EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY EIGHTH EDITION IN MODULES David Myers PowerPoint Slides Aneeq Ahmad Henderson State University Worth Publishers, © 2011

2 Social Psychology

Social Influence Module 37 3

4 Conformity and Obedience  Group Pressure and Obedience  Obedience  Lessons From the Conformance and Obedience Studies Group Influence  Individual Behavior in the Presence of Others  Effects of Group Interaction The Power of Individuals

5 Social Influence The greatest contribution of social psychology is its study of attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions and the way they are molded by social influence.

6 Conformity & Obedience Behavior is contagious, modeled by one followed by another. We are natural mimics. Chartrand and Bargh call this the chameleon effect and tested it through studies in which one person was planted in a room of working students. If that person rubbed their face or shook their foot, the other students tended to do the same.

7 Conformity & Obedience Unconsciously mimicking others helps us to feel what they’re feeling. Automatic mimicry is part of empathy and empathic people are more well-liked. Those who are eager to fit in are more prone to automatic mimicry. Sometimes the effects of this suggestibility is serious – resulting in clusters of violence after one violent event.

8 Suggestibility is a subtle form of conformity – adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. To test conformity, Asch devised a simple test asking participants to compare lines. When a group of people answered incorrectly, more than one-third of the subjects answered incorrectly as well. Group Pressure & Conformity

9 Conditions that Strengthen Conformity 1.One is made to feel incompetent or insecure. 2.The group has at least three people. 3.The group is unanimous. 4.One admires the group’s status and attractiveness. 5.One has no prior commitment to a response. 6.The group observes one’s behavior. 7.One’s culture strongly encourages respect for a social standard.

10 Reasons for Conforming Normative Social Influence: Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection. A person may respect normative behavior because there may be a severe price to pay if not respected. Informational Social Influence: The group may provide valuable information, but stubborn people will never listen to others.

11 Obedience People comply to social pressures. How would they respond to outright command? Stanley Milgram designed a study that investigates the effects of authority on obedience. Stanley Milgram ( ) Courtesy of CUNY Graduate School and University Center

12 Obedience In Milgram’s study, participants were instructed to give increasingly stronger electric shocks to other participants, despite the participants negative reactions. Over 60% percent complied with the request.

Milgram found that obedience was highest when: -The person giving orders was in close proximity and perceived as a legitimate authority figure -The authority figure was supported by a prestigious institution -The victim was depersonalized or in a different room - There were no role models for defiance 13 Obedience

14 Obedience A third of the individuals in Milgram’s study resisted social coercion. An unarmed individual single-handedly challenged a line of tanks at Tiananmen Square. AP/ Wide World Photos

15 Lessons from the Conformity and Obedience Studies In both Asch's and Milgram's studies, participants were pressured to choose between following their standards and being responsive to others. In Milgram’s study, participants were torn between hearing the victims pleas and the experimenter’s orders.

16 Group Influence How do groups affect our behavior? Social psychologists study various groups: 1.One person affecting another 2.Families 3.Teams 4.Committees

17 Group Influence Social psychology’s first experiments focused on the simplest question about social behavior: How are we influences by people watching us or joining us in various activities?

18 Individual Behavior in the Presence of Others Social facilitation: Refers to improved performance on tasks in the presence of others. The effect of having an enthusiastic audience contributes to the home-team advantage in sports.

19 Social Loafing Social loafing is the tendency of an individual in a group to exert less effort toward attaining a common goal than when tested individually. People acting in a group may feel less accountable, worrying less what others will think and may view their contribution as dispensable. Social loafing often occurs in group projects.

20 Deindividuation Group situations can sometimes both arouse people and diminish their sense of responsibility. This loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations is known as deindividuation.

21 Effects of Group Interaction Group Polarization enhances a group’s prevailing attitudes through a discussion. If a group is like- minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions and attitudes.

22 Groupthink Groupthink is a mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision- making group overrides the realistic appraisal of alternatives. The effects of groupthink were seen in: - The attack on Pearl Harbor - The escalation of the Vietnam War - The Watergate cover-up - Chernobyl reactor accident - Invasion of Iraq because of WMDs

23 Power of Individuals The power of social influence is enormous, but so is the power of the individual. Non-violent fasts and appeals by Gandhi led to the independence of India from the British. Gandhi Margaret Bourke-White/ Life Magazine. © 1946 Time Warner, Inc.