5 th edition copyright © prentice hall 200715-1 psychology stephen f. davis emporia state...

Copyright © Prentice Hall 2007 15-1

5th Edition

PsychologyStephen F. Davis

Emporia State University Joseph J. Palladino

University of Southern IndianaPowerPoint Presentation by

Cynthia K. Shinabarger ReedTarrant County College

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5th Edition

Social Psychology: The Individual in

Society

Chapter 15


Social Psychology and Culture• Social psychology examines the causes,

types, and consequences of human interaction.

• Human interactions do not occur in isolation; they occur in a specific cultural context.

• Researchers are sometimes guilty of ethnocentrism; they disregard cultural differences and see other cultures as an extension of their own “superior” culture.


Social Psychology and Culture

• Because culture can influence the type of research problem we choose to investigate, the nature of our research hypothesis, and the selection of the variables we choose to manipulate and record, researchers must guard against ethnocentrism.



• Individualism is defined as placing one’s own goals above those of the group.

• Collectivism is defined as placing group goals above individual goals.

• The degree of individualism or collectivism in a culture can influence many aspects of behavior, such as interpersonal relations, self-concept, parenting practices, self-esteem, and emotional expression.



• Because cultures vary so widely, social psychologists need to conduct cross-cultural studies to determine whether the results of research conducted in one culture can be generalized to other cultures.


How We View Others and Their Behavior

• Impression formation is the process of developing an opinion about another person.

• In addition to forming impressions of others, we also make judgments, called attributions, about the reasons for or causes of this person’s behavior.



• The process of impression formation requires an actor and a perceiver.

• The views and thoughts of the perceiver and the appearance and behaviors of the actor influence the impressions that are formed.



• A stereotype is a set of beliefs about members of a particular group.

• Stereotypes can be either positive or negative.• In-group stereotypes refer to the stereotypes

that we have about people who are in the same group(s) we belong to; they typically are positive stereotypes.

• Out-group stereotypes tend to be negative and describe others in such terms as “them” or “those people.”



• Stereotypes reduce the amount of information that must be processed.

• There are two reasons for the persistence of stereotypes.

• First, if we believe that a group of people possesses certain characteristics, we may selectively note behaviors that are consistent with those characteristics and fail to notice behaviors that are inconsistent.



• The second reason that stereotypes are durable involves the effects of our own reactions and behaviors on the individuals in question.

• When your behaviors influence others to respond the way you expect, a self-fulfilling prophecy is at work.


Robert Rosenthal & Lenore Jacobson

• Pygmalion in the Classroom– 1st through 6th grade students– Oakland California Schools

• Out growth of earlier inter-species research on “Experimenter Bias Effects”– Humans and rats

• Clever Hans study: Pfungst and Stumpf


ROSENTHAL & JACOBSON



• Some self-disclosure fosters a positive impression, but excessive self-disclosure early in a relationship may result in a negative first impression.



• Four features of the actor have been shown to influence impression formation.

• Those features are 1) physical appearance, 2) style and content of speech, 3) nonverbal mannerisms and nonverbal

communication, and 4) the perceiver’s prior information about the

actor.



• The “beautiful is good” stereotype assumes that attractive people have positive characteristics—they are witty and intelligent and have pleasing personalities.

• Therefore attractive people can be expected to make better impressions.



• With regard to impression formation, an actor’s style of speech is important.

• Among the aspects of speech that are influential are speed, volume, and inflections (variations).

• The content of speech is also important.



• Research on self-disclosure, the amount of personal information a person is willing to share with others, indicates that the more a person reveals, the more positive the impression others form.

• However, too much self-disclosure early in a relationship can create a negative impression.



• Nonverbal communication plays an important role in determining initial impressions.

• Information that is available to you before you meet someone can affect your impression of that person.

• The activation of a stereotype can either enhance or decrease (stereotype threat) an individual’s performance.



• Attribution is the process by which we decide why certain events occurred or why a particular person acted in a certain manner.

• With internal attributions, behavior is seen as being caused by factors that reside within a person.

• With external attributions, the causes of behavior are viewed as residing outside an individual.



• Deciding whether the cause of an event or behavior is internal or external has a major impact on the attributional process.

• According to Harold Kelley, factors such as distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus influence our decisions about internal or external causes.

• Distinctiveness refers to the extent to which a person’s responses vary from situation to situation.

• The greater the variability, the higher the distinctiveness.



• Our confidence in making attributions regarding internal or external causes is greatest when the behaviors we observe are consistent.

• Consensus refers to the reactions of other people to the external object or behavior in question.

• When consensus is high and everyone views the behavior or object in the same manner, we tend to make external attributions; when it is low and no one agrees about the behavior or object in question, we tend to make internal attributions.



• The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to attribute behaviors to internal causes.

• An actor-perceiver bias can influence attributions.

• Perceivers are more likely to make internal attributions while actors are more likely to make external attributions.



• The self-serving bias is the tendency to make internal attributions when we are successful and external attributions when we fail.

• Another aspect of the self-serving bias involves the just world belief.

• The just world belief is the belief that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people.



• Attitudes are evaluative judgments about objects, people, and thoughts that include affective, knowledge, and behavioral components.

• Attitudes can serve ego-defensive, adjustment, and knowledge functions.



• Attitudes protect us from threats to the self or ego.

• Attitudes can maximize reinforcements and minimize punishments from the environment.

• Attitudes can help bring order and meaning to one’s world.



• Self-reports are often used to measure attitudes, but this method is far from simple.

• The types of questions asked, as well as the way they are asked, can influence the responses.

• Attitudes can be measured by Likert scales and evaluation of observed behaviors.



• Likert scales are questionnaires that require participants to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with particular statements.



• The saying “Actions speak louder than words” indicates that we place considerable value on the behavioral component of attitudes.

• Attitudes can be acquired through the process of classical conditioning, in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR).

• When classical conditioning takes place, we also develop an attitude toward the CS; we either like it or dislike it.



• Operant conditioning can also serve as a basis for the establishment of attitudes.

• Behaviors that result in reinforcement produce positive attitudes, whereas behaviors that result in punishment produce negative attitudes.



• Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person experiences an inconsistency between thoughts and behaviors.

• Because cognitive dissonance is an unpleasant or aversive state, we seek to reduce it and instead create cognitive consonance—the state in which behaviors and thoughts are compatible.

• Thus the formation of new attitudes is involved in the reduction of cognitive dissonance.


Interpersonal Relations

• Attraction is the extent to which we like or dislike other people.

• Proximity to others is positively related to the establishment of friendships; people who live or work near us tend to become our friends.

• Proximity is an important determinant of attraction because it encourages interaction and repeated exposure.



• We are attracted to people who arouse positive feeling in us; we avoid individuals who arouse negative feelings.

• We like people who reward us and tend to dislike or avoid those who do not.

• We are also attracted to and make friends with people who are similar to ourselves.



• Friendship is a form of interpersonal attraction that is governed by an implicit set of rules.

• We are more likely to form friendships with people who are willing to disclose information about themselves.

• Our level of self-disclosure evolves through several stages as a friendship develops.



• Passionate love is a transitory form of love characterized by strong emotional reactions, sexual desires, and fantasies.

• Companionate love is characterized by a long-term relationship and commitment.

• Sex roles can influence the love relationship.



• A longitudinal view of the love relationship is provided through the study of marital satisfaction.

• Typically, marital satisfaction is described as a U-shaped function; satisfaction is high during the early years of marriage, decreases during the middle years, and increases during the later years.

• The decrease in satisfaction during the middle years of marriage is associated with having and raising children; the responsibilities of raising children can take a significant toll on a marriage.



• Interdependence theory takes into account the costs and rewards in a relationship, as well as the available alternatives.

• Each person develops a comparison level (CL); this CL is the general outcome you expect from a relationship.

• Your CL is based on your past experiences and the experiences of others in similar situations.



• You are satisfied with a relationship when the outcomes are equal to or above your CL.

• You become dissatisfied when the outcomes fall below your CL.

• People leave a relationship when the outcomes fall below their CLs for other relationships.



• Prosocial behavior is behavior that benefits society or helps others.

• Altruism refers to helping behavior performed with no anticipation of reward.

• Higher levels of prosocial behavior are positively correlated with empathy, social skills, and extraversion.



• Bystander effect: The tendency for a group of bystanders to be less likely than an individual to provide assistance to a person in trouble.



• Among the factors that determine the bystander effect are degree of danger, embarrassment, not knowing how to help, and diffusion of responsibility.



• Aggression is physical or psychological behavior that is performed with the intent of doing harm.

• Hostile aggression is behavior that is performed with the specific intent of harming another person.

• Instrumental aggression is aggression that causes harm in the process of achieving another goal.

• Ethologists believe that at least some forms of aggression are inherited.



• The frustration-aggression hypothesis predicts that frustration, or being blocked from attaining a goal, results in aggression.

• In addition to frustration, the presence of anger and certain cues may be necessary for aggression to occur.



• Terrorist activities fall within the realm of aggression.

• Terrorism is politically motivated violence, perpetrated by individuals, groups or state-sponsored agents, intended to instill feelings of terror and helplessness in a population in order to influence decision making and to change behavior.



• Moghaddam indicates that “Ultimately, terrorism is a moral problem with psychological underpinnings; the challenge is to prevent disaffected youth and others from becoming engaged in the morality of terrorist organizations.”

• Davis addressed the topic of combating terrorism and suggested that international psychology, “the social psychology of international relations,” could (and should) play a role in countering terrorism.



• The vast majority of workplace aggression is perpetrated by members of the public or by organizational outsiders.

• One of the key factors in workplace aggression is the assailant’s relationship to the victim.



• Many marriages are characterized by abuse and aggression, which is most often directed toward the wife.

• The dramatic increase in the incidence of rape indicates that such aggression and abuse are not limited to marital relationships.



• The increased availability and tolerance of pornography, especially pornography depicting violence and domination, are correlated with the increase in sexual assaults.

• Many unreported rapes fall into the category of date or acquaintance rape.



• Date rape appears to result from misperceptions, especially on the part of men, about the acceptability of sexual relations in certain situations.

• Heavy alcohol consumption is another factor that often leads to date rape on college campuses.


Social Influences on Behavior

• Persuasion is the use of social influence to cause other people to change their attitudes and behaviors.

• The expertise, attractiveness, and trustworthiness of the source of a message are important determinants of persuasion.



• The sleeper effect occurs when the message and its source become detached.

• Messages from sources low in expertise, attractiveness, and trustworthiness may increase in effectiveness due to the sleeper effect.



• The most persuasive messages are those that;– attract attention, – draw conclusions (if the audience is passively

involved), – differ only moderately from the attitudes of the

audience, – are the last message heard (if action is

required immediately), and– are presented on a one-to-one basis.



• Naive audiences that are unaware of the intent of persuasive messages are more likely to be influenced by these messages.

• If the audience has previously been exposed to a mild form of the persuasive message, persuasion will be more difficult.



• When you pay attention to the content of the message, the central route of persuasion is being used.

• If you find that the persuasive message is not especially relevant to you and you do not enjoy thinking about its content, then you are more likely to attend to the attributes of the presenter (for example, credibility or attractiveness).

• When you pay attention to these attributes, persuasion is following the secondary route.



• Obedience is the initiating or changing of behavior in response to a direct command of an authority.

• In cases in which obedience will result in harm to another person, obedience increases with proximity to the source of the commands but decreases with proximity to the victim.



• If the source of the commands takes responsibility for any harm resulting from obedience to those commands, the likelihood of obedience is high.



• Conformity results from indirect social pressure on an individual to change his or her behaviors and thoughts.

• The nature of the authority behind pressures for conformity is not as obvious as it is in commands for obedience.



• Selecting the matching line seems simple!

• However, 30% of Asch’s participants chose incorrectly to conform with the group.



• The decisions of a group may be riskier than those of individuals.

• The risky-shift phenomenon is attributable to the group polarization effect, in which the original attitudes of the group's members are enhanced or amplified during group discussions.



• Compliance refers to behavior that is initiated or changed as a result of a request.

• The foot-in-the-door effect is a phenomenon in which a person who has agreed to a small request is more likely to comply with a subsequent larger request.



• In the door-in-the-face technique people are first presented with an extremely large request, which they likely will refuse, and then they are presented with a more reasonable request that they are more likely to accept.

• The compliance technique known as reciprocity involves doing something for someone else to make that person feel obligated to do something in return.


The Individual as Part of a Social Group

• The presence of other people increases arousal, which may result in enhanced ability to perform a desired response.

• This effect is known as social facilitation.



• Social loafing is the tendency to exert less effort when working on a group task if individual contributions are not evaluated.

• Social loafing can be reduced by making the task more involving, challenging, appealing, or competitive.



• Coactors are other people who are present and are engaging in the same behaviors as an individual at the same time.

• When there is no audience and only coactors are present, deindividuation may occur.

• Deindividuation is a phenomenon in which the presence of a group results in a loss of personal identity and a decrease in responsibility.



• Two types of leaders emerge in a group.

• One leader is concerned with the tasks confronting the group (task-oriented); the other is concerned with the interpersonal needs of the group's members (socially-oriented).



• Brainstorming refers to free expression of ideas by the members of a group.

• Researchers have shown that the same number of individuals working independently actually generate more ideas than a brainstorming group.



• Groupthink is the tendency to make decisions intended primarily to promote the harmony of the group.

• Groupthink occurs most often in very cohesive groups that are insulated from other opinions and groups, feel that they are invulnerable, have a respected and directive leader, and are placed under time constraints to reach a decision concerning a threat to the group.



• In these circumstances groups tend to make premature and poorly considered decisions.

• Group members and leaders can take several steps to help avoid being snared into the groupthink trap.

• First, the leader should strive to remain impartial and nondirective.



• Second, opinions should be gathered from people outside the group.

• Finally, the group should use secret ballots when making decisions in order to ensure that group members express their true feelings.



• Prejudice is judging a person on the basis of stereotypes about the group to which the person belongs.

• Prejudice may be reduced through contact among members of different groups.

• Discrimination consists of behaviors directed at members of a particular group that affect them adversely.



• Prejudice frequently justifies social standing or maintains self-esteem.

• Because it makes us feel superior, prejudice can also satisfy our emotional need for status.

• Gordon Allport proposed that “equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common goals” would reduce prejudice.

5 th edition copyright © prentice hall 200715-1 psychology stephen f. davis emporia state...

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