Psych Chapter 12: Social Personality

Chapter 12:

Social Psychology

index

What is it?

In/out groups

Milgram Experiment

Altruism& aggression

Thanks

section 01

What is Social Psychology

Branch of psychology that investigates how a person's thoughts, fellings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment.

Person Perception: forming impressions

Refers to the mental processes used to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of other peoplePerson perception does not seem to be driven by our cultural background A study of more than 2.5 million face ratings by participants from almost 60 countries found that first impressions were based on characteristics of the person being rated and the participants' own personal "idiosyncrasies" much more than their culture

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In-group/out-group

Work

Social Groups

School

Milgram's obedience experiment (1963)

• Roles:
• Teacher- the real participant
• Learner- Actor who pretended to be another participant
• Experimenter- Authority figure in a lab coat giving instructions
• Procedure: The teacher was instructed to administer electric shocks to the learner each time the learner gave a wrong answer
• Shocks increased by 15 volts each time, up to 450 volts (marked as "Danger: Severe Shock)
• The learner ( in another room) screamed, protested, or eventually went silent- but no real shocks were given

• Researcher: Stanley Milgram (28), new social psychologist at Yale University
• Purpose: to investigate how far people would go in obeying an authority figure, even when the orders involved harming another person
• Context: conducted soon after the Nuremberg Trials, which questioned why people obey immoral orders (eg., during the Holocaust)
• Participants: 40 male volunteers (20-50), Various occupations
• Cover story: Told it was a study on the effects of punishment on learning

Milgram Experiment

Experiment

Experimenter

Experiment

Experiment

Ethical Issues

Prompts

Conclusions

Results

Altruism

Altruistic people fall under the broader heading of Prosocial behavior describes any behavior that helps another person, whether the underlying motive is self-serving or selfless. Helping another person with no expectation of personal reward or benefitAltruistic acts are selfless- the individual is motivated purely by the desire to help someone in need. Every day life is filled with little acts of altruistic kindness (ex. a stranger who holds a door open for you, or members of the motorcycle club, the Sirens delivering milk to babies in need)

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Aggression

Verbal or physical behavior intended to cause harm to other people. To be classified as aggression, the aggressor must believe that their behavior is harmful to the other person, and the other person must not wish to be harmed (ex., a child who hits their sibling, a mugger who threatens their victim, a boss who screams at their subordinates)

thanks

What questions do you have?

Ethical Issues

Deception: Participants were misled about the true purpose and the learner's condition Emotional distress: Participants experienced significant stress and guilt Informed consent: Not truly informed due to deception Debriefing: Participants were debriefed afterward, and most reported being glad they took part. It was also said that Milgram was not honest about his debriefing numbers

Gender, Culture, and Aggression

On average, males are the more aggressive gender, but just on average. Physical aggression was more common in males than females at all ages sampled, was consistent across cultures occurred from early childhood on. Females are more aggressive in indirect aggression, such as gossip and spreading rumors.Cultural factors- regional and national differences in certain types of aggression. Cultures with significant income inequality also have higher rates of aggression, particularly murder. Biological and psychological facts are important predictors of aggression.

Prompts Used

1. Please continue. 2. The experiment requires that you continue. 3. It is absolutely essential that you continue. 4. You have no other choice; you must go on.

Out-Group Homogeneity Effect

• Homogeneity means "similarity" or "uniformity"
• Out-group homogeneity effect is the tendency to see members of out-groups as very similar to one another.
• Sports- members of a team see their team as individuals, but the rival team as all the same
• Race- individuals from one racial group may have a hard time distinguishing between members of another racial group
• Geography- city resident might stereotype all people from a rural area as being unintelligent or unsophistiated.
• Profession- someone in a creative field might view all accountants as boring and similar without considering the diverse personaltiies

Social Norms

The unwritten "rules" or expectations for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation (ex. sitting next to someone on the subway when there are other empty seats open, or getting on an elevator and facing the back rather than turning to the doors) Person perception in social media- a profile photograph is more important than written text in creating our perceptions of a new acquaintance. Even a comment about enjoying time with a big group doesn't outweigh a photo depicting a loner on a park bench. First impressions- Can often be wrong, can take several incounters for a first impression to change, a first impression can color our overall impression by whats called the halo effect. You place a halo around the person which makes it harder for new conflicting information to get past the initial information.

• Social categorization- the mental process of classifying people into groups on the basis of their shared characteristics
• Implicit personality theory- a network of assumptions or beliefs about the relationships among various types of people, traits, and behaviors

Psychologic Influences on Aggression

A great deal of aggressive behavior is learned; there are situational factors that can increase people's tendency to be aggressive.Learning: Violent people often mimic behavior they have seen, a form of observational learning (ex., Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment).

• Exposure to violence may lead to aggression over the longer term.
• Research shows that men and women exposed to violence in their families growing up are more likely to abuse their partners and children

Frustration: Aggression can also be driven by situational factors that are annoying or frustrating (ex., high temperatures-Violence in Minneapolis increased as nighttime temperatures increased or an increase of hate tweets.) What about road rage?

Out-Group

A social group to which on does not belongBased on identity- people of a different political party, different religion, different racial or ethnic group, for men- all women; for women- all men Based on social affiliation- supporters of a rival team, diferent social cliques or clubs at school or workplace, children's friends who are not part of the family Based on behavior or interest- skater who identifies with a "punk" group might view a "hip-hop" skater as an out-group Based on context- consumers contracting a small business, employees are an out-group to the employees' group, an audience at a concert is an out-group from the perspective of the band members

In-Group

This is the "us" group; it refers to a social group to which one belongsFamily- person's core in-group; shared history and strong emotional ties Sports fans- fans of the same team religious or ethnic communities- shared beliefs, heritage, and traditions Workplace- employees share a common workplace and goals Friend groups- friends share a personal connection and shared interests Political party- shared political identity can create a strong sense of belonging and bias against other groups.

Results

65% (26 of 40 participants) obeyed fully, administering the maximum 450 volts All participants went to at least 300 volts Participants showed extreme stress (sweating, trembling, nervous laughter), but still many continued when urged by authority Milgram was stunned by the results, never expecting that the majority of participants would administer the maximum voltage

Factors that increase likelihood of bystanders helping

Personality factors: In real-life situations (cyberbullying or a fallen cyclist in need of help), people with higher levels of empathy were more likely to intervene The "feel good, do good" effect: people who feel happy are more likely to decide to help others Feeling Guilty: people tend to be more helpful when feeling guilty, such as after telling a lie Seeing others who are willing to help: we're more likely to decide to help if we observe others doing the same Knowing how to help: knowing what to do and being physically capable of helping, contributes greatly to the decision to help someone else

Factors that Decrease the Likelihood of Bystanders Helping

The presence of other people: people are much more likely to decide to help when they are alone. The bystander effect- a phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely each individual is to help someone in distress. Diffusion of responsibility- A phenomenon in which the presence of other peole makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all the onlookers. Vague or ambiguous situations- When situations are ambiguous and people are not certain that help is needed, they are less likely to decide to offer help. When the personal costs of helpig outweigh the benefits- If the potential costs of helping outweigh the benefits, it is less likely that people will help.

Conclusions

People are surprisingly likely to obey authority figures, even when it conflicts with their personal morals The power of situational factors can override individual conscience and ethics

Definitions

Social Cognition- the mental processes people use to make sense of their social environments. Social Influence- the effect of situational factors and other people on an individual's behavior.

James Jackson (1944-2020)- A social psychologist who founded the landmark Program for Research on Black Americans at the University of Michigan. Through this program, the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) is a database used by many researchers and has led to hundreds of research papers. Work was centered on the experience of Black people in the U.S. rather than comparing them to White people. A colleague described his legacy as "James Jackson would always say that the main contribution of the NSBA was the understanding that not all black people are alike."

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to judge the behavior of ingroup members favorably and outgroup members unfavorably (ex. we succeed because we worked hard, they succeed because they lucked out; we failed because of circumstances, they failed because they are stupid and incompetent)

In-Group and Out Group

Stereotypes are closely related to another tendency in person perception.

• Strong tendency to perceive others in terms of two basic social categories, "us" and "them."
• In and out groups are not necessarily limited to racial, ethnic, or religious boundaries
• Any characteristic ca be used to make in/out group distinctions:
• Mac vs. PC, hip-hop vs. country, graham cracker lovers vs. green bean lovers

Attraction

Refers to feeling drawn to other people, having positive thoughts and feelings about them. What is beautiful is good- we are culturally conditioned to believe that if something is beautiful, then it is good, and if it is ugly, it is evil. Ideals of beauty around the world are different than what we are used to in the U.S. Aspects of attraction are interpersonal. Ex. we are more attracted to people whom we perceive as being like us- in physical characteristics, personality traits, attitudes, and even psychological health.

Influence of Genes and Brain Structure

It might be inborn personality characteristics.Researchers found that twin studies had similar aggressive tendencies, whether or not they were raised together Two meta-analyses that explored studies on levels of heredity and aggression concluded that genetics played a significant role in people's levels of aggressiveness Evolutionary theorists assert that a genetic predisposition toward aggression can help people to acquire or secure resources for themselves and for those who share their genes Biological explanation- differences in the parts of the brain that regulate emotion, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and the limbic system. Researchers observed different patterns in brain connectivity between people who are prone to anger.