Unit XIV - Social Psychology Flashcards
What is social psychology?
Exploring SOCIAL connections by scientifically STUDYING how we THINK about,
INFLUENCE, and RELATE to one another.
What do social psychologists study?
social INFLUENCES that explain why
the SAME person
acts differently in DIFFERENT situations.
Subjects social psychologists can study
Home team advantage
Racism & discrimination
Driving motivation in gangs
Explanations for behaviors
What is attribution theory?
We can attribute behavior to person’ INTERNAL stable, enduring traits, or to EXTERNAL situation
Attribution theory in Jack eating an entire cake
SITUATIONAL -> Jack has not eaten in days
DISPOSITIONAL -> Jack is greedy & glutinous
What is the fundamental attribution error?
the tendency for OBSERVERS, when ANALYZING OTHERS’ behavior, to UNDERESTIMATE the IMPACT of the
SITUATION and to OVERESTIMATE the IMPACT of personal DISPOSITION
fundamental attribution error example homeless man
more likely to attribute their homelessness to their own PERSONALITY rather than to the SITUATION
What factors affect our attributions?
CULTURE
Individualist -> more prone to attribute to disposition
Collectivist -> more prone to attribute to situation
Explaining OWN behavior -> sensitive to how behavior changes with situation
Why do attributions matter?
Whether we attribute poverty and homelessness to social circumstances or to personal dispositions affects and reflects our political views.
What are attitudes?
FEELINGS, often influenced by our beliefs, that PREDISPOSE us to respond in a PARTICULAR way to
objects, people, and events
Relationship between attitudes and actions is
two way
What research has been done on the impact of attitudes on actions?
One experiment used vivid, easily recalled information to persuade White sun tanning college students that repetitive tanning put them at risk for future skin cancer.
One month later, 72% of the participants had lighter skin compared to 16% of those in a control group.
What is peripheral route persuasion?
occurs when people are influenced by INCIDENTAL CUES, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
emotion-based snap judgments
peripheral route persuasion example
Endorsements by beautiful or famous people
What is central route persuasion?
occurs when people are influenced by ARGUMENTS and respond with FAVORABLE thoughts
careful thinking
central route persuasion example
To increase support for climate change intervention, effective arguments have focused on accumulating greenhouse gases, melting Arctic ice, rising world temperatures and seas, and extreme weather
Can actions impact attitudes?
we will more STRONGLY believe in what we have STOOD up FOR.
Can attitudes follow behavior?
Cooperative actions feed MUTUAL liking which in turn PROMOTE positive behavior.
What is the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a SMALL request to comply later with a LARGER request
foot-in-the-door phenomenon temptation
Succumb to a temptation and you will find the next temptation harder to resist.
What research has been conducted on the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?
In one experiment, researchers sought permission
to place a large “Drive Carefully” sign in
people’s front yards.
The 17% rate of agreement soared to 76% among those who first did a small favor—placing a 3-inch-high “Be a Safe Driver” sign in their window.
What is a role?
a set of EXPECTATIONS (norms) about a social POSITION, defining how those in the position ought to BEHAVE
Role examples
College students
New job
What was the Stanford Prison study?
Role playing morphed into real life in one famous and controversial study in which male college students volunteered to spend time in a simulated prison.
What was the design?
In 1972, Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a study on the effect roles have on behavior. He turned the basement of Jordan Hall into a makeshift prison and recruited volunteers for his study.
He randomly assigned some volunteers to be guards.
He gave them uniforms, clubs, and whistles and
instructed them to enforce certain rules.
What happened in the Stanford Prison study?
Other volunteers became prisoners, locked in barren cells and forced to wear humiliating outfits.
For a day or two, the volunteers self-consciously “played” their roles.
What were the results?
Some guards developed disparaging attitudes and 1/3 “became tyrannical,” devising cruel and degrading routines for the prisoners.
One by one, the prisoners broke down, rebelled,
or became passively resigned.
After only six days, Zimbardo called off the study.
What did the Stanford Prison study demonstrate about roles?
What we DO, we gradually BECOME.
Every time we act like the people around us, we slightly change ourselves to be more like them, and less like who we used to be.
What is cognitive dissonance theory?
Leon Festinger’s theory that we act to reduce the DISCOMFORT (dissonance) we feel when TWO of our THOUGHTS (cognitions) or our THOUGHTS and BEHAVIORS
are INCONSISTENT
What happens when we become aware that our attitudes and actions clash?
we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes or actions
What is an example of cognitive dissonance?
Smoker who enjoys smoking but knows it causes lung cancer -> Disconnect between belief and behavior causes dissonance
Either change behavior or thought to relieve dissonance
What are norms?
understood rules for accepted and expected behavior
Examples of norms
Teacher norms
Students norms -> raising hands/ sleeping in class
What is social contagion?
Fish swim in schools. Birds fly in flocks. And humans, too, tend to go with their GROUP, to think what it thinks and do what it does.
Behavior is …
CONTAGIOUS
What research has been done on social contagion?
Researchers Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh had students work in a room alongside a “confederate” working for the experimenters
Sometimes the confederates rubbed their own face. Sometimes they shook their foot.
What were the results?
students tended to rub their face when with the face-rubbing person and shake
their foot when with the foot-shaking person.
Chameleon effect
Repeating what someone else is doing in order to conform
How does social contagion lead to empathy and fondness?
This natural MIMICRY enables us to EMPATHIZE—to feel what OTHERS are FEELING. This helps explain why we feel HAPPIER around HAPPY people than around DEPRESSED people.
Empathetic MIMICKING fosters FONDNESS.
Is laughter contagious?
YES
“Chewbacca Mom’s” video became viral due to her spontaneous hilarity
How does social networking enable social contagion?
Social networks serve as contagious PATHWAYS for moods, such as happiness and loneliness, drug use, and even the behavior patterns that lead to obesity and sleep loss.
Positive herding
positive ratings generate more positive ratings
What research has been conducted on social contagion by way of Facebook?
In a massive experiment on the 2010 U.S. congressional election day, Facebook showed 61 million people a message that encouraged voting, with a link to a local voting place and a clickable “I voted” button.
For some recipients, the messages also contained pictures of Facebook friends who had already voted.
What were the results?
Those who received “tell your friends you voted” messages were slightly more likely to vote, and
that difference generated an estimated
282,000 additional votes.
What is conformity?
adjusting our behavior or thinking to COINCIDE
with a group STANDARD because of real or imagined PRESSURE to fit in
What research has been conducted on conformity?
Solomon Asch
The subject of the study is given the line test and his accuracy scores are recorded. Then the subject is asked to join five other men in a room to complete the line test together. The five other men in the study are all confederates of Solomon Asch (they know the purpose and intent of the research).
How is the study conducted?
In order around the table, the men are asked for their answers to the line test and in the first few trials, each answers correctly, as does the subject. On the third trial, the confederates begin answering incorrectly. Asch is looking to see whether or not the subject will begin answering incorrectly as well. Will he conform?
What were the results of Asch’s research on conformity?
In Asch’s experiments, college students, answering questions alone, erred less than 1% of the time.
More than one-third of the time, these “intelligent and well-meaning” college students were “willing to call white black” by going along with the group.
Why do humans conform?
To feel a sense of belonging
Not get judged for own attitudes and beliefs
What is normative social influence
influence resulting from a person’s DESIRE to gain APPROVAL or avoid DISAPPROVAL
Why do we strive to belong?
We are sensitive to social norms because the price we pay for being different can be severe.
We need to belong.
What is informational social influence?
influence resulting from one’s WILLINGNESS to accept OTHERS’ opinions about reality
example of informational social influence
reading online movie and restaurant reviews
Who was Stanley Milgram?
high school classmate of Philip Zimbardo and then a student of Solomon Asch.
Milgram wondered whether or not people would obey commands.
Obedience in WWII
desire to understand why Nazi soldiers followed orders to kill millions of Jewish people in the Holocaust
What research did Milgram conduct on obedience?
Over the course of more than a decade, from 1963
to 1974, Stanley Milgram conducted over twenty replications and trials of his now
famous obedience study.
More than 1000 people participated over the course of the elaborately designed study.
“learners” would attempt to remember a series of paired words. “Teachers” would provide electric shocks to the “learners” when they incorrectly matched the pairs.
The shock generator
Milgram very carefully walked the “teacher” through the details of the shock generator, even giving the “teacher” a small sample shock.
The “learner” is hooked up
Milgram also made certain to show the “teacher” how the “learner” in the adjacent room would be connected to the shock generator.
What was the reality?
The electric shock generator, with shock levels depicted all the way up to 450millivolts, or XXX, was fake.
NO ELECTRIC SHOCK WAS EVER GIVEN
TO THE “LEARNER”
Who was in on it?
The “learner” was actually a confederate (part of the research team) of Milgram’s… he was in on it.
THE “LEARNER’ NEVER RECEIVED ANY
ELECTRIC SHOCK.
What was the real purpose of Milgram’s study?
The elaborate design of the experiment let the “teacher”, the real subject in the experiment, believe he or she was administering shock to the “learner” for incorrect answers.
In reality, Milgram was researching just how far the subject would go in administering electric shock because he or she had been told to do so by an authority figure.
What were the predictions about how far subjects would go?
Before undertaking the experiments, Milgram asked nonparticipants what they would do.
Most were sure they would stop soon after the
learner first indicated pain, certainly before he shrieked in agony.
Forty psychiatrists agreed with that prediction.
What were the results of the experiment?
When Milgram conducted the experiment with other men aged 20 to 50, he found that more than 60% complied fully—right up to the last switch, XXX.
When he ran a new study, with 40 new “teachers”
and a learner who complained of a “slight heart condition,” the results were similar.
What were the results of a later trial?
A full 65% of the new “teachers” in his later trial obeyed the experimenter, right up to 450 volts, XXX.
What were some variations on the initial research design?
Milgram conducted many variations of his research design, modifying the research conditions in many ways
in one trial, the “learner” was seated next to the “teacher” and the “teacher” had to lift the “learner’s” arm to place it on a shock plate?
Obedience was highest when….
the person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate authority figure
the authority figure was supported by a prestigious institution
the victim was depersonalized or at a distance
no role models for defiance.
How does evil reveal itself?
In any society, great evils often grow out of people’s COMPLIANCE with LESSER evils. Milgram, using the foot-in-the-door technique, began with a small level of shock, 15 volts, and escalated step by step.
In the minds of those throwing the switches, the small action became justified, making the next act tolerable.
So it happens when people SUCCUMB , gradually, to evil.
How does the situation impact the expression of evil?
Cruelty does not require devilish villains.
All it takes is ORDINARY people CORRUPTED by an EVIL situation.
How can ordinary people be corrupted by evil?
Ordinary students may follow orders to haze initiates into their group.
Ordinary employees may follow orders to produce and market harmful products.
Ordinary soldiers may follow orders to punish and then torture prisoners.
Do some resist obedience and conformity?
Some people do resist.
When feeling pressured, some react by doing
the opposite of what is expected.
Minority influence
The power of one or two individuals to sway majorities
August Landmesser Minority of one
standing defiantly with arms folded as everyone else salutes their allegiance to the Nazi Party and Adolph Hitler, requires extraordinary
courage.
What have social psychologists learned about the power of the individual?
Social control & personal control interact
Social control
power of situation
personal control
power of individual
Rotten situations turn some people into bad apples, as Philip Zimbardo demonstrated in the Stanford Prison study, but
those same situations cause some people to resist and become heroes.
What is social facilitation?
IMPROVED
performance on simple or well-earned
TASKS in the PRESENCE
of OTHERS
How does social facilitation impact performance?
What they do well, they do even better when people are watching.
How does the presence of others amplify our reactions?
presence of others strengthens our most likely response
Correct response on easy task
incorrect response on challenging task
amplified reactions example
For example, expert pool players who made 71% of their shots when alone made 80% when four people came to watch them.
What if our skill or ability is lacking?
The flip side to social facilitation is that if our likely response is poor…that, too will be amplified.
Amplified lack of skills
poor shooters, who made 36% of their shots when alone, made only 25% when watched.
What is the home team advantage?
Home teams win about 6 in 10 games,
with the home advantage being greatest for teamwork-centered sports, such as soccer and basketball.
What is social loafing?
the tendency for PEOPLE in a GROUP to exert LESS
EFFORT when POOLING their EFFORTS toward attaining a COMMON goal than when INDIVIDUALLY
ACCOUNTABLE
Social loafing in different cultures
Experiments in the United States, India, Thailand, Japan, China, and Taiwan have found social loafing on various tasks, though it was especially common among men in individualist cultures.
Social loafing in group projects
group projects, social loafing often occurs, as individuals FREE RIDE on the efforts of others.
What causes social loafing in a group?
Less ACCOUNTABILITY
Ind. contributions as DISPENSABLE
OVERESTIMATING own contributions
EQUAL benefits in the end
What is deindividuation?
the loss of SELF-AWARENESS and SELF-RESTRAINT
occurring in group situations that foster AROUSAL and ANONYMITY
What is an example of deindividuation?
During England’s 2011 riots and looting, rioters were
disinhibited by social arousal and by the anonymity provided by darkness and their hoods and masks.
Does deindividuation always result in violence?
May also result in PROSOCIAL actions
Dancing wildly/ singly wildly/ expressing themselves
When we shed self-awareness and self-restraint, we become …
more responsive to
the group experience—bad or good.
What is group polarization?
the ENHANCEMENT of a group’s PREVAILING INCLINATIONS through DISCUSSION within the group
How can group polarization have both positive and negative results?
Talking over racial issues increased prejudice
in a high-prejudice group of high school students and decreased it in a low-prejudice group.
How does the internet increase group polarization?
provides an easily accessible medium
ENABLES opinion BUBBLES
Like-minded individuals will more likely make connection
How is the Internet a social amplifier?
Individuals visit websites that reflect their interests
and concerns and are supported by others with the
same views.
What are some pro-social ways in which the Internet impacts ideas?
Peacemakers grow stronger in convictions. Cancer survivors and bereaved parents strength resilience
Social justice promoters become more committed
Political independence
What are some anti-social ways in which the Internet impacts ideas?
Bullies become more abusive
Militia members become more violence
White supremacists become more racist
What is groupthink?
the MODE of THINKING that occurs when the DESIRE for
HARMONY in a decision-making group OVERRIDES a REALISTIC APPRAISAL of alternatives
How does the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco illustrate groupthink?
In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his advisers decided to invade Cuba with
1400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles.
When the invaders were easily captured and quickly linked to the U.S. government, Kennedy wondered aloud, “How could I have been so stupid?”
What conclusions were arrived at regarding groupthink?
He discovered that the soaring morale of the recently elected president and his advisers fostered undue confidence.
To preserve the good feeling, group members
suppressed or self-censored their dissenting views, especially after President Kennedy voiced his enthusiasm for the scheme.
What is culture?
the ENDURING behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and
traditions shared by a group of people and TRANSMITTED from one generation to the next
What is culture shock?
When we DON’T understand what’s EXPECTED or ACCEPTED
Culture shock example
Greeting people by shaking hands, bowing, or kissing each cheek
How does culture vary over time?
Technology and increased personal income caused expanded human rights
What is prejudice?
an UNJUSTIFIABLE (and usually negative) ATTITUDE toward a GROUP and its members
What are the factors involved in prejudice?
negative emotions
stereotypes
predisposition to discriminate
negative emotions
Holding emotions such as hostility or fear.
stereotypes
Generalized beliefs about a group of people.
predisposition to discriminate
Acting in negative and unjustifiable ways toward members of the group
prejudice
negative belief, often supported by stereotypes.
Stereotype
Belief that assumes a trait to all member of a group
discrimination
negative behavior
Disctimination examples
Choosing not to date a person because of their race, or not hiring a person because of their age
What is ethnocentrism?
assuming the superiority of one’s ethnic group
What is the difference between implicit and explicit prejudice?
IMPLICIT-unthinking knee-jerk response operating below the radar
EXPLICIT-radar screen of our awareness
How do psychologists test for implicit prejudice?
Psychologists have designed tests in which people quickly pair a person’s image with a trait demonstrate that even people who deny any racial prejudice may harbor negative associations.
What research has been conducted on implicit prejudice?
In one experiment, White university women
assessed flawed student essays they believed had been written by either a White or a Black student.
What were the results?
The women gave low evaluations, often with harsh comments, to the essays supposedly written by
a White student.
When the same essay was attributed to a Black
student, their assessment was more positive.
How might body language indicate prejudice?
telltale signals as their
body responds selectively to an image of a person from another ethnic group
facial-muscle responses and in the activation of the emotion-processing amygdala.
How have Americans’ racial attitudes changed over the last century?
Support for interracial dating between Blacks and Whites, for example, has increased dramatically,
from a 48% approval rate in 1987 to 86% in 2012.
If racial attitudes are changing, where does subtle prejudice linger?
People w/ darker skin tone -> greater criticism & accusations of immoral behavior
A portion of white medical students believed that “black people have thicker skins”
Indifference when hearing prejudice-laden language
How does race prime perceptions?
In experiments by Keith Payne (2006), people viewed
a White or Black face, immediately followed by
(2) a flashed gun or hand tool, which was then followed by (3) a masking screen.
What were the results?
Priming people with a flashed Black face
rather than a White face also made them more likely to misperceive a flashed tool as a gun.
How do perceptions reflect implicit bias?
In 1999, Amadou Diallo was accosted as he approached his apartment house doorway by police officers looking for a rapist.
When he pulled out his wallet, the officers, perceiving
a gun, riddled his body with 19 bullets from 41 shots
What national tragedy sparked the discussion?
The killing of Trayvon Martin (shown here 7 months before he was killed) revealed implicit race bias and started a national conversation about race, gun control and social justice.
What happened?
As Trayvon Martin walked alone to his father’s fiancée’s house in a gated Florida neighborhood, a
suspicious resident started following him.
A confrontation led to the
unarmed Martin
being shot.
Was race involved?
Trayvon Martin’s
death sparked public outrage and people wondered: Had Martin
been an unarmed White teen, would he have been perceived and treated the same way?
How has gender prejudice changed over time?
DECLINED sharply.
The one-third of Americans who in 1937 told Gallup pollsters that they would vote for a qualified woman whom their party nominated for president soared to 95 percent in 2012.
65% of all people now say it is very important that
women have the same rights as men.
How does implicit gender prejudice persist?
In Western countries, we pay more to those
(usually men) who care for our streets than to those (usually women) who care for our children.
people have tended to perceive their fathers as more intelligent than their mothers and their sons as brighter than their daughters.
How does sexual orientation prejudice persist?
Explicit anti-gay prejudice, though declining in Western countries, PERSISTS.
When experimenters sent thousands of responses to employment ads, those whose resumes included
“Treasurer, Progressive and Socialist Alliance” received more replies than did resumes that specified “Treasurer, Gay and Lesbian Alliance”.
What do the numbers show about LGBT prejudices?
In national surveys of LGBTQ teens, 39% reported having been “rejected by a friend or family member” because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
58% reported being “subject to slurs or jokes.”
80% of LGBTQ adolescents reported sexual orientation-related harassment in the prior year. Gays and lesbians are also America’s most at-risk group for hate crimes.
Prejudice against Muslims after 9/11
Americans have developed irrational fear and
anger directed toward all Muslims
What is the just-world phenomenon?
the tendency for people to believe the world is just, or fair, and people therefore get what they deserve and
deserve what they get
How does the just-world phenomenon lead to prejudice?
common idea that good is rewarded and evil is punished.
It is easy then to assume that those who succeed must be good and those who suffer must be bad.
just-world phenomenon in the world
rich to
see both their own wealth and the poor’s misfortune
as justly deserved.
slaveholders perceived slaves as innately lazy, ignorant,
and irresponsible
in group
“us”—people with
whom we share a
common identity
in group examples
athletic team, your ethnicity or rationality, or your sex.
out group
“them”—those
perceived as different or apart from our in-group
out group examples
rival high school, those kids over there, the other sex
What is in group bias?
a favoring of our own group soon follows
In group bias in experiment/ reality
In experiments, people have favored their own group when dividing rewards.
Outside the lab, discrimination is often triggered not by out-group hostility, but by in group networking and mutual support
How do negative emotions nourish prejudice?
When facing death, fearing threats, or experiencing frustration, people cling more tightly to their in group and their friends
Negative emotions in connection to prejudice example
As fears of terrorism heighten patriotism, they also produce loathing and aggression toward “them”—those who threaten our world.
What is scapegoating?
the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger
by providing someone to blame
Scapegoating example
following the 9/11 attacks, some outraged
people lashed out at innocent Arab-Americans.
More than a decade later, anti-Muslim animosities
still flare.
What evidence exists for the scapegoating theory of prejudice?
I - Economically frustrated people tend to express heightened prejudice.
II - Experiments that create temporary
frustration intensify prejudice.
Scapegoating in failing students
Students who experience failure or are made to feel insecure often restore their self-esteem by belittling a rival school or another person.
How do we cognitively simplify the world?
Stereotyped beliefs are in part a by-product of how we cognitively simplify the world.
To help understand the world around us, we sometimes form categories.
We all categorize people by gender, ethnicity, race, age, and many other characteristics.
How can categories lead to stereotypes?
When we categorize people into groups, we often STEREOTYPE.
We recognize how greatly we DIFFER from other individuals in our groups. But we OVERESTIMATE the extent to which members of other groups are ALIKE.
outgroup homogeneity
uniformity of outgroup attitudes, personality, and appearance. We tend to think that others, “them”, are all alike.
What is the other-race effect?
the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races
Begin to develop between 3 to 9 months
own-age bias
better recognition memory for faces of our own age group.
What research has been conducted on mixed-race recognition?
When New Zealanders quickly classified 104 photos by race, those of European descent more often than those of Chinese descent classified the ambiguous middle two
as Chinese.
What is an explanation for the results?
Researchers believe this happens because, after learning the features of a familiar racial group, the observer’s selective attention is drawn to the distinctive features of the less-familiar minority.
What is the availability heuristic?
a problem-solving method in which people estimate the likelihood of events based on how fast they come to mind… their ‘availability’ in memory
How do easily remembered or vivid cases feed stereotypes?
In one experiment, researchers showed two groups of University of Oregon students lists containing information about 50 men.
The first group’s list included 10 men arrested
for nonviolent crimes, such as forgery.
The second group’s list included 10 men arrested
for violent crimes, such as assault.
What were the results?
Later, both groups were asked how many men on their list had committed any sort of crime.
The second group overestimated the number.
How to move away from prejudice.
it is what we do with our feelings that matters
By monitoring our feelings and actions, and by replacing old habits with new ones based
on new friendships, we can work to free
ourselves from prejudice.
What is psychology’s definition of aggression?
any PHYSICAL or VERBAL behavior intended to HARM someone, whether done out of HOSTILITY or as a CALCULATED MEANS to an end
Aggression in reality
high school gossip who passes along a
vicious rumor about you, the bully who torments you
in person or online, and the attacker
who mugs you for your money
What are biological factors that lead to aggression?
Genetic influences
neural influence
biochemical influences
What do twin studies show about genetic influences on aggression?
If one identical twin admits to “having a violent temper,” the other twin will often independently
admit the same.
Fraternal twins are much less likely
to respond similarly.
Genetic markers in those who commit violent acts
Y chromosome and the monoamine oxidase A
(MAOA) gene, which helps break down neurotransmitters
such as dopamine and serotonin.
Which brain structures are involved in aggression?
No one spot controlling aggression
Two of the structures on which research has been conducted are the AMYGDALA and the FRONTAL LOBES.
What role does the hormone testosterone play in aggression?
FACIAL WIDTH is testosterone-linked. A HIGH facial
width-to-height ratio is a PREDICTOR of men’s AGGRESSIVENESS and PREJUDICIAL attitudes.
irritability, assertiveness, impulsiveness, hard drug use, and low tolerance for frustration
What about females with high testosterone levels?
The hyena’s unusual embryology pumps testosterone into
female fetuses. The result is revved-up young female hyenas who seem born to fight.
What role does alcohol play in aggression?
Alcohol UNLEASHES aggressive responses to frustration.
aggression-prone adults are MORE likely to drink, and to become violent when intoxicated
people may interpret ambiguous acts as provocations and react accordingly.
What psychological and social-cultural factors may trigger aggression?
aversive events
reinforcement, modeling and self-control
media models
What is the frustration-aggression principle?
principle that FRUSTRATION—the blocking of an
attempt to achieve some goal— creates ANGER, which can generate AGGRESSION
Aversive stimuli can
EVOKE hostility
Examples of aversive stimuli
hot temperatures, physical pain, personal insults, foul odors, cigarette smoke, crowding
temperature and retaliation research
Researchers looked for occurrences of batters who were hit by pitchers during 4,566,468 pitcher-batter match ups across 57,293 Major League Baseball games since 1952.
What were the results?
The probability of a batter being hit by a pitcher increased if one or more of the pitcher’s teammates had been hit, and also with temperature.
How does reinforcement lead to aggression?
In situations where experience has taught us that aggression pays, we are likely to act aggressively again
If positive reinforcement follows an act of aggression, operant conditioning theory tells us that aggressive behavior is likely to repeat.
Reinforcement & aggression examples
Children whose aggression has successfully intimidated other children may become bullies.
Animals that have successfully fought to get food or mates become increasingly ferocious.
How does modeling increase aggression?
Parents who act aggressively toward their children, screaming, yelling, or hitting them, may serve as models for their children of how to relate to others.
How does the media model violence?
In the United States and elsewhere, TV, films, video games, and the Internet offer supersized portions of violence.
Media modeling violence in young boys
An adolescent boy faced with a real-life challenge may “act like a man”—at least like an action-film man—by
intimidating or eliminating the threat.
What is a social script?
a culturally modeled guide for how to act in
various situations
Do violent video games teach social scripts for violence?
In 2002, three young men in Michigan spent part of a night drinking beer and playing Grand Theft Auto III.
Using simulated cars, they ran down pedestrians,
then beat them with fists, leaving a bloody body behind. (Kolker, 2002)
These same young men then went out for a real drive. Spotting a 38-year-old man on a bicycle, they ran him down with their car, got out, stomped and punched him, and returned home to play the game some more.
The victim, a father of three, died six days later.
What research has been conducted on video game violence?
prime aggressive thoughts, decrease empathy, and increase aggression
more arguments and fights and earn poorer grades
How can we change aggressive behavior?
there are many ways to change such
behavior, including learning anger
management and communication skills, and avoiding violent media
and video games.
Biological influences on aggression
Genetic influences
Biochemical influences - testosterone & alcohol
neural influences - head injury
Psychological influences on aggression
Dominating behavior Believeing alcohol has been consumed frustration Aggresive role models low self-control Rewards
Social-cultural influences on aggression
Deindividuation Challenging environmental factors Parental models Minimal father involvement rejection from group Exposure to violent media
What are three factors in attraction?
Proximity
Attractiveness
Similarity
What is the mere exposure effect?
the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
How does the mere exposure effect have survival value?
What was familiar was generally safe and
approachable. What was unfamiliar was more often dangerous and threatening.
How does familiarity lead to acceptance?
But after three weeks of contact (mere exposure), the normal penguins came to accept a white penguin.
Does the mere exposure effect apply to our self?
Researcher Lisa DeBruine found that humans like other people when their faces incorporate some morphed features of their own.
McMaster University students experiment
more trusting and cooperative when the other person’s image had some of their own facial features morphed into it.
Face in mirror vs face seen by friends
Most of us prefer the familiar mirror image, while our friends like the reverse
How has online dating increased in the last decade?
Percentage of heterosexual and same-sex couples who
met online increased with same-sex couple having a higher rate
What research has been conducted on the importance of attractiveness?
randomly matched new University of Minnesota students for a Welcome Week dance.
Before dance, the researchers gave
each student a battery of personality and aptitude tests, and they rated each student’s physical
attractiveness.
During the blind date, the couples danced and talked for more than two hours and then took a brief intermission to rate their dates.
What were the results?
What predicted whether they liked each other?
Only one thing: appearance.
Both the men and the women liked good-looking dates best.
What is considered attractive?
Conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture and
over time. Yet some adult physical features, such as a healthy appearance and a relatively symmetrical face, seem attractive everywhere.
What makes a face attractive?
Facial features that are neither unusually large nor small and symmetrical faces and bodies are perceived as more sexually attractive
How do our feelings influence our perceptions of attractiveness?
Given two people, one that is honest, humorous, and polite and the other that is rude, unfair, and abusive, most people perceive the person with the appealing traits as more physically attractive.
How do our feelings influence our perceptions of attractiveness in family?
As we see our loved ones again and again, their physical imperfections grow less noticeable and their attractiveness grows more apparent.
Do opposites really attract?
NOPE
In real life, opposites retract.
Compared with randomly paired people, friends and couples are far more likely to
share common attitudes, beliefs, and interests (and, for that
matter, age, religion, race, education, intelligence, smoking behavior, and economic status).
similarity
Similarity attracts; perceived
dissimilarity
does not.
How does being liked and respected ourselves impact attractiveness of others?
When we believe someone likes us, we feel good and respond to them warmly, which leads them to like us even more.
We will like those whose behavior is rewarding to us, including those who are both able and willing to help us achieve our goals.
How does love change over time
If love endures, temporary passionate love
will mellow into a lingering companionate love.
What is passionate love?
an AROUSED state of INTENSE positive ABSORPTION
in another, usually present at the BEGINNING of a romantic RELATIONSHIP
Intensely desire to be with partner
Passionate love mixes
something new with something positive.
passion
Seeing our partner stimulates blood flow to a brain region linked to craving and obsession.
What is the Schachter-Singer Two-Factor theory of emotion?
Our PHYSICAL REACTIONS and our THOUGHTS
(perceptions, memories, and interpretations)
together create EMOTION.
What research has been conducted on the Schachter two-factor theory and attraction?
In one experiment, researchers studied people crossing two bridges above British Columbia’s rocky Capilano River. One, a swaying footbridge, was 230 feet above the rocks; the other was low and solid.
As men came off each bridge, an attractive young female researcher intercepted them and asked them to fill out a short questionnaire.
She then offered her phone number
in case they wanted to hear more about her project.
What were the results of this research?
Far more of the men who had just crossed the high bridge—which left their hearts pounding—accepted the number and later called the woman.
The physical arousal (heart pounding) + the cognitive appraisal (“I must find her attractive”) = attractiveness.
What is companionate love?
the DEEP AFFECTIONATE ATTACHMENT we feel
for those with whom our lives are INTERTWINED
In the most satisfying marriages,
attraction and sexual desire endure, minus the obsession of early stage romance.
What chemicals are involved in passionate love?
passion-facilitating
hormones and neurotransmitters such testosterone, dopamine, and adrenaline, flood the body and produce intense physiological changes.
What chemicals are involved in companionate love?
the release of oxytocin supports feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding with the mate.
What is equity?
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
When equity exists,
the chances for sustained and satisfying companionate love have been good.
In one national survey of nine things people associated with successful marriages.
“sharing household chores”
ranked third, after “faithfulness” and a “happy sexual relationship”
What is self-disclosure?
the act of revealing intimate aspects of
ourselves to others
Self-disclosure includes
revealing likes
and dislikes, dreams and worries, and both proud and shameful moments.
enduring love of the past
This 5000 to 6000-year-old “Romeo and
Juliet” young couple was unearthed
locked in embrace, near Rome.
How important is positive support?
For happy couples in enduring relationships, positive interactions (compliments, touches, laughing) outnumber negative interactions (sarcasm, disapproval, insults) by at least 5 to 1.
Carl Wilkens
Seventh-day Adventist missionary living in Kigali, Rwanda in 1994 witnessing the genocide of Tutsi by Hutu militia
Protected by Hutu neighbors and ran roadblocks to distribute necessities and saving lives
Paul Rusesabagina
Hutu married to Tutsi and acting manager of luxury hotel sheltered more than 1200 Tutsis/ Hutus
Bribed militia/ telephoned influential people to exert pressure on local authorities
Saved lives of hotel’s occupants
Altruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others.
Kitty Genovese
March 13, 1964
stalker repeatedly stabbed Kitty Genovese, then raped her as she lay dying outside her Queens, New York, apartment at 3:30 a.m. “Oh, my God, he stabbed me!” Genovese screamed into the early morning stillness. “Please help me!” Windows opened and lights went on as some neighbors heard her screams. Her attacker fled and then returned to stab and rape her again. Until it was too late, no one called police or came to her aid.
How did Kitty Genovese’s story lead to research on bystander involvement?
reports triggered outrage over the bystanders’ apparent “apathy” and “indifference.”
What is the decision-making process for bystander intervention?
Before helping, one must first notice an emergency,
then correctly interpret it, and then feel responsible.
passing by… bypassing…
To paraphrase the
French writer Voltaire, we all are guilty of the good we did not do.
What research has been conducted on bystander intervention?
One of Darley and Latané’s experiments staged a fake emergency as students in separate laboratory rooms took turns talking over an intercom.
Only the person whose microphone was switched on could be heard.
When his turn came, one student (an accomplice of the experimenters) pretended to have an epileptic seizure, and he called for help.
What were the results?
Those who believed only they
could hear the victim—and therefore thought they alone were responsible for helping
him—usually went to his aid. Students who thought others could also hear the victim’s
cries were more likely to do nothing.
What is diffusion of responsibility?
when more people shared responsibility for helping, any single listener was less likely to help.
What is the bystander effect?
the TENDENCY for any nearby person (BYSTANDER) to be
LESS likely to give aid if OTHER bystanders are PRESENT
How does the bystander effect impact the brain?
The presence of bystanders reduces brain
activation in the motor cortex, signaling that we
don’t need to take action.
What experiments have confirmed the bystander effect?
In one study, researchers and their assistants took 1497 elevator rides in three cities and “accidentally” dropped coins or pencils in front of 4813
fellow passengers.
When alone with the person in need, 40% helped; in the presence of 5 other bystanders, only 20% helped.
What is the social-exchange theory?
the theory that our social behavior is an EXCHANGE process, the aim of which is to MAXIMIZE benefits and MINIMIZE costs
One widely held view is that self-interest
underlies all human interactions and that our constant goal is to maximize rewards and minimize costs.
Social exchange theory in donating blood
If you are considering donating blood, you may weigh the costs of doing so (time, discomfort, anxiety) against the benefits (reduced guilt, social approval, good feelings).
What is the reciprocity norm?
an EXPECTATION that people WILL help, NOT hurt, those who have HELPED them
Reciprocity norm in strangers
Sometimes this means “paying it forward,” as
happened in one experiment, when people who were treated generously became more likely to be generous
to a stranger
What is the social-responsibility norm?
EXPECTATION that we should help THOSE who NEED
our HELP—young children and others who cannot
give as much as they receive—even if the
COSTS OUTWEIGH the BENEFITS.
social-responsibility norm in asylum seekers
One study showed that Europeans are most welcoming
of asylum seekers who are most vulnerable—
those, for example, who have been tortured or have
no surviving family.
Wesley Autrey
Jan 2, 2007
He and his 6- and 4-year-old daughters were awaiting a New York City subway train when, before them, a man collapsed in a seizure, got up, then stumbled to the platform’s edge and fell onto the tracks.
Autrey’s decision, as his girls looked on in horror, was to leap from the platform, push the man off the tracks and into a foot-deep space between them, and lay atop him.
the subway hero
As the train screeched to a halt, five cars traveled just above his head, leaving grease on his knit cap. When Autrey cried out, “I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father is okay,” onlookers erupted into applause.
What is a conflict?
a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
What can be the outcome of an conflict?
In each situation, conflict may seed positive change, or be a destructive process that can produce unwanted results.
What is a social trap?
SITUATION in which the CONFLICTING PARTIES, by EACH
pursuing their SELF-INTEREST rather than the good of the group, become caught in MUTUALLY
DESTRUCTIVE behavior
Social trap example
For instance, it may be in Company A’s best financial interest to dump their toxic waste into the nearby river because it is cheaper than hauling it to a proper collection location. But if Company B, C, D, and so on all do the same, all act in their own individual best interests, the destruction of the river habitat and is guaranteed.
What are real-life examples of social traps?
Individual fish trawlers reasoned that the fish they took would not threaten the species and that if they didn’t take them, others would anyway.
What is another example of a social trap?
Individual car owners and home owners reason, “electric cars are more expensive. Besides, the fuel that I burn in my one car doesn’t noticeably
add to the greenhouse gases.”
When enough people reason similarly, the collective result threatens disaster—climate change, rising seas, and more extreme weather.
Social traps challenge us to
reconcile our right to pursue our personal well-being with our responsibility for the
well-being of all.
What are mirror-image perceptions?
MUTUAL views often held by CONFLICTING people, as when each side sees itself as ETHICAL and
PEACEFUL and views the other side
as EVIL and AGGRESSIVE
Mirror image perceptions in politics
My political party has benevolent motives; the other
party is malevolent.
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
a belief that leads to its own fulfillment
Mirror-image perceptions can often feed a
vicious
cycle of hostility.
If Juan believes Maria is annoyed with him, he may snub her, causing her to act in ways that
justify his perception.
How can we make peace?
contact
cooperation
communication
conciliation
Does it help to put two conflicting parties into contact with each other?
cross-racial contact, South Africans’ interracial attitudes have moved “into closer alignment
friendly contact between different races/ hetero & homosexual people leads to improved attitudes
Consider the research of Muzafer Sherif…
A 1966 study to see if enemies could overcome their differences, set a conflict in motion.
In the classic Robber’s Cave study, researcher Muzafer Sherif separated 22 Oklahoma City
boys into two separate camp areas.
Then he had the two groups compete for prizes
in a series of activities.
What happen once the groups were separated?
Before long, each group became intensely proud of
itself and hostile to the other group’s “sneaky,”
“smart-alecky stinkers.”
What happened next?
Food wars broke out. Cabins were ransacked. Fistfights had to be broken up by
camp counselors.
Brought together, the two groups avoided
each other, except to taunt and threaten.
How do superordinate goals impact cooperation?
to “fail,” and all 22 boys had to work together to restore the water.
To rent a movie they all had to pool their resources. To move a stalled truck, the boys needed to combine their strength, pulling and pushing together
What are superordinate goals?
shared goals that
could be achieved only through cooperation.
What can we learn from Sherif’s research?
Having used isolation and competition to make strangers into enemies, Sherif used shared predicaments and goals to turn enemies into friends.
What reduced conflict was not mere contact, but cooperative contact.
How important is communication to peace?
When real-life conflicts become intense, a third-party mediator—a marriage counselor, labor mediator, diplomat, community volunteer—may facilitate much-needed communication.
Mediators help each party
voice its viewpoint and understand the other’s needs and goals.
What is GRIT?
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension (GRIT) Reduction—a strategy designed to
decrease international tensions
In applying GRIT, one side first announces its …
It then initiates one or more …
recognition
of mutual interests and its intent to reduce tensions.
small, conciliatory acts.
What happens next?
Without weakening one’s retaliatory capability, this
modest beginning opens the door for reciprocity by the other party.
Should
the enemy respond with hostility, one reciprocates in kind. But so, too, with
any conciliatory response.
