Lecture 16 social psycology Flashcards
What is social psychology?
effect of social variables on individual’s behaviours, attitudes, perceptions and motives
-behaviour within a social context
What is social variables?
presence of others, activities and interactions between people, features of the setting and social norms
- things that govern our social behaviours
- these things can be real or imagined
- social setting has the biggest impact
What is social cognition?
process by which people SELECT, INTERPRET and REMEMBER social information
What is social perception?
process by which people come to UNDERSTAND and CATEGORISE the behaviour of others
How do we make causal attributions?
- fundamental attribution bias
2. self serving bias
What is obedience?
COMPLIANCE to the orders of an AUTHORITY figure
(NAZI GERMANY)
-military is a rigid heirachy - culture and expectation to follow orders of the person of authority within the army
public outraged and perplexed at home atrocities happened
a. MY LAI Vietnam 1968 massacre villagers, 3 tried to disobey but obedience was too strong
b. ABU GHRAIB PRISON 2003-4 rape and torture
What is Milgram’s obedience study?
shocking Nazi Germany
social situations can exert subtle but significant control over someone’s behaviours
-DOMINATE over their personality
STANELY MILGRHAM 1960: how FAR people would go to follow orders of authority
-SITUATIONAL FORCES CAN ENGULF ANYONE
told was on effects of punishment on learning
participant become teacher who would increasingly shocker “learner” for wrong answers (didn’t actually receive any shocks)
“learner”: grunts, screamed, stopped moving 300v (said dangerous/severe shocks)
psychiatrists predicted only 0.1% (sadists) would reach 450v, actually 45%
patients were distressed but continued
: people will OBEY AND ORDER, WITHOUT LIMITATIONS OF CONSCIENCE, IF FROM LEGIT AUTHORITY FIGURE
illustrates the POWER OF SITUATION in certain circumstance
Note: would never pass ethics committee of today
What was an experimental demand of Milgram’s study?
invested DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS of experiment
“perception of what is expected by the participant”
-health professional hierarchical structures.
1. phone call
2. unknown doctor
3. prescribe max dosage
4. unauthorised medication
-10/12 Nurses said they would disobey
-21/22 obeyed (admittedly stopped before delivery dosage to patient)
-illustrated the PILGRIMS EXPERIMENT COULDNT be solely attributed to experimental demand, could also occur in a more NATURAL SETTING
Behaviour due to:
SITUATIONAL factor > participant’s personality characteristics
What are the 4x situational factors which influence obedience?
- Proximity of the learner (subjects less likely if in same room as learner- closer to the harm inflicted)
- Proximity to the experimenter ( more likely to disobey when experimenter was remote)
- Dissent (if one subject reduced, others more likely to refuse)
- Modeling (one did it, others more likely to shock learner)
Behaviour due to:
SITUATIONAL factor > participant’s personality characteristics
What are the 5x cognitive factors which influence obedience?
- NORMATIVE influences: “like to be liked”
- influence of OTHER PEOPLE the lead us to CONFORM to be LIKED AND ACCEPTED by them - INFORMATIVE influences: “like to be right”
- want to be correct and understand the right way to behave in a given situation - AMBIGUITY of situation: cues form experts
- when we don’t know what to do we LOOK FOR CUES and are likely to do what EXPERTS tell us - CONFUSION about how to DISSENT (how to disobey an order if nothing is satisfying the authority figure)
- if attempts to dissent do not satisfy authority>confusion - Obedience to authority is a SOCIAL NORM (built in from society)
- largely taught to obey authority without question from childhood
What is conformity?
change in attitudes or behaviour to accomodate the standards of peers or groups
-tendency to “fall in line with the group”
What is Asch’s conformity study?
judge line lengths (same length as standard line?)
groups of 7-9 people
1 subject: 8 confederates
initial gave right answer, then began saying wrong answer
50-80% conformed at least one
1/3 agreed with false majority 1/2 or more
only 1/4 remained independent
What are the 6x factors which are affecting conformity?
- informative influence
- normative influence
- personalty (low self esteem more likely to conform)- dependant on groups for self need
- culture (collectivist cultures more likely to conform)
- Group size (larger groups)
- Dissension (if one confederate dissented, subject followed own judgement)
What is the bystander effect?
explain kitty genovese murder 1964
1/2 hour stalking attack
38 witness
no one aided he
Decrease in assistance as number of bystanders increase
DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY: (diminished sense of personal responsibility to act, as others seen as EQUALLY responsible)
Study: willingness to help strangers vs effect of social situation
-bystanders feeling “anonymous” (large crowd) less likely
-most quick in group of 2
- intercome, uni students, time to report epileptic fit, (decreased speed of response with increased # bystanders perceived present)
What are the 3x factors affecting bystander intervention?
- person NOTICE event?
- person INTERPRETS as an emergency?
- person TAKE RESPONSIBILITY?
- asking to look after towel, nearly all looked after, SMALL SOCIAL BOND by consciously asking
