lecture 6-Social psych

• Social Psychology


  Study of how people influence others' behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes
• Social Psychology


  • Adaptive and maladaptive
• Humans tend to form interpersonal networks of a particular size
• ~150 people
• Need-to-belong theory


  We have a biologically based need for interpersonal connections
• We suffer negative psychological and physical consequences when we can't satisfy our need to belong
• Internal attribution


  Inferring that a particular behaviour was due to dispositional causes
• External attribution


  Inferring that the individual's behaviour was caused by some other factor (e.g., situation)
• Fundamental Attribution Error


  The tendency to underestimate the role of situations and overestimate the role of dispositions when explaining others' behaviour
• Is the Fundamental Attribution Error really fundamental? (Miller, 1984)
• Conformity


  The tendency to alter our behaviour as a result of group pressure
• Is conformity always a bad thing?
• Sherif (1935): Conformity and Group Norms

  1. Participants in dark room were shown a light and estimated the distance the light moved

  2. In 3 group sessions, they again made distance estimations
• Asch's Line Judgment Experiment (1955)

  1. Participants were asked "Which comparison line is the same length as the standard?"

  2. Used confederates

  3. Participants conformed on 37% of 12 trials
• Social Influences on Conformity

  • Unanimity increased conformity
  • Lower conformity if one other person differed from the majority (dissenter)
  • Size of majority up to five or six people
  • Writing vs. calling out responses
• Normative Influence


  Conformity motivated by a fear of social rejection
• Informational Influence


  Conformity motivated by the belief that others are correct
• Factors linked to Conformity

  • Low self-esteem
  • Asian cultures more likely to conform
  • No gender differences*
• Deindividuation


  Tendency to engage in atypical behaviour when stripped of your usual identity
• Wearing masks and concealing identity leads to deindividuation
• How has the world become increasingly deindividuated?
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison "Experiment" (1972)

  1. Recruited normal young men for a two week "psychological study of prison life"

  2. Randomly assigned them to be either a prisoner or a guard

  3. Dressed as your "role," prisoners referred to by number and not name
• By second day, guards began to treat prisoners cruelly and dole out punishment
• Prisoners started a rebellion; guards became increasingly sadistic
• Had to stop study after only 6 days due to nervous breakdowns by prisoners
• Criticisms of Stanford Prison "Experiment"

  • Demand characteristics
  • Experimenter participation
  • Selection bias
  • Replication difficulties (Reicher & Haslam, 2006)
  • Mental breakdowns may have been faked
• Events at Abu Ghraib (2004) echoed those of the Stanford Prison Study
• Individual differences play a key role
• Deindividuation makes us more likely to conform to whatever norms (good or bad) are present in the situation
• Groupthink


  Faulty decision-making that occurs when a highly cohesive group seeks agreement at the expense of critical thinking
• Groupthink is associated with isolation and stress
• Group polarization


  Shift toward the dominant point of view
• Obedience


  Adherence to orders from those of higher authority
• Obedience is essential in our daily lives (e.g. stop lights, parking signs, work)
• Obedience is bad when people follow without question
• Milgram's Obedience Experiments


  1. Recruited for a "memory study"

  2. Teacher and learner

  3. Paired-associated task

  4. Teacher gives learner increasingly intense shocks if he answers incorrectly

  5. When will people stop giving shocks?

  6. Learner soon misses some answers, researcher tells teacher to continue administering shocks

  7. By 330 volts, learner is yelling "Let me out of here!"

  8. 345 volts onward, silence
• Two Key Themes from Milgram's Obedience Experiments


  • As psychological distance between experimenter and teacher increased, obedience decreased
  • As psychological distance between teacher and learner increased, obedience increased
• Prosocial Behaviour


  Actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper
• Altruism


  Actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper
• Bystander Nonintervention/The Bystander Effect


  The presence of others inhibits helping in an emergency