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Class Notes - Social Psychology
Class Notes - Social Psychology
Mild Strong
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Mere Conformity Obedience Coercion
presence
Social Influence
• Mere presence – changing behaviour just
because other people are nearby
• Conform – spontaneously change our
behaviour to bring it into agreement with
others who have no social power/authority
• Obey – changing behaviour in direct response
to the demand’s of an authority
• Coerced – changing behaviour because you
are forced to
Social Power
• Social Power: the ability to control, alter or influence
the behaviour of another person.
• Five types:
1) Reward power – lies in the ability to reward a person
for complying with desired behaviour
2) Coercive power – is based on an ability to punish a
person for failure to comply
3) Legitimate power – comes from accepting a person as
an agent of an established social order
4) Referent power – is based on respect for or
identification with a person or group
5) Expert power – is based on recognition that another
person has knowledge necessary for achieving a goal.
Changing behaviour through
mere presence
• Mere presence: the tendency for people to
change their behaviour just because of the
presence of other people.
• Social facilitation: the tendency of people to
perform better when in the presence of others
- This is related to a person’s level of confidence in
a specific skill
• Social Loafing: the tendency for people to work
less hard when part of a group than when they
are solely responsible for their work
Personal Space
• Personal Space: area surrounding the body
that is defined as private and is subject to
personal control
• It extends ‘I’ or ‘me’ boundaries past the skin
to the immediate environment.
• Proxemics: the systematic study of the human
use of space, particularly in social settings.
Personal Space
• Norms governing comfortable or acceptable distances vary
according to relationships, activities, cultures and geography.
• Hall (1966) identified 4 basic zones that apply to face-to-face
interactions in North America:
Intimate distance - most private space immediately surrounding
the body; 45 cm from the skin. Reserved for special people or
special circumstances
Personal distance - Maintained in interactions with friends. 45
cm to 1.2 m from body; arm’s length
Social distance - Impersonal interaction; 1.2 m to 3.5 m
Public distance - Formal interactions take place (like giving a
speech); 3.5 m or more
Conformity
• Conformity: bringing one’s behaviour into
agreement with actions, norms or values of
others, in the absence of any direct pressure
• Comparing hairstyles, habits of speech, dress,
eating habits and social customs in two or
more cultures makes it clear that we all
conform to social norms.
• Although conformity often has negative
connotations, a degree of uniformity is
necessary if we are to interact comfortably as
it allows us to anticipate the actions of others.
The Asch Experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRh5qy09nNw&feature=player_embedded
The Asch Experiment
• You must select (from a group of three) the line that
most closely matches the standard line. All lines are
shown to a group of six people (including you)
- Other five were accomplices and at times all would
select the wrong line
- In 33% of the trials, the
real subject conformed to
group pressure even when
the group’s answers were
obviously incorrect!
Conformity
• People conform for two main reasons:
1) Because they want to fit in with the group (normative influence)
2) Because they believe the group is better informed than they are
(informational influence)
• Are some people more susceptible to group pressures than
others?
• People with high needs for structure or certainty, are anxious,
low in self-confidence or concerned with the approval of others
are more likely to conform
• People who live in cultures that emphasise group co-operation
are also more likely to conform.
• In addition to personal characteristics, certain situations tend to
encourage conformity.
Group Factors in Conformity
• In most groups: rewarded with acceptance and
approval for conformity and threatened with
rejection or ridicule for nonconformity
• Group Sanctions: Rewards and punishments
administered by groups to enforce conformity
among members
• The more important group membership is to a
person, the more he or she will be influenced by
other group members.
• Majority of three produced the most conformity
• Unanimity is more important than the size of the
majority, 1 confederate can reduce conformity by
80%
• Conformity decreases when participants answer in
private
Compliance
• Compliance: bending to requests of a someone who has
little/no authority or other form of social power
• Foot-in-the-door effect: tendency for a person who has
first complied with a small request to be more likely later
to fulfil a larger request.
• Seeing yourself agree to a small request helps convince
you that you don’t mind doing what was asked. After
that, you are more likely to comply with a larger request.
• Example: Schwarzwald, Bizman, and Raz (1983) study, a
solicitor first asks a person to sign a petition. Then, a few
weeks later, the solicitor asks the person to make a
donation
Compliance
• The door-in-the-face effect: tendency for a person who has
refused a major request to subsequently be more likely to
comply with a minor request
• This strategy works because a person who abandons a large
request appears to have given up something. In response,
many people feel that they must repay this person by giving
in to the smaller request.
• However, it’s effect is limited to situations in which the size of
the initial request is extremely large.
• Eg: “Can I stay the night at my boyfriend’s house?”[Response
is “no”] followed by “Can I go to his house for one hour
instead?”
Compliance
• Lowball technique: a strategy in which
commitment is gained first to reasonable or
desirable terms, which are then made less
reasonable or desirable
• An explanation for the lowball effect is provided
by cognitive dissonance theory. If a person is
already enjoying the prospect of an excellent deal
and the future benefits of the item or idea then
backing out would create cognitive dissonance,
which is prevented by playing down the negative
effects of the ‘extra’ costs.
Gaining Compliance
• There are three basic ways to get people to voluntarily
comply with a request:
1) Start with a small request and then make a bigger
request
2) Make a major request that you know the person will
turn down and then make a smaller request
3) Make a request and get the person to agree to it, then
change the requirements for fulfilling the request
Knowing these strategies allows you to protect yourself
from being manipulated by people using them.
Passive Compliance
• Passive compliance:
passively bending to
unreasonable demands
or circumstances
Obedience
• Obedience: conformity to the demands of an
authority.
• Obedience to authority is a form of
compliance and as such it has been studied in
the laboratories of social psychologists for
over 40 years.
Milgram’s Obedience Studies
• Would you shock a man with a known heart
condition who is screaming and asking to be
released?
• Milgram studied this; the man with a heart
condition was an accomplice and the
“teacher” was a real volunteer. The goal was
to teach the learner word pairs.
• Before the experiment began Milgram gave a
lecture, describing the experiment in detail.
• After the lecture, psychologists predicted
that only 4% of the “teachers” would
progress beyond 300 volts.
Milgram’s Obedience Studies
• Today the field of psychology
would deem this study highly
unethical but, it revealed
some extremely important
findings.
• The “learner” screamed and
provided no further answers
once 300 volts (“Severe
Shock”) was reached
• 65% obeyed by going all the
way to 450 volts on the
“shock machine” even
though the learner eventually
could not answer any more
questions
Results of Milgram’s Experiment
• Milgram suggested that when directions came
from an authority, people rationalise that they
are not responsible for their actions.
• The experimenter said that he took full
responsibility for the study
Milgram’s Follow-up
• Even when run in a shabby building 48% obeyed.
• In later studies he tried to reduce obedience. He found that:
- distance between the ‘teacher’ and the ‘learner’ is
important
- distance from the authority also has an effect
(when the experimenter gave his instructions over the phone
only 22% obeyed).
• Group support can also greatly reduce destructive
obedience
• Milgram’s obedience study has been replicated in many
other countries, including South Africa.
Coercion
• Coercion: being forced to change your beliefs or your
behaviour against your will
• Brainwashing: engineered or forced attitude change involving
a captive audience
• Captivity facilitates complete control over the environment
and allows a degree of psychological manipulation that would
be impossible in a normal setting
• Physical and psychological abuse loosen former values and
beliefs - unfreeze
• When abuse becomes unbearable the person changes and
abandon former beliefs. When they do they are rewarded
• From then on, a mixture of hope and fear and pressures to
conform serve to solidify (refreeze) new attitudes
• However, the effects of brainwashing are temporary and start
to erode if the person is removed from the coercive
environment
Cults
• Cult: a group that professes great devotion to some
person and follows that person almost without
question.
• Cult members are typically victimized by their
leaders in various ways
• Recruitment: in recruiting new members cults use a
powerful blend of manipulation, isolation, deception,
fear and escalating commitment
• Cult members try to catch potential converts at a
time of need – especially when a sense of belonging
will be attractive to converts
Conversion into a cult
1) It begins with intensive displays of affection and understanding
2) Isolation from non-cult members and drills, discipline and
rituals which wear down physical and emotional resistance,
discourage critical thinking and generate feelings of
commitment
- this will often involve foot-in-the-door techniques
3) Making a major commitment like signing over a bank account or
property to the group or moving in with the group
- making such major public commitments creates a powerful
cognitive dissonance effect
4) Once in the group, members are cut off from former reference
groups, value systems and social structures
5) Conversion is complete when people come to think of
themselves more as group members than as individuals
Examples of Cults
People’s Temple; Aum Shinrikyo; Heaven’s
Gate; Manson Family; Branch Davidians;
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s Communities;
Order of the Solar Temple; Villa Baviera; Cargo
Cults; Raelians; Family Radio Network