 1. Normative Social Influence – Need to be liked 2. Informational Social Influence – Need to be right

1. Normative Social Influence q Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval q. Humans want to fit in q Social Norms: understood rules for an accepted and expected behavior q. Driving on the right side of the road q. Sitting in Class q. Elevator Etiquette qhttps: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Bg. Roi. TW k. BHU

2. Informational Social Influence q Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality q. Because we think they are “right” or accurate q. We also want to be “right” q “Everyone else is saying the Pledge of Allegiance” q “It must be the “right” thing to do…” q “Everyone answered Line ‘C’, that must be the correct answer!”

Obedience q. Many famous examples of obedience to authority q. Charles Manson q. Ordered “family” to kill q. Nazi Soldiers q. Adolph Eichman q. Jim Jones and followers q. Over 900 people committed suicide on his orders q. Why do people obey?

Obedience q Stanley Milgram q Social Psychologist who wanted to understand why the Holocaust occurred q Wanted to understand why people obey authority figures q Set out to design an experiment that would see how people would respond to the demands/orders of authority figures q Infamous, controversial “Shock Studies” q Carried out at Yale University from 1963 -1974

Obedience q 1000 Participants/20 experiments q You are assigned the role of Teacher q Learner is always an actor (you are unaware) q Your Task: deliver electric Shock for incorrect responses q Each shock increases in voltage q Slight to dangerous q See shock values below q You begin the task, you are seated in front of an experimenter in a lab coat q Agonizing Response (screaming of participant) vs. Experimenter Pressure (telling you must continue the study) q How far would people go? q How far would you go?

Milgram Shock Studies q 63% of participants went all the way to the end, delivering what would have been a lethal shock, had it been real q. Controversial qhttps: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=f. CVl. I-_4 GZQ

Milgram Shock Studies q Why did they conform? q The Situation q Social norm to obey authority figures q E. g. , The Experimenter q Distance: The learner was in another room q Gradual in nature q No defiant role models q Prestigious University

Attraction & Love q One of the most powerful social influences in our lives are our close friends and romantic partners q Why are we attracted to some people (and not others) as friends & lovers? q How does romantic love change over time?

Attraction q Have you ever just met someone & felt instantly attracted? q. You knew you instantly liked this person q What is it that makes us feel so close to other people? q Four Factors which influence liking/attraction

4 Reasons we are attracted to others 1. • • Proximity Your location We develop close relationships with those who live/work near us. Why? – Mere exposure effect: • Repeatedly seeing something increases our liking • Familiarity/consistency 2. Similarity • Opposites do NOT attract • People who share common beliefs, values, attitudes, interests, and intellectual ability • We simply communicate better w/ those who are most like us • Similar people also validate our own opinions/beliefs

4 Reasons we are attracted to others 3. Reciprocity • The tendency to treat others the way they treat us • When someone likes us, giving us love and flattery, we tend to respond in the same way – If we think someone likes us, we tend to have warm feelings about that person

4 Reasons we are attracted to others 4. Physical Attractiveness • In general, research reveals physically attractive people are more likely to be sought as friends/lovers • What is physical attractiveness? – • Is this attribute more important to men or women? – – • • Symmetrical features, age, smooth skin, muscle tone, full lips Men prefer youth and beauty Women prefer dependability and earning potential Evolutionary explanation What do you think ->

Romantic Love q How does love change over time? q Passionate love: initial stage (the Honeymoon Period) q Intensely positive arousal, obsessive & idealized views of partner q See: “Temporary insanity” - kidding : ) q Short-lived and over time may become… q Companionate love: long-term q Deep affection/caring built on years of intimate sharing q Key for lasting satisfaction: equity and self-disclosure (builds intimacy)

Summary q Social Perception q Attribution Theory q Social Influence q. Conformity, obedience q Attraction and Love