Transcript Chapter 14: Social Behavior

Introduction to Psychology: Kellogg Community College, Talbot
Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Social Behavior
Introduction to Psychology: Kellogg Community College, Talbot
Chapter 14
What Is Social Psychology?
• Social Psychology: Scientific studies of how individuals
behave, think, and feel in social situations; how people
act in the presence (actual or implied) of others
• Need to Affiliate: Desire to associate with other people;
appears to be a basic human trait
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Chapter 14
Comparison and Attraction
• Social Comparison: Making judgments about ourselves
by comparing ourselves to others (e.g., comparing our
feelings and abilities to those of other people)
• Interpersonal Attraction: Social attraction to another
person
• Physical Proximity: Physical nearness to another person
in terms of housing, school, work
• Physical Attractiveness: Person’s degree of physical
beauty as defined by his or her culture
• Halo Effect: Tendency to generalize a limited impression
to other personal characteristics
• Competent: When people display a high degree of
knowledge, ability, or proficiency
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Chapter 14
Similarity
• Similarity: Extent to which two people are alike in terms
of age, education, attitudes, and so on
– Similar people are attracted to each other
• Homogamy: Tendency to marry someone who is like us
in almost every way
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Chapter 14
Self-Disclosure
• Process of revealing one’s private thoughts, attitudes,
feelings, and personal history to others
– Should be used cautiously and sparingly by the
therapist performing therapy
– May lead to countertransference in therapy (when the
therapist makes an unhealthy connection to the client)
• Reciprocity: Return in kind; reciprocal exchange
• Overdisclosure: Self-disclosure that exceeds what is
appropriate for a relationship or social situation
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Chapter 14
Love and Attachment
• Romantic Love: Marked by high levels of interpersonal
attraction, sexual desire, and heightened arousal
• Liking: Relationship based on intimacy but lacking
passion and commitment
• Mutual Absorption: When two lovers almost always
attend only to each other
• Evolutionary Psychology: Study of evolutionary origins of
human behavior patterns
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Figure 14.2
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.2 What do people look for when considering potential dating partners? Here are the
results of a study in which personal ads were placed in newspapers. As you can see, men were
more influenced by looks, and women by success
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Chapter 14
Life in Groups
• Social Role: Patterns of behavior expected of people in
various social positions (e.g., daughter, mother, teacher,
President (!))
– Ascribed Role: Assigned to a person or not under
personal control
– Achieved Role: Attained voluntarily or by special effort
(teacher, mayor, President)
• Role Conflict: When two or more roles make conflicting
demands on behavior
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Chapter 14
Groups
• Group Structure: Network of roles, communication,
pathways, and power in a group
• Group Cohesiveness: Degree of attraction among group
members or their commitment to remain in the group
• In Group: A group with which a person identifies
• Out Group: Group with which a person does not identify
– Cohesive groups work better together
– What kind of groups did you see on “Survivor,” “Road
Rules,” and “Real World”?
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Chapter 14
Some More Important Terms
• Status: Level of social power and importance
• Norm: Accepted but usually unspoken standard for
appropriate behavior
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Figure 14.3
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.3 Results of an experiment on norms concerning littering. The prior existence of
litter in a public setting implies that littering is acceptable. This encourages others to “trash” the
area.
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Chapter 14
Social Perception
• Attribution: Making inferences about the causes of one’s
own behavior and others’ behavior
– External Cause of Behavior: Assumed to lie outside a
person
– Internal Cause of Behavior: Assumed to lie within the
person
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Chapter 14
Social Perception (cont'd)
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to attribute
behavior of others to internal causes (personality, likes,
etc.). We believe this even if they really have external
causes!
• Actor-Observer Bias: Tendency to attribute behavior of
others to internal causes while attributing one’s own
behavior to external causes (situations and
circumstances).
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Chapter 14
Social Influence
• Changes in a person’s behavior induced by the actions
of another person.
– Someone else influences your decision: husband,
wife, mother, peer, etc.
– Peer Pressure: Ken was swayed by Lisa and
Gabriella to go see “Catwoman” when he really
wanted to see “Open Water.”
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Chapter 14
Conformity
• Bringing one’s behavior into agreement with norms or
the behavior of others.
– Solomon Asch’s Experiment: You must select (from a
group of three) the line that most closely matches the
standard line. All lines are shown to a group of seven
people (including you).
– Other six were accomplices, and at times all would
select the wrong line.
– In 33% of the trials, the real subject conformed to
group pressure even when the group’s answers were
obviously incorrect!
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Figure 14.4
FIGURE 14.4 Stimuli used in Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments.
Chapter 14
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Chapter 14
Group Factors in Conformity
• Groupthink: Compulsion by decision makers to maintain
agreement, even at the cost of critical thinking
• Group Sanctions: Rewards and punishments
administered by groups to enforce conformity or punish
nonconformity
• Unanimity: Unanimous agreement
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Chapter 14
Obedience (Milgram)
• Conformity to the demands of an authority.
• Would you shock a man with a known heart condition
who is screaming and asking to be released?
• Milgram studied this; the man with a heart condition was
an accomplice and the “teacher” was a real volunteer.
The goal was to teach the learner word pairs.
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Chapter 14
Milgram’s Conclusions
• 65% obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on the
“shock machine,” even though the learner eventually
could not answer any more questions
• Group support can reduce destructive obedience
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Figure 14.6
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.6 Results of Milgram’s obedience experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused
to provide shocks, even at the most extreme intensities. The first substantial drop in obedience
occurred at the 300-volt level (Milgram, 1963).
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Figure 14.7
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.7 Physical distance from the “learner” had a significant effect on the percentage
of subjects obeying orders.
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Chapter 14
Compliance
• Bending to the requests of one person who has little or
no authority or social power.
• Foot-in-the-Door Effect: A person who has agreed to a
small request is more likely later to agree to a larger
demand.
– Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is almost
a sure thing.
• Door-in-the-Face Technique: A person who has refused
a major request will be more likely later on to comply
with a smaller request.
– After the door has been slammed in your face (major
request refused), person may be more likely to agree
to a smaller request.
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Chapter 14
Compliance (cont'd)
• Low-Ball Technique: Commitment is gained first to
reasonable or desirable terms, which are then made less
reasonable or desirable.
• Henry accepts the price he states for a new car.
Then later Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry, “The
business would lose too much money on that
price; can’t you take a bit less and add all these
options?”
• Passive Compliance: Quietly bending to unreasonable
demands or unacceptable conditions.
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Chapter 14
Assertiveness Training
• Instruction in how to be self-assertive
• Self-Assertion: Standing up for your rights by speaking
out on your behalf; direct, honest expression of feelings
and desires
• Aggression: Hurting another person or achieving one’s
goals at the expense of another person
– Attempting to get one’s way no matter what
– No regard for others’ feelings
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Chapter 14
Attitudes and Beliefs
• Attitude: Learned tendency to respond to people,
objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way
– Summarize your evaluation of objects
• Belief Component: What a person believes about the
attitudinal object
• Emotional Component: Feelings toward the attitudinal
object
• Action Component: One’s actions toward various people,
objects, or institutions
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Chapter 14
Attitude Formation
• Direct Contact: Personal experience with the object of
the attitude
• Interaction with Others: Discussions with people holding
a particular attitude
• Child Rearing: Effects of parental values, beliefs, and
practices
• Group Membership: Affiliation with others
• Mass Media: All media that reach large audiences
(magazines, television)
• Mean World View: Viewing the world as dangerous and
threatening
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Chapter 14
Attitude Measurement and Change
• Chance Conditioning: Learning that takes place by
chance or coincidence
• Reference Group: Any group a person identifies with and
uses as a standard for social comparison
• Persuasion: Deliberate attempt to change attitudes or
beliefs through information and arguments
– Communicator: Person presenting arguments or
information
– Message: Content of communicator’s arguments
– Audience: Person or group to whom a persuasive
message is directed
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Chapter 14
Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger)
• Contradicting or clashing thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or
perceptions that cause discomfort
– We need to have consistency in our thoughts,
perceptions, and images of ourselves
– Underlies attempts to convince ourselves we did the
right thing
• Justification: Degree to which one’s actions are
explained by rewards or other circumstances
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Figure 14.10
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.10 Summary of the Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) study from the viewpoint of a
person experiencing cognitive dissonance.
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Chapter 14
Brainwashing
• Engineered or forced attitude change requiring a captive
audience; three steps:
– Unfreezing: Loosening of former values and
convictions
– Change: When the brainwashed person abandons
former beliefs
– Refreezing: Rewarding and solidifying new attitudes
and beliefs
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Chapter 14
Cults
• Groups that profess great devotion to a person and
follow that person almost without question
– Leader’s personality is usually more important than
the issues he/she preaches
– Members usually victimized by the leader(s)
– Recruit potential converts at a time of need,
especially when a sense of belonging is most
attractive to potential converts
• Look for college students and young adults
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Chapter 14
Cults (cont'd)
• Some examples: People’s Temple and Jim Jones;
Heaven’s Gate; Branch Davidians
• Where does “Scientology” fit?
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Chapter 14
Prejudice
• Negative emotional attitude held toward members of a
specific social group
• Discrimination: Unequal treatment of people who should
have the same rights as others
• Personal Prejudice: When members of another racial or
ethnic group are perceived as a threat to one’s own
interests
• Group Prejudice: When a person conforms to group
norms
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Chapter 14
Prejudiced Personality and Intergroup Conflict
• Authoritarian Personality: Marked by rigidity, inhibition,
prejudice, and oversimplification
• Ethnocentrism: Placing one’s group at the center, usually
by rejecting all other groups
• Social Stereotypes: Oversimplified images of people who
belong to a particular social group
• Symbolic Prejudice: Prejudice expressed in a disguised
fashion
– “Prejudice is socially unacceptable,” but will still
express prejudice in disguised form
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Chapter 14
Other Concepts Relating to Prejudice
• Status Inequalities: Differences in power, prestige, or
privileges of two or more people or groups
• Equal-Status Contact: Social interaction that occurs on
an equal level, without obvious differences in power or
status
• Superordinate Goal: Goal that exceeds or overrides all
other goals, making other goals less important
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Chapter 14
Classroom Ideas
• Mutual Interdependence: When two or more people must
depend on each other to meet each person’s goals.
• Jigsaw Classroom: Each student only gets a piece of
information needed to complete a problem or prepare for
a test; to succeed and get all pieces, students must all
work together.
• Prejudicial stereotypes tend to be very irrational
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Chapter 14
Aggression
• Any action carried out with the intention of harming
another person.
• Ethologists believe that aggression is innate in all
animals, including humans.
– Ethologist: Studies natural behavior patterns of
animals.
– There appears to be a relationship between
aggression and hypoglycemia, allergy, and certain
brain injuries and disorders.
– Certain brain areas can trigger or end aggressive
behavior.
• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: Frustration tends to
lead to aggression
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Chapter 14
Aversive Stimuli
• Produce discomfort or displeasure
• Aggression Cues: Signals that are associated with
aggression
• Weapons Effect: Observation that weapons serve as
strong cues for aggressive behavior
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Figure 14.12
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.12 Personal discomfort caused by aversive (unpleasant) stimuli can make
aggressive behavior more likely. For example, studies of crime rates show that the incidence of
highly aggressive behavior, such as murder, rape, and assault, rises as the air temperature goes
from warm to hot to sweltering (Anderson, 1989). The results you see here further confirm the
heat-aggression link. The graph shows that there is a strong association between the
temperatures at major league baseball games and the number of batters hit by a pitch during
those games. When the temperature goes over 90°, watch out for that fastball (Reifman, Larrick,
& Fein, 1991)!
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Chapter 14
Social Learning Theory (Bandura) and Television
• Social Learning Theory: Combines learning principles
with cognitive processes, socialization, and modeling to
explain behavior
– No instinctive (innate) desires for shooting guns, knife
fights, and so on
– Aggression must be learned
• Disinhibition: Removal of inhibition; results in acting-out
behavior that normally would be restrained
• Television seems to be able to cause desensitization to
violence
– Desensitization: Reduced emotional sensitivity
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Figure 14.13
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.13 Violent behavior among delinquent boys doesn’t appear overnight. Usually,
their capacity for violence develops slowly, as they move from minor aggression to
increasingly brutal acts. Overall aggression increases dramatically in early adolescence as
boys gain physical strength and more access to weapons
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Chapter 14
Social Learning Theory and Television:
A Conclusion
• Television seems to be able to cause desensitization to
violence
– Desensitization: Reduced emotional sensitivity
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Chapter 14
Prosocial Behavior and Bystander Apathy
• Prosocial Behavior: Behavior toward others that is
helpful, constructive, or altruistic
• Bystander Apathy: Unwillingness of bystanders to offer
help during emergencies
– Related to number of people present
• The more potential helpers present, the lower the
chances help will be given
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Chapter 14
Decision Points Reached before Giving Help
• Noticing the person in trouble
• Defining an Emergency: Until someone declares the
situation an emergency, no one acts
• Taking Responsibility: Assume responsibility to help
– Diffusion of Responsibility: Spreading responsibility to
act among several people
• Select a course of action
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Figure 14.15
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.15 This decision tree summarizes the steps a person must take before
making a commitment to offer help, according to Latané and Darley’s model.
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Chapter 14
Empathy Concepts
• Empathic Arousal: Emotional arousal that occurs when
you feel some of the person’s pain, fear, or anguish
• Empathy-Helping Relationship: Helping person in need
because we have emotions such as empathy and
compassion for that person
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Chapter 14
Multiculturalism
• Gives equal status to different ethnic, racial, and cultural
groups
• Two ways to break stereotypes
– Seek individuating information that helps you see a
person as an individual and not as a member of a
group.
– Don’t believe just-world beliefs: That people generally
get what they deserve.
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Chapter 14
More Ways to Break Stereotypes
• Note self-fulfilling prophecies: Expectations that prompt
people to act in ways that make expectations come true.
• Understand that different does not mean inferior.
– Social Competition: Rivalry among groups, each of
which regards itself as superior to others.
• Look for commonalities