Behavior and the Social Environment

Not only does our learning history, in terms of learned associations and reinforcement contingencies, influence our behavior, our social environment does as well. Social psychology is the branch that studies the interactions of individuals with other people.

We will look at 2 ways that our social environment determines behavior:

  1.  Normative influences -- wanting to be liked, accepted and approved of by others
  2.  Informational influences -- wanting to be correct, and using other people as a means of determining the accuracy of our perceptions or the appropriateness of our behavior in a given situation.

Normative influences on behavior

 Sources of Normative Influences:
  1. Authority
  2. Rules (norms)
  3. Social roles
How are norms acquired?
  1. observing uniformities in the behaviors of members of the group
  2. observing negative consequences of norm violation
Examples of acquiring norms
  1. Creating a new norm:  norm crystalization  in the Autokinetic Effect  (Sherif, 1935)
  2. Conforming to existing norms:
Social roles

Informational influences on behavior

  • Asch effect (Asch, 1940, 1956)
  • Application: juries
  • Social Proof

    • Bystander Intervention.

  • Why do people fail to intervene? (Example: Kitty Genovese)
    1. Ambiguity and Social Proof
    2. Diffusion of responsibility
    3. Situational cost of helping
  • So, how can you make it more likely that you will be helped?
    1. Pick out a single individual and ask for help. ``You there!''
    2. Make a clear unambiguous request. ``I'm injured, I need medical attention''
    3. Make an initial request that demands as little as possible. ``Call 911!''

    Attribution

    -- the Fundamental Attribution Error. (Ross, 1977).

    Applying lessons from social psychology

    How do advertisers (and others) try to use these principles to manipulate you?

    Informational heuristics they use: