Medical sociology

1. SSN 253: BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE II
COURSE INSTRUCTOR:
ESTHER OHENEWA (MRS)
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
DEPARTMENT OF BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE

2. Goal
To help students understand behavior from group and individual interactions and
attitude and social influences

3. Outline
• Definition of social psychology and social perception
• Understanding behavior
• Understanding attitude
• Understanding social relations
• Group dynamics
• Group influence
• Conflict and peacemaking
• Implication for practice

4. Social Psychology
• Refers to how our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and behaviors are
influenced by interactions with others OR
• The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one
another.
• Social cognition: focuses on how we perceive, store, and retrieve
information about social interactions

5. Social Perception
• Every day we are make judgments about others based on our perceptions of
who they are. Then, when we interact with these people, we must adjust our
judgments to explain their behavior and ours.
• Social perception: it is the process through which we explain the behavior of
others by making judgments about them. Our judgments are influenced by
our perceptions of others.
• -primacy effect: the tendency to form opinions on others based on first
impressions
• -schema: the knowledge or set of assumptions that we develop about any
person or event

6. Understanding Behaviour
• Why do people behave the way they do?
• Or why do people put up particular or certain behaviours?
• How do we interpret and explain people’s behavior?
• -We can attribute behavior to a person's stable, enduring traits. Or we can
attribute behavior to the situation
• -Behaviour are actions we put up our response to situations

7. Attribution Theory
• Proposed by Fritz Heider (1958)
• A collection of principles based on our explanations of the causes of events,
other people’s behaviors, and our own behaviors
• Internal attributions or dispositional factors: attributing the cause of behavior
to individual characteristics
• External attributions or situational factors: attributing the cause of behavior
to external factors
• We can make errors when we decide whether behavior is caused by internal
or external factors

8. Fundamental
Attribution Error
• It is the tendency to attribute others’ behavior to dispositional causes OR
• An inclination to over attribute others’ behavior to internal causes
(dispositional factors) and discount the situational factors contributing to
their behavior
• Simply put: it is the overestimate the influence of personality and
underestimate the influence of situations.

9. Actor-observer Bias
• The tendency to attribute one’s own behavior to outside causes but
attribute the behavior of others to internal causes

10. Self-serving Bias
• A tendency to claim success is due to our efforts, while failure is due to
circumstances beyond our control

11. Attitude
• It refers to one’s predisposition to act, think, and feel in particular ways
toward a class of people, objects, or an idea OR
• It refers to feelings, based on our beliefs, that predispose our reactions to
objects, people, and events
• Some attitudes are explicit: we are aware of them, they shape our
conscious decisions and actions, and they can be measured on self report
questionnaires.
• Others are implicit: we are unaware of them, they may influence our
behavior in ways we do not recognize, and they are measured in indirect
ways

12. Component of Attitude
• The cognitive/belief component refers to what you believe about a
particular object or issue.
• The affective/emotional component consists of your feelings toward the
attitudinal object.
• The behavioural/action component refers to your actions toward
various people, objects, or institutions.

13. Attitude Formation
• Attitudes are formed through:
• Conditioning,
• Observational learning,
• and cognitive evaluation

14. Conditioning
• Classical conditioning: When a new stimulus (the conditioned stimulus)
is paired with a stimulus that already causes a certain reaction (the
unconditioned stimulus), the new stimulus begins to cause a reaction
similar to the one caused by the original stimulus.
• Operant conditioning: Attitudes are formed when we receive praise,
approval, or acceptance for expressing certain attitudes or when we are
punished for expressing other attitudes

15. Observational Learning
• You may develop your attitudes by watching and imitating others
• Culture- It influences everything from our taste in food to our attitudes
toward human relationships and our political opinions.
• Parents
• Peers

16. Cognitive Evaluation
• This happens when we systematically think about an issue that affects us
directly. For example, if your friend speaks strongly about KNUST and its
credentials, you may not simply accept her argument. You may list and evaluate
the pros and cons of KNUST versus any other University when you are
selecting the college to attend.
• Sometimes, some people prefer shortcuts also known as heuristic
• Heuristic- a mental shortcut, to form an attitude.
• Eg., if our client feels strongly about a medication and uses many statistics or
big words when speaking about a specific medication, we may agree with
him/her simply because he/she sounds like she knows what she is talking about.

17. Functions of Attitudes
• 1) Attitudes as a self-defining mechanism
• If you asked a friend to describe herself, she will probably include a
physical description of herself, and her attitudes, or values, about certain
things. Eg., she may claim that she likes helping others, tries to be a good
student, or is a strong supporter of equal rights.
• These attitudes help her define who she is.
• These attitudes make up her self-concept.
• Our self-concept refers to how we see or describe ourselves

18. Cont.
• 2) Attitudes serve as cognitive guidelines and guides to action.
• Our attitudes serve as guidelines for interpreting and categorizing people,
objects, and events. Attitudes also guide us toward or away from
particular people, objects, and events

19. Attitude Change
• The three main processes involved in forming or changing attitudes are
compliance, identification, and internalization
• Compliance: a change of behavior to avoid discomfort or rejection and
to gain approval
• Identification: seeing oneself as similar to another person or group and
accepting the attitudes of another person or group as one’s own
• Internalization: incorporating the values, ideas, and standards of others
as a part of oneself
• Persuasion: a direct attempt to influence attitudes.

20. Cont.
• -Persuasion is equally any deliberate attempt to change attitudes or
beliefs through information and arguments
• - A key element in persuasion is the communication process

21. The Communication Process
• An effective persuasive communication centers on four main elements
namely:
• i) The communicator- credibility, expertise, trustworthiness,
attractiveness etc
• ii) The message- there are two ways to deliver a message.
• -The central route for persuasion- focuses on presenting information
consisting of strong arguments and facts—it is a focus on logic.
• -The peripheral route for persuasion- relies on emotional appeals,
emphasizing personal traits or positive feelings.

22. Cont.
• -communicators must also decide whether to present a one-sided or two-
sided argument
• iii) The audience- demographic details, preferences, personality traits etc
• Strategies used include:
• -the foot-in-the-door technique- which involves first making a very small
request that someone is almost sure to agree to and then making a much
more demanding request

23. Cont.
• -the door-in-the-face technique- to encourage people to agree to a
moderate request that might otherwise be rejected, you make a major
request—likely to be rejected. When it is, you follow up immediately
with a more minor request.
• Eg., you might ask a friend, “I’m helping my parents move this weekend.
Would you come over and help us Saturday and Sunday until we’re
done?” “No? Well, then, could you come over Saturday morning and just
help me move our grand piano?”

24. Cont.
• iv) The channel -where, when, and how a message is presented also
influences the audience’s response. Eg., personal contact is the most
effective approach to an audience

25. Measurement of attitude
• Open-ended interviews
• Questionnaires or scales

26. Relationship Between Attitude and Behaviour
• 1) Attitudes affect our behavior, but other factors, including the situation,
also influence behavior
• Attitudes are more likely to affect behavior When
• -External influences are minimal
• -The attitude is stable
• -The attitude is specific to the behavior
• -The attitude is easily recalled.
• 2) Actions affect attitudes: We come to believe in what we have stood up

27. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• How do we resolve disparity between our attitude and behavior?
• The theory explains that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we
feel a mismatch between our attitudes and actions.
• Eg., a client may have indulged in a behavior that does not reflect his or
her attitudes, this may probably make the client feel dissonance, in order
to resolve the dissonance, the client may change his or her attitudes so
that he or she may feel more comfortable.

28. Social Relations
• How do we relate to one another?
• What causes us to harm or to help?
• Focus
• -Stereotype
• -Prejudice

29. Stereotypes
• Sometimes we develop schemas for entire groups of people.
• Such schemas are called stereotypes.
• Stereotype: a set of assumptions about people in a given category often
based on half truths and non-truths OR
• a set of assumptions about an identifiable group of people.
• Stereotype is a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized)
belief about a group of people.
• Stereotypes may become self-fulfilling prophecies

30. Prejudice
• Refers to preconceived attitudes toward a person or group that have been
formed without sufficient evidence and are not easily changed OR
• It is an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group—often
a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group.
• Prejudice means, literally, prejudgment
• Prejudice is not necessarily negative
• Prejudice is strengthened and maintained by the existence of stereotypes

31. Cont.
• Prejudice is different from discrimination- However a predisposition to
discriminate breeds prejudice
• Discrimination: the unequal treatment of individuals on the basis of their
race, ethnic group, age, gender, or membership in another category rather
than on the basis of individual characteristics

32. Factors Leading to Prejudice
• Social inequalities: when some people have money, power, and prestige
and others do not, the “haves” usually develop attitudes that justify things
as they are. Eg. slave owners perceived slaves as innately lazy, ignorant,
and irresponsible
• Social divisions (us and them: Ingroup and Outgroup): We cheer for
our groups, kill for them, die for them. Mentally drawing a circle that
defines “us” (the ingroup) and excludes “them” (the outgroup) promotes
an ingroup bias—a favoring of one’s own group.

33. Cont.
• Prejudice may also express emotions such as anger: When things go
wrong, finding someone to blame can provide a target, a scapegoat, for
one’s anger- scapegoat theory
• The Just-World phenomenon: People often justify their prejudice by
blaming its victims. Bystanders, too, may blame victims by assuming the
world is just and therefore “people get what they deserve.”

34. Group Dynamics
• Group: a collection of people who have shared goals, a degree of
interdependence, and some amount of communication OR
• It refers to a collection of people who interact, share common goals, and
influence how members think and act
• People who congregate but do not interact are not considered a group but
rather an aggregate.
• -Interaction is the key factor in forming a group.

35. Cont.
• -Communication: it encourages debate among members regarding
individual goals and increases members’ feelings of commitment to group
goals.
• -Interdependence: to be classified as a group, a collection of people
must be interdependent. Interdependence occurs when any action by one
member will affect or influence the other members.
• - Shared goals: Groups are usually created to perform tasks or to
organize activities that no individual could handle alone.
• The purposes groups serve are of two general kinds:

36. Cont.
• -task functions- those directed toward getting some job done; and
• -social functions-those directed toward filling the emotional needs of
members.
• Group structure: the study of the roles various members play in the
group and how these roles are interrelated
• Group cohesiveness: refers to the degree of attraction among group
members or the strength of their desire to remain in the group. Members
of cohesive groups literally stick together: They tend to stand or sit close
together, they pay more attention to one another, and they show more
signs of mutual affection.

37. Factors that Impacts Group’s Cohesiveness
• 1) Norms: shared standards of behavior accepted by and expected from
group members
• 2) Ideology: the set of principles, attitudes, and defined objectives for
which a group stands
• 3) Commitment: Eg., some groups in colleges require initiation rites in
order to join the group. College students who undergo embarrassing
initiation rites to join sororities or fraternities tend to develop a loyalty to
the group that lasts well beyond their college years.

38. Types of Groups
• In-group- refers to when a group’s members identify with their group
• Out-group- includes everyone who is not a member of the in-group.
• A primary group- is a group of people who interact daily face-to-face.
• For example, you see your family members every day. You eat, sleep, and
have fun with them, and you also fight with them.
• A secondary group- is a larger group of people with whom you might
have more impersonal relationships. For example, your psychology class
is a secondary group.

39. Group Influences
• How does individuals behave in the presence of others?
• Social facilitation: refers to the tendency to perform better in the
presence of a group OR an increase in performance in front of a crowd
• Social inhibition: a decrease in performance in front of a crowd OR
• Social loafing: the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort
when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when
individually accountable.
• Deindividuation: the loss of self awareness and self-restraint occurring
in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

40. Cont.
• - or abandoning normal restraints to the power of the group is termed
• -hence, to be deindividuated is to be less self-conscious and less
restrained when in a group situation
• The effect of a crowd on your behavior may also be a reflection of your
concern about being evaluated.

41. Group Conformity
• How does social influence exert pressure on us?
• Conformity involves any behavior that you engage in because of direct or
indirect group pressure OR
• Acting in accord with group norms or customs OR
• Adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard

42. Factors That Impacts Group Conformity
• Factors that increase conforming behaviour in people include:
• -belonging to a group that emphasizes the role of groups rather than
individuals
• -the desire to be liked by other members of the group
• -low self-esteem
• -social shyness
• -lack of familiarity with a task
• -group size (Conformity increases as the size of the group grows to five or
six people. After that, conformity levels off.)
• -cultural influences

43. Group Polarization Versus Groupthink
• What are the effects of group interactions?
• Group polarization and groupthink are two processes that affect group
decision making.
• Have you ever expressed an opinion and discussed it with a group of
friends?
• How did the discussion affect the strength of your opinion?
• Group polarization: it is a theory that group discussion reinforces the
majority’s point of view and shifts group members’ opinions to a more
extreme position

44. Cont.
• Groupthink: poor group decision making that occurs as a result of a group
emphasizing unity over critical thinking

45. How to Improve Group Decision Making
• Leaders should avoid strongly advocating their own views and, instead,
encourage group discussion.
• During discussion, group members should hear all viewpoints and
challenge one another’s views.
• Minority viewpoints should be expressed and discussed.

46. Cont.
• Also, group members should focus on the task—the issue to be discussed
or the problem to be resolved.
• Group members should not focus on group unity when making decisions;
however, they should focus on keeping the lines of communication open
and gathering enough information to make an unbiased decision.

47. Conflict and Peacemaking
• What social processes fuel conflict?
• -Prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination etc
• Conflict is a seeming incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.
• The elements of conflict are much the same at all levels, from nations at
war, to cultural disputes within a society, to individuals in a marital
dispute.
• How can we make peace?
• -cooperation, communication, and conciliation

48. Cont.
• Cooperation- sit the members of two groups not on opposite sides, but
alternately around the table. Give them a new, shared name. Have them
work together. Such experiences change “us and them” into “we.”
• Communication- Mediators help each party to voice its viewpoint and to
understand the other’s. By leading each side to think about the other’s
underlying needs and goals, the mediator aims to replace a competitive
orientation with a cooperative orientation that aims at a mutually
beneficial resolution.
• Conciliation – when one party initiates one or more small, conciliatory
acts it opens the door for reciprocation by the other party.

49. Implication for Practice
• Implication for healthcare practices!!!
• 1) It helps the health worker to understand how people behave from both
the individual and group dimension. Eg. why people will carry out certain
behaviours in the company of others
• 2) It helps the health worker to understand how the presence or absence
of a group may influence the intervention process OR how clients
respond to certain questions in the presence of others and whiles alone
• 3) It helps the health worker understand how social norms impact
behavior. Eg. Why individuals’ group beliefs may affect healthcare
practices;

50. References
1. Griggs, A. R., & Jackson, L. S. (2020). Psychology: A Concise Introduction (6th Ed.).
USA, Worth Publishers.
2. Kalat, W. K. (2011). Introduction to psychology (9th Ed.). Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.
3. Lahey, B. B. (2011). Psychology: An Introduction (11th Ed.). New York, McGraw-
Hill.
4. Myers, D. G., & DeWall, N. C. (2019). Psychology in everyday life (5th Ed.). New
York, Worth Publishers.

51. •Questions??
•Thank you