Groups: A collection of people who interact, share common goals and influence how members think and act.

1. Members are interdependent2. Interaction is the key factor in forming a group

Interdependence: when any action by one member will affect or influence the other members

Communication1. Critical to the functions of a group

Shared Goals1. Groups are usually created to perform tasks or to

organize activities that no individual can handle alone.2. Groups tend to server 2 types of purposes:

a. Task functions – those directed toward getting some job done

b. Social Functions – those directed toward filling the emotional needs of the members

Factors that hold a group together:

1. Norms: unwritten rules that govern the behavior and attitudes of group members

a. Includes rules: shared beliefs about the correct way to behave and what to believe

aa. May be like tendencies or habitsb. See “Psychology and You” page 549

2. Ideology: having common ideas, attitudes and goalsa. Leaders, heroes, heroines, rallies, books,

pamphlets, slogans, and symbols all help popularize ideologies3. Commitment

a. The requirement of personal sacrifice increases individual commitment

b. Paying money, enduring hardship, undergoing humiliation all increase commitment

c. Participation also strengthens group commitment

aa. Actively participating in group decisions and sharing the rewards of the group’s accomplishment, makes one feel better toward membership

4 Types of Groups

1. In-Group: when group members identify with their group

2. Out-Group: everyone not a member of the in-group; will be rejected and can be hostile to the in-group

3. Primary Group: group of people who interacts daily; face to face (family)

4. Secondary Group: larger group of people with whom you might have more impersonal relationships (co-workers, classmates)

Social Facilitation: tendency to perform better in the presence of a group

Social Inhibition: the times when one performs poorly in front of crowds

Many times, how you perform in front of a crowd depends on what you are doing

The effect of the crowd on your behavior may also be a reflection of your concern about being evaluated.

Group Structure: the overall interconnection of the roles various members play in the group and how the roles are interrelated

1. Personal relationships between individual members, the rank of the member on a particular dimension and the roles they play

3. Role Conflict: When roles conflict due to the change in environment or change in group membership

Decision Making

2. Role: behavior that is expected of an individual in a group

1. Group Polarization: theory that group discussion reinforces the majority’s point of view and shifts group member’s opinions to a more extreme position (Figure 19.5)

a. But, if opinions of a group are equally split on an issue before a discussion, the group discussion usually then results in a compromise

2. Groupthink: poor group decision making that occurs as a result of a group emphasizing unity over critical thinking

Communication Patterns

1. Sociogram: a diagram that represents relationships within a group, especially likes and dislikes of members for other members

a. Helps psychologists predict how individuals will likely communicate with other group members.

Leadership

1. All groups have leaders, those who embody norms, ideals of the group and represents the group to outsiders

a. Initiates action, gives orders, makes decisions and settles disputes; very influential

2. 3 Types of leadership styles

a. Authoritarian: Leader makes all decisions and assigns tasks to group members

b. Laissez-faire: Leader is only minimally involved, group goals/not leader’s goals, group members make the decisions

c. Democratic: Leader encourages group members to come to decisions through consensus; leader is viewed as supportive but not necessarily a good decision maker

Section 1 Review

Movie: The Wave and worksheet. Be prepared to discuss after the videoFor more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave

Movie: The Outsiders and worksheet. Be prepared to discuss after the videos

Group Pressure to Conform

1. Conformity: involves any behavior that you engage in because of direct or indirect group pressure

a. Solomon Asch found that people conform to other people’s ideas of the truth, even when they

disagreeWhy Do People Conform

1. Moscovici (1985) – Sometimes a minority view can come to win over a larger group

a. By disagreeing with the majority view, a person can reduce the pressure that others feel to conform

b. A minority dissenter may also serve an informational purpose by making others question whether the majority view is actually right

c. When people hear a dissenting opinion, they are more likely to examine the issue more closely, which can lead to a better solution

2. Solomon Asch (1952) – conducted experiments to see if participants would conform and respond to match the other group member’s responses (they did); although they may not have changed their actual belief

a. This characterized the contrast between public behavior and private belief

b. Compliance: when we respond to the request of another person without necessarily changing our beliefs

c. Foot-in-the-door Technique: occurs when you get a person to agree to a relatively minor

request; effort is to turn the minor approval into a larger commitment

Video Clips:

Conformity Video #1 – Line Length

Conformity Video #2 - Elevator

Obedience – behavior in response to orders given by authorities which can be useful or destructive

1. Gangs

2. Stanley Milgram (1961) - a Yale University professor who conducted a series of social psychology experiments which

measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience

Video Clips

Milgram’s Experiment #1

Milgram’s Experiment (Go to 5:19) #2

Milgram’s Experiment Debriefing

3. Philip Zimbardo (1971) - professor emeritus at Stanford, conducted an experiment studying the effects of becoming either a prisoner or prison guard. Twenty-four undergraduates were selected to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Roles were assigned at random. They adapted to their roles well beyond that expected, leading the guards to display to authoritarian and even draconian measures. Two of the prisoners were upset enough by the process to quit the experiment early, and the entire experiment was abruptly stopped after only six days. The experimental process and the results remain controversial.Video Clips

Stanford Prison Experiment #1

Stanford Prison Experiment #2

Stanford Prison Experiment #3

Stanford Prison Experiment Assignment http://www.prisonexp.org/

Section 2 Review

1. What causes group violence

a. L.A. Riots after the Rodney King police officer verdictaa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Kingbb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_riotscc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Denny_incidentb. My Lai Massacre

aa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai

c. Would the people have committed the same crimes in a different, calmer atmosphere

2. What causes humans to act in ways that harm others?

3. Aggression: any behavior that is intended to cause physical or psychological harm

4. Theories of aggression

a. Biological

aa. Some animals are naturally aggressive; the response is an innate, biological reaction

bb. Some psychologists say that humans have this same biological factor or DNA marker , so to speak

b. Cognitive Factors

aa. Children learn through observation and imitation of their parents

bb. Parents who use corporal punishment to discipline their children may be teaching their children to be aggressive

cc. The classic: TV, movies, music, video games,; these may teach aggression or at the minimum desensitizing them; very questionable, highly contested

c. Personality Factors

aa. Certain traits like impulsiveness with little empathy and liking to dominate can turn a person into a bully

bb. Aggressive people can be arrogant and egotistical

cc. People can strike out at others as an affirmation of their superiority

dd. Aggressive children tend to be aggressive adults

d. Environmental Factors

aa. Frustration-aggression hypothesis: frustration or failure to obtain something expected leads to aggression

bb. Frustration doesn’t always lead to aggression, sometimes it leads to crying

cc. Revised to state that frustration leads to aggression only in certain circumstances

1. One method to control aggression is through catharsis: releasing anger or aggression by letting out powerful negative emotions

a. Lots of people believe that any expression of aggression is negative

b. Expressing aggression could lead to more aggression

2. Punish children for violent behavior and cutting down on violence they observe

3. Being taught to control their aggression

a. Accept frustration and move on

b. React to disappointments in ways other than violence

1. Altruism: helping another, often with a risk to oneself, for reasons other than the expectation of a reward

2. Diffusion of Responsibility

a. Kitty Genovese murder

b. James Bulger abduction and murder

a. Diffusion of responsibility: the presence of others lessens an individual’s feelings of responsibility for his/her actions or failure to act

3. Bystander effect: an individual does not take action because of the presence of others

4. Social loafing: the tendency to work less hard when sharing the workloads with others

c. Mount Everest Incidents (Watch “Into the Death Zone” – Horton DVD)

aa. David Sharpbb. Beck Weatherscc. Lincoln Hall

a. People becoming involved in a riot or looting

b. People in a crowd feeling anonymous

5. Deindividuation: when individuals behave irrationally when there is less chance of being personally identified

Section 3 Review

Chapter 19 Study Guide

Chapter 19 Test