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Chapter 14 Social Behavior

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Title: Chapter 14 Social Behavior


1
Chapter 14Social Behavior
2
What Is Social Psychology?
  • Social Psychology Scientific studies of how
    individuals behave, think, and feel in social
    situations how people act in the presence
    (actual or implied) of others
  • Need to Affiliate Desire to associate with other
    people appears to be a basic human trait

3
Comparison and Attraction
  • Social Comparison Making judgments about
    ourselves by comparing ourselves to others (e.g.,
    comparing our feelings and abilities to those of
    other people)
  • Interpersonal Attraction Social attraction to
    another person
  • Physical Proximity Physical nearness to another
    person in terms of housing, school, work
  • Physical Attractiveness Persons degree of
    physical beauty as defined by his or her culture
  • Halo Effect Tendency to generalize a limited
    impression to other personal characteristics
  • Competent When people display a high degree of
    knowledge, ability, or proficiency

4
Similarity
  • Similarity Extent to which two people are alike
    in terms of age, education, attitudes, and so on
  • Similar people are attracted to each other
  • Homogamy Tendency to marry someone who is like
    us in almost every way

5
Self-Disclosure
  • Process of revealing ones private thoughts,
    attitudes, feelings, and personal history to
    others
  • Should be used cautiously and sparingly by the
    therapist performing therapy
  • May lead to countertransference in therapy (when
    the therapist makes an unhealthy connection to
    the client)
  • Reciprocity Return in kind reciprocal exchange
  • Overdisclosure Self-disclosure that exceeds what
    is appropriate for a relationship or social
    situation

6
Love and Attachment
  • Romantic Love Marked by high levels of
    interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and
    heightened arousal
  • Liking Relationship based on intimacy but
    lacking passion and commitment
  • Mutual Absorption When two lovers almost always
    attend only to each other
  • Evolutionary Psychology Study of evolutionary
    origins of human behavior patterns

7
Figure 14.2
FIGURE 14.2 What do people look for when
considering potential dating partners? Here are
the results of a study in which personal ads were
placed in newspapers. As you can see, men were
more influenced by looks, and women by success
8
Life in Groups
  • Social Role Patterns of behavior expected of
    people in various social positions (e.g.,
    daughter, mother, teacher, President (!))
  • Ascribed Role Assigned to a person or not under
    personal control
  • Achieved Role Attained voluntarily or by special
    effort (teacher, mayor, President)
  • Role Conflict When two or more roles make
    conflicting demands on behavior

9
Groups
  • Group Structure Network of roles, communication,
    pathways, and power in a group
  • Group Cohesiveness Degree of attraction among
    group members or their commitment to remain in
    the group
  • In Group A group with which a person identifies
  • Out Group Group with which a person does not
    identify
  • Cohesive groups work better together
  • What kind of groups did you see on Survivor,
    Road Rules, and Real World?

10
Some More Important Terms
  • Status Level of social power and importance
  • Norm Accepted but usually unspoken standard for
    appropriate behavior

11
Figure 14.3
FIGURE 14.3 Results of an experiment on norms
concerning littering. The prior existence of
litter in a public setting implies that littering
is acceptable. This encourages others to trash
the area.
12
Social Perception
  • Attribution Making inferences about the causes
    of ones own behavior and others behavior
  • External Cause of Behavior Assumed to lie
    outside a person
  • Internal Cause of Behavior Assumed to lie within
    the person

13
Social Perception (cont'd)
  • Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to
    attribute behavior of others to internal causes
    (personality, likes, etc.). We believe this even
    if they really have external causes!
  • Actor-Observer Bias Tendency to attribute
    behavior of others to internal causes while
    attributing ones own behavior to external causes
    (situations and circumstances).

14
Social Influence
  • Changes in a persons behavior induced by the
    actions of another person.
  • Someone else influences your decision husband,
    wife, mother, peer, etc.
  • Peer Pressure Ken was swayed by Lisa and
    Gabriella to go see Sex and the City when he
    really wanted to see The Incredible Hulk.

15
Conformity
  • Bringing ones behavior into agreement with norms
    or the behavior of others.
  • Solomon Aschs Experiment You must select (from
    a group of three) the line that most closely
    matches the standard line. All lines are shown to
    a group of seven people (including you).
  • Other six were accomplices, and at times all
    would select the wrong line.
  • In 33 of the trials, the real subject conformed
    to group pressure even when the groups answers
    were obviously incorrect!

16
Figure 14.4
FIGURE 14.4 Stimuli used in Solomon Aschs
conformity experiments.
17
Group Factors in Conformity
  • Groupthink Compulsion by decision makers to
    maintain agreement, even at the cost of critical
    thinking
  • Group Sanctions Rewards and punishments
    administered by groups to enforce conformity or
    punish nonconformity
  • Unanimity Unanimous agreement

18
Obedience (Milgram)
  • Conformity to the demands of an authority.
  • Would you shock a man with a known heart
    condition who is screaming and asking to be
    released?
  • Milgram studied this the man with a heart
    condition was an accomplice and the teacher was
    a real volunteer. The goal was to teach the
    learner word pairs.

19
Milgrams Conclusions
  • 65 obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on
    the shock machine, even though the learner
    eventually could not answer any more questions
  • Group support can reduce destructive obedience

20
Figure 14.6
FIGURE 14.6 Results of Milgrams obedience
experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused
to provide shocks, even at the most extreme
intensities. The first substantial drop in
obedience occurred at the 300-volt level
(Milgram, 1963).
21
Figure 14.7
FIGURE 14.7 Physical distance from the learner
had a significant effect on the percentage of
subjects obeying orders.
22
Compliance
  • Bending to the requests of one person who has
    little or no authority or social power.
  • Foot-in-the-Door Effect A person who has agreed
    to a small request is more likely later to agree
    to a larger demand.
  • Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is
    almost a sure thing.
  • Door-in-the-Face Technique A person who has
    refused a major request will be more likely later
    on to comply with a smaller request.
  • After the door has been slammed in your face
    (major request refused), person may be more
    likely to agree to a smaller request.

23
Compliance (cont'd)
  • Low-Ball Technique Commitment is gained first to
    reasonable or desirable terms, which are then
    made less reasonable or desirable.
  • Henry accepts the price he states for a new car.
    Then later Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry,
    The business would lose too much money on that
    price cant you take a bit less and add all
    these options?
  • Passive Compliance Quietly bending to
    unreasonable demands or unacceptable conditions.

24
Assertiveness Training
  • Instruction in how to be self-assertive
  • Self-Assertion Standing up for your rights by
    speaking out on your behalf direct, honest
    expression of feelings and desires
  • Aggression Hurting another person or achieving
    ones goals at the expense of another person
  • Attempting to get ones way no matter what
  • No regard for others feelings

25
Attitudes and Beliefs
  • Attitude Learned tendency to respond to people,
    objects, or institutions in a positive or
    negative way
  • Summarize your evaluation of objects
  • Belief Component What a person believes about
    the attitudinal object
  • Emotional Component Feelings toward the
    attitudinal object
  • Action Component Ones actions toward various
    people, objects, or institutions

26
Attitude Formation
  • Direct Contact Personal experience with the
    object of the attitude
  • Interaction with Others Discussions with people
    holding a particular attitude
  • Child Rearing Effects of parental values,
    beliefs, and practices
  • Group Membership Affiliation with others
  • Mass Media All media that reach large audiences
    (magazines, television)
  • Mean World View Viewing the world as dangerous
    and threatening

27
Attitude Measurement and Change
  • Chance Conditioning Learning that takes place by
    chance or coincidence
  • Reference Group Any group a person identifies
    with and uses as a standard for social comparison
  • Persuasion Deliberate attempt to change
    attitudes or beliefs through information and
    arguments
  • Communicator Person presenting arguments or
    information
  • Message Content of communicators arguments
  • Audience Person or group to whom a persuasive
    message is directed

28
Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger)
  • Contradicting or clashing thoughts, beliefs,
    attitudes, or perceptions that cause discomfort
  • We need to have consistency in our thoughts,
    perceptions, and images of ourselves
  • What happens when people act in ways that are
    inconsistent with their attitudes?
  • Justification Degree to which ones actions are
    explained by rewards or other circumstances
  • If little justification exists for actions, we
    will change our attitude to reduce the dissonance
  • Underlies attempts to convince ourselves we did
    the right thing

29
  • Figure 14.6
  • Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that
    arises when people perceive that their attitudes
    do not match their behavior. Theoretically, they
    could resolve this discrepancy by changing either
    their attitudes or their behavior or by
    developing a new attitude or excuse to explain
    the discrepancy. Most of the research, however,
    has focused on how cognitive dissonance leads to
    a change of attitude

30
Figure 14.10
FIGURE 14.10 Summary of the Festinger and
Carlsmith (1959) study from the viewpoint of a
person experiencing cognitive dissonance.
31
Brainwashing
  • Engineered or forced attitude change requiring a
    captive audience three steps
  • Unfreezing Loosening of former values and
    convictions
  • Change When the brainwashed person abandons
    former beliefs
  • Refreezing Rewarding and solidifying new
    attitudes and beliefs

32
Cults
  • Groups that profess great devotion to a person
    and follow that person almost without question
  • Leaders personality is usually more important
    than the issues he/she preaches
  • Members usually victimized by the leader(s)
  • Recruit potential converts at a time of need,
    especially when a sense of belonging is most
    attractive to potential converts
  • Look for college students and young adults

33
Cults (cont'd)
  • Some examples Peoples Temple and Jim Jones
    Heavens Gate Branch Davidians
  • Where does Scientology fit?

34
Prejudice
  • Negative emotional attitude held toward members
    of a specific social group
  • Discrimination Unequal treatment of people who
    should have the same rights as others
  • Personal Prejudice When members of another
    racial or ethnic group are perceived as a threat
    to ones own interests
  • Group Prejudice When a person conforms to group
    norms

35
Prejudiced Personality and Intergroup Conflict
  • Authoritarian Personality Marked by rigidity,
    inhibition, prejudice, and oversimplification
  • Ethnocentrism Placing ones group at the center,
    usually by rejecting all other groups
  • Social Stereotypes Oversimplified images of
    people who belong to a particular social group
  • Symbolic Prejudice Prejudice expressed in a
    disguised fashion
  • Prejudice is socially unacceptable, but will
    still express prejudice in disguised form

36
Other Concepts Relating to Prejudice
  • Status Inequalities Differences in power,
    prestige, or privileges of two or more people or
    groups
  • Equal-Status Contact Social interaction that
    occurs on an equal level, without obvious
    differences in power or status
  • Superordinate Goal Goal that exceeds or
    overrides all other goals, making other goals
    less important

37
Classroom Ideas
  • Mutual Interdependence When two or more people
    must depend on each other to meet each persons
    goals.
  • Jigsaw Classroom Each student only gets a piece
    of information needed to complete a problem or
    prepare for a test to succeed and get all
    pieces, students must all work together.
  • Prejudicial stereotypes tend to be very irrational

38
Aggression
  • Any action carried out with the intention of
    harming another person.
  • Ethologists believe that aggression is innate in
    all animals, including humans.
  • Ethologist Studies natural behavior patterns of
    animals.
  • There appears to be a relationship between
    aggression and hypoglycemia, allergy, and certain
    brain injuries and disorders.
  • Certain brain areas can trigger or end aggressive
    behavior.
  • Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis Frustration
    tends to lead to aggression

39
Aversive Stimuli
  • Produce discomfort or displeasure
  • Aggression Cues Signals that are associated with
    aggression
  • Weapons Effect Observation that weapons serve as
    strong cues for aggressive behavior

40
Figure 14.12
FIGURE 14.12 Personal discomfort caused by
aversive (unpleasant) stimuli can make aggressive
behavior more likely. For example, studies of
crime rates show that the incidence of highly
aggressive behavior, such as murder, rape, and
assault, rises as the air temperature goes from
warm to hot to sweltering (Anderson, 1989). The
results you see here further confirm the
heat-aggression link. The graph shows that there
is a strong association between the temperatures
at major league baseball games and the number of
batters hit by a pitch during those games. When
the temperature goes over 90, watch out for that
fastball (Reifman, Larrick, Fein, 1991)!
41
Social Learning Theory (Bandura) and Television
  • Social Learning Theory Combines learning
    principles with cognitive processes,
    socialization, and modeling to explain behavior
  • No instinctive (innate) desires for shooting
    guns, knife fights, and so on
  • Aggression must be learned
  • Disinhibition Removal of inhibition results in
    acting-out behavior that normally would be
    restrained
  • Television seems to be able to cause
    desensitization to violence
  • Desensitization Reduced emotional sensitivity

42
Figure 14.13
FIGURE 14.13 Violent behavior among delinquent
boys doesnt appear overnight. Usually, their
capacity for violence develops slowly, as they
move from minor aggression to increasingly brutal
acts. Overall aggression increases dramatically
in early adolescence as boys gain physical
strength and more access to weapons
43
Social Learning Theory and Television A
Conclusion
  • Television seems to be able to cause
    desensitization to violence
  • Desensitization Reduced emotional sensitivity

44
Prosocial Behavior and Bystander Apathy
  • Prosocial Behavior Behavior toward others that
    is helpful, constructive, or altruistic
  • Bystander Apathy Unwillingness of bystanders to
    offer help during emergencies
  • Related to number of people present
  • The more potential helpers present, the lower the
    chances help will be given

45
Decision Points Reached before Giving Help
  • Noticing the person in trouble
  • Defining an Emergency Until someone declares the
    situation an emergency, no one acts
  • Taking Responsibility Assume responsibility to
    help
  • Diffusion of Responsibility Spreading
    responsibility to act among several people
  • Select a course of action

46
Figure 14.15
FIGURE 14.15 This decision tree summarizes the
steps a person must take before making a
commitment to offer help, according to Latané and
Darleys model.
47
Empathy Concepts
  • Empathic Arousal Emotional arousal that occurs
    when you feel some of the persons pain, fear, or
    anguish
  • Empathy-Helping Relationship Helping person in
    need because we have emotions such as empathy and
    compassion for that person

48
Multiculturalism
  • Gives equal status to different ethnic, racial,
    and cultural groups
  • Two ways to break stereotypes
  • Seek individuating information that helps you see
    a person as an individual and not as a member of
    a group.
  • Dont believe just-world beliefs That people
    generally get what they deserve.

49
More Ways to Break Stereotypes
  • Note self-fulfilling prophecies Expectations
    that prompt people to act in ways that make
    expectations come true.
  • Understand that different does not mean inferior.
  • Social Competition Rivalry among groups, each of
    which regards itself as superior to others.
  • Look for commonalities
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