Deck 13: Section 1: Social Psychology

Question 1

Throughout history, people have committed horrific atrocities, particularly during times of war, simply because an authority figure told them to do them. A classic example is the Nazi atrocities in which the German people obeyed their leaders and participated in the murder of millions of Jewish people. Using Milgram's study on obedience, the principles of deindividuation, diffusion of responsibility, prejudice and discrimination, discuss whether people who commit such atrocities are morally defective, or if most people would behave similarly if put in similar situations.

Answer 1

The answer should include the following information: (1) Milgram demonstrated that most people will obey an authority figure, even if that meant delivering a potentially lethal shock to a complete stranger. In his study, a teacher (the participant) read word pairs to a learner (actually a paid actor-no one was actually shocked) who was seated in another room and connected to a shock generator. The teacher could hear the learner but could not see him. Every time the learner got a word pair incorrect, the teacher was instructed to shock the learner by flipping a switch on the shock generator. The shock intensified with each incorrect answer, and often the learner would scream and demand to be released. If the teacher wanted to stop the experiment, the experimenter seated in the same room as the teacher would calmly instruct the teacher to continue. Despite screams, complaints of heart pain, and a sudden cessation of all noise following a particularly high-voltage shock (Is the learner dead?), 62 percent of the teachers continued to obey the experimenter and delivered the strongest shock under investigation; (2) Milgram's results suggest that there is nothing unique about the behavior of the German people during the Nazi regime and that most people will obey authority figures, even when they are instructed to do immoral things. In fact, the variables at play in the real world often are considerably more powerful than those arranged by Milgram. In Milgram's study, for example, the participants were not threatened with punishment (or death) if they failed to obey the experimenter. In the real world, dictatorships often employ these behavioral control techniques. In addition, in the real world, atrocities are directed by an authority figure-committed not by a single person but by a group of people. In such instances, people have a tendency to forget their own personal moral values and be swept up with the sentiment of the group (deindividuation). People may not feel personally responsible for their actions because they were committed by the group and not themselves (diffusion of responsibility). Finally, atrocities are often committed against members of other groups. Anti-Semitism was rampant in Europe, even before the Nazis rose to power and the Jewish people were evaluated negatively (prejudice) and discriminated against. Because the Jewish people were part of the out-group, it was considerably easier to get people to commit these atrocities.

Question 2

Define and illustrate with examples each of the following concepts as they might be observed in the stands at a college football game: prejudice, discrimination, deindividuation, and diffusion of responsibility.

Answer 2

The answer should include the following information: (1) Prejudice is a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their group membership. Discrimination is a positive or negative behavior toward another person based on their group membership. An example of prejudice is that you evaluate fans wearing your school's colors more favorably than fans wearing the other school's colors. An example of discrimination is that concession workers ignore the food requests of fans from the visiting team; (2) Deindividuation occurs when immersion in a group causes people to become less concerned with their personal values. An example of deindividuation is that the quiet girl who goes to church every Sunday nevertheless is screaming profanities at the referee along with 80,000 other people; (3) Diffusion of responsibility occurs when individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions because they are surrounded by others who were acting the same way. The same quiet girl probably won't feel compelled to pray for forgiveness for her foul language because she simply does not feel responsible for her actions. It probably wouldn't even cross her mind that she did something wrong. Yet, if she used the same language in a different setting, her moral failing would upset her greatly. Similarly, if the crowd storms the field at the end of the game and causes thousands of dollars' worth of damage to the facility, no one person is going to feel personally responsible.

Question 3

Describe the factors that cause us to be attracted to another person. How do these factors differ for women and men?

Answer 3

The answer should include the following information: Several factors cause us to be attracted to another person, including situational factors, physical factors, and psychological factors. (1) One of the best predictors of any type of relationship is the physical proximity of the people involved. Degree of proximity can be seen in the mere exposure effect, which is the increased tendency for liking with the frequency of exposure. Being exposed to certain people causes us to feel familiar with them and then increases our liking of them. Close proximity not only provides the opportunity for attraction, but it also provides the motivation because people naturally work hard to like those with whom they expect to have social interactions; (2) Physical factors also play a big part in attraction. Research has shown that physical attractiveness is typically the only attribute that initially influences people's feelings of attraction. Physical beauty isn't important in just an interpersonal context. People who are deemed beautiful have more friends, more dates, more sex, and more fun than people who are less attractive. The effects of physical attractiveness can also affect how mothers treat their own children: Mothers of attractive children are more affectionate and playful with their children than mothers of less attractive children. However, although men and women are equally influenced by the attractiveness of their partners, men are more likely than women to acknowledge the fact; (3) The physical factors that people find attractive differ for women and men. Perhaps the most obvious difference is body shape. Women prefer men with an inverted triangle shaped upper body, and men prefer women with an hourglass figure. These body shapes relate to testosterone in men (which correlates with social status) and estrogen in women (which correlates with fertility). Although both men and women prefer symmetrical faces and bodies, men find a "baby face" on a woman especially attractive and women prefer men with a more mature face; (4) The last factor that plays into attractiveness is psychological factors. People's inner qualities, personalities, points of view, attitudes, beliefs, values, ambitions, and abilities play an important role in determining their interest in one another. Some of the qualities that are seen as consistently attractive include sense of humor, intelligence, sensitivity, and ambition. Although these qualities are attractive, we typically interact with people whose standing on these dimensions is similar to our own. We each tend to marry a person with a similar level of education, religious background, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and personality; (5) From an evolutionary perspective, the feeling that we call attraction is a way for our genes to tell us that we are in the presence of a person who has both good genes and the propensity to be a good parent.

Question 4

A college professor suspects that two students cheated with one another on the last exam, on which they both earned high A's, but she does not have ironclad proof. She decides to employ the prisoner's dilemma to see if she can get one or both of the students to crack. Describe what she might do. Then, using this scenario, describe why cooperation is both beneficial and risky.

Question 5

Define and describe normative influence, conformity, and obedience. Discuss how these three social influences are related to the desire to be socially accepted by others.

Question 6

Discuss the social and biological reasons that men, on average, are more aggressive than women.

Question 7

Define cognitive dissonance. Describe an experiment that demonstrates this phenomenon.

Question 8

Temperatures are in the high 90s, it's late in the afternoon, and you and your friends have been waiting for a long time for a turn on the newest water adventure ride at a theme park. Someone farther back in the line bumps into someone from your group, who swears and pushes back. A fight erupts. What factors may have contributed to this incident? Include the frustration-aggression principle in your discussion.

Question 9

Define and describe the relationships among the terms altruism, kin selection, and reciprocal altruism. Give examples of each.

Question 10

Provide biological and cultural reasons why women are more selective in their choice of sexual partners than men.

Question 11

What are four characteristics of stereotypes that can lead to harmful results? Describe and give an example of each characteristic.

Question 12

In many parts of the world, parents arrange marriages for their children. Those in arranged marriages often say that although they were not in love initially, they soon felt that they did love their new mate. Describe how Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance could account for these happy endings. Discuss other possible factors that could contribute to the success of arranged marriages, such as mere proximity and companionate love.

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