Chapter 14 Social Behavior

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Chapter 14Social Behavior
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What Is Social Psychology?

• Social Psychology Scientific studies of how
  individuals behave, think, and feel in social
  situations how people act in the presence
  (actual or implied) of others
• Need to Affiliate Desire to associate with other
  people appears to be a basic human trait

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Comparison and Attraction

• Social Comparison Making judgments about
  ourselves by comparing ourselves to others (e.g.,
  comparing our feelings and abilities to those of
  other people)
• Interpersonal Attraction Social attraction to
  another person
• Physical Proximity Physical nearness to another
  person in terms of housing, school, work
• Physical Attractiveness Persons degree of
  physical beauty as defined by his or her culture
• Halo Effect Tendency to generalize a limited
  impression to other personal characteristics
• Competent When people display a high degree of
  knowledge, ability, or proficiency

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Similarity

• Similarity Extent to which two people are alike
  in terms of age, education, attitudes, and so on
• Similar people are attracted to each other
• Homogamy Tendency to marry someone who is like
  us in almost every way

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Self-Disclosure

• Process of revealing ones private thoughts,
  attitudes, feelings, and personal history to
  others
• Should be used cautiously and sparingly by the
  therapist performing therapy
• May lead to countertransference in therapy (when
  the therapist makes an unhealthy connection to
  the client)
• Reciprocity Return in kind reciprocal exchange
• Overdisclosure Self-disclosure that exceeds what
  is appropriate for a relationship or social
  situation

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Love and Attachment

• Romantic Love Marked by high levels of
  interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and
  heightened arousal
• Liking Relationship based on intimacy but
  lacking passion and commitment
• Mutual Absorption When two lovers almost always
  attend only to each other
• Evolutionary Psychology Study of evolutionary
  origins of human behavior patterns

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Figure 14.2
FIGURE 14.2 What do people look for when
considering potential dating partners? Here are
the results of a study in which personal ads were
placed in newspapers. As you can see, men were
more influenced by looks, and women by success
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Life in Groups

• Social Role Patterns of behavior expected of
  people in various social positions (e.g.,
  daughter, mother, teacher, President (!))
• Ascribed Role Assigned to a person or not under
  personal control
• Achieved Role Attained voluntarily or by special
  effort (teacher, mayor, President)
• Role Conflict When two or more roles make
  conflicting demands on behavior

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Groups

• Group Structure Network of roles, communication,
  pathways, and power in a group
• Group Cohesiveness Degree of attraction among
  group members or their commitment to remain in
  the group
• In Group A group with which a person identifies
• Out Group Group with which a person does not
  identify
• Cohesive groups work better together
• What kind of groups did you see on Survivor,
  Road Rules, and Real World?

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Some More Important Terms

• Status Level of social power and importance
• Norm Accepted but usually unspoken standard for
  appropriate behavior

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Figure 14.3
FIGURE 14.3 Results of an experiment on norms
concerning littering. The prior existence of
litter in a public setting implies that littering
is acceptable. This encourages others to trash
the area.
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Social Perception

• Attribution Making inferences about the causes
  of ones own behavior and others behavior
• External Cause of Behavior Assumed to lie
  outside a person
• Internal Cause of Behavior Assumed to lie within
  the person

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Social Perception (cont'd)

• Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to
  attribute behavior of others to internal causes
  (personality, likes, etc.). We believe this even
  if they really have external causes!
• Actor-Observer Bias Tendency to attribute
  behavior of others to internal causes while
  attributing ones own behavior to external causes
  (situations and circumstances).

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Social Influence

• Changes in a persons behavior induced by the
  actions of another person.
• Someone else influences your decision husband,
  wife, mother, peer, etc.
• Peer Pressure Ken was swayed by Lisa and
  Gabriella to go see Sex and the City when he
  really wanted to see The Incredible Hulk.

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Conformity

• Bringing ones behavior into agreement with norms
  or the behavior of others.
• Solomon Aschs Experiment You must select (from
  a group of three) the line that most closely
  matches the standard line. All lines are shown to
  a group of seven people (including you).
• Other six were accomplices, and at times all
  would select the wrong line.
• In 33 of the trials, the real subject conformed
  to group pressure even when the groups answers
  were obviously incorrect!

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Figure 14.4
FIGURE 14.4 Stimuli used in Solomon Aschs
conformity experiments.
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Group Factors in Conformity

• Groupthink Compulsion by decision makers to
  maintain agreement, even at the cost of critical
  thinking
• Group Sanctions Rewards and punishments
  administered by groups to enforce conformity or
  punish nonconformity
• Unanimity Unanimous agreement

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Obedience (Milgram)

• Conformity to the demands of an authority.
• Would you shock a man with a known heart
  condition who is screaming and asking to be
  released?
• Milgram studied this the man with a heart
  condition was an accomplice and the teacher was
  a real volunteer. The goal was to teach the
  learner word pairs.

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Milgrams Conclusions

• 65 obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on
  the shock machine, even though the learner
  eventually could not answer any more questions
• Group support can reduce destructive obedience

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Figure 14.6
FIGURE 14.6 Results of Milgrams obedience
experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused
to provide shocks, even at the most extreme
intensities. The first substantial drop in
obedience occurred at the 300-volt level
(Milgram, 1963).
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Figure 14.7
FIGURE 14.7 Physical distance from the learner
had a significant effect on the percentage of
subjects obeying orders.
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Compliance

• Bending to the requests of one person who has
  little or no authority or social power.
• Foot-in-the-Door Effect A person who has agreed
  to a small request is more likely later to agree
  to a larger demand.
• Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is
  almost a sure thing.
• Door-in-the-Face Technique A person who has
  refused a major request will be more likely later
  on to comply with a smaller request.
• After the door has been slammed in your face
  (major request refused), person may be more
  likely to agree to a smaller request.

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Compliance (cont'd)

• Low-Ball Technique Commitment is gained first to
  reasonable or desirable terms, which are then
  made less reasonable or desirable.
• Henry accepts the price he states for a new car.
  Then later Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry,
  The business would lose too much money on that
  price cant you take a bit less and add all
  these options?
• Passive Compliance Quietly bending to
  unreasonable demands or unacceptable conditions.

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Assertiveness Training

• Instruction in how to be self-assertive
• Self-Assertion Standing up for your rights by
  speaking out on your behalf direct, honest
  expression of feelings and desires
• Aggression Hurting another person or achieving
  ones goals at the expense of another person
• Attempting to get ones way no matter what
• No regard for others feelings

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Attitudes and Beliefs

• Attitude Learned tendency to respond to people,
  objects, or institutions in a positive or
  negative way
• Summarize your evaluation of objects
• Belief Component What a person believes about
  the attitudinal object
• Emotional Component Feelings toward the
  attitudinal object
• Action Component Ones actions toward various
  people, objects, or institutions

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Attitude Formation

• Direct Contact Personal experience with the
  object of the attitude
• Interaction with Others Discussions with people
  holding a particular attitude
• Child Rearing Effects of parental values,
  beliefs, and practices
• Group Membership Affiliation with others
• Mass Media All media that reach large audiences
  (magazines, television)
• Mean World View Viewing the world as dangerous
  and threatening

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Attitude Measurement and Change

• Chance Conditioning Learning that takes place by
  chance or coincidence
• Reference Group Any group a person identifies
  with and uses as a standard for social comparison
• Persuasion Deliberate attempt to change
  attitudes or beliefs through information and
  arguments
• Communicator Person presenting arguments or
  information
• Message Content of communicators arguments
• Audience Person or group to whom a persuasive
  message is directed

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Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger)

• Contradicting or clashing thoughts, beliefs,
  attitudes, or perceptions that cause discomfort
• We need to have consistency in our thoughts,
  perceptions, and images of ourselves
• What happens when people act in ways that are
  inconsistent with their attitudes?
• Justification Degree to which ones actions are
  explained by rewards or other circumstances
• If little justification exists for actions, we
  will change our attitude to reduce the dissonance
  
• Underlies attempts to convince ourselves we did
  the right thing

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• Figure 14.6
• Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that
  arises when people perceive that their attitudes
  do not match their behavior. Theoretically, they
  could resolve this discrepancy by changing either
  their attitudes or their behavior or by
  developing a new attitude or excuse to explain
  the discrepancy. Most of the research, however,
  has focused on how cognitive dissonance leads to
  a change of attitude

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Figure 14.10
FIGURE 14.10 Summary of the Festinger and
Carlsmith (1959) study from the viewpoint of a
person experiencing cognitive dissonance.
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Brainwashing

• Engineered or forced attitude change requiring a
  captive audience three steps
• Unfreezing Loosening of former values and
  convictions
• Change When the brainwashed person abandons
  former beliefs
• Refreezing Rewarding and solidifying new
  attitudes and beliefs

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Cults

• Groups that profess great devotion to a person
  and follow that person almost without question
• Leaders personality is usually more important
  than the issues he/she preaches
• Members usually victimized by the leader(s)
• Recruit potential converts at a time of need,
  especially when a sense of belonging is most
  attractive to potential converts
• Look for college students and young adults

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Cults (cont'd)

• Some examples Peoples Temple and Jim Jones
  Heavens Gate Branch Davidians
• Where does Scientology fit?

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Prejudice

• Negative emotional attitude held toward members
  of a specific social group
• Discrimination Unequal treatment of people who
  should have the same rights as others
• Personal Prejudice When members of another
  racial or ethnic group are perceived as a threat
  to ones own interests
• Group Prejudice When a person conforms to group
  norms

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Prejudiced Personality and Intergroup Conflict

• Authoritarian Personality Marked by rigidity,
  inhibition, prejudice, and oversimplification
• Ethnocentrism Placing ones group at the center,
  usually by rejecting all other groups
• Social Stereotypes Oversimplified images of
  people who belong to a particular social group
• Symbolic Prejudice Prejudice expressed in a
  disguised fashion
• Prejudice is socially unacceptable, but will
  still express prejudice in disguised form

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Other Concepts Relating to Prejudice

• Status Inequalities Differences in power,
  prestige, or privileges of two or more people or
  groups
• Equal-Status Contact Social interaction that
  occurs on an equal level, without obvious
  differences in power or status
• Superordinate Goal Goal that exceeds or
  overrides all other goals, making other goals
  less important

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Classroom Ideas

• Mutual Interdependence When two or more people
  must depend on each other to meet each persons
  goals.
• Jigsaw Classroom Each student only gets a piece
  of information needed to complete a problem or
  prepare for a test to succeed and get all
  pieces, students must all work together.
• Prejudicial stereotypes tend to be very irrational

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Aggression

• Any action carried out with the intention of
  harming another person.
• Ethologists believe that aggression is innate in
  all animals, including humans.
• Ethologist Studies natural behavior patterns of
  animals.
• There appears to be a relationship between
  aggression and hypoglycemia, allergy, and certain
  brain injuries and disorders.
• Certain brain areas can trigger or end aggressive
  behavior.
• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis Frustration
  tends to lead to aggression

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Aversive Stimuli

• Produce discomfort or displeasure
• Aggression Cues Signals that are associated with
  aggression
• Weapons Effect Observation that weapons serve as
  strong cues for aggressive behavior

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Figure 14.12
FIGURE 14.12 Personal discomfort caused by
aversive (unpleasant) stimuli can make aggressive
behavior more likely. For example, studies of
crime rates show that the incidence of highly
aggressive behavior, such as murder, rape, and
assault, rises as the air temperature goes from
warm to hot to sweltering (Anderson, 1989). The
results you see here further confirm the
heat-aggression link. The graph shows that there
is a strong association between the temperatures
at major league baseball games and the number of
batters hit by a pitch during those games. When
the temperature goes over 90, watch out for that
fastball (Reifman, Larrick, Fein, 1991)!
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Social Learning Theory (Bandura) and Television

• Social Learning Theory Combines learning
  principles with cognitive processes,
  socialization, and modeling to explain behavior
• No instinctive (innate) desires for shooting
  guns, knife fights, and so on
• Aggression must be learned
• Disinhibition Removal of inhibition results in
  acting-out behavior that normally would be
  restrained
• Television seems to be able to cause
  desensitization to violence
• Desensitization Reduced emotional sensitivity

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Figure 14.13
FIGURE 14.13 Violent behavior among delinquent
boys doesnt appear overnight. Usually, their
capacity for violence develops slowly, as they
move from minor aggression to increasingly brutal
acts. Overall aggression increases dramatically
in early adolescence as boys gain physical
strength and more access to weapons
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Social Learning Theory and Television A
Conclusion

• Television seems to be able to cause
  desensitization to violence
• Desensitization Reduced emotional sensitivity

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Prosocial Behavior and Bystander Apathy

• Prosocial Behavior Behavior toward others that
  is helpful, constructive, or altruistic
• Bystander Apathy Unwillingness of bystanders to
  offer help during emergencies
• Related to number of people present
• The more potential helpers present, the lower the
  chances help will be given

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Decision Points Reached before Giving Help

• Noticing the person in trouble
• Defining an Emergency Until someone declares the
  situation an emergency, no one acts
• Taking Responsibility Assume responsibility to
  help
• Diffusion of Responsibility Spreading
  responsibility to act among several people
• Select a course of action

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Figure 14.15
FIGURE 14.15 This decision tree summarizes the
steps a person must take before making a
commitment to offer help, according to Latané and
Darleys model.
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Empathy Concepts

• Empathic Arousal Emotional arousal that occurs
  when you feel some of the persons pain, fear, or
  anguish
• Empathy-Helping Relationship Helping person in
  need because we have emotions such as empathy and
  compassion for that person

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Multiculturalism

• Gives equal status to different ethnic, racial,
  and cultural groups
• Two ways to break stereotypes
• Seek individuating information that helps you see
  a person as an individual and not as a member of
  a group.
• Dont believe just-world beliefs That people
  generally get what they deserve.

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More Ways to Break Stereotypes

• Note self-fulfilling prophecies Expectations
  that prompt people to act in ways that make
  expectations come true.
• Understand that different does not mean inferior.
• Social Competition Rivalry among groups, each of
  which regards itself as superior to others.
• Look for commonalities