Influence of Others 1+2 - 10

Question 1

Norman Triplett- conducted first social psychology study

Answer 1

o Hypothesized the presence of others was a variable in how we act around others
o Co-actor: individuals performing the same task as you
o Audience: group of people watching an individual perform a take
o Social facilitation: increased or decrease performance with a co-actor or audience
compared to doing it alone

Question 2

• Zajonc- in 1965, published a paper about social facilitation

Answer 2

-The presentation of others increases physiological activity (arousal)
-For simple and well-practiced tasks, performance is enhanced
-For difficult and not-practiced tasks, performance is hindered
-Added the ‘decrease performance’ part to the social facilitation definition

Question 3

Social learning theory

Answer 3

we model and imitate
the behaviours of others

• Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment
  o Children between ages 3-6 were given a choice of toys to play
  o The adult in the room would either engage in gentle or aggressive behaviour with
  the bobo doll- the children who had viewed the aggressive play model were much
  more prone to spontaneously act the same when put into a different room

Question 4

Norms (conformity)

Answer 4

Norms: unwritten but commonly accepted rules for how to behave, help guide how we
interact with others and the world
o Leads to conformity

Question 5

Sherif’s autokinetic effect

Answer 5

o A stationary light in a pitch black room appears to move when it doesn’t- as we
scan the room, we mistake the image on our retina to be an actual motion
o When comparing results with other participants (after being in the same room at
the same time), the results will start to concur between participants (indicating
conformity)
o In a later trial, there was a confederate in the room that said the value was much
larger, and the participants’ estimate increased, indicating that they accounted for
the confederate’s opinion
* Laugh tracks during comedies are examples of this

Question 7

• Asch wanted to know why people converge to the norm

Answer 7

o Asked people which comparison line is the same length as the sample
o In the group, only one person is a real participant (others are confederates) and
respond after most of the confederates
o All the confederates say the obviously wrong answer, but 75% of participants
conformed to an incorrect answer on at least 1 trial
o This occurred even with anonymity

Question 8

Normative function

Answer 8

role of others in setting standards
for our conduct, and we follow them in fear of criticism
and social rejection for not following them

Question 9

Normative function chart in note from Maddy

Question 10

Informational function

Answer 10

role of others in providing
information about an ambiguous situation
* Normative and informational functions both contribute to conformity

Question 11

Group Dynamics (Stoner)

Answer 11

Risky shift effect: tested the idea that groups were more cautious when making
decisions than individuals; individuals came up with their own ideas before
coming together as a group
o Groups do not always cause riskier decisions than individuals- it depends on the
situation

Question 12

Group polarization

Answer 12

decision making in a group tends to strengthen inclinations of
individual group members
o Encompasses the risky shift and cautious shift effects
o Supported by many experiments

Question 13

Groupthink

Answer 13

group decision making environment when group cohesiveness becomes so
strong it overrides realistic appraisals of reality and alternative opinions
o These groups think they are right and all others are wrong
o Fail to critically think about other perspectives
o High conformity pressure
o Preventing groupthink: be impartial, encourage critical evaluation and
disagreement (assign a devil’s advocate), subdivide group and later reunite,
provide a second chance

Question 14

The bystander effect

Answer 14

-The presence of other witnesses led to a diffusion
of responsibility to act

Question 15

Pluralistic ignorance

Answer 15

when each individual in a
group sees nobody responding in a given
situation, they conclude the situation is not an
emergency

Question 16

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 16

in deciding whether
to act, we determine that someone else in the
room is more qualified
* Being direct avoids the bystander effect
* Seeing helpful behaviour increases probability of helping others in the future

Question 17

Social loafing

Answer 17

individuals seem to be less motivated when working in a group than when
working alone

Question 18

Millgram’s Study

Answer 18

-In 1963, Stanley Milgram commenced a study to understand human motivation and obedience to authority, the study particularly examined the effect of punishment on memory and learning. 2 people were used in this study (one was the teacher and questioned the learner) the other was a learner. The teacher had to shock the learner with each question they answer wrong, and the voltage got larger as more answers were wrong. 65% of teachers delivered all the shocks, even though they knew the learner had a heart problem and became unresponsive

-Millgram’s study showed the very strong tendency of obedience from authority
-the experience also shows that you are not always an accurate judge of how you perceive you would behave in a situation

-Milgram reported that most participants were happy they participated in the study and fascinated by their willingness to obey authority (could be partially due to cognitive dissonance)

• a similar study called Study 10, was held in both a rundown building and a prestigious university. The two locations yielded the same results, suggesting that the prestige of each location did not alter results

-a similar experiment called experiment 13, had the experimenter dressed either casually or in a lab coat - participants were more obedient to the person wearing a lab coat

-more people were more likely to obey the experiment in this study when sitting in the same room as the experiment, rather than a different room and following orders by phone

Question 19

Nurse and Doctor Experiment

Answer 19

• a fake doctor called a nurse at a hospital over the phone, and ordered them to administer medication to a patient (fake medicine but the nurse did not know this). The doctor ordered a higher dose than is safe, and medication orders should never be done over the phone. 21/22 nurses compiled suggesting:
  The tendency to obey can be irresistible under a variety of circumstances
  You never quite know how you would act until you were placed in a given situation (95% of nurses said they wouldn’t obey, yet 95% of nurses in the experiment did)

Question 20

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 20

-a state of psychological discomfort brought on by conflict between a person’s attitudes and their behaviour. It’s most often resolved when a person adjusts their beliefs to justify the action that they have made in the past and can thus no longer change

Question 21

Cognitive Dissonance Explained

Answer 21

-if someone is paid $20 to lie, and another person is paid $1 to lie, the person paid $1 will actually be more satisfied due to cognitive dissonance. The lie is to tell someone an activity is fun, when in reality it’s boring

Think it’s boring (attitude) + say it’s exciting (lie) (behaviour) = large dissonance because attitude and behaviour are conflicting

Question 22

Overjustification Effect

Answer 22

childenjoys drawijg and gets paid. overtime they stop enjoying drawing and only want moneh]y

Question 23

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 23

-demonstrates the incredible power that circumstance and assigned role can have on human behaviour

Question 24

Deindividuation

Answer 24

-in a group situation, the loss of a sense of personal responsibility and restraint

Question 25

Similarity vs Credibility

Answer 25

-people are often more persuaded by people who are similar to them, rather than depending on what their credentials are

Question 26

Central Appeal (what an audience is more likely to be persuaded by

Answer 26

-well reasoned, factual, two-sided arguments
-effective for academic audiences

Question 27

Peripheral Appeal (more convincing in a less academic setting)

Answer 27

-well presented, easy to understand messages
-effective for non-academic audiences

Question 28

Foot in the Door Technique

Answer 28

-when a large request doesn’t seem so outrageous because it followed previous related and escalating requests
-ex if you ask someone to wear a pin for a cancer research charity, they’ll be more likely to donate to that charity

Question 29

Low-Ball Technique

Answer 29

-an escalation of the terms of an agreement after simeon has already agreed to comply
-ex. A car at a dealership is really chip so a buyer is set on it. When he goes to pay, the dealer revels hidden costs so the car is actually no cheaper, yet the buyer still purchases it because of feeling excited at first

Question 30

Foot in the Door vs Low-Ball Technique

Answer 30

-foot in the door = target agrees to small request, then increasingly larger requests can be made
-low ball = changing initial deal that target already agreed to

Question 31

Persuasion

Answer 31

-has three important components:
the communication, message and audience

-foot in the door technique, low ball technique, and door in the face technique can make someone seem more persuasive

Question 32

Hostile aggression:

Answer 32

Involves behaviours that are directly confrontational—
for example, hitting someone or yelling at them. This is more commonly
used by men.

Question 33

Negative State Relief Model:

Answer 33

We help others because we would feel
distressed (and guilty) if we didn’t.

Question 34

Norm Function:

Answer 34

Proposed by Sherif. Found that participants gradually
conformed to the others opinion, regardless of starting point.

Question 35

Normative Social Influences:

Answer 35

In general, we want to be approved of by
the people we associate with.

Question 36

Norm of Reciprocity:

Answer 36

We are expected to reciprocate when someone else
treats us well.

Question 37

Norm of Social Responsibility:

Answer 37

As a member of a society, we are expected
to contribute to its welfare in a positive way.

Question 38

One-Sided Argument:

Answer 38

Only one side/opinion of a particular argument is
presented. This tends to be to be more effective when the audience initially agrees with the communicator.

Question 39

Self-Perception Theory:

Answer 39

Proposed by Bem. Indicates that we don’t
necessarily have a special insight into ourselves. We sometimes have to
figure out who we are in a way that is similar to how we figure out who
others are: by assessing behaviour.

Question 40

Relational aggression:

Answer 40

Involves personal interactions. Relationally
aggressive behaviours are engaged in an attempt to make others dislike
someone—for example, spreading rumours about someone or ignoring
them. This is more commonly used by women.

Question 41

Risky-Shift:

Answer 41

The observed tendency for people to make more daring
decisions when they are in groups, than when they are alone. However, later
determined to be caused by group polarization and not actually risk.

Question 42

Two-sided arguments:

Answer 42

Both sides of an opinion are explained by the
communicator. This tends to be more effective when the audience initially
disagrees. Such an audience may appreciate acknowledgment of their
point of view and, following that, may be more open to being brought
around to a different one. This type of argument works best to convince an
academic audience.