Mors 200 Arts Final - Chapter 11 Discovering Psychology Notes Part 3

You are facing a unanimous group of at least 4 to 5 people

You must give your response in front of the group

You have not already expressed commitment to a different idea or opinion

You find the task to be ambiguous or difficult

You doubt your abilities or knowledge in the situation

You are strongly attracted to a group and want to be a member of it

Because these cultures tend to emphasize independence, self-expression, and standing out from the crowd, the whole notion of conformity tends to carry a negative connotation.

Publicly conforming while privately disagreeing tends to be regarded as socially appropriate tact or sensitivity. Publicly challenging the judgements of others, particularly the judgement of members of one's in-group, would be considered rude, tactless, and insensitive to the feelings of others.

Was one of the most creative and influential researchers that social psychology has known.

Best known for his experimental investigations of obedience

Could a person be pressured by others into committing an immoral act, some action that violated his or her own conscience, such has hurting a stranger?

Stanley Milgram recruited participants through direct mail solicitations and ads in the local paper. The participants represented a wide range of occupational and educational backgrounds.

Outwardly, it appeared that only 2 participants showed up at the same time at Yale University, but the second participant is actually an accomplice working with Milgram.

They were told the experiment was to "examine the effects of punishment on learning"

Both participants drew a card to determine who was the "teacher" and who was the "learner" (this was rigged - the accomplice was always the learner).

The participant, being assigned the role of the teacher, would be responsible for "punishing" the learner via electric shocks (which when up in intensity each time).

The teacher and the learner were then taken into different rooms, and the teacher would speak to the learner though a microphone to test the learner on a simple word-pair memory task.

The teacher was given the first (and only real) electric shock of 45 volts - just in case there was doubt of the experiment.

The experiment would be halted when the teacher refused to obey the experimenter's orders to continue.

The maximum shock level was 450 volts.

A previously well-established mental framework to obey.

The situation, or context, in which the obedience occurred.

The gradual, repetitive escalation of the task.

The experimenter's behavior and reassurances.

The physical and psychological separation from the learner.

Confidence that the learner was actually receiving shocks.

When teachers were allowed to act as their own authority and freely choose the shock level, 95% did not venture beyond 150 volts.

150 volts was the first point that the student protested.

Milgram found that people were more likely to muster up the courage to defy an authority when they saw others do so.

more likely to stand by their convictions when they saw that they were not alone in expressing them.

Original study - 68%

Experiment conducted in office building instead of university setting. - 48%

Teacher and learner in same room - 40%

Teacher required to force learner's hand down on a "shock plate" - 30%

Experimenter leaves laboratory and gives orders over the phone. - 23%

Experimenter leaves and ordinary man gives orders to continue. - 20%

Teacher observes two other teachers rebel and refuse to continue. - 10%

Teacher free to choose own shock level - 3%

The degree to which our behavior is influenced by situational factors.

Being at odds with the majority or with the authority figures is uncomfortable for most people - enough so that our judgement and perceptions can be distorted and we may act in ways that violate our conscience.

Each of us does have the capacity to resist group or authority pressure. - it's easy to overlook the fact that some participants refused to conform or obey despite considerable social and situational pressure.

We need to emphasize that conformity and obedience are not completely bad in and of themselves.

Conformity and obedience are necessary for an orderly society, which is why such behaviors are well instilled in al of us as children.

The critical issue is whether the norms we conform to, or the orders we obey, reflect values that respect the rights, well-being, and dignity of others.

Fundamentally selfless- the individual is motivated purely by the desire to help someone in need.

Not necessarily altruistic, help people out of:

guilt

to gain something such as recognition, rewards, increased self-esteem, or having the favor returned.

possible evolutionary causes

Actives in the brain structures as rewards

They must notice an emergency situation

They must interpret it as a situation that actually requires help.

They must decide that it is their responsibility to offer help.

The "feel good, do good" effect

Feeling guilty

Seeing others who are willing to help

Perceiving the other person as deserving help

Knowing how to help

A personalized relationship

A dangerous situation

People who feel good, successful, happy or fortunate are more likely to decide to help others.

Good feelings are due to virtually any positive event, such as succeeding at a task or even just enjoying a warm, sunny day.

We tend to be more helpful when we feel guilty.

We are more likely to help others if we see other people doing the same.

True even when we are the recipient of help

We are more likely to decide to help people who are in need of help through no fault of their own.

Knowing what to do and being physically capable of helping contributes greatly to the decision to help someone else.

Some universities offer bystander training

When people have any sort of personal relationship with another person, even at the level of simply making eye contact with someone, they're more likely to decide to help that person.

May explain cyber bullying

Those that are clearly an emergency, those when the perpetrator is present, and those that present a physical risk to the helper.

even online, may intervene in cyber bullying when it is more severe

The presence of other people- bystander effect

Diffusion of responsibility

Being in a big city or a very small town

Vague or ambiguous situation

When the personal costs for helping outweigh the benefits.

In general, people are much more likely to deicide to help when they are alone. If other people are present of imagined, helping behavior declines. (bystander effect)

The responsibility to intervene is shared among all the onlookers (diffusion of responsibility). Because no one person feels the pressure to respond, each bystander becomes less likely to help.

normative social influence

Informational social influence

Each of us is motivated to some extent by the desire to behave in a socially acceptable way.

Each of us is motivated to some extent by the desire to appear correct.

People are less likely to help strangers in big cities, but other aspects of city life, crowding and economic status, also effect helping. On the other hand, people are also less likely to help a stranger in towns with populations under 5,000.

When situations are ambiguous and people are not certain that help is needed, they're less likely to decide to offer help.

especially reluctant to intervene when the situation appears to be a domestic dispute, because they are not certain that assistance is wanted.

As a general rule, we tend to weigh the costs as well as the benefits of helping in deciding whether to act. If the potential costs outweigh the benefits, it's less likely that people will help.

The be classified as this, the aggressor must believe that their behavior is harmful to the other person, and the other person does not wish to be harmed.

Driven by biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Include genetic, structural, and biochemical explanations.

Identical twins have similar aggressive tendencies, whether or not they were raised together. - indicates a strong genetic influence on aggressive behavior

evolutionary- can help people to acquire or secure resources for themselves and for those who share their genes.

Differences in the part of the brain that regulate emotion, including the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, and the limbic system.

Observed differences in the prefrontal cortex of people who are prone to aggression and angry outbursts.

Include the hormone testosterone and alcohol abuse.

Out of 96 boys studies from kindergarten through the age 21, found that boys who had higher levels of testosterone over this period were more likely to have criminal records as adults.- not limited to men- there are conflicting studies for this

Although most people who consume alcohol are not violent, the rate of violence is higher among those under the influence of alcohol rather than those who have not consumed alcohol.-aggressive person's level of intoxication was generally related to the severity of the violent act.

A great deal of aggressive behavior is learned.

frustration

Often mimicking behavior they have seen- a form of observational learning.

Exposure to violence may lead to aggression over the longer term.

Exposure to violence in the media (film, video-game, music lyrics) might increase the likelihood that someone would act aggressively, perhaps mimicking the violence they viewed.

Pornography (especially depicting sexual violence) has been linked to increased aggressive attitudes towards women.

Driven by situational factors that are annoying or frustrating.

high temperatures, even words associated with high temperatures (sun-burn, sweats)

global scale

Stressful situations or annoying people

road rage- typically with younger or male drivers- results from a number of factors, especially frustration, the frustration that results when we perceive inappropriate or reckless driving behavior, when there is heavy traffic, or when we are running late.

These factors are even more likely to lead to aggression when we're already stressed out for other reasons.

men are more likely to behave in physically aggressive ways

Females are more likely to just as aggressive as men via indirect aggression

Environmental factors

influenced by reactions of others-

More common in certain types of societies. - less economically developed, higher levels of economic inequality, societies that are not democracies

concept of a culture of honor

masculine honor

Aggression related to interactions, such as gossiping and spreading rumors.

One in which actions perceived as damaging to your reputation must be addressed.

An emphasis on masculinity and male toughness.

A simple, but powerful social norm.

Almost anything freely given.

Sleep on it

Play devil's advocate

When in doubt, do nothing.