Introduction to Social Psychology

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: Introduction to Social Psychology 1st year undergraduate psychology lecture 2008 James Neill
2. Slide 2: Overview Part 1: About Social Psychology Part 2: Cognition, Influence, & Relationships
3. Slide 3: Part 1: About Social Psychology  Activity:Topic Matching  Definition(s)  Scope  Foci  Topics  Video (27 mins)
4. Slide 4: Topic Matching Activity  Activity: In pairs, discuss and agree on a topic match for each of the sets of displayed images.  Discussion: Go through the image sets and ask for suggestions – lecturer accepts and highlights some key terms for each image.
5. Slide 5: Allocate one of these topics to each of the following sets of slides... Prejudice Environmental Aggression Relationships Group Dynamics Prosocial Behaviour Crowd Behaviour Conformity Social Exclusion Leadership
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16. Slide 16: What is Social Psychology? Influence of social processes on the way people:  Think (thoughts; cognition)  Feel (feelings; emotions)  Behave (behaviour; actions)
17. Slide 17: Three Themes  Social Thinking - how we think about others e.g., Attributions  Social Influence - how we are influenced by others, e.g., Conformity  Social Relations - how we interact with others, e.g., Relationships
18. Slide 18: Domains / Units of Analysis
19. Slide 19: Scope
20. Slide 20: Why is Social Psychology Important?
21. Slide 21: Focus 1: Relationships
22. Slide 22: Focus 2: Social Influence
23. Slide 23: Focus 3: Leadership
24. Slide 24: Focus 4: Intergroup Relations
25. Slide 25: Video: The Power of the Situation Annenberg (1989). The Power of the Situation (Program 19). [27 min video] Annenberg: Santa Barbara, CA.
26. Slide 26: Part 2: Cognition, Influence, Relationships  Social Cognition – Attribution – Attitudes  Behaviour – Cognitive Dissonance  Social Influence – Conformity – Obedience – Group Influence  Social Relationships – Group polarisation – Aggression – Conflict & Cooperation – Prosocial Behaviour
27. Slide 27: Social Thinking  Attribution  Attitudes Behaviour  Cognitive Dissonance
28. Slide 28: Social Thinking Questions  How do we explain people’s behaviour?  How do we form our beliefs and attitudes?  How does what we think affect what we do?  How can attitudes be influenced and behaviour changed?
29. Slide 29: Attributions  We are all ‘intuitive scientists’ or 'naive psychologists'.  Process of inferring the causes of mental states, behaviours, and events which occur to ourselves & others (Heider, 1958) – External attributions Behavior is due to the situation, ‘The boss yelled at me ... because this is April 15th and his taxes are not done.’ – Internal attributions Behavior reflects the person, ‘The boss yells at everyone ... because he is a hostile person.’
30. Slide 30: Attributional Biases  Fundamental Attribution Error (or Correspondence Bias) – Overestimate internal factors (i.e., blame people) more than external factors (i.e., circumstances)  Actor-Observer Bias – More aware of external influences on our own behaviour
31. Slide 32: Attributions Observed Behaviour Internal External (Dispositional) (Situational) Explanation Explanation
32. Slide 33: Attitudes  Valenced (+/-) beliefs & feelings towards people, objects, & events, e.g., – George W. Bush? – Guns? – Recreational drug use?  Do attitudes  behaviour ?
33. Slide 34: Attitudes & Behaviour Behaviour Attitudes Situation
34. Slide 35: When do Attitudes Predict Behaviour?  Attitudes are implicit (unconscious).  Situational demands are low.  Attitudes are strong & based on personal experience.  Attitudes are specific & relevant to behaviour.  Conscious/aware of attitudes.  Environmental reinforcement matches attitude.  Important others share the same attitude.
35. Slide 36: Behaviour also influences Attitude Behaviour Attitudes Situation
36. Slide 37: Behaviour also influences attitude e.g.,  Foot-in-the-door  Role playing “What we do, we gradually become.”
37. Slide 38: Foot-in-the-door Technique IV: 1st request: “Sign a petition supporting safe driving?” vs. no request ~ 2 weeks later… DV: “Can we place this large, ugly ‘Drive Safely’ sign in your front yard?” Those who had signed the petition were 3 x more likely to agree to the 2nd request. - Freedman & Fraser (1966)
38. Slide 39: Foot-in-the-door Technique Foot-in-the-door technique as used by Scientology Time Magazine, 1991
39. Slide 40: Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger) (Action Belief)   Distress Distress   (Action or Belief) (Action = Belief)   Distress
40. Slide 41: Cognitive Dissonance Idon't believe in sex before marriage (attitude), but I just had sex before marriage (behaviour). I believe that speeding increases the risk of car accidents (attitude) yet speed on a daily basis (behaviour).
41. Slide 42: Cognitive Dissonance Model Two State of Motivation Attitude inconsistent dissonance to reduce change cognitions dissonance (e.g., an attitude and a counter- Change or justify attitudinal UNLESS counter- behaviour) attitudinal behaviour No No attitude dissonance change
42. Slide 43: Social Influence  Conformity  Obediance  Group influence
43. Slide 44: Social Influence Questions  How we influence each other?  How are we affected by pressures to conform and obey?  How are we affected by group interaction?  How do groups affect our behavior?
44. Slide 45: Social Influence The greatest contribution of social psychology is its study of attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions and the way they are moulded by social influence.
45. Slide 46: Conformity Willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality. Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
46. Slide 47: Conformity Solomon Asch studies.
47. Slide 48: Asch’s Conformity Studies (1950’s)  Subjects were asked to judge line lengths while working in a group  7 subjects; the 6th was real, rest were confederates.  Confederates consistently gave obviously wrong answers  The subject often conformed and gave the same wrong answer  On average, 37% of participants conformed.  Some never caved.
48. Slide 49: Conditions That  Conformity  Feelings of incompetence, insecurity, low self-esteem.  Group size 3+.  Group is unanimous (lack of dissension).  Group status desirable & attractiveness.  Group observes one’s behavior.  No prior commitment to response.  Culture strongly encourages respect for social standard.
49. Slide 50: Reasons for Conformity  Normative Social Influence – A person’s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection. – Respecting normative behavior, because price may be severe if not followed.  Informational Social Influence – Group may provide valuable information. – When the task is difficult or you are unsure, it makes sense to listen to others.
50. Slide 51: Obedience  People comply to social pressures. But how would they respond to outright command?  Milgram designed a study that investigated the effects of authority on obedience. Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)
51. Slide 52: Milgram’s Study
52. Slide 53: Milgram’s Studies  63%complied with administration of shocks  Degree of obediance influenced by: – Physical proximity of authority figure – Status of authority figure – Depersonalisation of victim – Lack of defiant role models
53. Slide 54: Milgram’s Study Depending on subtle changes in conditions, compliance varied b/w 0 & 93%
54. Slide 55: Zimbardo’s Prison Study (1970’s)  Subjects played either prisoners or guards.  Prisoners were arrested, fingerprinted, dressed, and referred to by number.  Guards were dressed and given control over prisoners.  Subjects became their roles in action, thought and feeling.
55. Slide 56: Resistance  ~a third of individuals resisted social coercion (Milgram).  One dissenter can have a disproportionate effect on reducing the compliance of others. (e.g., Asch)
56. Slide 57: Group Influence  Social facilitation  Social loafing  Deindividuation  Group polarisation  Groupthink
57. Slide 58: Social Relationships  Prejudice  Antisocial  Aggression  Conflict  Prosocial Behaviour
58. Slide 59: Social Relationships Questions  What causes us to harm, help, or to fall in love?  How can we transform aggression into compassion?
59. Slide 60: Social Relations Social psychology teaches us how we relate to one another from:  Prejudice, aggression, and conflict to  Attraction, altruism, and peacemaking.
60. Slide 61: Prejudice  “Prejudgement”: Unjustifiable (usually -ve) attitude toward a group and its members – often towards a different cultural, ethnic or gender group.  Works at the conscious and [more so] the unconscious level.  More like a knee-jerk response than a conscious decision.
61. Slide 62: Prejudice Components • Beliefs (stereotypes) • Emotions (hostility, envy, fear) • Predisposition to act (to discriminate)
62. Slide 63: Prejudice Roots 1. Social inequalities – haves vs. have-nots 2. Social divisions – in- vs. out-groups (in-group bias) 3. Emotional scapegoating – blaming, emotional outlet (+FAE)
63. Slide 64: Categorisation  We are “cognitive misers”, so we use categorisation to simplify and organise our perceptual worlds.  Stereotypes Generalised (often exaggerated) beliefs about a group of people.  Potential for prejudice  Potential for aggression/conflict
64. Slide 65: Aggression  Physical or verbal behaviour intended to hurt or destroy.  Emerges from the interaction of: – Biology  Genetic  Neural  Biochemical – Experience  Aversive events e.g., misery, temp, frustrate  Operant conditioning  Social learning  Scripts
65. Slide 66: Aggression
66. Slide 67: Game Theory  Perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.  Conflicting parties, each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior  “Social Trap”: – Win-Lose – Lose-Win, or – Lose-lose.
67. Slide 68: Game Theory
68. Slide 69: Game Theory
69. Slide 70: Game Theory
70. Slide 71: Attraction Proximity (mere exposure effect) Attractiveness Similarity Cost-benefits
71. Slide 72: Love Passionate Aroused state of absorption (arousal + cognition) Companionate Deep affection & caring
72. Slide 73: Altruism  Unselfish, intentional behavior that is intended to benefit welfare of others. – Behaviours which have no obvious gain for the provider – Behaviours which have obvious costs for the provider (e.g. time, resources)  Is there really altruism? – Altruism is often for self-benefit e.g., power, status, reward, psychological gain.  What matters in judging the act is the actor's intended outcomes.
73. Slide 74: Altruism  Equity / Reciprocity – Give to relationships in proportion to what we receive (Social Exchange Theory)  Socialresponsibility norm  Reciprocal altruism – Natural selection favors animals that are altruistic if the benefit to each is greater than the cost of altruism
74. Slide 75: Bystander Effect  Diminished sense of personal responsibility to act because others are seen as equally responsible.  Bystanders are less likely to help in presence of more people (e.g. part of a large crowd)  75% help when alone vs. 53% in presence of others  \"Diffusion of responsibility\"
75. Slide 76: Peacemaking  Superordinate goals  Communication  Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (GRIT)
76. Slide 77: Lecture Web Pages  http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/Psy102/S  http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_socia Reading Myers (2007) Ch 18 Social Psychology
77. Slide 78: References  Myers, D. G. (2001). Social Psychology (Ch. 18). In D. G. Myers (2001). Psychology (6th ed.) (pp. 643-688). New York: Worth.  Myers, D. G. (2007). Social Psychology (Ch. 18). In D. G. Myers (2007). Psychology (8th ed.) (pp. 723-771). New York: Worth.