Conformity
Asch conformity: 75% of people conformed to obviously wrong answers at least once
Conformity
Solomon Asch showed how powerful group pressure is
In line-length experiments, confederates gave wrong answers. 75% of real participants conformed at least once. Conformity increases with group unanimity and size (up to 4-5 people).
Obedience to Authority
Milgram: 65% continued to max shock when ordered by authority
Obedience to Authority
Most people obey authority even against their own ethics
Participants believed they administered 450V shocks to a learner. 65% went to maximum when instructed by an authority figure. Proximity to the victim reduced obedience.
Fundamental Attribution Error
FAE: blame the person, ignore the situation — Fundamental Attribution Error
Fundamental Attribution Error
We overestimate personality, underestimate situation when judging others
Someone cuts you off → 'they're a jerk' (not: 'they're rushing to hospital'). We do the opposite for ourselves — actor-observer bias. The most robust finding in social psychology.
Bystander Effect
Bystander effect: more witnesses = less help — diffusion of responsibility
Bystander Effect
The more people present in an emergency, the less likely anyone helps
Two mechanisms: diffusion of responsibility (someone else will help) and pluralistic ignorance (everyone looks calm so must be fine). Intervene by naming someone: 'You in the red jacket, call 911.'
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance: holding conflicting beliefs causes discomfort — and we resolve it
Cognitive Dissonance
Leon Festinger: mental conflict between beliefs motivates attitude change
When behavior conflicts with beliefs, we feel psychological discomfort. We reduce it by changing our attitude (not behavior) to match what we did. Smokers who know smoking is harmful often rationalize rather than quit.
Social Facilitation
Social facilitation: perform better on easy tasks with others watching. Worse on hard tasks.
Social Facilitation
The presence of others affects performance — in opposite directions
Zajonc: presence of others increases arousal → improves dominant (well-learned) responses, impairs non-dominant (difficult/new) responses. Simple tasks: audience helps. Complex/novel tasks: audience hurts. Explains why athletes perform better in front of crowds on practiced skills but choke under pressure.
Groupthink
Groupthink: desire for harmony overrides critical thinking. Symptoms: illusion of invulnerability, self-censorship.
Groupthink
When group cohesion leads to disastrously poor decisions
Janis: cohesive groups suppress dissent to maintain harmony. Symptoms: illusion of invulnerability (overconfidence), collective rationalization, stereotyped view of out-groups, self-censorship, illusion of unanimity. Historical examples: Bay of Pigs, Challenger disaster. Prevention: assign devil's advocate, seek outside opinions.
Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat: fear of confirming a negative stereotype impairs performance on relevant tasks
Stereotype Threat
How awareness of stereotypes can harm the people they target
Steele and Aronson: when members of a stereotyped group are reminded of the stereotype before a test, performance suffers — even among high-achieving individuals. The threat consumes cognitive resources. Reduced by: affirming other identities, emphasizing that intelligence is expandable, reducing salience of group membership.
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Persuasion routes: central route (logical arguments) vs peripheral route (cues, attractiveness, popularity)
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Two routes to attitude change — deep vs shallow processing
Central route: person carefully considers arguments → attitude change is lasting and resistant to counter-persuasion. Requires motivation and ability to process. Peripheral route: relies on heuristics — attractive spokesperson, celebrity endorsement, popularity. Less lasting. High-involvement decisions: central. Low-involvement: peripheral.
In-Group/Out-Group Bias
In-group vs out-group bias: favor your own group. Minimal group paradigm: even arbitrary groups trigger bias.
In-Group/Out-Group Bias
We automatically favor our own group — even when groups are arbitrary
Tajfel's minimal group studies: people randomly assigned to groups based on trivial criteria (coin flip, art preference) immediately favored their own group in resource allocation. Social identity theory: self-esteem tied to group membership → motivated to see in-group positively. Foundation of prejudice and discrimination.
Deindividuation
Deindividuation: loss of self-awareness in groups → reduced inhibition → more extreme behavior
Deindividuation
Why people in crowds behave differently than they would alone
Anonymity + group membership → reduced self-awareness → weakened internal restraints → behavior more extreme (positive or negative depending on group norms). Explains crowd violence, online trolling, mob behavior. Zimbardo's prison study: uniforms and anonymity contributed to guard brutality.
Self-Serving Bias
Self-serving bias: attribute successes to internal factors (ability), failures to external (bad luck)
Self-Serving Bias
How we protect our self-esteem through biased explanations
When we succeed: internal attribution (I worked hard, I'm smart). When we fail: external attribution (the test was unfair, bad luck). Opposite of how we judge others (FAE). Protects self-esteem. Depression: often shows reversed pattern — internal attribution for failures, external for successes.