Chapter 14 - Social Psychology
Social psychology is the branch of psychology that looks at the impact of social variables and
how behavior, thoughts and feelings are influenced by interaction with others. The social
context is the combination of people, activities, interactions, the settings, the expectations, and
social nonns that govem behavior. It is not the objective reality that is important but our
subjective reality.
How Does the Social Situation Affect Our Behavior?
Core Concepl - We usually adapt our behavior to the demands of the social situation and in
ambizuous situations we take our cues from the behavior of others in that settine.
Situationism assumes that the behavioral context can have powerful effects on behavior. It
contrasts *ith {lryori{onig1g which assumes that behavior is the result of internal factors.
The response in most situations depends upon a person's social roles and the group's social
noffns. Social roles are socially defined pattems of behavior that are expected in specific
situations. People play many social roles. At times, we use scripts which are clusters of
knowledge about events and actions expected in a particular situation. The students in the
Stanford Prison Experiment used such scripts to guide their behavior at the beginning of the
experiment.
Groups also develop unwritten rules about how members of the group should behave. These
expectations are called social norms and they tell people what socially appropriate attitudes and
behaviors are. These nonns can be broad guidelines or specific standards. They govern all
aspects of behavior, including dress, conversation and conduct. Theodore Newcomb's study at
Bennington College showed how such nofins can even influence political views.
How powerful are the social pressures? The tendency to imitate others is called the chameleon
effect. Can the situation really influence behavior? Solomon Asch dernonstrated that it can in his
study of conformity. Conformity is the tendency for people to adopt the behaviors and attitudes
of others in a group. In Asch's study he found that participants conformed to blatantly incorrect
behavior three-quarters of the time. His results have been replicated many times and have come
to be known as the Asch effect.
Not everyone will conform, though, especially in situations such as that in the Asch study.
Heroes are individuals who are able to resist this peer pressure in the face of what is called the
challenge of individual heroic defiance.
Asch identified three factors that influence whether or not someone will give in to group
pressure. They are the size of the majority, the presence of a partner who dissents from the
majority and the size of the discrepancy. Other researchers have identified additional factors
including a difficult or ambiguous judgment task, a perception of competent group members,
public responses, and unanimity of the majority.
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Groups may also face pressure to conform. This process of group conformity is called
groupthink and happens when individuals go along with what they perceive to be the group
consensus. Six conditions make groupthink more likely. The conditions are 1) isolation of group,
2) high cohesiveness, 3) directive leadership, 4) lack of norms about processes, 5) member
homogeneity, and 6) high external stress.
Individuals can also command authority and obedience. Stanley Milgram conducted the most
famous experiment on obedience. His methodology is controversial given today's ethical
standards. His results demonstrated that most people would obey even if they thought they were
causing harm to someone. Several conditions have been identified as conditions that foster
obedience. They are 1) when a peer models obedience, 2) when the victim is remote, 3) when the
authority figure is directly watching, 4) when a participant acts as an intermediary bystander, and
5) when the authority figure has higher status.
Study of the bystander issue began with the Kitty Genovese incident in which no one assisted a
woman who was being attacked. Latane and Darley devised a series of studies to examine why.
Response to a problem depended on the number of bystanders present. When there was alarge
goup, diffusion of responsibilify occurred. Two studies suggest that the bystander problem can
be mediated by appropriate training. The researcher also found that the best way to get help is to
ask for it and to reduce the ambiguity of the situation by clearly explaining the problem.
Constructing Social Reality: What Influences Our Judgments of Others?
Core Concepts - The iudgrnents we make about others depend not only on their behavior but
also on our intemretations of their actions within a social context.
Our social reality is our subjective interpretations of other people and of our relationships. It
influences many areas of life.
Relationships are important to most people. The reward theory of attraction says we like best
those who give us maximum rewards at minimum costs. There are four powerful sources of
rewards that predict interpersonal attraction. The sources are proximity, similarity, selfdisclosure, and physical attractivensss. The principle of proximity says we will make friends
with those who are physically close by, such as at work or in the neighborhood. The similarity
principle says we are attracted to those who are most similar to ourselves. Attraction is enhanced
when we share personal details and when people are attractive. There are exceptions to this
theory since many relationships do not seem to be particularly rewarding.
The notion that we end up with mates at about our s.rme level of attractiveness is known as the
matching hypothesis. Expectancy-value theory says that we decide to pursue a relationship by
weighing the potential value of the relationship against the expectation of success in the
relationship. Cognitive dissonance explains why people may stay in relationships that do not
work. This theory says that we are only motivated to change when the cognitive conflicts
become overwhelming.
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Cognitive attributions are the cognitive explanations we make for behavior, ours and others.
Most of us commit the fundamental attribution error. The FAE is the tendency to emphasize
in others the internal reasons for behaviors (dispositions) and diminish the extemal reasons
(situations). The self-serving bias is a pattern in which we take credit for our successes but not
for our failures.
Prejudice is a particular type of attitude. It is a negative attitude about an individual based solely
on that individual's group membership. Discrimination is a negative action against an individual
based on group membership. The principles of in-group and out-group and social distance
contribute to prejudice. Economic competition is another contributor. A third cause of prejudice
is scapegoating which is blaming someone else for one's own problems. Other causes include
conformity to social norrns and media stereotypes.
Ways of combating prejudice include creating new role models, creating situations where there is
equal status contact, and legislation.
Social psychology covers many other topics. Social facilitation is when an individual's
performance improves due to being in a group. Social loafing is a decrease in performance due
to being in a group. Deindividuation occurs when an individual loses a sense of self due to
goup membership. Group polarization is when there are differences of opinion in a group and
those opinions become extreme. Groupthink occurs when goup members look for consensus
without really considering the issues.
Love is another topic studied in social psychology. Romantic love has been defined as a
condition including infatuation and sexual interest. Robert Sternberg developed a triangular
theory of love. He posits three types of love: romantic, infatuation, and consummate or complete
love.
\ilhat Are the Roots of Violence and Terorism?
Core Concepr - The power of the situation can help us understand violence and terrorism but a
broader understandine requires multiple perspectives that so bevond the boundaries of traditional
psycholoqy.
Violence and aggression are behaviors that are intended to harm others. An early study of these
tendencies was the Robbers' Cave study by Muzafer Sherif. Cohesiveness, or a sense of group
membership, and mutual interdependenee, a shared sense that others are needed to accomplish
a goal, emerged as important elements in eliminating group conflict.
Terrorism has been fueled by poverty, powerlessness, and hopelessness. Terrorism is the use of
violent and unpredictable acts by a small group against a larger group. It is based on political,
economic, or religious goals. Herbert Kelman has developed an approach for conflict resolution
based on the Robbers' Cave study.
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Sample Multiple Choice Ouestions
l.
Darla believes that it is a person's innate qualities that determine how they behave. This idea
reflects the concept of
A. interactionism
B. situationism
C. dispositionism
D. innatism
E. behaviorism
2.
At work you are an employee. That is an example of
a social
A. role
B. function
C. character
D. job
E. position
3.
Sarah likes to dress like Britney Spears. She sings Britney's music and changes her hair as
effect.
Britney changes hers. This tendency to mimic is called the
A. imitation
B. replication
C. bhameleon
D. simulation
E.
impersonation
4.
The Asch study demonstrated what has come to be known as the Asch Effect. In his study,
Asch examined the impact of
A. a group majority on the judgments of an individual
B. an individual's opinion on a unanimous group decision
C. a researcher's presence upon group decisions
D. the influence of friends on-.group opinions
E. a group's size upon the judgment of an individual
5.
Based on Milgram's experiment, we concluded that people are most
under all of the following conditions except when
A. a peer models obedience
B. the victim was remote from the subject
C. the authority figure had higher relative status
D. the teacher was under direct surveillance
E. the authority figure was wearing a lab coat
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likely to be obedient
'!
6.
7
'
The best predictor of bystander intervention is
A. ethnicity of the bystanders
B. ethnicity of the victim
C. the number of bystanders
D. the location of the emergency
E. the time of day of the emergency
we tend to like people who like us, with whom we exchange gifts, and with
whom we can
share interests. This demonstrates what is called the
A. exchange
B. similarity
C. complementary
D.
E.
8'
reward
compensation
Pippa and Buster have been dating for two years. They were both
voted best looking in their
senior class. Their relationship demonstrates the
hypothesis.
A. similarity
B. prettiness
C. attractiveness
D. charisma
E. matching
9'
Julie thought all football players were fairly dumb. Then she met the quarterback
Bert a
magna cum laude graduate with a Rhodes scholarship. Julie experienced
A. cognitive dissonance
B. cognitive disbelief
C. incredulity
D. skepticism
E.
cognitive mistrust
10' Sally tripped on the rug when she entered the dorm. She
blamed it on the rug being slippery.
When Stuart did the same thing, she called him clumsy. This is representative
of
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
the self-serving bias
cognitive dissonance
the fundamental attribution error
attribution dissonance
an ascription error
IJJ
I
l.
Gerry got an A in psychology but a C in calculus. He explained his psychology grade by his
hardworkandhiscalculusgradebytheteacher,stests.Heisexhibiting-.
A. the self-serving bias
B. cognitive dissonance
C. the fundamental attribution error
D. attribution dissonance
E. an ascription effor
12.
A strategy for reducing conflict
based on the Robbers' Cave experiment involves
A. meeting aggression with aggression
B. scapegoating the perpetrators of terrorism
C. winning competitions by a large margin
D. finding common goals with our enernies
E. ignoring acts of aggression against
us
13. Stacy has never met anyone from Bora Bora. She tells her classmates that such people must
be savages and not know much. She is exhibiting
A. discrimination
B. bias
C. prejudice
D. bigotry
E. intolerance
14.
You understand that as a student, you come into class, sit down, take out your books, paper,
and pen and get ready to take notes. You listen to the teacher and ask questions. That is your
as a student.
A. role
B. schema
C. function
D. responsibility
E.
15.
script
Which of the following is true about social distance?
A. Reducing social distance and prejudice cannot be mandated by law.
B. The in-group members serve to decrease social distance towards newcomers.
C. Social distance can only be reduced through scapegoating.
D. As social distance increases, so does the potential for prejudice.
E. Social distance is necessary for groups to coexist.
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