Psychobiology: Y2 LCRS 2: Social Psychology

A positive or negative evaluative reaction towards a stimulus, such as a person, action, object or concept

To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members

The adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard

Group size – increases up to a group size of 5 (no increase thereafter)
Presence of a dissenter – one person disagreeing greatly reduces conformity
Culture – greater in collectivistic cultures

Set a very simple vision test comparing the lengths of lines and put a subject in the room with several actors who all chose the wrong answer
Majority of people conformed when everyone else chose the wrong answer
In the control group, less than 1% conformed

Compliance with commands given by an authority figure

Remoteness of the victim
Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
Diffusion of responsibility (obedience increases when someone else takes the blame)
NOT personal characteristics

There was one learner and one teacher
They were told that the experiment studied the effect of punishment on memory and they were told to deliver more and more intense shocks as the actor made more and more mistakes
Even though the shock had reached a fatal level when the actor seemed unconscious or even dead, the majority of subjects still obeyed the commands

The tendency for people to expend less individual effort when workingin a group than when working alone

The person believes that the individual performance is not being monitored
The task or the group has less value or meaning to the person
The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
The person expects that other group members will display high effort

Social loafing is more likely to occur in:
 All male groups
 Individualistic cultures

Individual performance is being monitored Members highly value their group or the task goa

The tendency for people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently

The tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement

Group think is more likely to occur if the group:
 is under high stress to reach a decision
 is insulated from outside input
 has a directive leader
 has high cohesiveness

Notice the event
Decide whether it really is an emergency (social comparison – see how others are responding)
Assuming responsibility to intervene (diffusion of responsibility –believe that someone else will help)
Self-efficacy when dealing with the situation
Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis)

Reduce restraints on helping
 Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
 Enhance guilt and concern for self-image
Socialise altruism
 Teaching moral inclusion
 Modelling helpful behaviour
 Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives
 Education about barriers to helping

Participants were invited to take part in a discussion about ‘personal problems’ over the radio
An actor in the adjacent room pretended to have a seizure
When by themselves – the majority of participants helped
When in a group of 4 – only around 30% helped
When in a group of more than 4 – hardly anyone helped

Authoritarian/autocratic style – all decision making done by leader
Democratic/participative – makes decisions after consulting group
Laissez-faire or free reign style – leaves the group entirely to itself