Chapter 14:Social Psychology

Samuel R. Mathews, Ph.D.

The Department of Psychology

The University of West Florida

Social Psychology• Study of the impact of the social context:

– Presence of other individuals (real or imagined)

– Activities and interactions among individuals– Contexts in which those interactions occur– Expectations and norms governing behavior

within those contexts– Resulting behaviors related to social factors

AND

Social Psychology

• Study of the subjective interpretations of so-called real and objective situations

AND

• The impact of interactions between the context and interpretations on individual and group behaviors

Situationism

• Two forces that influence human behavior:– Individual dispositions (e.g. temperament,

personality)– Social Context (e.g. people, physical

environment)

• Situationism is the position that the Social Context is likely the more influential

Social Standards for Behavior

• Consider a study by Maurer & Pleck (2006) on parenting by fathers– Investigated how fathers’ parenting behaviors

were related to their subjective interpretations of:

• Their wives’ stated expectations• Other fathers’ parenting behaviors• Other fathers’ comments and reflections on father-

parenting behaviors

Social Standards for Behavior

• Maurer & Pleck (2006)– They found that fathers’ parenting behaviors

were related to:• Subjective interpretations of:

–Their wives’ stated expectations–Other fathers’ comments and reflections

on father-parenting behaviors– The interpretation of others’ views was the

most important factor in determining fathers’ parenting behavior

Social Standards for Behavior

• Social Roles (e.g. Gender): socially defined pattern of behaviors expected of individuals in a given class or group

• Script (e.g. parenting behaviors): knowledge of the sequence of events and actions expected of an individual within a given setting

Social Standards for Behavior

• Social norms (e.g. fathers’ rules for behavior): a group’s expectations about what is appropriate for its members’ attitudes and behaviors

Themes in Social Psychology

• Conformity (Ashe’s work)

• Obedience to Authority (Milgram’s work)

• Bystander Problem

• Attributions about Others

• Prejudice

A 1 2 3

Standard line Comparison lines

Conformity: The Asch studies

• Which line matches the line on the left?

Group Characteristics That Produce Conformity

• Ashe identifies three factors that influence whether a person will yield to pressure:– The size of the majority– The presence of a partner who dissented from

the majority– The size of the discrepancy between the

correct answer and the majority position

Conformity: Groupthink

• In “groupthink,” members of the group attempt to conform their opinions to what each believes to be the consensus of the group

Conformity: Conditions Likely to Promote Groupthink

• Isolation of the group

• High group cohesiveness

• Directive leadership

• Lack of norms requiring methodical procedures

• Homogeneity of members’ social background and ideology

• High stress from external threats with low hope of a better solution than that of the group leader

Obedience to Authority

• Milgram’s work:

• Research on conforming to authority– Participants were deceived and thought it was

a study on punishment and memory– Deliver “painful shocks” to a middle aged man

who had been treated for heart problems– “Shocks” were delivered when the man gave

an incorrect response– “Shocks” were increased in intensity as the

trial progressed

Obedience to Authority

• Milgram’s study:– Middle aged man with heart condition was an

actor;– Actor received no real shock– Actor began with a mild pain response, moved

to a scream, then pretended to pass out– Participants willingly gave what they thought

were increasingly strong shocks regardless of actor’s reactions

Ten Steps Toward Evil-Getting Good People to Harm Others

• Provide people with an ideology to justify beliefs for actions

• Make people take a small first step toward a harmful act with a minor, trivial action and then gradually increase those small actions

• Make those in charge seem like a “just authority”

• Slowly transform a once compassionate leader into a dictatorial figure

• Provide people with vague and ever changing rules

Ten Steps Toward Evil-Getting Good People to Harm Others

• Relabel the situation’s actors and their actions to legitimize the ideology

• Provide people with social models of compliance

• Allow verbal dissent but only if people continue to comply behaviorally with orders

• Encourage dehumanizing the victim• Make exiting the situation difficult

The Bystander Problem

• Diffusion of responsibility :–Dilution or weakening of each group member’s obligation to act when responsibility is perceived to be shared with all group members

The Bystander Problem

• Diffusion of Responsibility– The greater the number of bystanders, the

less likely any individual is to respond– Conformity to others in the group who do not

respond

The Bystander Problem

• Overcoming Bystander Problem– Educating on the impact of diffusion of

responsibility– Victim can ask an individual for help—that

“breaks” groupthink/conformity– Be specific in request for help

Attributions: Judgments about Others and Ourselves

• Attributions about Others:– Fundamental Attribution Error: using some

personal trait or characteristic as an explanation in lieu of situational constraints

• Attributions about Ourselves:– Success: Self-serving bias—we are just good

at _____– Failure: External attributions to protect our

own self-esteem—”the professor was unfair”

Prejudice and Discrimination

• Prejudice – A negative attitude toward an individual based solely on his or her membership in a particular group

• Discrimination – A negative action taken against an individual as a result of his or her group membership

Prejudice and Discrimination

• Causes of Prejudice– Dissimilarity and social distance– Economic and resource competition– Scapegoating– Conformity to social norms– Media stereotypes

Prejudice and Discrimination

• Combating Prejudice– Seeking our and interacting with new role

models of “out-group”– Seeking contact in an “equal status” context– Creating opportunities for interdependence– Legislation providing equal access to equal

opportunities