A major influence on people’s behavior, thought processes and emotions are other people and society that they have created.
Focus of Study Understanding individual behavior in a
social context
Human behavior is influenced by others & social context
Social norms◦ Spoken or unspoken rules about behavior
Important Topics Self concept
Social cognition
Attribution theory
Social influence
Group processes
Aggression
Prejudice & discrimination
Interpersonal processes
Attitudes
Stereotypes
Social Influence◦ Conformity◦ Obedience◦ Bystander Effect
Social Cognition◦ Identity◦ Attitudes◦ Stereotypes
Social Behavior◦ Discrimination◦ Relationships
Social Development◦ Attachment◦ Self-concept
Areas of Application
Social Facilitation
◦ The presence of others influences behavior
◦ Audiences improve actor’s performances
◦ Home teams perform better than away teams
Group Processes
Home Advantage in Major Team Sports
Home TeamGames Winning
Sport Studied Percentage
Baseball 23,034 53.3%
Football 2,592 57.3
Ice hockey 4,322 61.1
Basketball 13,596 64.4
Soccer 37,202 69.0
Home teams win about 6 of 10 games.
Social inhibition◦ The presence of others can impair
performance on tasks that one is not particularly good at
◦ Ex. Parallel parking Social Loafing
◦ On group tasks, people will sometimes exert less effort if individual contributions are not possible to identify
◦ Ex. Group projects◦ Note: Men are more likely to participate in
social loafing than women
Other group processes
When we believe in something different than the people around us we feel discomfort
We are motivated to change our beliefs to lessen the discomfort
Cognitive Dissonance
“Free speech being a privilege rather than a right, it is proper for a society to suspend free speech when it feels threatened”
Conformity
Agree or Disagree
?
19% agreed with statement in private
58% agreed under pressure of group influence
Studies of attitude
Adopting the social norms of a group◦ 1. We want to be liked◦ 2. We want to be right
We are most likely to conform when…◦ We like the group and leaders◦ The larger the group
We are least likely to conform when…◦ The group is not unanimous
Conformity
When divided into groups prejudices develop naturally
Individuals need to maintain a positive sense of personal and social identity
Desirability of qualities found within your group over less desirable traits in the other group
Social Identity Theory
We look for an explanation of behavior in the social world
Is it internal or external?
Is it stable or does it change over time?
Is it controllable?
The fundamental attribution error overestimating internal (personal) influences and underestimating external (situational) influences when judging the behavior of others: “He’s poor because he’s lazy.”
Attribution Theory
Most likely occurs in unfamiliar environments
The presence of authority
Covert pressure
Feeling that someone else is responsible
Obedience
Milgram’s experimenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYv3J12pARM
Confederate strapped into chair with electrodes
Teacher & experimenter go to room with shock generator…
Shocks range: 15 volts (slight shock) - 450 volts (Danger/severe shock/XXX)
Every time learner gets one wrong, “teacher” is to increase the shock
Obedience to Authority
Giving up normal behavioral restraints to the group. Being less self-conscious and restrained in a group situation may account for mob behavior
Ex. Students at pep assemblies are more likely to behave badly at the assembly if they cannot be identified individually for their behavior).
Ex. Fan behavior (good and bad) at sports games (painting faces, screaming insults, and so on).
Deindividuation
Phillip Zimbardo, psychologist at Stanford University
Developed to understand mass mentality as seen in the Holocaust
Zimbardo analyzed 70 male student volunteers and picked the most normal, average people in the bunch
Participants divided into two groups, guards and prisoners
Prisoners arrested and booked and transported to a university building where a prison had been created for a two-week stay
Stanford Prison Experiment
Within a few hours, the guards — who’d been instructed that physical abuse was off limits — became psychologically abusive gang.◦ Ex. Name calling, unsanitary conditions, removal of
mattresses Five of the prisoners began to experience such
severe negative emotions, including crying and acute anxiety, that they had to be released from the study early
Researchers lost sight of purpose Still sited as an unethical study
The experiment lasted only 5 days…
Perceived number of bystanders predicts likelihood of helping behavior
Diffusion of responsibility
Bystander Effect
According to the police report, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was stabbed to death over a period of 35 minutes - with 38 people watching the cruelty.
By the time a neighbor finally called the police - who arrived within two minutes - it was too late for Genovese who had died just inside the front door of a nearby apartment as she was trying to escape.
Kitty Genovese’s story