Transcript SOCIOLOGY CHAPTER 4

Social Psychologists look at human
behavior in the context of societal
rules and norms. They see human
behavior as primarily shaped by
social interactions. They recognize
that people behave differently in the
presence of others.
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Which of the Following
Is an Example of a Group?
 Cheerleaders
at a school
 A high school football team
 People lined up to vote
 Women at a baby shower
 Pedestrians at a crosswalk
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Group
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In order for there to be a group, there must be
more than one person and there must be face-toface interaction.
Cheerleaders
at a School
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Tennis Team
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People Lined Up to Vote
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Women at a Baby Shower
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Pedestrians
in a Crosswalk
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Primary Groups
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Families, couples in love, street gangs, social
clubs
Relationships that are face-to-face and
personal
term “primary group”--coined by Charles
Cooley
two or more people who have a significant
amount of interaction with one another
must know a lot about one another, and share
strong, intimate emotional ties
“the nurseries of human nature”
The values and norms people learn in primary
groups tend to remain with them for life
Four Features
of a Primary Group
Continuous, face-toface interaction
 Strong ties
 Multifaceted
 Enduring
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Secondary Groups
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Organized around
specific, impersonal
goals
Not as much interaction
as in primary groups
School classes, political
parties, sports teams
Lots of primary groups
within the secondary
group
Secondary
Group Characteristics
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Limited face-to-face interaction
Modest or weak personal identity with the
group
Weak ties of affection
Limited/shallow relations
Not very enduring
Task oriented
Why Join a Group ?
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To satisfy the need to belong
To compare experiences
To use group standards to evaluate
ourselves
For companionship
To lessen anxiety and provide comfort
Group accomplishments
Attribution Theory
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People usually attribute others’ behavior
either to internal dispositions or external
situations.
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INTERNAL or DISPOSITIONAL—attitude, work
ethic, morals, motivation
EXTERNAL or SITUATIONAL—other people, the
environment, the task, support
Fundamental Attribution Error
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In judging others, we overestimate the
influence of personality and underestimate
the influence of situations.
– Billy failed the AP English exam because
he is dumb.
– NOT, Billy failed because the teacher
was absent for 3 months on maternity
leave.
Actor-Observer Bias
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We judge ourselves AND others.
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Actor part—When we are in the situation, we judge
ourselves on environmental/external factors.
– I failed the test because the teacher sucked.
Observer part—When we are not in the situation, we
judge others on dispositional/internal factors.
– She failed the test because she didn’t study.
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Self-Serving Bias
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How we judge ourselves:
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Bad things happen because of
external situations.
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Good things happen because of
our internal dispositions/personal
factors.
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I failed the AP Computer Science test
because the test is too hard.
I passed the AP Biology test because I am
amazingly smart.
Self-Effacing Bias
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In other cultures (for example, Asian cultures), people
tend to do the opposite of the Self-Serving Bias.
– Bad things are because of internal disposition.
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Good things are because of external situations.
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I failed the AP Chemistry exam because I didn’t work hard
enough.
I passed the AP Chemistry exam because Mrs. Wagoner is a
beast.
Individualist vs. Collectivist Culture
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Individualist: putting personal goals ahead of group
goals & defining one’s identity in terms of personal
attributes, not group memberships
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Collectivist: putting group goals ahead of personal
goals & defining one’s identity in terms of the groups
you belong to
Social Facilitation
 Stronger
responses on
simple or
well-learned
tasks in the
presence of
others
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Social Loafing
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People tend to
extend less effort
when they are
working in a group.
They assume that
the group will do
the work.
Deindividuation
 To
be less self-conscious
and less restrained when in
a group; feels anonymous
 Message boards/forums an
example
Group Polarization
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If a group is like-minded,
discussions will strengthen its
prevailing opinions.
If a group has opposing
opinions, the opposing groups
will polarize even more.
Risky Shift--making riskier
choices when part of a group
Social Trap and Prisoner’s Dilemma
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when students make decisions to help
themselves at a cost of the class’s well-being
(Social Trap) (overfishing, deforestation)
When two people don’t cooperate even if it is
in their best interest to cooperate (Prisoner’s
Dilemma)
Peer Groups
A group of friends
or associates of
about the same
age and social
position
 Form cliques,
clubs, gangs
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Reference Groups
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A group that
serves as a
standard for
evaluating one’s
achievement,
behavior, or
values
Group Dynamics
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The impact of group
size
The dyad, or twoperson group
The triad
Multiples (division of
labor)
The Triad
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• In a triad, one person may make a big
difference in the group
• when a couple has their first child, their
lives change dramatically. Whenever
they want to go somewhere, they either
need to get together everything they
need to take the baby along, or they
need to hire a babysitter. Sleepless
nights, day care, and preschool also
present new challenges.
• Finally, the relationship between the
parents may change as well.
Leadership
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Groups need leaders for two
reasons
1. To direct tasks
2. Maintain good spirits
Groupthink
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what happens when group members are isolated
from their social or moral environment: they end up
making decisions that appear from the inside to
make perfect sense but are in fact fundamentally
flawed
Kennedy—Bay of Pigs/Cuba
Groupthink
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Emphasizes group decisions in large
organizations
People working together will make better
decisions than an individual
Sometimes individuals acting alone in large
organizations or bureaucracies can make decisions
that reflect their own personal bias. If that individual
can convince other members in the group that such
decisions are based on sound, fundamental ideas,
then the organization starts to fall into groupthink.
When Does
Groupthink Occur?
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When group members
are unable to evaluate
other available options
Inability to comprehend
negative consequences
Conditions
for Groupthink
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The group is isolated
from the outside
There are time limits
Not having an impartial
leader
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Examples of Groupthink
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JFK’S invasion of Cuba
Nixon’s Watergate fiasco
Waco, Texas standoff
In-groups
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A group with which a
person identifies and
feels that he or she
belongs
A “greedy group”
Characteristics
of In-groups
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1.
2.
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5.
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Sacrifice
Investment
Renunciation
Communication
Mortification
Transcendence
Out-groups
A
group with
which a person
does not
identify and
does not feel
that he or she
belongs to
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Gangs/Gang Locations
L.A. is the gang
capital of America
 Chicago, Seattle,
Kansas City
 Importance of
drugs
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Why Join a Gang?
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Power
Identity
A surrogate family
Security
Attitudes
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Definition of “Attitude”
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A predisposition to respond in a particular
way
3 main elements
1. A belief or opinion
2. A feeling about something
3. A tendency to act toward
something in a particular way
Attitudes
 Are
feelings, often influenced by
our beliefs, that predispose our
reactions to people, objects and
events. If we feel that someone is
mean, we may feel dislike for the
person and act unfriendly.
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Elaboration Likelihood Model
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Petty & Cacciopo
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Central Route to Persuasion—using analytical
or systematic information regarding the issue to
persuade others—more thoughtful, more durable
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Peripheral Route to Persuasion—incidental
cues, endorsements cause snap judgments—less
thoughtful, less durable—using colors, attractive
salespeople
Factors in Persuasion
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SOURCE Factors: Who is persuading
MESSAGE Factors: What is the message
CHANNEL Factors: How is the message
delivered
RECEIVER Factors: Who is being
persuaded
Source factors—Who?
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Credibility
Expertise
Trustworthiness
Likability
Attractiveness
Similarity
Message factors—What?
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Fear appeal vs. logic
One-sided vs. two-sided argument
Repetition
Channel factors—By what means?
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In person
On television
Via audio
Others?
Receiver factors—To whom?
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Personality
Expectations
Preexisting attitudes
Intelligence
Cognitive Dissonance—Leon Festinger
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We become aware that
our attitudes and
actions don’t coincide,
so we experience this
tension.
We try to bring them
together.
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Rationalization
Changing actions
Denial
Zimbardo on Cog. Dissonance
Cognitive Sources for Persuasion
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Factual information
Cognitive dissonance
Emotional Sources for Persuasion
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Strong feelings without knowing
why
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a commercial or political advertisement might
try to change people’s attitudes by employing a
series of emotionally charged images
accompanied by with some cognitive
information like on-screen words or audio
narration.
pictures are processed in the right hemisphere of
the brain, which also processes many of our
emotions
Classical conditioning
Subliminal techniques
Size of an Object
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Close-ups = larger than life,
sense of urgency, used to sell
necessary products
Far away = luxury items,
removes the sense of urgency
and replaces it with a feeling of
extravagance
Social Sources for Persuasion
 Culture
 Reference
groups
as a standard for
evaluation
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Behavioral Sources for Persuasion
 Behavior
itself
can cause
attitudes to
change
 “Doing is
believing.”
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How Are
Attitudes Measured?
 Psychologists
use many
different
techniques to
measure
attitudes
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Public Opinion Polls
Selecting a
representative
sample is crucial
 Important to
avoid biases
(Social
desirability bias)
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Attitude Scales
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Likert Scale
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Undecided
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree
Semantic Differential
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asks people to rate others
by using one of two
adjectives that are polar
opposites of one another
Good/bad
Happy/sad
Beautiful/ugly
Wise/foolish
Funny/humorless
Unobtrusive Methods
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Milgram/lost letter
Letters addressed to less
“acceptable” groups and
organizations were not
mailed as often as letters
addressed to charities or
groups considered
beneficial to society.
How Are
Attitudes Changed?
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People are always trying to change your
attitude
Conformity
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Asch conformity study, 1950
People will usually conform to other people’s ideas
even when they disagree with those ideas
Asch’s Experiment
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Asch Experiment (2 min)
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Which line segment, is
closest in length to the
sample line: a, b, or c?
Obedience to Authority
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Stanley Milgram—1962
The psychologist as experimenter
designed to determine the conditions under which
people would obey or defy authority
Would they obey the commands of an authority
figure or pay attention to the cries of a victim who
seemed to be undergoing extreme suffering?
Explains the atrocities committed by the Nazis during
World War II?
Who Were Milgram’s Subjects?
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In all but one version of the experiment, the
subjects were males
40%=skilled and unskilled
40%=white collar (sales and business)
20%=professionals
20 percent of subjects were in their 20s, 20
percent were in their 30s, and 20 percent
were in their 40s
The Set-Up
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Making Mistakes
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After 75 volts are administered for a mistake,
the learner moans
At 90 volts, the learner cries out in pain
After 180 volts, the learner screams, saying
he cannot stand the pain, and then begins to
bang on the wall
39 Psychiatrists Surveyed
Believed That…
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Most subjects would stop at 150 volts
Only 4% would go as high as 300 volts
One in 1000 would go to 450 volts
5 Versions
of the Experiment
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First version: all men, 65% went all the way
(450 volts)
Experimenter absent: 20.5%
Women: 65%
Experimenter chooses shock level: 2.5%
High school students: 85%
By the way….
The shocks were not real!
Milgram Experiment 5 min
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Why Do People Obey?
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American society
places a high value on
obedience to people in
positions of authority
(Derren Brown)
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Prestige And Credibility
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Volunteers were
influenced by their role
as a subject in an
experiment
Done by a professor at
Yale university
Not Everyone Is Equally Obedient
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Sadistic or obedient?
Personality variables
Life experiences
Civil Disobedience
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Rosa Parks
and the
Montgomery
bus boycott
Aggression
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Violent Crimes
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1.5 million violent
crimes are committed
in the U.S. each year,
including 90,000 rapes
and 20,000 murders
3 ½ times more likely
to be murdered by a
relative
Why Are We Aggressive?
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Thanatos—Freud’s death instinct
View of evolutionary
psychologists
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our aggressive behavior is related to our
evolutionary heritage. It is a part of the
Darwinian notion of “survival of the
fittest.”
Hereditary aggression
The painting depicts a 10-year-old Vietnamese orphan girl who had been
befriended by a U.S. Green Beret during the Vietnam War. He used to give her
chocolate bars. She eventually shot and killed him.
The Brain and Aggression
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Amygdala
Hypothalamus
Prefrontal cortex
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plays a role in processing
violent urges
Years ago, surgeons often
performed pre-frontal
lobotomies on violent
patients
Hormones
and Aggression
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Testosterone, a primary
male hormone
Alcohol and other drugs
Learning and Aggression
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People learn
aggression by watching
and imitating others
People become more
aggressive if rewarded
Frustration-Aggression
Model
Pornography Connection
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•According to some psychologists, there is a
direct link between different types of
pornography and sexual aggression—especially
between violent pornography and rape.
•Child pornography has a corresponding
correlation with pedophilia and/or child
molestation.
•According to serial killer Ted Bundy
pornography not only influenced his criminal
behavior, but also influenced the behavior of
every one of the inmates he came in contact
with while he was sitting on death row in a
Florida prison.
•Bundy brutally killed more than 37 young
women and was eventually executed.
Altruism/Unselfishness
Concern for Another’s Welfare
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The Cost–Reward Theory
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People find the sight of another
person being victimized as
anxiety-provoking; helping
relieves this anxiety
Diffusion of responsibility
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Sometimes if there are others present
during a crisis, people assume that
someone else will step in to aid in the
situation.
Bystander Effect
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Kitty
Genovese
Darley &
Latane, 1969
Diffusion of
Responsibility
Empathy-Altruism Theory
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People are more likely
to act altruistically—
even when the cost of
helping is high—if they
feel empathy toward
the person in need
Evolutionary Theory
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“Survival of the fittest”:
A person will risk their
life for someone else
because if they survive,
it increases the
likelihood that their
traits will endure
through generations
Attitude and Prejudice
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Prejudice is a
preconceived notion
toward a person or a
group
Prejudice is
strengthened by
stereotyping
Discrimination is an
action motivated by
prejudice
Attraction
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Proximity—
geographic
nearness is
friendship’s most
powerful predictor
Mere Exposure Effect
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If you are neutral about something, you tend
to learn to be attracted to or start liking it if
you have continued exposure.
Example: Remember the Titans
Your own face—pictures
Laws of Attraction
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Similarity
Attractiveness
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Average
Symmetry
Reciprocity
Robber’s Cave Experiment
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Superordinate Goals (Muzafer Sherif)
Two competitive groups, when given a
superordinate goal, will work together for the
good of both groups.
Example: Remember the Titans
Example: When Democrats and
Republicans worked together after 9/11
Stanford Prison Experiment
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Phil Zimbardo
The Power of the Situation
Social Roles: widely shared expectations
about how people in certain positions are
supposed to behave
Stanford Prison Experiment 14 min
Social Influence Strategies
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Foot-in-the-Door Technique: small request
first, then bigger request
Lowball Technique: commit to an attractive
proposition before revealing hidden costs
Door-in-the-Face Technique: Ask for
something huge, get turned down, and then
ask for something more reasonable
Representativeness Heuristic
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When someone makes a judgment or choice
based on how well a choice represents what
you are looking for
Choosing Mrs. Crain over Mrs. Thomas for a
basketball team before you even see what
their skills are
Availability Heuristic
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When someone makes a decision based on
what has been readily available (in
memory/experiences) rather than on real
information
Example about parents’ worries