Social Psychology

Social Psychology
THE SELF
William James-- I vs. ME

WHAT DOES THE SELF DO?

ATTITUDES---------BEHAVIOR

LaPiere (1931)

Why was there a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior?

1. Other factors that effect both attitudes and behavior.

2. Attitude specificity

3. Attitudes must be accessible or salient

SELF-AWARENESS THEORY

Duval, Wicklund, & Fine (1970’s)

Flee self-focus

Carver & Scheir (1970’s)

Attitudes----> behavior

Halloween Study

IMPLICATION OF THESE FINDINGS

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

Leon Festinger (1957)

HOW PEOPLE REDUCE DISSONANCE

1) Change one of the cognitions

2) add consonant cognitions

3) change the behavior

INDUCED COMPLIANCE PARADIGM

EFFORT JUSTIFICATION

Aronson & mills (late 1950’s)

Role of choice

Post-decision dissonance

Implication of dissonance theory

ROLES
Zimbardo prison study

CONFORMITY

1. Public compliance

2. Private acceptance
Sherif’s Study (1930’s)

Asch’s study

OBEDIENCE
Milgram’s research

Variation #1: closeness of the authority figure

Variation #2: closeness of the victim

Variation #3: legitimacy of the authority

Variation #4: Presence of two dissenters

Variation #5 indirect involvement

Milgram’s explanations for these findings…

1. People fall into an agentic state

2. Obedience is learned during childhood

3. Foot-in-the-door technique

4. Dissonance

BECKER’S ANALYSIS OF LEADERS & FOLLOWERS

Charles Manson, Rev. Jim Jones, Adolf Hitler, others?

Factor’s that give rise to LEADERS

1. The culture has shaken faith in their worldview

2. The leader presents an unconflicted personality

3. The leader has a vision of a new worldview

4. The leader offers scapegoats

--explains current problems

--controllable source of evil to quell anxieties

--enhances group identity, cohesiveness and Self-esteem

PREJUDICE

Stereotype

Prejudice

Discrimination

Why are stereotypes inaccurate & prejudice unjustifiable?

A. Your own info is based on limited experience.

B. Are often formed based on isolated publicized situations.

C. Generalizations are by definition not always true.

D. All groups are targets of prejudice.

WHY DOES PREJUDICE OCCUR?
1. Historical Roots

2. Group Conflict Theory

3. Social Learning Theory

4. Social Identity Theory

5. Cognitive Factors (heuristics)

HOW DO WE REDUCE PREJUDICE?

1. Education

2. Increase contact between groups--- desegregation

3. Successful cooperation

ROBBERS CAVE STUDY

Sherif and colleagues (1961)

Rattlers vs. Eagles

---introduced a competitive reward structure

---always gave winners prizes & losers nothing

---after a couple of weeks kids were ready to kill each other

WHAT DID THEY DO TO REDUCE PREJUDICE?
1. Gave sermons on cooperation
2. Common Enemy (introduced a third group)--- only a temporary effect
3. Changed the reward structure to cooperative

a. water loss crisis

b. Camp truck breaks down

**Joint goal must be achieved for this to work

Jean Elliot, “eye of the storm.”

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY

1. How easily prejudice develops when groups are formed—especially when there is a status differential
2. How easily it is learned—modeled from adults
3. How easily kids supported and justified their prejudices—when they were on top they could easily see how the other kids were inferior
4. How being the minority effects the victims: lower self-esteem, feelings of helplessness, hatred, lower academic performance
*prejudice leads to self-fulfilling prophecies!

Rosenthal & Jacobsen—self-fulfilling prophecies