This lecture provides an overview of several social psychology topics, particularly: what is social psychology, social influence (including conformity, obedience, and resistance), group decision-making, aggression, pro-social behaviour, altruism, conflict, and peace psychology

1. Psychology 102: Social processes, society, and culture Dr James Neill Centre for Applied Psychology University of Canberra 2009

2. Reading Gerrig et al. (Chapter 17): Social processes, society, and culture

4. Social cognition

5. Attitudes

6. Persuasion / Social influence

7. Prejudice & Stereotypes

8. Relationships & Attraction

11. Obedience

12. Group influence

14. Prosocial behaviour & altruism

15. Conflict & peace

17. Feel (emotions)

18. Behave (actions)

19. Person to Person

20. Group to Person Person to Group

21. Group to Group

22. Why is Social Psychology Important? Why does social psychology matter? … we need to get along – or we'll conflict

23. Topic matching activity Prejudice Aggression Group dynamics Crowd behaviour Social exclusion Allocate one of these topics to each of the following sets of slides... Environmental Relationships Prosocial behaviour Conformity Leadership

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34. Power of the situation (Social influence)

36. How are we affected by pressures to conform and obey?

37. How are we affected by group interaction?

38. How do groups affect our behaviour?

39. Social influence The most significant contribution of social psychology is its study of how our attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions are moulded by social influence .

40. Video: The Power of the Situation Annenberg (1989). The Power of the Situation (Program 19) . [27 min video] Annenberg: Santa Barbara, CA.

43. Conformity When a person adopts a social role , follows a rule , or bends to a social norm , then s/he is, to some extent, conforming to social expectations.

45. Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

50. Why? Price may be severe if not normative behaviour is not followed.

51. Also known as the “Asch effect”

52. Asch’s conformity studies (1950's)

54. 7 subjects; the 6th was real, rest were confederates.

55. Confederates consistently gave obviously wrong answers.

56. The subject often conformed and gave the same wrong answer.

57. On average, 37% of participants conformed .

58. Some never caved .

62. Group size > 2

63. Group is unanimous (lack of dissension).

64. Group status desirable & attractiveness.

66. No prior commitment to response.

67. Culture strongly encourages respect for social standard.

69. Milgram designed a study that investigated the effects of authority on obedience. Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

70. Milgram’s obedience studies

71. Milgram’s Study

73. Depending on subtle changes in conditions, however, compliance varied between 0 & 93%

75. Status of authority figure

76. Depersonalisation of victim

77. Lack of defiant role models

79. Prisoners were arrested, fingerprinted, dressed, and referred to by number.

80. Guards were dressed and given control over prisoners.

81. Subjects became their roles in action, thought and feeling.

83. One dissenter can have a disproportionate effect on reducing the compliance of others. (e.g., Asch)

86. Social comparison Group decision-making: Group polarisation

89. Isolation of group from outside information or influences

90. Dynamic, influential leader

91. High stress from external threats

93. Prosocial behaviour

94. Altruism

95. Conflict & cooperation

96. Peace

99. Neural

101. Operant conditioning

102. Social learning

103. Scripts Aggression

104. Aggression

107. Temperature and aggression

108. Direct provocation and escalation

111. Behaviours which have obvious costs for the provider (e.g. time, resources) Altruism

116. Willingness to assist a person in need

117. 75% help when alone vs. 53% in presence of others

119. Bystanders are less likely to help in presence of more people (e.g. part of a large crowd)

120. "Diffusion of responsibility": The larger the number of bystanders, the less responsibility any one bystander feels to help Bystander effect

122. Bystander must label events as an emergency

123. Bystander must feel responsibility

126. Egoism

127. Collectivism

128. Principlism

130. Communication

131. Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (GRIT) Peacemaking

133. Concepts and images of the “enemy”

134. Peace psychology: Interdisciplinary approach to conflict prevention & peace maintenance Psychology of genocide, war & peace

136. Symbolisation

137. Dehumanisation

138. Organisation

139. Polarisation

140. Preparation

141. Extermination

142. Denial

144. Group dynamics

145. Fostering contact to facilitate conflict resolution

147. ‘Sorry’

148. Herbert Kelman

151. Lose-Win, or

152. Lose-lose. Game theory

153. Game theory

155. Myers, D. G. (2001). Social Psychology (Ch. 18). In D. G. Myers (2001). Psychology (6th ed.) (pp. 643-688). New York: Worth.

156. Myers, D. G. (2007). Social Psychology (Ch. 18). In D. G. Myers (2007). Psychology (8th ed.) (pp. 723-771). New York: Worth. References