War Peace and Love Conflict a perceived incompatibility

War, Peace, and Love Conflict = “a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas” How do we categorize conflicts? Internal (within oneself) or external (between individuals)

Unit 12: Social Psychology • ESSENTIAL QUESTION: – How do people influence each other – How do psychological factors influence individual decisionmaking • DAILY COMMENTARY: – You are walking down the street when you hear a girl screaming: “let me go, you’re not my dad. ” You look over and see a man with a firm grip on the girls arm, walking with her and half leading half pulling her along with him. What do you do?

Types of Internal Conflicts 1. Approach-approach: choice must be made between two attractive choices. 2. Avoidance-avoidance: choice must be made between two unattractive choices. 3. Approach-avoidance: a choice must be make about whether or not to pursue a single goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects.

Identify the following type of conflict: 1. John can’t decide whether to take a demeaning job in a car wash or to go on welfare. 2. Desiree wants to apply to a highly selective law school, but she hates the risk of possible rejection. 3. Vanessa has been shopping for a new car and is torn between a nifty little sports car and a classy sedan, both of which she really likes.

Ingroup Bias – a tendency to favor our own group Stereotyping – overgeneralized beliefs Prejudice – attitudes based on stereotypes Discrimination – actions based on prejudiced attitudes Social Identity Theory Halo Effect

Just-world phenomenon • Our belief that (because the world is just) people deserve what they get. – Movie stars – Unemployed

False consensus effect • Everyone agrees with me…. • Those who don’t are… …stupid …crazy …mean …thoughtless

Self-fulfilling Prophecy - When a person’s beliefs about others (or themselves) leads one to act in ways that appear to confirm the belief. - Rosenthal study - Rosenhan study - Parenting

External Conflicts Social traps – situations in which conflicting parties become caught in mutually destructive behavior Examples: 1) Extra credit activity 2) Tragedy of the commons 3) Arms races 4) Fossil fuel consumption

How do we make peace? • Cooperation toward a superordinate (group) goal (Sherif’s boy scout study) • GRIT (graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension-reduction) (“Don’t threaten”)

Altruism “unselfish regard for others” • Kitty Genovese story • Three factors required for us to help another: 1. We must NOTICE the situation. 2. we must RECOGNIZE the situation as an emergency. 3. we must assume RESPONSIBILITY for helping (story of my mom’s friend)

Bystander effect The presence of others decreases the likelihood that we will respond, primarily because we think someone else will take responsibility. From Jerusalem to Jericho… (Darley and Latane) - The Good Samaritan - What is a better predictor of altruism – personality or situational factors? - Measured the degree of altruism as related to three variables: degree of hurry, mindfulness of attitude, type of religiosity - Only degree of hurry mattered!

People are more likely to help if… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. They recently saw someone else being helpful. No one else is around. They are not in a hurry. The victim appears to deserve help. The victim is similar to us. We are in a small town. We feel guilty. We are not preoccupied. We are in a good mood.

Or maybe there is no real altruism… Social exchange theory – helpful behavior occurs when the benefits outweigh the costs.