Dylan Vogel

Psych Notes
Social psychology

I. Stanford Prison experiment

Social psychology – studies the effects of social variables and cognitions on dinividual
behavior.
Social Context – combination of people, activities, and locations where these behaviors
occur. The expectations and social norms of these situations
a. Results
b. Shows power of social situations
c. Responses are not objective, but rather subjective
i. Perception
II. How does the social situation affect our behavior?
a. Social standards of behavior
i. Social roles: who are you?
ii. Determined by the situations in which you live and function
iii. Script – involves a person’s knowledge about the sequence of
events and actions that are expected in certain situations
Situationalism – the view that environmental conditions influence peoples behavior as
much as their disposition does.
b. social norms
i. unwritten rules-how you should act, dress, talk etc.
ii. Political views
Social role – one of several socially defined patterns of behavior that are expected of
persons in a given setting or group.
Script – a cluster of knowledge about the sequence of events and actions expected to
occur in a particular setting.
Social Norms – A groups exoectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for
its members attitudes and behaviors
c. The Asch effect
i. Studies conformity
ii. Line – perception
iii. Major factors include: group size, if the subject has an ally
Asch effect – Form of conformity in which a group majority influences individual
judgments.
Conformity – the tendency for people to adopt to the behaviors attitudes and opinions of
other members in group.
d. Group characteristics that produce conformity
i. Size of group
ii. Presence of a partner who disagrees with the majority
iii. Size of discrepancy
e. Group think
i. Groups can also be pressured to conform
ii. Group members conform opinions
iii. Factors promoting group think:
 1. isolation of the group
2. High group cohesiveness
3. directive leadership
4. lack of norms requiring methodical procedures
5. conformity of members social backgrounds
6. high stress from external threats
III. obedience to authority
a. Milgram’s obedience experiment
i. Punishes errors
ii. Electric shock
iii. How far can authority push you?
b. Shocking results
i. 2/3 give final (450 volts)
ii. results are the same for college students
iii. not sadistic people
iv. authority – people obey even against their will
c. why do we obey authority?
i. If a peer does
ii. When the victim was remote from the teacher
iii. When the teacher was under direct scrutiny by the authority
iv. When the teacher was an intermediary
v. When the authority figure had a higher relative status
Case 38
The Power of Conformity
Asch

Subjects were asked to identify which two lines in a series were the same length. Some
were asked in solidarity, and some were asked when in the presence of a group who
chose the wrong set of lines. The subjects by themselves were the control. This was
meant to measure the ability of a group to influence the perception of the subject.

This was an experiment, where all of the variables were controlled. Natural selection was
used as well as a control group, and deception were used in order to make the selection
and experiment totally un biased.

The results showed the subjects conforming to the majority more often than not, and that
correctness was decreased by almost 50 percent when influenced by other fake subjects.
It was found that contributing factors to conformity were group size, if the tested subject
had at least one ally, and the margin of error.

This means that people are easily influenced by there peers, especially when in a group
setting. And that people are affected by more than simply being in a group.

This is relevant because it helps to explain a lot of adolescent behavior, and could help to
reduce peer pressure in certain situations, and may lead to a decrease in dug use and other
delinquent behaviors.

There does not appear to be any ethical concerns.

Yes, many people of different back grounds were experimented on, making this a viable
study.

This relates to what we are doing in class because it shows how people react in social
situations when confronted by a group of people, and put in a situation where they are in
a state of conflict.

I think it would be interesting to conduct this experiment just so that I can see the results.
I find it easy to believe given how teenagers react in situations where peer pressure is put
upon them.

Case 40
Obey at any cost
Milgram

This was used to test the effect that authority had on a persons judgment and actions in a
somewhat oppressive atmosphere.
This also was an experiment, as it placed subjects in controlled environment. Deception
was again used in order to ensure a total unbiased experiment, as well as people from
many different backgrounds so that there was a large sample group.

The results were surprising, 2/3 of the people in the study went all the way to the highest
setting (450 volts) , almost all displayed signs of distress, they continued at the urging of
the proctor. A background check was done on all participants, and none were found to
have any form of violent back grounds, showing that under direct pressure from a
powerful authority, people can be pushed to do almost anything.

The results mean that anyone is capable of something like this, and that it is held in all of
us, and that a higher authority can be used to manipulate almost anyone, especially when
they are in a high stress situation.

This helps to identify us with cults that commit mass suicide, suicide bombers, and teens
that join gangs for no apparent reason. This can help us identify with many people that at
first glance may seem manipulated, but in reality are not at fault.

The only ethical issue I can think of that was broken was deception, because people may
have been psychologically damaged, and put under a lot of distress. However the
subjects were debriefed making it more ethical/

This relates because again it is how people take social queues, and how we respond to
given commands etc. also, its how people can be manipulated my a group or person
using social queues and standards to force them to do something even when they are
clearly uncomfortable.

This is useful to me because it can help me to be more conscious of who I am being

manipulated by, and how and what I am being asked to do.