PSY1022 Chapter Notes - Chapter Prescribed: Stanford Prison Experiment, Social Comparison Theory, Fundamental Attribution Error
26 May 2018
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PSY1022 – Readings – week 9-10 – Social psychology
- social psychology
• the study of how people influence other’s behaviour, beliefs and attitudes
• - 150 - number of the approximate size of most human social groups
- need to belong theory - biological based need for interpersonal connections in
humans
- social comparison theory
• theory that we seek to evaluate our beliefs, attitudes and abilities by
comparing our reactions with those of others
- mass hysteria
• outbreak of irrational behaviour that is spread by social contagion
- social facilitation
• enhancement of performance brought about by the presence of others
- social disruption
• worsening of behaviour in the presence of others
- fundamental attribution error
• attribution
•
o process of assigning causes to behaviour
• tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other
people’s behaviour and to underestimate the impact of situational
influences
- conformity
• tendency of people to alter their behaviour as a result of group pressure
• the asch paradigm
•
o participants conformed to the wrong answer
• social influence on conformity
•
o uniformity of agreement
o
▪ if all participants gave the wrong answer the participant is
more likely to conform
o difference in the wrong answer
o size
• associated with individual and cultural differences
- deindividuation
• tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behaviour when they are
stripped of their usual identities
• feeling of anonymity and a lack of individual responsibility
• more vulnerable to social influence - impact of social roles
• stanford prison study
- groupthink
• emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking and
sound decision-making
- group polarisation
• tendency of group discussion to strengthen the dominant positions held
by individual group members
- cults
• groups of individuals who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to
a single cause
• cults promote groupthink in four major ways
•
o having a persuasive leader who fosters loyalty
o disconnecting group members from the outside world
o discouraging questioning of the group’s or leader’s assumption
o establishing training practices that gradually indoctrinate
members
• inoculation effect
•
o approach to conning people to change their minds about
something by first introducing reasons why the perspective might
be correct and then debunking it
- obedience
• adherence to instructions from those of higher authority
• the milgram paradigm
•
o parametric studies
o
▪ studies in which an experimenter systematically
manipulates the independent variable to observe its effects
on the dependent variable
- prosocial behaviour
• bystander non-intervention
•
o bystander effect - presence of others makes people less likely to
help
• diffusion of responsibility
•
o reduction in feelings of personal responsibility in the presence of
others
• social loafing
•
o phenomenon whereby individual become less productive in
groups
• pluralistic ignorance
•
o error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do
- prosocial behaviour and altruism
• altruism
•
o helping others for unselfish reasons
• helping - situation influences
•
o more likely to help when situation cannot be easily avoided
• enlightenment effect
•
Document Summary
Psy1022 readings week 9-10 social psychology the study of how people influence other"s behaviour, beliefs and attitudes. 150 - number of the approximate size of most human social groups. Need to belong theory - biological based need for interpersonal connections in humans. Social comparison theory theory that we seek to evaluate our beliefs, attitudes and abilities by comparing our reactions with those of others. Mass hysteria: outbreak of irrational behaviour that is spread by social contagion. Social facilitation: enhancement of performance brought about by the presence of others. Social disruption: worsening of behaviour in the presence of others. Fundamental attribution error: attribution, process of assigning causes to behaviour tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people"s behaviour and to underestimate the impact of situational influences. Groupthink: emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking and sound decision-making. Group polarisation tendency of group discussion to strengthen the dominant positions held by individual group members.
