How Do Others Affect the Individual? Social Psychology

Conformity Changes in attitudes or behaviors to be consistent with those of others May lead to positive or negative behaviors Video

Conformity Which of the lines below is the same as the one to the left? What if 6 other people answered line 1 before it was your turn to answer? Some participants conformed and gave the wrong answer!

Findings…. Conformity increases when the following factors are applied: Feel insecure or do not know what you are doing The group is made up of 3 or more people Rest of the group is unanimous in their opinion You are impressed by the status of the group Feel other people in the group are watching and judging you

Social Influence Informational Social Influence influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Social Influence Normative social influence causes a person to conform, or change a behavior for the purpose to either gain approval or avoid disapproval from a group When someone refers to being part of the norm or the crowd, it is implied as doing some behavior or sharing some thought that everyone else is displaying or thinking.

Obedience Obedience is the tendency to follow a person’s orders or requests because he or she is seen as an authority figure

Stanley Milgram Stanley Milgram was a social psychologist who studied the effects of obedience on a person’s behavior Specifically he wanted to know if a person would deliver shocks to another person because they were told by an authority figure to do so.

Milgram’s Study The experiment involved the: The Experimenter- person who worked with Milgram and played the part of the authority figure by dressing in a lab white coat and looking intelligent The experiment also involved two subjects: one was The Learner who knew the purpose of the study and was given instructions from Milgram on what to do. The teacher, who was the subject being studied and was unaware of the intentions of the experiment

Milgram’s Study Teacher delivers increasing shocks to the learner (or so the teacher thought) Learner protested Experimenter ordered the teacher to continue Would the teacher continue?

Milgram’s Study 75% of the “teachers” gave the highest shock 450 volts and no one stopped before administering the 300 volt level.

Possible explanations… The teacher was told by the experimenter, who was the authority figure, to administer the shocks resulting in the teacher justifying the shocks given to the learner- he or she was told to do it The teacher believed and trusted that the experimenter, who was the expert and authority figure, would not allow any harm to happen to the learner. The teacher could not see the learner receive the shocks, which could have made it easier to give the shocks. This effect was evaluated in subsequent studies

Social Influence Milgram’s follow-up obedience experiment

Obedience to Authority Factors that Facilitate/Inhibit Obedience Presence of someone who refuses to obey Background authority increases obedience Culture does NOT have much of an effect on obedience

Ethics Ethical concerns of Milgram’s Study Video Deception Potential for psychological harm to participants Video

What are the effects of Identifying with a group? Social Psychology

Group Performance Social Facilitation Improved performance of tasks in the presence of others Occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered

Group Performance Social Loafing Worsened performance when part of a group Due to decreased effort and motivation More likely when individual performance is difficult to identify Less likely when The task is rewarding The group is cohesive Individuals are identified

Facilitation vs. Loafing Presence of others Individual efforts evaluated Evaluation apprehension Social Facilitation Individual efforts NOT evaluated No evaluation apprehension Social Loafing

Group Decision Making Often results in poorer decisions than those made by individuals Due to Groupthink mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives

Group Decision Making Sometimes groups make more extreme decisions than individuals would make Group Polarization enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group Choice Shift A choice shift occurs when, after a group’s interaction on an issue, the mean attitude of group members differs from the members’ mean initial attitude.

Social Influence If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions

Group Performance Deindivuduation Video loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity Helps explain behavior of mobs Loss of self awareness Leads to behavior we typically would not do Stanford Prison Experiment Video

Extra Credit??? Ready to apply these concepts? Ready to earn some extra points??!! Let’s do some Norm Violations! Working with a partner (does not have to be in this class) violate a norm and document the reactions that occur. Applying the concepts of social psychology (attribution theory, actor/observer, conformity, etc.) write a 1-2 page report of your findings