Social Influence

1. Social PsychologyThe scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. Social Influence

2. Specification - Social influence • Social influence • Conformity, why people conform, types of conformity • Obedience to authority • Social influence in everyday life • Explanations of independent behaviour • How social influence research helps us understand social change

3. Quiz • In order to change people’s racist behaviors, we first need to change their racist attitudes. • Most people would refuse to obey and authority figure who told them to hurt an innocent person. • Studies of college and professional athletic events indicate that home teams win about 6 in 10 games. • Individuals pull harder in a team tug-of-war than when they pull in a one-on-one tug-of war. • The higher the morale and harmony of a social group, the more likely are its members to make a good decision. • Sex-selective neglect and abortions have resulted in China and India together having 76 million fewer females than they should have. • Those who keep a gun in the house are more likely to be murdered. • From research on liking and loving, it is clear that opposites attract. • We are less likely to offer help to a stranger if other bystanders are present. • Putting individuals from two prejudiced groups of people into close contact will defuse conflict. 1. False False True False False True True False True False

4. Conformity • Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

6. Reasons for Conforming: Avoid rejection or gain social approval. This is ‘normative social influence’.

7. Informational Social Influence: When we accept others’ opinions about reality.

8. So What About … … ?

9. Experimental evidence What do experiments on conformity and compliance reveal about the power of social influence? Behavior is contagious. We are natural mimics. This is called the chameleon effect.

10. Milgram Experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk Milgram's Obedience to Authority Experiment 2009 1/3

11. Asch’s Study of Conformity

12. Asch’s Results • About 1/3 of the participants conformed • 70% conformed at least once • To strengthen conformity: • The group is unanimous • The group is at least three people • One admires the group’s status • One had made no prior commitment

13. Group Influence • How do groups affect our behavior?

14. Social Facilitation • When you are good at something, you do it even better when people are watching

15. Social Loafing • The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqJ79kAFVho SouthPark.mov

16. Deindividuation • People get swept up in a group and lose sense of self • Feel anonymous and aroused • Explains rioting behaviors

17. Effects of Group Polarization and Groupthink

18. Groupthink

20. Group Polarization • Groups tend to make more extreme decisions than the individual. e.g. after discussion people supportive of a war become more supportive

21. Jones Town Pt. 1 - Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7IxGGfpSWk

22. Groupthink • Group members suppress their reservations about the ideas supported by the group. • They are more concerned with group harmony. • Worse in highly cohesive groups. Funny Elevator Psychology http://www.guzer.com/videos/elevator-psychology.php

23. Zimbardo’s Prison Study • Showed how we deindividuate AND become the roles we are given. • Philip Zimbardo has students at Stanford U play the roles of prisoner and prison guards in the basement of psychology building. • They were given uniforms and numbers for each prisoner. • What do you think happened?

24. Deindividuation • People get swept up in a group and lose sense of self. • Feel anonymous and aroused. • Explains rioting behaviors.

25. Cultural Influence • The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

26. Norms: rules for accepted and expected behavior.

27. Personal space: the portable buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies.