Week 11 Flashcards
Social Influence
- Any change in a person’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviour that has its origin in another person or group
- The influence of people on people
Audience Effects
- The most elementary social psychological question concerned the effect of the mere presence of other people on our behaviour:
“What changes in an individual’s normal solitary performance occur when other people are present?”
Triplett (1898)
► Cyclists ride faster when racing than when riding alone
► Children reel faster when racing in pairs than when alone
Audience Effects - Arousal
Arousal from having others around can lead to:
Social facilitation
► Improvement in performance in presence of others
► Do better
► Well-learned/easy/simple tasks
Social inhibition
► Deterioration in performance in presence of others
► Do worse
► Poorly-learned/difficult/complex tasks
*look up image
Social Loafing
A reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task compared with working alone
Max Ringelmann
► Individuals exerted less effort when pulling on rope in group compared to alone
Compliance
- Superficial, public, transitory change in surface behaviours and expressed attitudes
- Response to request and coercion by others
- Cialdini’s six principles underlying compliance:
► Liking
► Authority
► Reciprocation
► Commitment and consistency
► Social proof
► Scarcity
Compliance Tactics
Foot-in-the-door: First make a small request, then follow it with a larger, related request (Freedman and Fraser, 1966)
► Works off principle of… commitment and consistency
Low-balling: First make a reasonable request, then reveal a hidden cost afterwards (Cialdini, 1978)
► Works off principle of… commitment and consistency
Door-in-the-face: First make a ridiculously large request, then follow it with a smaller, more reasonable request (Cialdini et al., 1975)
► Works off principle of… reciprocation
Obedience
- When an authority specifically commands us to change our behaviour, and we do
- Agentic state
A frame of mind characterised by unquestioning obedience, in which people as agents transfer personal responsibility to person giving orders - The power of the situation
Obedience Study
MILGRAM (1963)
- Asked participants to play the role of a “teacher” and give electric shocks to a “learner” (a confederate) as part of a learning experiment
- Each time the “learner” got an answer wrong, the“teacher” was required to give a more intense shock
- 65% of the “learners” obeyed until the end of the experiment, where the strongest shocks were
Behaviours in Groups
A collection of people who interact with each other and are interdependent
Group norms: Attitudinal and behavioural uniformities, shared beliefs about appropriate conduct for group members
► Can be formal or informal
► Powerful sources of conformity
Conformity
The tendency for actions and opinions to converge towards group norms
Two processes underlie conformity:
► Informational influence
► Normative influence
Informational influence - Conformity
- Conform because we believe others know better than us
- When we are uncertain about how to act
- “Private” conformity/“true” influence
Normative influence - Conformity
- Conform because we want others to accept and like us
- When group has power to punish/reward
- “Public” conformity
Autokinetic Effect - Conformity Study
SHERIF (1936)
Autokinetic effect
► Optical illusion - pinpoint of light in dark room appears to move
► Participants asked how much light moves
► Tested either alone vs. in group
*look up image
Line Length - Conformity Study
ASCH (1951)
Line Length Study
► Participants sat at a table with confederates
► Asked to indicate aloud which of 3 comparison lines matched the standard line
► Confederates all gave the same wrong answer
► Results : 76% conformed to wrong choice at least once, 50% on 6 more trials, 5% on all 12 trials – power of the situation
Group Decision Making
Important decisions are usually made by groups rather than individuals
Groups often make better decisions:
► Pooled knowledge
► Diverse perspectives
► Cancel out biases
Bigger, diverse groups -> better decisions
Smaller, homogenous groups -> worse decisions
► Groupthink, group polarisation
Group Polarisation
Tendency for group discussion among like-minded people to strengthen pre-existing attitudes
Example: high and low-prejudice students who discussed their racial attitudes with other like-minded students intensified their pre-existing racial attitudes (Myers and Bishop, 1970)
Aggression
Verbal or physical behaviour aimed at harming another person or living being Explanations ► Instinct and evolution ► Biological ► Situational -> Frustration, Cognitive Neuroassociation Theory -> Environmental cues -> Social learning / modelling -> Deindividuation -> Norms & roles
Aggression - Instinct and Evolution
Freud viewed aggression as a basic human instinct
Current psychodynamic theorists view it as a behavioural potential that is usually activated by frustration and anger
► Supported by evidence that parents usually have to teach children to inhibit aggressive responses
Evolutionary theorists view aggression as evolutionary adaptive
► Has survival and reproductive value
Aggression Biology - Genetics
Genetics
► Highly aggressive mice/rats/rabbits can be selectively bred
► Twin/adoption studies -> 50% heritability
Aggression Biology - Neurological
Neurological
► Brain activity in hypothalamus, limbic system, prefrontal cortex
► Damage, delayed development can influence aggression
Aggression Biology - Hormonal
Hormonal
► Aggression determined by levels of particular hormones
► Testosterone
-> Social dominance, aggression to maintain status
-> Linked to impatience/irritability, criminality
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
Frustration accumulates from a variety of sources
Original form:
► All frustration leads to aggression
► All aggressions results from frustration
When source of frustration cannot be challenged…scapegoating/displacement of aggression on a target
Failure to Achieve -> Frustration -> Aggression
Cognitive Neuroassociation Theory - Aggression
Aversive situations can produce negative affect + arousal, which can then lead to aggression Aversive situations can include: ► Frustration ► Hot temperature ► Hostility
Environmental Cues - Aggression
Weapons effect:
- Mere presence of weapons in environment increases aggression
- Weapons linked aggression in our minds, prime aggressive scripts
“Guns not only permit violence, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger.”
Social Learning and Modelling - Aggression
People can behave aggressively because they see others behaving aggressively
Bandura’s Bobo Doll studies
► Showed children…
(1) Aggressive model
(2) Non-aggressive model
(3) No model
► Children exposed to the aggressive model displayed more aggressive behaviour when given the chance to play with toys later
Deindividuation - Aggression
Accounts of crowd behaviour emphasise notion of deindividuation
► People essentially aggressive and impulsive
► People inhibit aggression to conform to “civilised” societal norms
► Crowds = anonymity -> less fear of negative evaluation
► Revert to aggressive and impulsive instincts
E.g. suicide baiting
Norms and Roles - Aggression
- Roles can be associated with both antisocial and prosocial behaviours
- Certain roles can be associated with aggression (e.g., gang member, police)
- People can become aggressive if they are in these roles
► Deindividuation occurs and assists people to take on whatever role is implied by the situation
E.g. Zimbardo’s Prison Study
Zimbardo’s Prison Study 1971
- Built a fake jail
- Arbitrarily split college students into “prisoners” and “guards”
- Both “prisoners” and “guards” were deindividuated to socialise them into their roles (e.g. uniforms)
- “Guards” became cruel and abusive, “prisoners” became compliant and powerless
- Study initially planned for two weeks, but behaviour of “guards” was so abusive, it was stopped after 6 days
Zimbardo’s Outcome Theory
Psychologically stable, normal members of the population had descended into abusive, degraded behaviour because the role allowed it
The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces
The Bystander Effect
Kitty Genovese
► Attacked outside her apartment in Queens, New York, 1964
► Newspapers reported 38 witnesses in apartment building, none called police or came to her aid
► Assailant: “I knew they wouldn’t do anything, people never do”
- We are less likely to help when others are around than when we are alone (likelihood of helping decreases as # of people increases)
- Diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of Responsibility
When we assume others will take responsibility and our sense of responsibility to help decreases
Prosocial Behaviour
Prosocial behaviour: Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person, regardless of motive Altruism: The desire to help another person with no apparent reward, even if it involves a cost to the helper Factors influencing altriusm ► Empathy ► Modelling ► Instruction ► Time