psychology: perspectives & connections 2 nd edition gregory j. feist erika l. rosenberg...
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PSYCHOLOGY: Perspectives & Connections2nd Edition
GREGORY J. FEISTERIKA L. ROSENBERG
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Social Behavior
Chapter Fourteen
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Social Psychology
Study of how living among others influences thought, feeling, and behavior
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Group Living and Social Influence
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Group Living and Social Influence Social facilitation
– Phenomenon in which the presence of others improves one’s performance
Social loafing – Phenomenon in which the presence of
others causes one to relax one’s standards and slack off
– Have you ever been assigned to a group project where one member didn’t pull their weight?
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Conformity
Social norms– Rules about acceptable behavior
imposed by the cultural context in which one lives
Conformity– Tendency of people to adjust their
behavior to what others are doing or to adhere to the norms of their culture
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Conformity
Study by Solomon Asch (1951)– Groupthink
Occurs when the thinking of the group takes over
Can lead to detrimental, even disastrous, outcomes
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Minority Social Influence In order to change the majority
view the minority, one must present a logical argument
Usually by means of informational social influence– How might a single jury member
convince 11 other people that she is right and they are wrong?
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Obedience
Type of conformity in which a person yields to the authority of another person– Stanley Milgram’s obedience study
Showed how powerful situations can make reasonable people do things that seem cruel and unusual
As with other classic studies, Milgram’s research led to an ongoing debate over what is and what is not ethical treatment of research participants
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Milgram’s Obedience Study
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Exclusion and Inclusion In-group/out-group bias
– Tendency to show positive feelings toward people who belong to the same group as we do, and negative feelings toward those in other groups
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Exclusion and Inclusion Out-group homogeneity
– Tendency to see all members of an out-group as the same
– Social rejection
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Prejudice and Discrimination Discrimination
– Preferential treatment of certain people, usually driven by prejudicial attitudes
Can result from institutionalized rules– “Flight attendants must not be excessively
overweight”
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Nature and Nurture of Attitudes Nature
– Some attitudes, like in-group bias, made sense, because humans evolved in small social groups, and it made sense for people to trust those who are most like them
Nurture– Exposure increases our preference
for different things and people
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Attitude Change
Cognitive dissonance– Feeling of
discomfort caused by information that is different from a person’s conception of himself as a reasonable and sensible person
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Social Relations
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Nature and Nurture of Aggression Aggression
– Violent behavior that is intended to cause psychological or physical harm, or both, to another being
Hostile aggression Instrumental aggression
– Influenced by brain structures and hormones
Hypothalamus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala Testosterone and serotonin
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Nature and Nurture of Aggression Social influences
on aggression– The closer we are
to our goal when we become frustrated, the more aggressive we are likely to be
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Nature and Nurture of Aggression Social influences on aggression
– Albert Bandura Social learning theory
– Bobo Doll experiment– Experiments strongly suggest that watching
TV violence leads to aggressive behavior in children
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Prosocial Behavior
Behaviors that benefit others Bystander Effect (Latané and
Darley, 1968)– The greater the number of
bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help
Diffusion of responsibility – Case of Kitty Genovese
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Prosocial Behavior
Altruism– Selfless attitudes and behavior toward
others Kin selection
– Evolutionary favoring of genes that prompts individuals to help their relatives or kin
Reciprocal altruism– Act of helping others in the hope that they will
help us in the future Social exchange theory
– We help others when the benefits to ourselves are likely to outweigh the costs
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Prosocial Behavior
Empathy– Ability to share the feelings of others
and understand their situations Empathy-altruism hypothesis
– Idea that people help others selflessly only when they feel empathy for them
Egoistic motivation Empathetic motivation
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