Social Behavior

1
Chapter 18

• Social Behavior

2
What is Social Psychology? Some Definitions

• Social Psychology Scientific study of how
  individuals behave, think, and feel in social
  situations how people act in the presence
  (actual or implied) of others
• Culture Ongoing pattern of life that is passed
  from one generation to another

3
Social Roles

• Social Role Patterns of behavior expected of
  people in various social positions (e.g.
  daughter, mother, teacher, President (!))
• Ascribed Role Assigned to a person or not under
  personal control
• Achieved Role Attained voluntarily or by special
  effort teacher, mayor, President
• Role Conflict When two or more roles make
  conflicting demands on behavior

4
Groups

• Group Structure Network of roles, communication,
  pathways, and power in a group
• Group Cohesiveness Degree of attraction among
  group members or their commitment to remaining in
  the group
• Cohesive groups work better together
• What kind of groups did you see on Survivor,
  Big Brother, Road Rules, and Real World?
• Status Level of social power and importance
• Norm Accepted, but usually unspoken, standard of
  appropriate behavior

5
Fig. 18.1 Results of an experiment on norms
concerning littering. The prior existence of
litter in a public setting implies that littering
is acceptable. This encourages others to trash
the area. (From Cialdini, Reno, Kallgren,
1990.)
6
Personal Space

• Area surrounding the body that is defined as
  private and is subject to personal control

7
Spatial Norms

• Proxemics Systematic study of human use of
  personal space, especially in social settings
• Intimate Distance Most private space immediately
  surrounding the body 18 inches from the skin.
  Reserved for special people or special
  circumstances
• Personal Distance Maintained in interactions
  with friends. 18 inches to 4 feet from body
  arms length
• Social Distance Impersonal interaction takes
  place 4 to 12 feet
• Public Distance Formal interactions take place
  (like giving a speech) 12 feet or more

8
Fig. 18.2 Typical spatial zones (in feet) for
face-to-face interactions in North America.
Often, we must stand within intimate distance of
others in crowds, buses, subways, elevators, and
other public places. At such times, privacy is
maintained by avoiding eye contact, by standing
shoulder to shoulder or back to back, and by
positioning a purse, bag, package, or coat as a
barrier to spatial intrusions.
9
Social Perception

• Attribution Theory Making inferences about the
  causes of ones own behavior and others behavior
• Consistency Persons behavior changes very
  little in many different circumstances
• Distinctiveness Noticing that a behavior only
  occurs under certain circumstances

10
Social Perception (cont.)

• Actor Person whose behavior is being interpreted
• Object Aim, motive, or target of an action
• Setting Social and/or physical environment in
  which action occurs
• Situational Demands Pressures to behave in
  certain ways in particular settings and social
  situations

11
Other Attribution Concepts

• Discounting Downgrading internal explanations of
  behavior when a persons actions seem to have
  strong external causes
• Consensus Degree to which people respond alike.
  In attribution, implies that responses are
  externally caused
• Self-Handicapping Arranging to perform under
  conditions that impair performance, so as to have
  an excuse for a poor performance
• Lisa said, I took 3 classes while my foot hurt
  all semester thats why I got a 0.5 average!

12
More Attribution Concepts

• Fundamental Attribution Error Tendency to
  attribute behavior of others to internal causes
  (personality, likes, and so on). We believe this
  even if they really have external causes!
• Actor-Observer Bias Tendency to attribute
  behavior of others to internal causes, while
  attributing the behavior of ourselves to external
  causes (situations and circumstances)

13
Affiliation

• Need to Affiliate Desire to associate with other
  people appears to be a basic human trait
• Social Comparison Making judgments about
  ourselves by comparing ourselves to others. E.g.
  comparing our feelings and abilities to those of
  other people
• Downward Comparison Comparing yourself with
  someone who ranks lower than you on some area
  (e.g. money, attractiveness)
• Upward Comparison Comparing ourselves to someone
  who ranks higher than we do on some area may be
  used for self-improvement (something we strive
  for)

14
Interpersonal Attraction

• Social attraction to another person
• Physical Proximity Physical nearness to another
  person in terms of housing, school, work, and so
  on
• Physical Attractiveness Persons degree of
  physical beauty as defined by his or her culture
• Halo Effect Tendency to generalize a favorable
  impression to unrelated personal characteristics

15
Interpersonal Attraction (cont.)

• Similarity Extent to which two people are alike
  in terms of age, education, attitudes, and so on
• Similar people are attracted to each other
• Homogamy Tendency to marry someone who is like
  us in almost every way

16
CNN Fan Psyche
17
Self-Disclosure

• Process of revealing private thoughts, attitudes,
  feelings and ones history to others
• Should be used cautiously and sparingly when you
  are the therapist performing therapy
• May lead to countertransference in therapy
• Reciprocity Return in kind reciprocal exchange
• Overdisclosure Self-disclosure that exceeds what
  is appropriate for a relationship or social
  situation

18
Social Exchange Theory

• Social Exchange Theory Rewards must exceed costs
  for relationships to endure we unconsciously
  weigh social rewards and costs
• Comparison Level Personal standard used to
  evaluate social rewards and costs in a social
  exchange
• Relationship needs to be profitable enough to
  maintain it

19
Love and Attachment

• Romantic Love Marked by high levels of
  interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and
  heightened arousal
• Liking Relationship based on intimacy but
  lacking passion and commitment
• Mutual Absorption When two lovers almost always
  attend only to each other
• Avoidant Attachment Fear of intimacy and a
  tendency to resist commitment to others
• Ambivalent Attachment Mixed emotions about
  relationships conflicting feelings of affection,
  anger and emotional turmoil

20
Fig. 18.4 What do people look for when
considering potential dating partners? Here are
the results of a study in which personal ads were
placed in newspapers. As you can see, men were
more influenced by looks, and women by success
(Goode, 1996). According to evolutionary
psychologists, women tend to be concerned with
whether mates will devote time and resources to a
relationship. Men place more emphasis on physical
attractiveness and sexual fidelity.
21
Social Influence

• Changes in a persons behavior induced by the
  actions of another person
• Someone else influences your decision husband,
  wife, mother, peer, etc.
• Peer pressure Rudy is swayed by Fanny to go see
  The Matrix Reloaded when he really wanted to
  see Terminator 3

22
Conformity

• Bringing ones behavior into agreement with norms
  or the behavior of others
• Solomon Aschs 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 groups answers
  were obviously incorrect!

23
Fig. 18.5 Stimuli used in Solomon Aschs
conformity experiments.
24
Group Factors in Conformity

• Groupthink Compulsion by decision makers to
  maintain each others approval, even at the cost
  of critical thinking
• Group Sanctions Rewards and punishments
  administered by groups to enforce conformity
• Unanimity Unanimous agreement

25
Power

• Social Power Capacity to control, alter or
  influence the behavior of another person
• Reward Power Rewarding a person for complying
  with desired behavior
• Coercive Power Based on ability to punish a
  person for failure to comply

26
More Power Concepts

• Legitimate Power Accepting a person as an agent
  of an established social order
• Referent Power Respect for, or identification
  with, a person or a group
• Expert Power Based on possession of knowledge or
  expertise

27
Obedience (Milgram)

• Conformity to the demands of an authority
• 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.

28
Fig. 18.6 Scenes from Stanley Milgrams study of
obedience the shock generator, strapping a
learner into his chair, and a teacher being
told to administer a severe shock to the learner.
29
Milgrams Results

• 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
• The learner screamed and provided no further
  answers once 300 volts (Severe Shock) was
  reached
• Group support can reduce destructive obedience

30
Fig. 18.7 Results of Milgrams obedience
experiment. Only a minority of subjects refused
to provide shocks, even at the most extreme
intensities. The first substantial drop in
obedience occurred at the 300-volt level
(Milgram, 1963).
31
Fig. 18.8 Physical distance from the learner
had a significant effect on the percentage of
subjects obeying orders.
32
Compliance

• Bending to the requests of one person who has
  little or no authority or social power
• Foot-in-the-Door Effect A person who has agreed
  to a small request is more likely later to agree
  to a larger demand.
• Once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is
  almost a sure thing
• Door-in-the-Face Technique A person who has
  refused a major request will be more likely later
  on to comply with a smaller request
• After the door has been slammed in your face
  (major request refused), person may be more
  likely to agree to a smaller request

33
Compliance (cont.)

• Low-Ball Technique Commitment is gained first to
  reasonable or desirable terms, which are then
  made less reasonable or desirable
• Henry accepts the price he states for a new car.
  Then, later, Tillie the saleswoman tells Henry
  The business would lose too much money on that
  price cant you take a bit less and add all
  these options?
• Passive Compliance Passively bending to
  unreasonable demands or circumstances

34
Assertiveness Training

• Instruction in how to be self-assertive
• Self-Assertion Standing up for your rights by
  speaking out on your own behalf direct, honest
  expression of feelings and desires
• Aggression Hurting another person or achieving
  ones goals at the expense of another person
• Attempt to get ones way no matter what
• No regard for other people's feelings
• Broken Record Self-assertion technique that
  involves repeating a request until it is
  acknowledged
• Good way to be assertive without being aggressive

35
Fig. 18.9 In an experiment done at an airport, a
smoker intentionally sat or stood near
non-smokers. Only 9 percent of the non-smokers
asked the smoker to stop smoking, even when
no-smoking signs were clearly visible nearby
(Gibson Werner, 1994).
36
Social Traps

• Any social situation that rewards individual
  actions that will have undesired effects in the
  long run
• Anya buys things on credit for immediate
  satisfaction and then gets a HUGE bill later,
  which she cannot afford
• Tragedy of the Commons Type of social trap where
  individuals share a scarce resource. Each person
  acts in his or her self-interest, which causes
  the resource to be used up, so eventually
  everyone suffers
• No efforts made, for example, to conserve water,
  gasoline, electricity, or food
• Some social behaviors produce immediate rewards
  but have significant consequences in the long run