Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology
Studies the individual within the social context
Compare to sociology, which studies group behavior
Norms
are the rules that govern our behavior in a social context
Role
a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group
Ex: husband, father, brother, friend, professor
Stanford Prison Experiment
-Prison study was very problematic
-But, it suggests that, situationally, people can easily fall into roles and become subject to norms
-Suggests how prisoner abuse in Iraq was not “a few bad applies”, but situational
-In daily life we easily follow
—Gender roles
—Family roles
—Career roles
Stanley Milgram Maximized the power of the authority figure using these different methods
-Having the authority figure take responsibility
—Does this absolve the teacher of all responsibility
-Making the task routine
—Nazi approach to mass homicide
-Entrapment
Entrapment
-Having the teacher commit first to less dangerous steps
-“Foot in the door” approach
Factors that undermined the influence of the teacher
-When the experimenter left the room
-When the victim was in the same room
-When the experimenter issued conflicting demands
-When the person ordering them to continue was an ordinary man
-When the subject worked with peers who refused to go on
Milgram’s study demonstrates the power of the roles of authority figure and subject
Gives a glimpse into power of authority figures in Naxi Germany and other “I was under orders” situations
The Individual in Groups
-Many aspects of a person’s behavior in group settings are affected by deindividualization
—A loss of awareness of one’s own identity in a group
-Anonymity emboldens people
—Quality of online discussion forums, both in hostility and for shy students
-This can lead to “mob mentality” situations
Diffusion of Responsibility
In groups, the tendency oof members to avoid taking responsibility for actions or decisions, under the assumption that someone else will
-Leads to social loafing
-Also leads to bystander apathy
Research was inspired by the Kitty Genovese case
Social loafing
-Members of a group do less work individually than they would as individuals working alone
-Tug of war, group projects
Bystander apathy
-People stand watch rather than take actions
-Red Cross– “You, call 911!”
Conformity
A tendency of people to go along with the group
-Peer pressure among teenagers
-Studied by Asch using judgments of line length
—Highlights importance of both normative social influence and informational social influence
Groupthink
-In close-knit groups, the tendency for all members to think alike and suppress disagreement for the sake of unanimity
-Symptoms of groupthink include
—Illusion of invincibility
—Pressure on dissenters to conform
—Self-censorship
—Illusion of unanimity
-Example- Challenger Explosion
-Creating conditions rewarding dissent
-Basing decision on majority rule
-Assigning a person to make only contrarian arguments
Attitude
a relatively stable opinion based on both a cognition and an emotion
Can be explicit- aware of them
or implicit- act on without awareness
interconnected with behavior
-Attitude drives behavior