PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Stanford Prison Experiment, Philip Zimbardo, Deindividuation
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Social Psychology
Social Psychologists study groups of people
Defined: Study of how individuals think about, influence, and relate to one another
Study of how others influence one’s behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes
Humans as Social Beings
150 – (Found in many replicated studies) Average # of people in groups
(Facebook friends, village, business, personal, happenstance, etc.)
We are hardwired to be social and have connections
Need to Belong – (3rd level of basic needs) Same areas of the brain that are
activated in the brain when talking about being lonely or isolated, are the same as when
you experience physical pain. (Died of a heart break; gut punch feeling when you hear
of a death, etc.)
Social Comparisons – Either can be good or bad; based upon how we choose to
view or use the comparison
Upward – Comparing to someone that you access to be superior to you
(Arnold Palmer to golfers) (CEO of your company) Can be bad if it makes you feel bad
about yourself (No way I could ever compete with Arnold Palmer) (I could never run the
company) Positive or negative
Downward – Comparing to someone that you feel superior to (Looking
down on other people just to build yourself up = bad thing) (If you see how far you’ve
come through hard work = Good thing)
Social Contagion – Happens in an ambiguous or novel experience
Mass Hysteria – Ex. One person gets hysteric over turbulence on a plane,
and then more people become hysteric, and before you know it people who are usually
fine on a plane are freaking out.
Urban Legends – Stories being repeated over and over; soon enough
people remember it and believe it even against your better judgement. That much
repetition makes for more believable to people.
Social Facilitation
Social Disruption
Enhancement of performance due to
presence of others
Worsening of performance in the
presence of others
Easier task
More difficult tasks
Cognition – Attribution Theory: Tendency to assign causes to behavior
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