Social Psychology

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Changing behaviour or beliefs to match others. Informational conformity: Conforming because we believe others know better (genuine change in belief). Normative conformity: Conforming to fit in and be accepted (no real change in belief).

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Participants gave obviously wrong answers on a line-matching task when confederates gave the same wrong answer unanimously. 37% of responses were conformist. Showed the power of normative social influence — people conform even when the correct answer is obvious.

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Group unanimity (one dissenter dramatically reduces conformity). Group size (up to 3–5 people — larger groups have little additional effect). Difficulty of task. Public response (conformity drops when answers are written privately). Expertise of group.

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Obedience = complying with orders from an authority figure. Milgram found that 65% of participants delivered what they believed to be the maximum 450V electric shock to a confederate when instructed by a researcher in a white coat. Demonstrated the power of situational factors over personal conscience.

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Distance from authority (experimenter gives orders by phone → drops to 20%). Presence of disobedient peer models (seeing others refuse → drops to 10%). Proximity to victim (seeing the victim → obedience drops). Absence of legitimate authority (non-official location → drops).

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Philip Zimbardo randomly assigned participants to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a simulated prison. Guards became abusive and prisoners became submissive within days. Stopped after 6 days (planned 2 weeks). Showed how situational roles can override individual personality. Heavily criticized for ethics.

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The tendency for individuals to be less likely to help in an emergency when others are present. The more bystanders there are, the less likely any one person will help. Explained by: Diffusion of responsibility (it's "someone else's job") and Pluralistic ignorance (looking to others for cues).

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The tendency to overestimate the role of personality (dispositional factors) and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behaviour. Example: "He was rude — he must be a bad person" (ignoring that he just had terrible news).

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The study of how people explain the causes of behaviour. Internal (dispositional) attribution: Behaviour caused by the person's own traits. External (situational) attribution: Behaviour caused by external circumstances. The FAE = over-use of internal attributions for others' behaviour.

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The mental discomfort experienced when holding two contradictory beliefs, or when behaviour conflicts with beliefs. Leon Festinger (1957): People are motivated to reduce dissonance by changing a belief, changing behaviour, or rationalising the contradiction.

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The tendency to attribute successes to internal (personal) factors and failures to external (situational) factors. "I passed because I'm clever; I failed because the exam was unfair." Protects self-esteem. Opposite of how we often attribute others' behaviour (FAE).

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People derive part of their self-concept from group membership (in-groups vs out-groups). People favour their in-group (in-group favouritism) and discriminate against out-groups (out-group derogation) to maintain positive social identity. Explains intergroup prejudice and conflict.

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A stereotype is a fixed, oversimplified belief about a group. Prejudice is a negative attitude toward a group based on stereotypes. Discrimination is unfair behaviour based on prejudice. The three are related but distinct: cognitive → affective → behavioural.

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The loss of individual self-awareness and personal responsibility in group situations, often leading to antisocial behaviour. Occurs when people are anonymous (crowds, online, uniforms). Zimbardo used deindividuation to explain guard behaviour in the SPE.

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After group discussion, people's pre-existing attitudes tend to become more extreme in the direction they were already leaning. If a group started out cautious, they become more cautious. If initially risky, they become riskier. Due to social comparison and persuasive arguments within the group.

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A phenomenon (Irving Janis) where the desire for group harmony and conformity overrides critical thinking in decision-making. Signs: illusion of invulnerability, collective rationalisation, belief in group's morality, pressure on dissenters. Associated with poor decisions (e.g., Bay of Pigs, Challenger disaster).

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1. Reciprocity (return favours). 2. Commitment/Consistency (follow through on stated positions). 3. Social proof (follow what others do). 4. Authority (obey experts). 5. Liking (agree with people we like). 6. Scarcity (want things that are rare). Used in marketing and negotiation.

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The phenomenon whereby people develop a preference for things (or people) simply because they are familiar — repeated exposure increases liking. Explains why advertising works through repetition and why we tend to like people we see frequently.

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The tendency to let one positive trait (e.g., attractiveness) influence our judgement of all other traits of a person. Attractive people are assumed to be more intelligent, kind, and competent. Named by Edward Thorndike (1920).

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The tendency for performance to improve on simple/well-learned tasks but worsen on complex/unfamiliar tasks when in the presence of others. Zajonc (1965) explained this through arousal — others' presence increases arousal, which helps well-learned responses but hurts learning of new tasks.

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A compliance strategy where you start with a large request (which will be refused), then follow with the smaller request you actually wanted. The smaller request seems more reasonable by comparison → more likely to comply. Based on reciprocity — they made a concession, so you feel obliged to also.

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A compliance strategy where you start with a small request (which is easily agreed to), then escalate to the larger request. Having said yes once, people feel pressure to remain consistent → agree to bigger request. Based on commitment and consistency.

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22 boys at a summer camp were divided into two groups (Rattlers and Eagles). Intergroup competition created hostility and prejudice. Superordinate goals (requiring cooperation between groups) reduced intergroup conflict. Evidence for realistic conflict theory — competition over limited resources creates prejudice.

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Conformity driven by the desire to be liked and accepted by others — going along with the group to avoid rejection even if you privately disagree. Does not change internal beliefs. Stronger in collectivist cultures and when being evaluated publicly.

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A personality trait describing where people believe control over their lives lies. Internal locus: Believe outcomes are controlled by their own actions. External locus: Believe outcomes are determined by external factors (luck, fate, powerful others). Internals tend to show less conformity and obedience.