Prepared By: Dawn More, Algonquin College

Chapter 15: Social Psychology Media Enhanced PowerPoint  Presentation Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Lecture Overview Our Thoughts about Others Our Feelings about Others Our Actions toward Others Applying Social Psychology to Social Problems Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Explain how attributions and attitudes affect the way we perceive and judge others. Summarize the three components of attitudes. Describe cultural differences in how people explain behaviour. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others Social Psychology: study of how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions Attribution: explanation for the cause of behaviours or events To determine the cause, we first decide whether the behaviour comes from an: Internal (dispositional) cause, such as personal characteristics, or External (situational) cause, such as situational demands Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others: Mistaken Attributions Fundamental attribution error: misjudging causes of others’ behaviour and attributing to internal (dispositional) versus external (situational) ones Saliency bias: may explain this focus on dispositional causes. Self-Serving Bias: taking credit for our successes and externalizing our failures Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others Attitude: learned predisposition to respond cognitively, affectively, and behaviourally to a particular object Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others: Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance: feeling of discomfort created from a discrepancy between an attitude and a behaviour or between two competing attitudes Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others: Cognitive Dissonance Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Thoughts about Others: Cognitive Dissonance Festinger and Carlsmith’s Cognitive Dissonance Study: Participants given VERY boring tasks to complete, and then paid either $1 or $20 to tell next participant the task was “very enjoyable” and “fun.” Result: Those paid $1 experienced greater cognitive dissonance, and, therefore changed their attitude more than those paid $20. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Check & Review What is the fundamental attribution error? According to the _____ theory, people are motivated to change their attitudes because of tension created by a discrepancy between an attitude and a behaviour or between two or more competing attitudes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Explain the difference between prejudice and discrimination. Identify four explanations for why prejudice develops. Summarize the factors that influence interpersonal attraction. Explain how loving is different from liking. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Prejudice and Discrimination Prejudice: learned, generally negative, attitude toward members of a group Discrimination: negative behaviours directed at members of a group Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Prejudice and Discrimination Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Prejudice and Discrimination There are three components of prejudice: Cognitive Stereotype: set of beliefs about the characteristics of people in a group generalized to all group members Affective: feelings associated with objects of prejudice Behavioural Discrimination: negative behaviours directed at members of a group Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Sources of Prejudice and Discrimination Learned response Mental shortcut Ingroup favouritism: ingroup viewed more positively than outgroup Outgroup homogeneity effect: outgroup judged as less diverse than ingroup Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Prejudice and Discrimina-tion Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Critical Thinking Do you believe you are free of prejudice? Would you date and marry someone of another ethnic group? If you are heterosexual, would you live with a roommate who is gay or lesbian? Why or why not? Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Interpersonal Attraction Interpersonal attraction: positive feelings toward another Three key factors: Physical attractiveness Proximity (geographic closeness) Similarity Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Our Feelings about Others: Interpersonal Attraction (Liking and Loving) Liking is a favourable evaluation of another. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Feelings about Others: Interpersonal Attraction Romantic Love: erotic attraction with future expectations Companionate Love: lasting attraction based on trust, caring, tolerance, and friendship Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Check & Review Briefly explain how prejudice differs from discrimination. How does romantic love differ from companionate love? Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions Towards Others LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify the factors that contribute to conformity and obedience. Explain how groups affect behaviour and decision-making. Summarize the biological and psychosocial factors believed to be involved in aggression. Compare the egoistic model with the empathy–altruism hypothesis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Social Influence Conformity: changing behaviour because of real or imagined group pressure Obedience: following direct commands, usually from an authority figure Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Conformity Asch’s Conformity Study Participants were asked to select the line closest in length to X. When confederates gave obviously wrong answers (A or C), more than 1/3 conformed and agreed with the incorrect choices. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Conformity Why do we conform? Normative social influence: need for approval and acceptance Informational social influence: need for information and direction Reference groups: we conform to people we like and admire because we want to be like them Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Obedience Milgram’s obedience study: Participants serving as “teachers” are ordered to continue shocking someone with a known heart condition who is begging to be released. Result: 65% of “teachers” delivered highest level of shock (450 volts) to the heart condition “learner.” Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Others: Obedience Milgram’s “Learner” & Shock Generator Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Obedience Four major factors affecting obedience: legitimacy and closeness of the authority figure remoteness of the victim assignment of responsibility modeling/imitation Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Obedience Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Critical Thinking How would you have behaved if you were a “teacher” in Milgram’s obedience studies? Would you have given the highest level of shocks? What about your best friend or parents? Would their behaviour differ from yours? Why and how? Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Group Processes Group membership involves: Roles: set of behavioural patterns connected with particular social positions Deindividuation: anonymity leads to reduced inhibition, self-consciousness, and personal responsibility Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Group Processes: “Power of the Situation” Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study Students were randomly assigned to play the role of either “prisoner” or “guard.” Original study was scheduled for 2 weeks, but it was stopped after 6 days due to serious psychological changes in both “prisoners” and “guards.” Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Group Processes: Problems with Decision Making Group Polarization: group movement toward either a riskier or more conservative decision; result depends on the members’ initial dominant tendency Groupthink: faulty decision making occurring when a highly cohesive group seeks agreement and avoids inconsistent information Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Group Processes How Groupthink occurs Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Aggression Aggression: any behaviour intended to harm someone Biological factors in aggression: instincts, genes, brain and nervous system, hormones and neurotransmitters, substance abuse, and other mental disorders Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Aggression Psychosocial Factors in Aggression: Aversive stimuli Culture and learning Violent media/video games Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Aggression How can we control or reduce aggression? Introduce incompatible responses Improve social and communication skills Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Altruism Altruism: actions designed to help others with no obvious benefit to the helper Why do we help? Egoistic Model: helping motivated by anticipated gain Empathy-Altruism Model: helping motivated by empathy Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Altruism Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Our Actions toward Others: Altruism Why don’t we help? Diffusion of Responsibility: dilution, or diffusion, of personal responsibility by spreading it among others Ambiguity of the Situation: unclear what help is needed Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Check & Review Briefly explain how groupthink differs from group polarization. What are the best ways to reduce aggression? Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Applying Social Psychology to Social Problems LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Describe four major approaches to reducing prejudice and discrimination. Explain how social changes might create cognitive dissonance and eventually promote a reduction in prejudice. Summarize the principles that explain destructive obedience to authority. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Applying Social Psychology to Social Problems Prejudice and discrimination How do we reduce prejudice and discrimination? Encourage cooperation and superordinate goals Increased contact Cognitive retraining Employ cognitive dissonance Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Applying Social Psychology to Social Problems: Destructive Obedience How do we reduce destructive obedience? Adjust socialization toward obedience Recognize power of the situation Protect against groupthink Avoid foot-in-the-door technique: making a small request followed by increasingly larger requests Guard against relaxed moral guard Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Why Study Psychology? Psychology provides scientific research and insight into social problems, like prejudice and destructive obedience. Psychologists also produce concrete suggestions for reducing these problems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Pause and Reflect: Critical Thinking Chapter 15 is often the last chapter covered in a general psychology course. If this is true for you, stop and take the time to list the top 5 to 10 concepts or terms that you learned in this course and want to remember for the rest of your life. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Web Links Social Psychology Network Welcome to Social Psychology Network, one of the largest Internet sites devoted to psychological research and teaching. Mirror Neurons Why do sports fans feel so emotionally invested in the game, reacting almost as if they were part of the game themselves? You Have Found the Prisoner’s Dilemma A fiendish cyberspace wizard has locked you and Serendip into a diabolical game with the following rules Locus Of Control & Attributional Style Test Do you control your destiny or are you controlled by it? Project Implicit The demonstration site for the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Cognitive Dissonance theory Cognitive Dissonance theory was first developed by Leon Festinger in 1956 after the publication of a book When Prophecy Fails , written with co-authors Henry W. Riecken and Stanley Schachter, to explain how members of a UFO doomsday cult increased their commitment to the cult when a prophesised destruction of the Earth did not happen. Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance is a theory of human motivation that asserts that it is psychologically uncomfortable to hold contradictory cognitions. Festinger and Carlsmith Cognitive consequences of forced compliance Understanding Prejudice Exercises and Demonstrations Justice4Youth Homepage Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Web Links Kids Help Phone Homepage Virtual Attractiveness A remarkable result of our research project is that faces which have been rated as highly attractive do not exist in reality. How Love Works If you've ever been in love, you've probably at least considered classifying the feeling as an addiction. The Science of Love Poets have been struggling to describe love for centuries. Indecently Exposed Profile: Jane Elliott Stanley Milgram The purpose of this website is to be a source of accurate information about the life and work of one of the most outstanding social scientists of our time, the social psychologist Stanley Milgram. Thirty Years Later, Stanford Prison Experiment Lives On Thirty years ago, a group of young men were rounded up by Palo Alto police and dropped off at a new jail -- in the Stanford Psychology Department. A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment Conducted at Stanford University Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Philip G. Zimbardo Welcome to the website of Philip G. Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University, current core faculty at Palo Alto University, two-time past president of the Western Psychological Association, and the past president of the American Psychological Association. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Web Links How Groups can Intensify Decisions People in groups often advocate riskier decisions than individuals Helping Preschoolers Resolve Social Conflicts We can help even the youngest of our girls express their feelings and solve conflicts directly so they don't need to use indirect forms of aggression. Understanding Boy Aggression What did the boys play at recess today? Media Smarts Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy Is it the Media? Does violence in the media contribute to boys' aggressive behavior or does it reflect it? International Center for Aggression Replacement Training The International Center for Aggression Replacement Training, ICART, is an organization devoted to the practice and evaluation of Aggression Replacement Training (ART), a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed for aggressive children, adolescents, and adults. What We Can Do There are ways we can help support our boys' active impulses and help them work through feelings of aggression. Re-Establishing Altruism As A Viable Social Norm What is Altruism? Egoism/Altruism Test Are you the type who will bend over backwards for others until it hurts or do you merely look out for #1? Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Web Links Research Bulletin: Reducing Prejudice with Fiction We have discussed the relation between fiction and empathy extensively in OnFiction, but have not really broached the topic of what the consequences of this empathy might be. Jigsaw Classroom Welcome to the official web site of the jigsaw classroom, a cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience. Jane Elliot’s Blue Eyes Brown Eyes Exercise Jane Elliott, internationally known teacher, lecturer, diversity trainer, and recipient of the National Mental Health Association Award for Excellence in Education, exposes prejudice and bigotry for what it is, an irrational class system based upon purely arbitrary factors. Jigsaw Classroom Chapter 1: What Happened at Columbine? Resisting the Effects of Destructive Obedience Obedience is something that everyone must exhibit in one form or another in order to be considered a productive member of society, however, obedience may be taken to a form which in many ways becomes a crime against others (Hamilton, 1978). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Videos Gender and Love (1:27) Are men from Mars and women from Venus? As this ScienCentral News video reports, this Valentine's Day, brain scientists offer new evidence for that continuing debate. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd Multimedia Animations Attitudes and Cognitive Dissonance Imagine that after months of searching, you and your spouse have found the home of your dreams – a beautiful old house on a tree-lined street. You love everything about the house, and you’re even more captivated by the old-fashioned charm of the neighbourhood. Then and there, you decide to make an offer. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Canada Ltd

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