Behavior in social and cultural context 8. Overview Roles and rules Social influences on beliefs Individuals in groups Group identity Group conflict and.

Behavior in social and cultural context

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OverviewRoles and rulesSocial influences on beliefsIndividuals in groupsGroup identityGroup conflict and prejudice

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Definitions

NormsRules that regulate human life, including social conventions, explicit laws, and implicit cultural standards

RoleA given social position that is governed by a set of norms for proper behavior

CultureA program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members of a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community

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Your turnAs part of an experiment on learning, you are told to administer an electric shock to another participant every time that participant misremembers a series of words. As the experiment proceeds, the amount of electricity you are administering rises. You started at 15 volts, but the switchboard goes up to 300. How far would you go before you refused to continue?

1. 50 volts2. 100 volts3. 200 volts4. 300 volts

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The obedience studyStanley Milgram and coworkers investigated whether people would follow orders, even when the order violated their ethical standards.

Most people were far more obedient than anyone expected.Every single participant complied with at least some orders to shock another person.Two-thirds shocked the learner to the full extent.

Results are controversial and have generated further research on violence and obedience.

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Factors leading to disobedience

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When the experimenter left the room

When the “learner” was in the same room

When the experimenter issued conflicting orders

When the person ordering them to continue was an ordinary man

When the subject worked with peers who refused to go on

The prison study8

Subjects were physically and mentally healthy young men who volunteered to participate for money.

They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards.

Those assigned the role of prisoner became distressed, helpless, and panicky.

Those assigned the role of guards became either nice, “tough but fair,” or tyrannical.

Study had to be ended after six days.

Factors in obedience8

Allocating responsibility to the authority

Routinizing the task

Wanting to be polite

Becoming entrappedEntrapment: a process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort

Social cognition

An area in social psychology concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perception, and other cognitive processes.

Researchers are interested in how people’s perceptions of themselves and others affect. . .RelationshipsThoughtsBeliefsValues

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Attributions8

Attribution theoryTheory that people are motivated to explain own and others’ behavior by attributing causes of behavior to situation or disposition

Fundamental attribution errorTendency to overestimate personality factors and underestimate situational influence

Attributions8

Self-serving biasTendency to take credit for one’s good actions but to rationalize one’s mistakes

Just-world hypothesisMany people need to believe that the world is fair and that justice is served.

Bad people are punished and good people rewarded.

Your turnYour roommate studies hard for the psychology test, but does not do very well. After receiving the results, she says “It really wasn’t a fair test.” What sort of bias is reflected in this attribution?1. Fundamental attribution error2. Self-serving bias3. Just world hypothesis

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Your turnYour roommate studies hard for the psychology test, but does not do very well. After receiving the results, she says “It really wasn’t a fair test.” What sort of bias is reflected in this attribution?1. Fundamental attribution error2. Self-serving bias3. Just world hypothesis

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Attitudes

A relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and emotional feelings about a topic.Explicit: we are aware of them, they shape conscious decisions

Implicit: we are unaware of them, they influence our behavior in ways we do not recognize

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Factors influencing attitude changeChange in social environment

Change in behaviors

Need for consistencyCognitive dissonance: a state of tension that develops when a person simultaneously holds two contradictory cognitions or when a person’s belief is incongruent with his/her behavior

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Influencing attitudes

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Coercive persuasion8

Person is under physical or emotional duress.

Person’s problems are reduced to one simple explanation, repeated often.

Leader offers unconditional love, acceptance, and attention.

New identity based on group is created.

Person is entrapped.

Person’s access to information is controlled.

Conformity8

Subjects in group asked to match line lengths.

Confederates picked wrong line.

Subjects went with wrong answer in 37% of trials.

Conformity has decreased since 1950, possibly due to changing norms.Individualistic vs. collectivist cultures

Groupthink

In close-knit groups, the tendency for all members to think alike and suppress disagreement for the sake of harmony.

SymptomsIllusion of invincibilitySelf-censorshipPressure on dissenters to conformIllusion of unanimity

Counteracted byCreating conditions that reward dissentBasing decision on majority rule

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The anonymous crowd

Diffusion of responsibilityThe tendency of group members to avoid taking responsibility for actions or decisions because they assume others will do so.

Bystander apathyPeople fail to call for help when others are near.

Social loafingWhen people work less in the presence of others, forcing others to work harder

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Deindividuation8

In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of one’s own individuality.

FactorsSize of city, group

Uniforms or masks

Can influence either unlawful or prosocial behaviorsDepends on norms of specific situation

Disobedience and dissent

Situational factors in nonconformityYou perceive the need for intervention or help.

Situation makes it more likely you will take responsibility.

Cultural norms encourage you to take action.

Cost-benefit ration supports decision to get involved.

You have an ally.

You become entrapped.

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Group identity

Social identityThe part of a person’s self-concept based on identification with a nation, culture, or group, or with gender or other social roles

Us vs. them social identities strengthened when groups compete.Robber’s cave studies

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Ethnocentrism8

The belief that one’s own ethnic group, nation, or religion is superior to all others.

Aids survival by making people feel attached to their own group and willing to work on group’s behalf.

Robber’s cave

Boys randomly separated into two groupsRattlers and Eagles

Competitions fostered hostility between groups.

Experimenters contrived situations requiring cooperation for success.Result: cross-group friendships increased.

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Stereotypes

Cognitive schemas of a group, in which a person believes that all members of a group share common traitsTraits may be positive, negative, or neutral.

Allow us to process quickly new information and retrieve memories

Distort realityExaggerate differences between groupsProduce selective perceptionUnderestimate differences within groups

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Origins of prejudice8

Psychological functionsPeople inflate own self-worth by disliking groups they see as inferior

Social and cultural functionsBy disliking others we feel closer to others who are like us.

Economic functionsLegitimizes unequal economic treatment

Measuring prejudice8

Not all people are prejudiced in the same way.

People know they shouldn’t be prejudiced so measures of prejudice have declined.

Explicit vs. implicit prejudice

Measures of explicit prejudice

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Defining and measuring prejudiceMeasuring implicit prejudiceMeasures of symbolic racism

Measures of behaviors rather than attitudes Measures of unconscious associations with a target group

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Reducing prejudice

Groups must have equal legal status, economic opportunities, and power.

Authorities and institutions must endorse egalitarian norms and provide moral support for all groups.

Groups must have opportunities to work and socialize together, both formally and informally.

Groups must work together for common goal.

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