1SOSC1960Discovering Mind and Behavior

Lecture 12Social Psychology

2 Social psychology is the scientific study of social cognition, social influence, and social interaction.

M.C. Escher

3 Social influence Stereotypes and discrimination Attraction

4Social influence Social influence

The process by which the actions of an individual or group affect the behavior of others

Conformity Compliance Obedience

5 Conformity A change in behavior or attitudes brought

about by a ____________ to follow the beliefs or standards of other people

Asch (1955) You are told that this is an experiment involving the

discrimination of the lengths of lines. In each trial, there are one standard line and three comparison lines. Your task is to choose the line that is identical in length to the standard line.

Ling Sui Fongdesire

6Asch (1995). See video.

7 Conformity Asch (1955)

Only 23% of the participants always gave the right answer and went against the group on all 12 trials

The remaining 77% of participants went along with the group at least once

8 Conformity Relative status

The lower a persons status in the group, the more likely conformity is

Nature of task Task at which the person is incompetent is more

susceptible to conformity

9 Attractiveness The more attractive a group is to its members, the

more likely they will be to adopt the behavior and attitudes of fellow members

Public responses Conformity is higher when group members must

make responses in public

10The importance of unanimity: Presence of dissenter (social supporter) empowers a person to defy the group

11Cialdini, Reno & Kallgren (1990)

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Compliance Behavior that occurs in response to ________

and ____________ social pressure Different from conformity, in which the social

pressure is subtle or indirect E.g., sales request, donation request

Ling Sui Fongdirect

Ling Sui Fongexplicit

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Compliance Foot-in-the-door phenomenon: the tendency

for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

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Compliance Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

People were asked a day ahead to wear a label pin publicizing the Canadian Cancer Society. Those who agreed to wear the pin were nearly twice likely to donate when approached directly on the following day (Pliner et al., 1974)

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Compliance Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Only 17% of Californian respondents agreed to pose a Drive Carefully sign in their front yard.

76% among those who had agreed to display a 3-inch window sign agreed to pose the sign in their front yard (Freedman & Fraser, 1966)

Ling Sui Fongwhy does the foot in the door technique increase compliance?sence of consistence

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Compliance Door-in-the-face technique: the tendency for

people who have first refused a big request to comply later with a smaller request

Ling Sui Fong

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Compliance Door-in-the-face technique

50% of those who had refused a big request (to act as unpaid counselors 2 hours per week for 2 years) complied with a subsequent smaller request (to bring a group of delinquents to a two-hour zoo trip); only 17% of those who had not received the big request complied with the smaller request (Cialdini et al., 1975)

Ling Sui Fong

Ling Sui Fong

Ling Sui Fongwhy does the door in the face technique increase compliance?reject a large request, feel guilty and would be more willing to fill the smaller request

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Obedience A change in behavior in response to the

______________ of others Particularly commands of persons with

____________ (e.g., teachers, police, superordinates)

Ling Sui Fongcommands

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Milgram (1963)See video.

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expected observed

% of participants delivering the maximum shock

1.2% 65%

Milgram (1963)

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Obedience Every single participant complied with at least

some orders to shock another person Why?

The experimenter would be responsible for any potential ill effects

Legitimacy of the authority matters

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Adolf Eichmann: I never killed anyone. It would repulse me to do so.

Rudolf Hss: I dont know what you mean by being upset about these things, because I didnt personally murder anybody. I was just the director of the extermination program at Auschwitz.

Concentration camp officer: Its not me. Its the guy who told me to do this.

Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962), "the architect of the Holocaust", was a Nazi and an Lieutenant Colonel

Rudolf Hss (19001947) was an Lieutenant Colonel and the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, where it is estimated that more than a million people were killed.

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Stereotype and discrimination Stereotypes

A set of generalized beliefs and expectations about a particular group and its members

Simplifying our social world, but ignoring diversity within a group, fostering inaccurate perception

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Stereotypes Males vs. females Gender stereotype in 5 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIwWS2atEmc&feature=PlayList&p=EF8B70613FA0ACE5&index=6

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Stereotypes Out-group homogeneity effect

Perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members

They are alike; we are diverse

us them

26Own-race bias: the tendency for people to more accurately recognizefaces of their own race.

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Who is Keira Knightley? Who is Natalie Portman?

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Discrimination _______________________directed toward

individuals on the basis of their membership in a particular group (interpersonal or institutional such as personnel selection or arrest)

Ling Sui Fongunjustified behavior

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Famous Black professor arrested for trying to enter his house

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Discrimination Top-rated diagnostic test for Black vs. White

heart patients: 60% less likely to suggest for Black patients (Schulman et al., 1999)

White men were offered better deals on cars (Ayres, 1995) $11,362 for White men $11,504 for White women $11,783 for Black men $12,237 for Black women

31Interviews sat farther away, ended the interview 25% sooner, and made 50%more speech errors when the applicant was Black. Zanna & Cooper (1974).

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Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald et al., 1998)9 in 10 White people took longer to identify pleasant words as good when associated with Black rather than White faces

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Images of suspects--both armed and unarmed, black and whiteflash onto a monitor. Within a split-second, participants must decide whether to shoot. People are faster to shoot an armed Black suspect than an armed White suspect. They are more likely to shoot an unarmed Black suspect than an unarmed White target. Correll et al. (2007).

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Discrimination Two-thirds of the ethnic minorities in HK

perceived some form of racial discrimination (Department of Social Work, CUHK, 2004)

E.g. less favorable career progress (58.6%), failed to get a job although they were more qualified and competent than a Chinese person (58.8%), other people opted to stand up rather than sit next to them in public places (55.3%)

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The foundations of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination

Realistic Group Conflict Theory Prejudice arises from competition between

groups for scarce resourcesPrejudice against immigrants: perceived

competition from immigrants for school places, jobs, healthcare, and other resources leads people to oppose open, lenient immigration policies

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Social identity theory Social identity: part of self-concept derived

from perceived membership of social groups We use group membership as a source of pride

and self-worth We inflate the positive aspects of our social

group (ingroup) and at the same time, devalue other social grousp (out-groups)

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Socialization Commercials and regular programming

transmit stereotypes and prejudice Females portrayed as soft-hearted, weak,

submissive, passive, emotional, sensual, nurturing; males as strong, powerful, active, aggressive, independent

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Socialization Boys received more positive reaction for play

with male-typical toys and for aggression Girls received more positive reactions when

attempting to communicate

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Attraction Proximity

Geographical nearness When Im not near the one I love, I love the

one Im near E.Y. Harburg

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Proximity Festinger, Schachter, & Back (1950)

Students at MIT were randomly assigned to apartments

They were asked to list their 3 closest companions

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The closer people lived together, the more likely they were to become friends Within Buildings, a resident named a close

companion 1 door away 41% of the time

2 doors away 22%

3 doors away 16%

4 doors away 10%

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___________________ The tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more

or rated more positively after the rater has been repeatedly exposed to them

Ling Sui FongMere exposure

45Zajonc (1968)

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Physical attractiveness Attractiveness predicts dating frequency Men place more importance on attractiveness

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Physical attractiveness Hatfield et al. (1966)

Matched randomly 752 freshmen for a dance Measured personality and aptitude Danced and talked for 2.5 hours Physical attractiveness predicts liking and desire to

date again

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Physical attractiveness The preference for attractive people starts

early in infancy Babies look longer at faces that are attractive

than at faces unattractive One-year-olds are more involved in play and

show more positive affect toward an attractive stranger than an unattractive stranger (Langlois et al., 1987, 1990)

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Physical attractiveness Waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a significant factor in

judging female attractiveness Women with a _________ WHR (waist

circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference) are rated as more attractive by men from most cultures

Ling Sui Fong0.7

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Physical attractiveness The WHR of Playboy centerfolds has remained

about 0.7 over time, even as weight has dropped

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Physical attractiveness WHR is an indicator of reproductive status; as

circulating estrogen lowers WHR and testosterone raises it

A high WHR indicates a greater propensity to have problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, strokes, etc.

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Which face is more attractive?

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Physical attractiveness _______________ faces are rated as more

attractive

Ling Sui Fongsymmetrical

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Physical attractiveness ______________ face

People perceive physical features that are not unusually large or small as relatively

Ling Sui Fongaverage

Ling Sui Fongmore attractive

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Physical attractiveness What is beautiful is good The belief that beautiful people possess more

desirable traits (e.g., more intelligent, happy, successful, outgoing, kind) (Eagly et al., 1991; Feingold, 1992; Langlois et al., 2000)

57Snow white and the witchCinderella and her ugly sisters

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Required readings Chapter 17