Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by others. Two important figures in social psychology are Stanley Milgram, who studied obedience, and Phillip Zimbardo, who conducted the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. Some key topics in social psychology include conformity, obedience, social thinking, social influence, social facilitation and cognitive dissonance. Social psychologists use rigorous scientific methods like experiments and studies to better understand human social behavior.

1. Social Psychology
Brian J. Piper, Ph.D.
Stanley Milgram Phillip Zimbardo
1933-
1933-1984

2. Goals
• Social influence
– Conformity
– Obedience
• Social thinking

3. Definitions
• Social Psychology: the scientific study of how
people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied
presence of others
• Conformity: adjusting our behavior (or
thoughts) toward a group standard

4. Conformity & Obedience
Behavior is contagious, modeled by one
followed by another. We follow behavior of
others to conform (e.g. laugh track).
Other behaviors may be an expression of
compliance (obedience) toward authority.
Conformity Obedience

5. Studying Conformity
• 75% of participants will conform with the
group at least once
• Recent Findings
– Effect still large (Males d = 0.85, Females d = 1.04)
– One dissenter, less conformity
Solomon Asch (1907-1996) Bond & Smith (1996) Psychological Bulletin, 119, 11-137.
0:55 – 2:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onE_TRT8B7M

6. Obedience

7. Absence of Sex Differences
Modern Replication: 0 to 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk
0 to 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cNyRYF-vFc
Blass et al. (1999). J Appl Soc Psychol, 29, 955-978.

8. Social Facilitation
Sport (College & Pro) # Games Home Team Wins (%)
Soccer 40,380 67.4%
Basketball 30,174 62.9%
Ice Hockey 50,739 59.5%
Football (American) 11,708 57.3%
Baseball 120,576 55.6%
1) College versus Professional?
2) Time Effect?
3) Regular versus Championship?
Jamieson (2010). J Applied Social Psychology, 40, 1819-1848.

9. Social Facilitation
Sport (College & Pro) # Games Home Team Wins (%)
Soccer 40,380 67.4%
Basketball 30,174 62.9%
Ice Hockey 50,739 59.5%
Football (American) 11,708 57.3%
Baseball 120,576 55.6%
1) College (60.8%) = Professional (60.4%)
2) Time Effect: Pre-1950 (65.0%), 1991-2007 (59.2%)
3) Regular (59.0%) versus Championship (63.0%)
Jamieson (2010). J Applied Social Psychology, 40, 1819-1848.

10. Social Loafing
• Individual exerts less effort when part of a
group then when by themselves

11. De-Individualization
• Being anonymous can modify behavior
– Peer review
– Internet chat

12. Stanford
Prison Experiment
• Psychologically healthy students assigned to
role of prison guard or inmate (#)
• Striking changes in behavior consistent with
role
Phillip Zimbardo
0 to 6 min: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAjJoorEaic
Long Version: : 0 to 2:39, 4:55 -29:00, main message at 22:30:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkmQZjZSjk4

13. Social thinking
• The relationship between thoughts & behaviors
may be complex
Thought -> Behavior
Behavior -> Thought

14. Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
• If you get people to agree to a small request,
they are more likely to agree to a larger one
(and cognitions will follow behavior)
Original Cognition:
Deplore idea of not giving antibiotic for syphilis
Behavior:
Wait 6 months ….. 1 year …… 15 ….30 years
New Cognition:
Support non-treatment for syphilis

15. Fundamental Attribution Error
• We overestimate the influence of personality
and underestimate the influence of situations

16. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Inconsistency between cognitions & behavior are
uncomfortable
• Induce behavior and cognition will follow
• Example 1: write hateful essay (for $), think
hateful thoughts
• Example 2: fail to reach grapes, grapes
are sour Leon Festinger
• Example 3: world does not end, we
saved the world
1919-1989

17. Self-Test 01
• Psychology is the science of behavior and
mental processes in humans.
– True
– False

18. Self-Test 02
• Who founded the first laboratory of psychology in
1879 in Leipzig, Germany?
– A) William James
– B) William Wundt
– C) John Watson
– D) Hermann Ebbinghaus

19. Self-Test 03
• Who is the most “eminent” psychologist of
the 20th century?
– A) Ivan Pavlov
– B) B. F. Skinner
– C) Sigmund Freud
– D) Jean Piaget
– E) Michael Gazzaniga

20. Self-Test 04
• According to Sigmund Freud, the _____ is
responsible for providing a balance between
the desires of the id and the moral compass of
the super-ego.

21. Self-Test 05
• Draw the forgetting curve (x-axis: time; y-axis:
amount remembered) identified by Hermann
Ebbinghaus.

22. Self-Test 06
• A lack of interest in previously pleasurable
activities is the definition of:
A) agoraphobia
B) catatonic schizophrenia
C) anhedonia
D) Generalized Anxiety Disorder
E) bipolar disorder

23. Self-Test 07
• A) The ______ _______ ________ cortex is a
brain area important for attention and OCD.
• B) Lesions to the _________ have been shown
to reduce smoking.

24. Self-Test 08
• According to George Miller, the number of
items of information that can be held in
working (aka short-term) memory is:______

25. Self-Test 09
• Brittany believes she can move objects with
her mind, also known as:
– A) Oedipus complex
– B) operant conditioning
– C) telekinesis
– D) clairvoyance
– E) precognition

26. Self-Test 10
• Prenatal exposure to the teratogen and
depressant _______ results in:
• Fetal exposure to the stimulant _______
increases the risk of SIDS and ADHD.

27. Self-Test 11
• Estimate the correlations from the each
scatterplot below:
• Left:_______ Center:________ Right:______

28. Self-Test 12
• What Sleep stage is dreaming most likely to
occur?
– A) Stage I
– B) Stage II
– C) Stage III
– D) REM
– E) Dement Stage

29. Self-Test 13
• Which of the following has (have) a genetic
contribution?
– A) schizophrenia
– B) bipolar disorder
– C) intelligence
– D) homosexuality
– E) depression
– F) all of the above
– G) none of the above

30. Self-Test 14
• Which of the following are treatments for
depression:
– A) Cognitive Behavior Therapy
– B) Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
– C) Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
– D) Anti-anxiety drugs
– E) Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
– F) MDMA (“ecstasy”)
– G) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

31. Self-Test 15
• What’s the most unethical study in the history
of psychology (and why)?
– A) Watson & Rayner’s “Little Albert”
– B) Stanley Milgram’s obedience study
– C) Harry Harlow’s monkey love
– D) Phillip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison study
– E) Other:_________________

32. Concluding Thoughts
Biopsychosocial
Interdisciplinary (Economics-Chemistry, etc.)
Faliability (Eugenics, Lobotomies)
Questions > Answers
iTunesU: Anna Kring; David Presti