Chapter 13 Social Psychology PDF

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This is notes from professor Keith William's lectures on Chapter 13...

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#55 PSYC 1100-004- Introduction to Psychology. 03/11/20-03/25/20 Chapter 13 Social Psychology Definition of Social Psychology ➢ Study of the environmental factors influencing people’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. ➢ Study of the situational factors in influencing individual and group behavior. ➢ Study of the effects of group influence on individual behavior. Jonestown is a tragic example of social psychology gone very wrong that we discussed in class. (Note: Jonestown was a 1978 mass murder-suicide.) Social Thinking Attribution Theory-what do you think caused the behavior. ➔ Dispositional attribution is when we perceive an event to be caused by an internal factor (self) (Genetic) ➔ Situational attribution is when we perceive an event as caused by an external factor (others) (Environmental) We also discussed serial killers in class and talked about whether they were influenced by their genetics or by the environment or both. ★ Fundamental Attribution Error- is the tendency for people to underemphasize situational explanations for an individual's observed behavior while over-emphasizing dispositional (genetic) and personality-based explanations for their behavior. ★ Self-Serving Bias-is defined as people's tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors. For example it is not my fault I failed the test it was the professor's fault because the lectures were bad. _________________________________________________________________ (Notes the Professor Gave the students) Social Psychology-Study of the situational factors influencing individual and group behavior. ➔ The case of “road rage” is a classic example that relates to the definition of social psychology since situational factors like traffic jams, being late to work, being hungry, and being around fast and reckless drivers are predictors of road rage. It is the situation that makes non-violent people snap and

become “road rages” and not merely personal factors. Social Thinking (Attribution Theory) ● Attributions are causal interpretations or explanations that you give for your behavior or for others behaviors. Attribution theory assumes that when we view others behaviors (someone who behaves aggressively) we quickly think about why they behave as they did or what caused them to behave aggressively and we conclude that their aggressive behavior was caused by either personal factors (they are just mean) or situational factors (they were provoked). ● Dispositional Attributions-explaining others behaviors as the result of internal or personal factors. ➔ Example 1-serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer killed because he was born evil, has personal flaws, is wired differently than most people. ➔ Example 2-Michael Vick and Deer Hunters kill animals because they are ruthless individuals who are unethical and show no concern for life. ● Situational Attributions-explaining others behaviors as the result of situational or external factors. ➔ Example 1-serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer killed because he was neglected as a child, was bullied in school, suffered abuse (it was no fault of his own) ➔ Example 2-Michael Vick and Deer Hunters kill animals because they are products of their environments, they are following family/community traditions (not evil people). ● Fundamental Attribution Error (also called Blaming the Victim)overemphasizing dispositional (internal factors) and underemphasizing situational factors when describing others behaviors or outcomes. ➔ Example 1-a student is unfortunately assaulted walking to their car after a night class and others blame that student for the outcome because they were walking alone and they parked in an isolated area (overemphasizing personal factors) when they could have simply said that it is not your fault, you did nothing wrong, could have happened to anyone (underemphasized unfortunate situational factors). ➔ Example 2-someone applies for a job and does not get it and the person’s friends blame them for losing out on the job due to lack of

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preparation (overemphasizing personal factors). It could have just been that high quality candidates applied and they could only take one person (underemphasized unfortunate situational factors). Self-Serving Attributions-explaining your successes as due to dispositional (internal factors) and explaining away your failures as due to situational factors Come up with 2 examples on your own for this concept ➔ Example 1: I failed the test because my professor give bad lectures or is a hard grader ➔ Example 2: I passed the test because I am intelligent. Attitudes/Actions-discusses strategies that we can use to get people to comply with our requests, or to get people to do what we want them to do. Below are attitude change strategies commonly used to get people to buy things that they don’t want or need. All of the strategies below involve 2steps with the first step used to gauge interest and the second step used to ask for what you really want from them. Foot-in-the-Door Technique-a 2-step compliance strategy designed to ask for something minimal at Step1 and gaining compliance before proceeding to Step 2 and asking for what you really want which is more substantial. ➔ Example 1-a child selling girls scout cookies asks if you will buy 1 box of cookies for $2 (Step 1) and you say yes. The child then says that since you bought 1 box for $2 would you be willing to buy 2 boxes for $4? (Step 2). You are believed to be more likely to buy 2 boxes for $4 if you are first asked to buy 1 box for $2 and agree vs. if they just asked you to buy 2 boxes for $4. ➔ Example 2-you graduate from Stockton and soon afterwards you are asked if you would like to donate $50 to Stockton students scholarships, you say yes (Step 1). Some time later Stockton contacts you again and says thanks for the $50 for student scholarships and since you gave once would you be willing to give $100 this time around? (Step 2). In both examples the seller wants the Step 2 request to be honored and by first introducing Step 1 (smaller request) the Step 2 (larger request) is more likely to be accepted. Door-in-the-Face Technique-a 2-step compliance strategy designed to ask for something excessive at Step1 and expecting and getting rejection before proceeding to Step 2 and asking for what you really want which is more

minimal. ➔ Example 1-someone asking you to buy a 3-year health club membership for $2000 and being rejected by you (Step 1) and then coming back with the offer of a 1-year membership for $500 (Step 2). The 1-year membership for $500 is what they wanted to sell you all along but by asking for something excessive first ($2000 fee for 3 years) it is more likely that the $500 fee for 1 year will be accepted. In sum had they only offered the 1-year membership for $500 you would have likely rejected. Come up with a second example of your own ● 2-step compliance strategy designed to ask for something excessive at Step1 and just before the customer responds to the request you indicate that a bonus or addition will be added to sweeten the deal for you (Step 2). This bonus however is not really a bonus. ➔ Example 1-someone selling you a pair of expensive shoes informs you that the price is $200 for the pair that you like and just before hearing your response to the price the salesperson says (we are actually getting ready to bring in a new shipment of shoes so since we are getting rid of old inventory we can sell these shoes for $100 (Step 2). The salesperson really wants to sell the shoes for $100 but by saying “that’s not all” we are bringing in new shipments here is your new deal (Step 2) you are more likely to buy. Come up with a second example on your own **Read about Asch’s Conformity study, Milgram’s Shock study, Zimbardo’s Prison study over the break. I will cover the rest of social psychology when we return to campus after the extended break. Info about Group paper #3, extra credit papers, and select videos to watch will be sent in late March. With the notes above you have enough material to complete Group Paper #3 when I assign it in a few weeks __________________________________________________________________________

Notes from Lecture on March 25th. Attribute/Behavioral Change Strategies Zimbardo’s Prison Study (1972) ways in which to get people to obey commands that they do not want to do. ● Overview of study: Involved undergature males in a two weeks study (volunteered) that were prescreened for health and fitness. 24 subjects involved in total: 12 were prisoners and 12 were guards. Prisons were arrested by local police at their homes and were treated as if they were

actually being arrested. Took place at Stanford campus in a mock jail. The prisons were treated like they were actually prisoners and forced into mock jail cells and given uniforms. The guards got special uniforms and glasses. The guards were instructed on what to do and eventually confrontation arose. The guards got angry at the prisoners and food and water were taken away and physical punishments were given out. The study was halted after about 6 days because prisoners were so shaken that it had to be terminated. This study showed that within a brief period of time with minimal conditions and with a group of men not prone to violence it is possible to recreate the behavior behind prison walls proving that even normal people can become dehumanized by their institutional roles. ➔ This study does a good job of showing how social norms affect behaviour. ● Cognitive Dissonance Theory- state of tensions that arise when we hold two incomplete attitudes. Motivates us to change one of these attitudes. Example (Two statements) you say you believe anyone should be able to serve in the military show be allowed, yet gays and women should not be allowed to serve in the military. According to the theory you should change one belief. Attitude: We should protect the environment. Behavior: You don’t recycle, you don’t carpool, and you don’t drive a hybrid. This should then cause a behavior change or your attitude should change. Your attitude and behavior should match up or your two attitudes must match up or you will be motivated to change either the attitude or behavior. Social Influence ● Conformity- discuss the influence of social pressure on individuals more specifically adjusting one behaviors to fit group norms. Asch’s conformity study (1955) Involved a group of five to eight subjects sitting in a circle and all but one of the subjects were actors working with the researchers. All individuals were asked an easy question at first and all the participants would answer correctly but on the last question the actors would give the wrong answer, so the question of the study is will you go along with the group or answer correctly. If the task is easy almost a ⅓ of the subjects confirm the majority did not. Conformity decreases if there is one ally that also picks the correct answers (so if some else goes against the group before you) or a person that picks the wrong answers. The number of people in the group also affect conformity the less people in the group the more likely the

subject will disagree. 5 to 8 subjects is the strongest push to conform. Once you go past 8 there diminishing returns if you have 11 subjects that go with the wrong answers the subject believes there is some tricky going on. Difficult tasks have a higher conformity because people are unsure of their answer therefore, the more unsure you are the more likely you are to go with the group. Normative/Informational Social Influence- conform with the group because you fear being a social deviant someone who is not with the group. ● Obedience Milgram’s Obedience Study (1965, 1974 replicated)- why do humans follow order when they run counter to are beliefs. Demonstrate why humans destructively disobey/obey. The study was done in Yale, forty male participants were in the study they were told they were doing research to understand how punishment affects learning (lie). Subjects were asked to draw slips of paper to determine if they were the teacher (ask questions and administer punishment if answers are incorrect) or the students (answer the question). The whole study was a setup where all of the forty subjects were teachers. No subject received a harmful shock. Simple tasks remember word pairs and you had to be able to recall the word pairs if they were incorrect a shock was given (in this study shock were perceived to be real but were not). The teacher received a 15 volt shock in order to understand what it feels like. One of the subjects comes in (an actor) and says he shouldn't be a part of the study because he has a heart condition, the researchers say they should be able to handle the shock. All 40 continue on. You see the participant being hooked up to the machine. The first shock started at 75 volt (your shock was 15). You hear them participate but don’t see them. At 330 the “victim” falls silent. If this happens you must continue shocking in order to keep the integrity of the study. 8 shots were delivered after 330. 26 continued to the end of the study at 450. No one stopped before 300 points. People continue shocking because an authority figure is telling them to do it, this is an example of foot in the door method (it just a little bit more voltage each time). Social distance is another example since you don’t see the person in pain. If the person is closer (as done in further study) the level of destructive obedience is much less. The more authority some has the more likely there is an increase in destructive obedience. Conditions/Ethics this is perceived to be unethical and that why only two studies

have been done. _________________________________________________________________ Notes from Lecture on March 27. Social Relations Prejudice- involve negative attitude or feeling towards another based on their social group or social category. For example negative feelings towards someone based on their gender, race, religion, etc. Robber Cave 1954 Study of prejudicial attitudes. Took place in Oklahoma and involves eleven years old playing in a camp. During the first week the children establish a group name, a way in which to establish group identity. There are two different groups that do normal camp activity until there is a competition between the two groups. The competition begins and after a week there physical fights, flag burning, antagonism between two groups. Concluded that competition leads to people who are not prone to violence and are not prejudiced to become violent and inspark negative attitudes. The research tried to eliminate prejudice attitude by forcing both groups to cooperate. Conclude that cooperation between groups can decrease prejudice attitudes. Discuss how prejudice attitudes are produced (competition) and show how you can eliminate prejudice attitudes (cooperation). Sport was used as a great experiment to lower prejudice attitudes. Discrimanation- unequal treatment of others based on their social group. ➔ “Isms” (sexism-based on gender, racism- based on race, homophobismbased on sexuality, ageism based on age, etc.). Involve both discimination (unequal treatment of women) and prejudice (negative attitudes based on gender) Stereotypes- exaggerated belief associated specific trait with people based on their social group membership ● Example: Harvard students are all wealthy. Asian Americans are all good at math. ● Internal truth about stereotypes: around 30 percent of the time stereotypes that you expected or hypothesized is confirmed in social context; around 70 percent of the time stereotypes are false. ➔ Discuss that when a stereotype is confirmed holds more weight than when a stereotype is disconfirmed.

➔ Stereotypes can be positive (Asians are good at math), negative or neutral (American like baseball) ➔ Everyone stereotypes Watch eye of the storm on youtube: overview the only way to learn prejudice is to experience prejudice. Separate people based on eye color. Question to think about: Is this experiment ethical? In my opinion no Is the only way to learn about prejudice is to experience it? In my opinion definitely no. ● Social Categorization- first step in producing prejudicial attitudes has to classify people into a group (can be based on looks, gender, religion, race, class status). In the video the children are categorized by eye color. Then use stereotypes to keep the categorizes alive. ● In Group/Out Group Bias or Setup- in group are the group you belong to (people that are the same gender, have the same eye color), the out group is the people different from you (different gender, different eye color). Bias is that we think that the outgroup is negative and the ingroup is positive. Stereotypes are used more heavily in the out group. ● Scapegoat Theory refers to the tendency to blame someone else for one's own problems, a process that often results in feelings of prejudice toward the person or group that one is blaming. ➔ Fundamental Attribution Error- blames people for interaction over emphasized on internal factors and underemphasized the situation. If someone thinks negatively of a group and has low expectations of a group the group performance will be less because they internalize hatred. ● Just World Phenomenon-is the tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve; because people want to believe that the world is fair, they will look for ways to explain or rationalize away injustice, often blaming the person in a situation who is actually the victim. There is a link to just world and prejudice thinking. _________________________________________________________________ Notes from Lectures on March 30, 2020.

Attraction Attraction- degree of liking people have for one another generally based on looks,

but also based on personality, similarity in terms of values, beliefs, and inteset. ➔ Advantage of being attractive: parents pay more attention to attractive babies, criminals who are perceived as attractive receive lesser sentences. Students who are perceived as attractive receive fewer suspension and detention and have a higher GPA. Tend to have more friends, better social skills, more options in terms of dating. ➔ Negatives of being attractive: maintain this level of attraction expensive (beauty products) and physiologically draining. Lower self esteem, lower numbers of peer groups, decrease certainty of friendship. Steps of Attraction: ➔ Proximity- tendency to become attractive to those we live and work near. Have to be in the same social space to become attractive to someone. ➔ Similarity- refer to shared interested values, beliefs, and morals. The more similar people are the more attractive they become to each other. Examples: those with similar levels of education are more attractive to each other, those with similar levels of income, “birds of the same feather” attract each other while according to research “opposite attractive” is less likely. Physical Attractiveness- there is an objective level of attraction which was determined by baby studies in which babies would look at pictures of people who are generally seen as attractive and people with abnormal features (like asymmetrical faces or a huge nose) and their reaction would be recorded. However there is a social aspect to attractiveness that has been proven to be true because what is seen as socially attractive changes depending on what time period (look at models in the 1930’s compared to models in 1960’s). ➔ Matching Hypothesis- is a theory which argues that relationships are formed between two people who are equal or very similar in terms of social desirability. ➔ Mere Exposure Effect-is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. ➔ Evolutionary Hypothesis- men tend to like younger women because younger women can bear more children and from an evolutionary standpoint men want to pass on their genetic information. Women tend to like older men because they are more financially stable so they can provide for their offspring....