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Social Psychology Note

Social psychology studies how individuals think about and influence one another, focusing on attitudes, conformity, obedience, and the bystander effect. Key concepts include cognitive dissonance, where conflicting attitudes and actions create tension, and the influence of social norms on behavior. Historical experiments, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram's obedience studies, illustrate the impact of authority and group dynamics on human behavior.

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8 views

Social Psychology Note

Social psychology studies how individuals think about and influence one another, focusing on attitudes, conformity, obedience, and the bystander effect. Key concepts include cognitive dissonance, where conflicting attitudes and actions create tension, and the influence of social norms on behavior. Historical experiments, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram's obedience studies, illustrate the impact of authority and group dynamics on human behavior.

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analysis.datastats
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Social Psychology

Psychology: the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes


(personality, the brain, development, etc...)

Social Psychology: the study of how we think about, relate, and influence one
another

Attitude and Actions

Attitude: feelings, often based on beliefs, that predispose us to act in a


particular way to objects, people and events

If we believe a person is mean, we may feel dislike for the person, and act in
an unfriendly manner

Attitudes affect action’


But not always
Strong social pressure can influence our actions

Attitude -------> action

Role playing and attitudes


● role playing affects our attitudes
● when you take on a new role:
○ a new school, or a new job
○ at first it feels”fake” but soon it becomes
natural
● Stanford Prison Experiment (1972)
○ Guards and prisoners developed
○ role-appropriate attitudes within two days
○ Prisoners rebelled, guards enforced abusive punishments
○ Participants forgot they were playing a role and the study was
cancelled after 6 days.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory


● when our attitude don’t match our actions it causes tension
● We seek to relieve the tension by changing our attitudes to match our
actions

Predict the outcome:


● You volunteer for a psychological experiment
● you perform dull, meaningless tasks for 1 hour
● Experimenter tells you to write about how wonderful, exciting and
worthwhile the experiment was
● You are paid either $1 or 20 to do this
● Then you are asked privately to rate your actual enjoyment on a
questionnaire
● Who rated their actual enjoyment of the task higher? the group paid $1
or the group paid $20?

The paid $1 rated the experiment as more enjoyable than $20


why??
● the money is not enough justification for their behavior
They experience cognitive dissonance
Which produced a change in attitude about the tasks?

Conformity - adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group


standard

We are conform!
What kind of clothes are you wearing?
WHat kind of music do you listen to?
What kinds of social media do you use?

Why do we conform?
● we naturally pay attention to social norms
● To avoid rejection or gain social approval, we like to fit in
● conformity offers a sense of belonging @ group identity which can
encourage people to adhere to moral standards
Experiment: on conformity by Solomon Asch (1955)
Obedience

How do we respond to outright commands?

Stanley Milgram’s studies on the effects of authority on Obedience in the


1960s.

Predictions from 110 psychiatrists, college students and middle class adults:

most people would stop at 135 volts


Remember the predictions:
no one would go to end
Most would stop at 135
The Third Wave Movement
The History Teacher Ron Jones - Cubberley High School, Palo Alto, April 1967

Day 1: Gave students strict rules and dress code


Day 2: Shouted, “Strength through discipline, strength through community!”
Membership cards, “secret police” reported rule breakers
Day 3: Labeled themselves the “third wave” with hand salute
Day 4: Students from Cubberley, Gunn, PALY skip school to join Jones’ class
Their political leader will make an announcement on national TV

After 5 days, he had a following of more than 200 students


“You bargained your freedom for the comfort of discipline”

What does this say about us?


● Is human nature inherently evil? Can we be easily corrupted by
authority figures?
● In another experiment, subjects were allowed to pick any shock level
they wished.
● On average what shock level did they choose?
● What percentage set the shock at the highest level?

The Bystander Effect

Kitty Genovese’s murder - march 13th, 1964


● Stabbed and raped outside her apartment in NewYork
● 38 neighbors heard her screaming for help
● Attacker returned, stabbed and raped her a second time
● Reported that no one called the police for 20 mins

Note: more recent investigations have questioned the original version of


events. A 2004 article in the NYT by Jim Rasenberger raised numerous
questions about claims in the original Times article

A 2007 study found many of the purported facts about the murder to be
unfounded, stating there was no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses,
or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive.
The three authors concluded that the story was more parable than fact,
largely because of inaccurate newspaper coverage at the time.

The bystander Effect

Factors that increase our likelihood of helping:


the victim appears to need and deserve help
They are similar to us
We have just observed someone helping
We are not a hurry
We are in a small town or rural area
We are feeling guilty
Focused on others and not preoccupied
We are in a good mood

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