Social Psychology Flashcards
Why we need to affiliate with other people (both in groups and close interpersonal relationships)
> Social comparison
Anxiety reduction
Information seeking
People tend to seek out people who…
We like. We like people who: > We consider physically attractive > Are nearby > Familiar > Available > We expect continued interaction from > Have similar attitudes and values as our own
Cohen and Hoberman’s Study (1983) Social support buffer
Individuals who felt their lives were very stressful and perceived themselves to have low social support reported more physical symptoms. High social support reported less.
Conclusion: appropriate social support is a ‘buffer’ against stressful events. Social integration is good for physical and psychological health.
Thibaut and Kelley (1959)
Coined ‘social exchange theory’
Social Exchange Theory
A theoretical framework for interpersonal relationships.
Relationship continues when both partners feel that the benefits of remaining in the relationship outweigh the costs and benefits of other relationships.
Equity Theory
Partners in intimate relationships are happier if they feel that both partners’ outcomes are proportional to their inputs, instead of one partner receiving more than they give.
Satisfaction in relationships highest when:
> Ratio of outcome: inputs is equal to the other’s
> They try and restore equity if they end up in an inequitable situation.
Why people join groups (simple)
> Looking for company
Looking for things they cannot do alone
Identifying with larger groups (social categories) such as nationality, religion, political party, etc.
Bonds of attraction
Joining a group establishes bonds of attraction to the group, its goal and its members. They form a cohesive entity.
Social Comparison Theory
We affiliate with similar others in order to obtain support and consensus for our own perceptions, opinions and attitudes.
Social Identity Theory
Group formation involves a processes of defining ourselves as group members, and conforming to what we see as the stereotype of our group, as distinct from other groups.
Tuckman’s model of Group Development (1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977)
- Forming - people orient themselves to one another
- Storming - struggle over leadership and group definition
- Norming - agreement on norms and roles
- Performing - well regulated internally, performs smoothly and efficiently
- Adjourning - issues of independence within the group. Possible group dissolution
Group Socialization (Levine and Moreland, 1994)
They believe that people move through different roles during lifetime of a group.
Generic roles in group (Levine and Moreland)
> Prospective member
New member
Full member
Marginal member (drift out but may be re-socialised if they drift back in)
Ex-member (former membership has lasting effect on both self and group)
Group norms
> They change with changing circumstances. They prescribe attitudes, feelings and behaviours that are appropriate for group members in a particular context.
Norms relating to group loyalty and central aspects of group life are more specific
High-status group members allowed more deviation from group norms
Working in a group
Drawbacks: > Social loafing > Poor decision making > More extreme decisions/opinions as group instead of individual members Positives: > More people involved > Social benefits > Enlarged human resource pool
Reducing Social Loafing
When people work either on important tasks or in groups that are important to them, they may work harder. Also when they believe their own inputs can be fully identified and evaluated
Group Polarization
Groups are conservative and cautious and generally exclusive extremes by averaging.
But!
Group polarization - tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme.
Groupthink (Janis, 1972)
Highly cohesive groups that are:
> Under stress
> Insulated from external influence
> Lack impartial leadership
> Lack norms for proper decision-making procedures
Tend to adopt a mode of thinking in which the desire for unanimity overrides all else.
Members feel invulnerable, unanimous and correct. They discredit contradictory information, pressurize deviants and stereotype outgroups
Compliance
Change in behaviour due to direct request from another person
Differs from conformity as there cannot be an imagined person
Obedience
From a direct demand from a person in perceived authority.
Authority is very context-based
Influence of authority
Amplifies the effect the presence of other people has on behaviour. Legitimate authority figures especially influential
Milgram: Shock Studies
Study:
> Participants assigned ‘teacher’, stooges ‘learner’. L asked simple questions, T ordered to shock them when they get one wrong
Results: T’s mostly ignored distress cries. 63% shocked to maximum - XXX
Conclusions:
> ‘pathological’ behaviour may be due to particular social circumstances as participants were ‘normal’
> Obedience is strengthened if others are obedient, reduced if others are disobedient
Ethical Guidelines
Created due to Milgram’s experiment (caused T’s distress)
Three main components:
1. Participants give fully informed consent to participate
2. They can withdraw at any point without penalty
3. After participation they’re fully debriefed
Deindividuation definition
A person who becomes submerged in a group and loses sense of individuality.
Leads to heightened emotional arousal and intense feelings of cohesiveness in group
Deindividuation causes
- Belief that one can’t be held personally accountable for actions (diffusion of responsibility)
- Shift of attention towards external environment and away from internal standards (intensified by acts of unison - chanting, uniforms, etc.).
Greater the anonymity the more extreme the behaviour
Bystander Effect
As the number of witnesses to an emergency goes up the chances of an individual helping goes down. Population density of geographical area has an effect.
> People think someone else will help instead.
Kitty Genovese murdered in NYC. Struggled for 30 minutes. Bystanders did not intervene.
Cognitive model of bystander intervention (Latané and Darley, 1970)
Helping dependent on decisions:
- Noticing something is wrong
- Defining it as an emergency
- Deciding to take personal responsibility
- Deciding what sort of help to give
- Implementing decision
What is social psychology?
The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. (Allport 1985)
Triplett (1897). First social psychology experiment
Experiment to learn why bicycle riders went faster when other racers nearby. Tested them alone, with another cyclist and with a competing cyclist
Results
> Cyclists faster when another cyclist present
Conclusion: presence of other people improves performance (social facilitation)
Zajonc (1965). Social impairment and arousal
Sometimes presence of others impairs performance. Both impairment and facilitation due to arousal.
Being watched increases sense of being evaluated, so we’re apprehensive and emotional. This increases tendency to perform dominant behaviour.
Easy or familiar task - facilitation
Difficult or new task - impairment
Social loafing (Sanna 1992)
People exert less effort in groups than when performing alone.
In collectivist societies (Eastern cultures), social striving instead
Conformity
‘A change in behaviour due to a real or imagined influence of other people’ (Aronson et al, 2004)
It occurs as a result of group pressure for people to change beliefs or behaviours to match group’s.
Social norms
Implicit or explicit rules a group has for acceptable behaviours, values and beliefs of its members
Line Length Study (Asch, 1956)
Two cards. A has one line, B has 3. Participants asked which of B’s lines matches A. Five stooges for one participant. Stooges pick wrong line.
Control group: 98% correct
Experimental: 76% conformed
Reasons participants gave:
> Doubted eyesight
> Misunderstood instructions
> Didn’t want to ‘rock the boat’
Reasons for conformity
> Public conformity - give answer they don’t believe in as socially desirable thing to do
Private acceptance - doubt own perceptions so use group’s perception of reality
Want to be correct. Norms seen as right and wrong ways to do things (why increase in suicides after one is publicised)
Motivated to be liked
Norms influence distribution of rewards (learned from childhoo
When we conform
Conformity more likely when a situation is ambiguous or unanimous, or it’s a big group. In Asch’s study, if one assistant disagreed less than 10% conformed
Minority Influence
Conformity means coming in line with majority attitudes and behaviours. Minorities have an issue, therefore.
> Less members and power
> Vilified by outsiders
> Hold ‘unorthodox’ opinions
> Limited access to mainstream mass communication channels
Can succeed when:
> Have consistent, persistent and agree views
> Actively create and accentuate conflict to draw attention and achieve influence
Slower effect of change.
