Week 11

Question 1

Social Influence

Answer 1

• Any change in a person’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviour that has its origin in another person or group
• The influence of people on people

Question 2

Audience Effects

Answer 2

• The most elementary social psychological question concerned the effect of the mere presence of other people on our behaviour:
  “What changes in an individual’s normal solitary performance occur when other people are present?”
  Triplett (1898)
  ► Cyclists ride faster when racing than when riding alone
  ► Children reel faster when racing in pairs than when alone

Question 3

Audience Effects - Arousal

Answer 3

Arousal from having others around can lead to:
Social facilitation
► Improvement in performance in presence of others
► Do better
► Well-learned/easy/simple tasks
Social inhibition
► Deterioration in performance in presence of others
► Do worse
► Poorly-learned/difficult/complex tasks
*look up image

Question 4

Social Loafing

Answer 4

A reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task compared with working alone
Max Ringelmann
► Individuals exerted less effort when pulling on rope in group compared to alone

Question 5

Compliance

Answer 5

• Superficial, public, transitory change in surface behaviours and expressed attitudes
• Response to request and coercion by others
• Cialdini’s six principles underlying compliance:
  ► Liking
  ► Authority
  ► Reciprocation
  ► Commitment and consistency
  ► Social proof
  ► Scarcity

Question 6

Compliance Tactics

Answer 6

Foot-in-the-door: First make a small request, then follow it with a larger, related request (Freedman and Fraser, 1966)
► Works off principle of… commitment and consistency
Low-balling: First make a reasonable request, then reveal a hidden cost afterwards (Cialdini, 1978)
► Works off principle of… commitment and consistency
Door-in-the-face: First make a ridiculously large request, then follow it with a smaller, more reasonable request (Cialdini et al., 1975)
► Works off principle of… reciprocation

Question 7

Obedience

Answer 7

• When an authority specifically commands us to change our behaviour, and we do
• Agentic state
  A frame of mind characterised by unquestioning obedience, in which people as agents transfer personal responsibility to person giving orders
• The power of the situation

Question 8

Obedience Study

Answer 8

MILGRAM (1963)

• Asked participants to play the role of a “teacher” and give electric shocks to a “learner” (a confederate) as part of a learning experiment
• Each time the “learner” got an answer wrong, the“teacher” was required to give a more intense shock
• 65% of the “learners” obeyed until the end of the experiment, where the strongest shocks were

Question 9

Behaviours in Groups

Answer 9

A collection of people who interact with each other and are interdependent
Group norms: Attitudinal and behavioural uniformities, shared beliefs about appropriate conduct for group members
► Can be formal or informal
► Powerful sources of conformity

Question 10

Conformity

Answer 10

The tendency for actions and opinions to converge towards group norms
Two processes underlie conformity:
► Informational influence
► Normative influence

Question 11

Informational influence - Conformity

Answer 11

• Conform because we believe others know better than us
• When we are uncertain about how to act
• “Private” conformity/“true” influence

Question 12

Normative influence - Conformity

Answer 12

• Conform because we want others to accept and like us
• When group has power to punish/reward
• “Public” conformity

Question 13

Autokinetic Effect - Conformity Study

Answer 13

SHERIF (1936)
Autokinetic effect
► Optical illusion - pinpoint of light in dark room appears to move
► Participants asked how much light moves
► Tested either alone vs. in group
*look up image

Question 14

Line Length - Conformity Study

Answer 14

ASCH (1951)
Line Length Study
► Participants sat at a table with confederates
► Asked to indicate aloud which of 3 comparison lines matched the standard line
► Confederates all gave the same wrong answer
► Results : 76% conformed to wrong choice at least once, 50% on 6 more trials, 5% on all 12 trials – power of the situation

Question 15

Group Decision Making

Answer 15

Important decisions are usually made by groups rather than individuals
Groups often make better decisions:
► Pooled knowledge
► Diverse perspectives
► Cancel out biases
Bigger, diverse groups -> better decisions
Smaller, homogenous groups -> worse decisions
► Groupthink, group polarisation

Question 16

Group Polarisation

Answer 16

Tendency for group discussion among like-minded people to strengthen pre-existing attitudes
Example: high and low-prejudice students who discussed their racial attitudes with other like-minded students intensified their pre-existing racial attitudes (Myers and Bishop, 1970)

Question 17

Aggression

Answer 17

Verbal or physical behaviour aimed at harming another person or living being
Explanations
► Instinct and evolution
► Biological
► Situational 
-> Frustration, Cognitive Neuroassociation Theory	  
-> Environmental cues	  
-> Social learning / modelling	  
-> Deindividuation	  
-> Norms & roles

Question 18

Aggression - Instinct and Evolution

Answer 18

Freud viewed aggression as a basic human instinct
Current psychodynamic theorists view it as a behavioural potential that is usually activated by frustration and anger
► Supported by evidence that parents usually have to teach children to inhibit aggressive responses

Evolutionary theorists view aggression as evolutionary adaptive
► Has survival and reproductive value

Question 19

Aggression Biology - Genetics

Answer 19

Genetics
► Highly aggressive mice/rats/rabbits can be selectively bred
► Twin/adoption studies -> 50% heritability

Question 20

Aggression Biology - Neurological

Answer 20

Neurological
► Brain activity in hypothalamus, limbic system, prefrontal cortex
► Damage, delayed development can influence aggression

Question 21

Aggression Biology - Hormonal

Answer 21

Hormonal
► Aggression determined by levels of particular hormones
► Testosterone
-> Social dominance, aggression to maintain status
-> Linked to impatience/irritability, criminality

Question 22

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

Answer 22

Frustration accumulates from a variety of sources
Original form:
► All frustration leads to aggression
► All aggressions results from frustration
When source of frustration cannot be challenged…scapegoating/displacement of aggression on a target
Failure to Achieve -> Frustration -> Aggression

Question 23

Cognitive Neuroassociation Theory - Aggression

Answer 23

Aversive situations can produce negative affect + arousal, which can then lead to aggression
Aversive situations can include:
► Frustration
► Hot temperature
► Hostility

Question 24

Environmental Cues - Aggression

Answer 24

Weapons effect:
- Mere presence of weapons in environment increases aggression
- Weapons linked aggression in our minds, prime aggressive scripts
“Guns not only permit violence, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger.”

Question 25

Social Learning and Modelling - Aggression

Answer 25

People can behave aggressively because they see others behaving aggressively Bandura’s Bobo Doll studies ► Showed children… (1) Aggressive model (2) Non-aggressive model (3) No model ► Children exposed to the aggressive model displayed more aggressive behaviour when given the chance to play with toys later

Question 26

Deindividuation - Aggression

Answer 26

Accounts of crowd behaviour emphasise notion of deindividuation ► People essentially aggressive and impulsive ► People inhibit aggression to conform to “civilised” societal norms ► Crowds = anonymity -> less fear of negative evaluation ► Revert to aggressive and impulsive instincts E.g. suicide baiting

Question 27

Norms and Roles - Aggression

Answer 27

- Roles can be associated with both antisocial and prosocial behaviours - Certain roles can be associated with aggression (e.g., gang member, police) - People can become aggressive if they are in these roles ► Deindividuation occurs and assists people to take on whatever role is implied by the situation E.g. Zimbardo’s Prison Study

Question 28

Zimbardo's Prison Study 1971

Answer 28

- Built a fake jail - Arbitrarily split college students into “prisoners” and “guards” - Both “prisoners” and “guards” were deindividuated to socialise them into their roles (e.g. uniforms) - “Guards” became cruel and abusive, “prisoners” became compliant and powerless - Study initially planned for two weeks, but behaviour of “guards” was so abusive, it was stopped after 6 days

Question 29

Zimbardo's Outcome Theory

Answer 29

Psychologically stable, normal members of the population had descended into abusive, degraded behaviour because the role allowed it The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces

Question 30

The Bystander Effect

Answer 30

Kitty Genovese ► Attacked outside her apartment in Queens, New York, 1964 ► Newspapers reported 38 witnesses in apartment building, none called police or came to her aid ► Assailant: "I knew they wouldn't do anything, people never do" - We are less likely to help when others are around than when we are alone (likelihood of helping decreases as # of people increases) - Diffusion of responsibility

Question 31

Diffusion of Responsibility

Answer 31

When we assume others will take responsibility and our sense of responsibility to help decreases

Question 32

Prosocial Behaviour

Answer 32

``` Prosocial behaviour: Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person, regardless of motive Altruism: The desire to help another person with no apparent reward, even if it involves a cost to the helper Factors influencing altriusm ► Empathy ► Modelling ► Instruction ► Time ```