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132 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Prejudice Study
- Ps judged debate between black and white individuals
- one judge made a racist comment
- Ps rated black debater's performance worse following comment
- comment activated other stereotyped beliefs
- even for those who score low on measures of stereotyping, we all still know what the stereotypes are
Stereotypes and emotional reactions are...
triggered automatically.
Stereotypes may protect...
self-esteem.
Female Competence Study
- students evaluated instructors, indicated grade
- rated F instructors as less competent after Lo grade, more competent after Hi grade
- less effect with male prof

We may pick and choose what stereotypes we use.
Vorauer Study 1
Meta-stereotype
- how we believe an out-group thinks of us
- white Canadians lowest in prejudice believed
- First Nations individuals rated them most poorly
Vorauer Study 2
- white participants led to expect to interact with FN student
- those expected to be perceived via meta-stereotype expected unpleasant interaction
- those who expected not to be liked expressed most prejudice
- those lo in prejudice felt they'd be seen to counter stereotype, but it was not even a person's own level of prejudiced attitudes that predicted their response. It was more their expectation of how the other person would feel about them.
- Expectations re: meta-stereotype predicted attitudes more strongly than actual stereotypes of out-group
Strongest predictor of prejudice
- emotion experienced when people think about a particular group.
Esses & Zanna
- altered mood though music, writing about self
- found that Ps in bad mood described ethnic groups more negatively
- same characteristic rated positively or negatively, depending on mood
Fundamental Attribution Error
- our over-reliance on dispositional attributions
Ultimate Attribution Error
- extending this tendency and applying it to entire groups of people
University Juror Study
- university students were jurors in a mock trial
- 2 groups heard identical evidence
- only difference was in name of defendant - "Robert Johnson" vs "Carlos Ramirez"
- evidence as it was put together was definitely ambiguous. Certain pieces of evidence could be evaluated different ways
- many more 'guilty' votes for Ramirez
- made dispositional attributions about "other" group
Non-stereotyped attribution
- we make a situational attribution to maintain our stereotype
- we will find the information we need to maintain our stereotype even if there is a lot of evidence to the contrary.
Surgeon Study
- Ps read description of successful female surgeon
- Ms rated her as less competent than M surgeons; had easier path
- Fs rated her equally competent; Ms had an easier path
- Both groups saw female doctor as being more motivated toward success than male counterparts. That might imply that males get to point when talented: female is driven and competent.
M/F Work Study
- when Ms fail - bad luck, low effort
- when Fs fail - task too hard (< ability)
- we learn this very young
Hovland & Sears
- compared price of cotton in southern US (1880-1930) with number of lynchings of African Americans.
- found a strong correlation
Sherif et al. - Robbers' Cave Study
- eagles and rattlers
- participants were a group of well-adjusted 12 year olds
- created two different groups and made the two teams compete - offered prizes
- intensified conflict by inviting both to a meal, making sure Eagles came first and took all the good food.
- led to food fight
- became riot. Findings: when there is a conflict over resources, it leads to large problems
Scapegoating
- taking out one's frustrations on easiest, though not legitimate, target
- Nazi Germany - blamed the Jews easily identified outgroup who could not fight back.
- "If the Jew did not exist, we should have to invent him."
- They knew the Jews were not to blame but needed someone to fill that role
Just World Belief
- idea that world is fair and that good people finish first. This is a comfortable place to live.
- the downside is that this belief may lead us to blame the victims, believe that they deserve their misfortune.
- People who score high on this are really motivated to restore justice, help others when they themselves need help.
Right-Wing Authoritarianism
- this is a way of thinking about other people that is associated with problems. People who hold this belief tend to be submissive to legitimate authority figures
- display aggression towards threats
- conventionalism - very concerned for what is proper behaviour
- cynicism
- black and white thinking
- Lack of critical reflection
- see the world as dangerous - need to protect self

People with liberal arts education are lower on the scale, but tend to get higher on the scale when they become parents.
Religious Fundamentalism
- "belief in the absolute and literal truth of one's religious beliefs"
- I/my group have the correct set of beliefs. If your beliefs are opposite, then you must be wrong.
- Does not pertain to any specific religion, it is a way of thinking.
- leap from beliefs are wrong to you are wrong.
Fundamentalism Study
- study done in Western Ontario
- invented some data and presented it to students
- data described high rates of unemployment among people who were gay and single moms
- hypothesis: this would threaten the beliefs of those high on religious fundamentalism
- students who scored high on fundamentalist scales though that those who were gay or single moms did something wrong.
- thought that these threatening groups should not get social assistance
Social Dominance Orientation
- belief that humans are inherently unequal
- "To get ahead in life, it is necessary to sometimes step on others."
- Hi SDOs oppose immigration, say we shouldn't assist immigrants - their gains are our losses
- 'need to protect 'what's mine''
Effects of Prejudice (3)
- knowing that we are devalued in the minds of others creates anxiety, fear, anger
- can affect our self-esteem to know that we belong to a group that is widely negatively characterized
- knowing that I am part of a stereotyped group - when people attribute negative outcomes to someone else's prejudice it gives them a boost in personal self-esteem.
Stereotype Threat
- belief that I may be judged in terms of a negative stereotype, or that I may confirm the stereotype
- It may undermine my performance, happens in areas that I care about
Walsh, et al. (1999)
- Fs told a standardized math test would reveal gender differences
- Fs did, in fact, perform worse on the test
- Others told that test compared US and Cnd differences, no gender differences
- nor any in verbal skills
Conditions of Contact that Reduce Prejudice
- mutual interdependence - they must rely on each other
- a common goal - researchers damaged intake to camp's water supply
- Researchers said there was a special camp-out treat, but then the truck broke down and everyone was stranded
- they staged these emergencies so kids would have to rely on each other. Hostilities died down.
- equal status
- friendly, informal setting
- opportunities for friendships (Pettigrew)
- self-disclosure (Turner)
Jigsaw Classroom Experiment
- in 1970's Elliot Erinson invited by Texas schoolboard to intervene in school system
- he divided students into six-person groups and divided the lesson into six parts
- therefore he made the kids rely on each other
- Works because it breaks down the "we" and "they"

*Attitudes follow actions*
"National Family Violence Survey"
- more than 11% of husbands said they employed some form of violence
- on same survey, 12% of wives said they used violence
Causes of violence
- Hobbes - we are brutes, natural instincts toward aggression that society serves to curb
- Rousseau - we are naturally gentle creatures; society restricts us, forces on competition, status, aggression
- Freud - two competing desires - eros (instinct towards life); thanatos (instinct towards death), which needs to be released, or we become ill.
Lorenz Catfish Experiment
- studied cichlid fish
- found that Ms attack other Ms
- but they don't attack non-cichlids
- if no Ms to be found, attack Ms of other species.
- If no Ms of any type, they attack females

Consensus: aggressive behavior is evolutionary, but it is an optional strategy that can be inhibited.
Archer & McDaniel
- teens read stories involving conflict
- Asked P's to "finish the story"
- Rated responses for aggression
- Teens from New Zealand had most violent stories (Canada is 7th of 11)

Found that within a culture, social conditions can affect aggressive responding (ie Iroquois, "Culture of Honor" in US)
Amygdale
clear connection between activity in amygdala in rats and levels of aggression. Shows the presence of social, environmental influences, suggests aggression can be changed
- animals and us still have a choice
What is testosterone and what are the effects in humans?
- M sex hormone
- Injecting it in animals increases aggression
- in humans, higher levels in violent criminals
- once they are incarcerated, prisoners with higher levels of testosterone tend to get in more fights and trouble.
- Maccoby & Jacklin -boys are more physically aggressive than girls. Majority arrested for violent crimes are M
Are M/F differences in violent crime due to biology or socialization?
- during 1990's, violent crime among F youth increased 81% (30% among Ms)
- Archer & McDaniel - Ms told of more violent solutions, but some Fs rated more violent than some Ms
Higher testosterone levels are correlated with...
- less happiness
- this sadness is attributed to the poor social relationships that a lot of men with high testosterone tend to be involved in
- Ms with high testosterone have nearly double the divorce rate of those with lower levels of testosterone
Alcohol and Violence
- alcohol is involved in more than 50% of violent crimes
- family violence 4 to 6 times more frequent when M is an alcoholic
- Alcohol contributes to violence in several ways: (1) reduces inhibitions; (2) lowers our threshold for aggressive response (3) reduces considerations for consequences.
Most direct situational cause of aggression
- physical pain
Physical Aggression and Uncomfortableness Study (7!)
- in 1960's and 70's, great deal of tension about war. Involved government policies towards racial issues, etc. Predicted that civil unrest would increase as temperatures did. And they did in fact.
- Reviewed civil disturbances in US cities - more likely on hot days
- Heat correlated with rates of violent crime
- MLB pitchers hit more batters at 32 degrees Celcius
- In Phoenix, AZ, drivers w/o air conditioning are more likely to honk in traffic jams, due to heat, or contact?]
- when asked to rate stranger/partner after a test, over 32 degrees Celsius, received higher ratings
- When asked to finish stories dealing with aggression, in uncomfortably hot rooms, stories tended to end with aggression.
A second important cause of aggression is....
- frustration
- if prevented from expected goal, increases chance of aggression
Toy aggression study
- kids shown roomful of attractive toys, but made to wait to play
- those frustrated by waiting played more aggressively
Harris Aggression Study
- assistants posed as customers
- cut into line waiting for service
- either cut in with second person in line or 12th person in line
- those 2nd in line were more aggressive

Nearness of goal may increase aggression
Charity Aggression Study
- Ps hired to solicit donations to charity
- Told to expect a Hi or Lo rate of success
- Those expecting a Hi rate of success were more aggressive with non-donors
Mitigating factors on the frustration/aggression ratio
- size/status of other(s)
- source of frustration is unintentional, or understandable
- even in those cases, it does not completely take away our aggression
Task Aggression Study
- experimenter demonstrated a task to quickly to learn
- in response to request of slow down, either wants to get task over with (unjustified); or boss is pressing her to hurry (justified); or apologized, went more slowly (control)
- they rated experimenter most negatively in unjustified condition
- tho' ratings were more negative in justified than in control condition

Frustration does not equal deprivation. Perceived motives matter.
Aggression Hi/Lo status group Study
- Ps told they could advance to "hi-status" group, depending on performance
- members of that group had a chance to win a prize of $100 for participation
- told they needed a score of 8.5 to advance, higher status made the decision about the cutoff
- Some were told that they scored a 6, others told that they scored 8.2

Results: those who just missed saw the situation as most unfair. Those who were farther away saw the situation as more fair.
Aggression and Direct Provocation
- responses to provocative behaviour depends on attributed motives
- those who often behave aggressively are most likely to attribute hostile motives
- perceiving ambiguous acts as hostile can lead to violent responses, can become an excuse to treat others badly.
Berkowitz and LePage
- Ps were made angry
- In the room, a "prop"; either a gun or a badminton racket
- Ps 'taught' other Ps - electric shock for errors
- Those angered in the presence of the gun gave longer, more intense shocks

Berkowitz: "An angry person can pull the trigger if he wants to commit violence but the trigger can also pull the finger."
Vancouver vs Seattle in murder rates
- they are twin cities, similar in many ways
- but they differ in a few important ways - Vancouver is subject to Cnd gun laws, restrict ownership of handguns.
- possibility that the ever-present handguns that people can create high homicide rates

*Britain for years has banned firearms. 1/4 population, and 1/16th the murders
Josephson Study
- Boys watched violent TV, featuring snipers with portable radios (walkie talkies)
- Later, played floor hockey, observers recorded aggressive play
- more aggressive play when observers used walkie-talkies.

Objects can become associated with aggression thru classical conditioning.
Aggression Learning Study
- Among prison inmates, those incarcerated for:
- Family violence - 55% claimed abuse
- Violence against Strangers - 39% claimed abuse
- Non-violent crimes - 20% claimed abuse

Suggests either that those who experience aggressive treatment learn violence as a way to deal with conflict, or that there is a genetic link.
Bandura et al (1961, 1963)
- argues for social learning of aggression
- Bobo doll study
- Adult was aggressive to Bobo, and kids acted the same way as adults, used same words
- Those in control situation did not behave with nearly the same ferociousness
1997 Media Violence Study
- 58% of all TV programming contains violence
- 78% of all violence included no remorse, no criticism, no penalty.
- 40% of violent acts committed by "heros"

Findings were that the more violence that kids watch the more aggressively they behave even years later
8-year old Television Habit Study
- examined television habits of 900 8-year olds
- recorded: shows watched, aggressive behaviour of the child, teacher, classmate ratings.
- At age 8, small but significant correlation between violent TV and aggression
- At age 18, correlation between violent TV (viewed at age 8) and aggression was stronger
- Perhaps aggressive television not correlating with behaviour, but over time and with a steady diet of aggressive television it becomes stronger.
1972 Study
- kids watched violent police dramas, or sports events
- then played together
- those who watched violent shows played more aggressively
Josephson (again)
- watching TV violence has a greater impact on kids prone to violence
- Kids watched violent or sports programs
- then played floor hockey
- kids had been rated for aggression
- watching violent shows led to more aggressive play..for those rated most aggressive
Philips, 1986
- in the week following televised boxing match, homicide rate increased slightly
- race of match loser was related to race of homicide victims
- when a black person lost, more black people got shot. When a white person lost, more white people got shot.
- we can't take outcomes like this to show that all people or even a sizable amount of people want to commit violence, but since it happens so regularly we have to agree it is the case.
Cline, 1973
- measure psychological reactions as Ps watched violent boxing match
- those who watched a lot of violent TV showed much less psychological response.
Thomas Study
- Had Ps watch a violent police show or volleyball match
- later, saw 2 young children fighting
- those who watched volleyball were upset by fight
- But not those who watched the police show.

*Not only are people less upset by violence physiologically, but later on given the opportunity to deliver electric shocks as punishments to learning tasks, tend to administer stronger shocks if they watch violent television*
Four reasons why media violence may increase aggression
1. may weaken our inhibitions against violence
2. may trigger imitation
3. may prime feelings of anger
4. may reduce horror, compassion
Reducing Aggression: Punishment
- punishing any behaviour should reduce its frequency
- but punishment may involve modelling of aggression
- immediate, mild punishments are effective for children
Threat of severe punishment is effective only if punishment is prompt and certain, which usually doesn't happen.
Define Catharsis
- Freud's idea that if we don't find an acceptable outlet for aggression, somehow that energy will be released.
Bushman Study, 1999
- Ps read, "Research shows that Hitting Inanimate Objects is an Effective Way to Vent Anger"
- Or, they read, "Research Shows that Hitting Inanimate Objects is an Ineffective Way to Vent Anger"
- Later, Ps were insulted by experimenter's assistant
- Measured whether P would punch a punching bag
- Lastly, they could punish a person in a learning task, either the experimenter or a random person.

Results: those most aggressive (1) read the pro-catharsis article; (2) hit punching bag
- being able to vent our frustrations increases their aggressive responses towards other people.
- target (insulter vs. stranger) had no effect
Patterson Football study
- Measured hostility of football players
- 1 week before, 1 week after study
- football is a violent contact sport. If catharsis works, hostility should be gone.
- BUT hostility increased over the season
Venting Study
- Medical assistant insulted participants
- Some participants given chance to complain
- In rating assistant, those who complained were most negative
violence is excused by....
- derogating victims/enemies
- seeing them as less than human
How to Healthily Deal with Aggression
1. State clearly why we are angry
2. apologize
3. model non-aggression
4. train social skills
5. build empathy
Assistant Study
- Ps performed poorly due to assistant's error
- Assistant either apologized publicly, apologized privately, or experimenter removed harm
train social skills
- often seems 'natural' to lash out
- those with poorer social skills are most likely to respond violently
- social skills traced to genetic effects that limit a child's ability to learn for self-expression
- language acquisition - kids who cannot speak well or express themselves verbally tend to lash out
- need to train communication, compromise, perspective-taking
Empathy Study
- Experimenter blocked traffic, waited 10 seconds at lights
- 90% of driver's honked
- had pedestrians cross before light changed - no difference in honking
- had pedestrian on crutches cross - only 57% honked
- injured persons evoked empathy

Humanizing others promotes empathy towards them and decreases aggression.

In the Milgram study, he had 'teachers' and 'learners' meet. Once they met, they delivered less severe shocks.
Pro-social behaviour
- actions intended to benefit someone else
- we do things that are helpful to others to serve our self-interest
Altruism
- helping someone else, with no obvious benefit to helper.
Evolutionary Approach to Explaining Helping
- natural selection favours genes that promote individual survival
- any characteristics, or behavior that increases the chance to produce offspring should be passed on
Kin Selection
- benefits accrue in helping genetic relatives: by helping our kin survive, some of our genes will be passed on
- evidence in animal studies: greenberg: bees allow those 'nearest in genetic similarity' to enter the hive
- evidence in humans: when asked who they would save in a fire, everyone says 'my kids!'
- we don't think about it consciously, but we are predisposed to make those calculations because those who made the calculations were most likely to survive.
Rushtin
- controversial notion - that even conflicts that we see around the world may well be a matter of genetic conflict. My tribe's genes vs. your countries' genes.

Sometimes, we also engage in prosocial behaviour to offset feeling of guilt or for our own psychological health.
Social Exchange Approach to Explaining Helping
- also based on self-interest
- based on economic model of maximizing rewards, minimizing costs
- norm of reciprocity
- helping can relieve our distress at watching others suffer, and we can gain social approval and self-worth
- helping declines when costs are high to self-esteem, time.
- People will help if they believe that the benefits will outweigh implicit or explicit costs
Batson et al. Empathy Study
- Ps reviewed audiotaped stories
- Eg: Carol's accident
- listened to story, after hearing tape, experimenter gives you a note from professor - that they have realized that you are actually in Carol's class, and after hearing story would you be willing to meet with Carol until end of semester to share lecture notes with her?
- According to the theory, if students' empathy was high, thought about how Carol felt, people should help out regardless of personal cost

Results:
- those with empathy for Carol decided to help regardless of cost
- those with low empathy agreed to help if social cost was low.
How do Alturistic Personalities develop?
Developmental Psychologists say that those kinds of prosocial behaviors are things that we tend to see very early on in a child's life. Children as young as 18 months. Reward works in moderation, as long as we avoid overjustification
- we need to have kids perceive themselves as helpers
- it helps if they have models of helping
Skee-ball Study
- kids played Skee-ball to win tokens
- exchange tokens for prizes, or donate them
- watched adults play, keep or donate tokens
- those who saw the adult donate were more likely to donate
- 2 months later - kids brought into the room with Skee-ball - while waiting, can play with it if you want. Allowed to win tokens - had another charity here. Kids who donated before were still likely to donate more. Kids had learned to consider being generous under these circumstances.

Results: modelling generosity has some pretty far-reaching effects
Gender and Helping
- Male gender role - chivalrous, heroic help
- Female gender role - nurturant, caring help

Ms do actually help strangers more often
Fs do actually help friends more often

Winners of Governor General's Award for Bravery (2009): 9 Ms, 3 Fs.
Culture and Helping
- in all cultures, more likely to help the in-group
- Collectivists define themselves in terms of relationships (greater conectedness). Result: more likely to help members of group and less likely to help members of out-groups

Norms differ re: taking credit for helping. Asian cultures stress modesty
Culture and Helping Study
- Presented helping scenarios to kids from Canada, China
- Eg: should each child acknowledge own helping?

Cnd kids said "yes" - gain praise
Chinese kids said "no" - immodest
Isben & Levin Mood Study
- boosted the mood of some potential helpers
- allowed them to find 10 cents in the payphone
- control condition (no dime) - 4% helped
- After finding a dime - 84% helped!

"Feel good, do good" effect. Does not matter why we feel good, any kind of good mood will do.
Baron (1997) Study
- asked mall patrons to make change for a looney
- Varied: location - (pleasant aroma or none)
- with no smell - 19% helped
- with nice aroma - 57% helped
How does a good mood make us altruistic? (3)
3 possibilities
- positive mood leads to positive attributions
- doing good prolongs our good mood
- good mood increases self-attention; become aware of values and ideals
What are the effects of a bad mood?
- if angry, tend not to get help
- if depressed, tend to become preoccupied with self
- these moods tend to focus attention on own feelings
'feel bad-do good' effect
- Caladini: negative state relief
- may help relieve our own sadness and distress
- prompted by compassion, guilt
Does the strength of our religious commitments affect helping behavior?
- yes; re: planned helping (volunteering, donations)
- no; re: spontaneous acts of helping
Amato (1983)
- staged incident with injured arm
- in rural communities, 50% offered help
- in urban centers, 15% offered help

Finding: that rural folks helped out more often
Explanations of Amato's study (2)
- living in a small town enhances altruistic personality - community values are internalized
- Milgram - urban overload hypothesis - those in urban areas avoid interaction to prevent overload. Setting matters more than personality.
Latane and Darley
- Speculated that large numbers of bystanders might decrease the likelihood of helping
- experimented using staged emergencies
- Ps asked to discuss university life
- used intercom ("to protect privacy")
- during discussion, Ps had seizure
- would Ps help?
- Reality: only one P (others heard recorded voices)
- Helping depended on how many were believed to be present.
- if they were alone, within about 2-1/2 minutes they did something to help
- if there was one other, only 62% in first minute, only 80% after five minutes
- if there were four others, percentage: 32%; after 5 minutes, 60%

Dozens of other studies confirmed this finding.
Bystander Effect
- the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely that any one of them will help.
5 Steps in Deciding to Help
- need to notice event (distracted, hurried, fail to notice)
- interpret event as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance)
- we need to assume responsibility (diffusion)
- we need to know appropriate form of assistance (lack of knowledge, lack of competence, can't offer appropriate help)
- we need to implement the decision (danger to self, legal concerns, embarrasment, costs of helping too high)
Darley and Batson (1973)
- "trival" factors like time pressures affect helping and are more important than personality
- Study mirrored parable of Good Samaritan
- Ps were seminary students
- Asked to read short speech across campus
- manipulated time pressure
- on the way, saw a man lying in doorway

- Ps stopped if not in a hurry (63%)
- but not if in a rush (10%)
- Personality made no difference
- Topic of speech made no difference
Informational Influence
- we rely on others behaviour to judge appropriate, correct reactions
- when many rely on others' reactions, may experience pluralistic ignorance
Latane and Darley Smoke Study
- Ps completed questionnaire waiting for the interviewer
- Smoke began to fill the room
- Would Ps report an emergency?
- Within 2 minutes, 50% reported smoke (alone)
- Within 6 minutes, 75% reported smoke (alone)
- Within 2 minutes, 12% reported smoke (3 p's)
- Within 6 minutes, 38% reported smoke (3 p's)
Embarrassing Helper Study
- F confederate dropped a purse, or box of tampons
- 95% returned the purse
- 39% returned the tampons
- One potential helper was about to help the lady, then realized what they had in their hand, dropped it and walked away.

Separate study: M dropped condoms or mitten
- 50% returned mitten
- 17% returned condoms
Negative State Relief
- within relationships, more concern for long-term benefits
Communal Relationships
- primary concern is for welfare of the other person
Exchange relationship
- More concern for equity, balance rewards and costs
Partner Study
- Ps worked on task, partner in next room
- LIght in each room signalled that partner needed help (P couldn't help)
- Or, partner performed well
- the relationship varied: close friend or stranger
- measured how often Ps looked at the lights

Results: Exchange (stranger) 3.8x well; 1x did poorly
- Communal 1x well, 4x poorly
Do we help friends more often than strangers?
- yes, with one exception
- Not in situations that are vital to our identity, or our self-esteem
- According to research, ppl feel better to lend notes to a stranger than a friend if they are both in medical school and friend wants notes
- hurts us to see our friend do better than us in an area that is of great significance to our self-esteem
Helping and Gender
- Ms consistently willing to help females in distress
- even though Fs are higher in empathy
- are Ms motives entirely altruistic?
- men will stop to help attractive women more often than less attractive women
- those who stop for stranded F motorist - young Ms, alone
Similarity and Helping
- we are more likely to help those who dress like us
How do people feel about receiving help?
- grateful, if we cannot succeed alone
- but not when help makes us feel incompetent or dependent
- Those who receive financial aid like those who expect to be repaid, are less wealthy
Time spent volunteering
- Half of the volunteers do 7% of the work.
- 25% of the volunteers do 74% of the volunteering
Snyder (1992) Reasons for Volunteering
- express values
- social pressure
- ego defense
- increase knowledge
- those motivated to act on values willing to interact socially with patients, those with other motives more likely to be involved in fundraising, etc.
- those who wanted to feel better about themselves or to develop personally associated with longer terms of service
- selfish motives equal longer volunteer times!
Legislation of Helping
- most countries in Europe have a "Good Samaritan" law, a law against not helping in obvious situations
- The supporters say that it avoids the diffusion of responsibility and tips the scale towards helping when people might be unsure.
- Critics say that it is a difficult law to enforce, and ask what happens when people step in but then hurt others.
Alfie Kohn - "The Brighter Side of Human Nature"
- danger in view that altruism is rare
- tells us that part of our human nature beyond reach for most of us
- glorifying athiests as heros excuses the rest of us - they are specialists.
- We find that when Ps read of exceptional volunteers, they rate themselves as less altruistic - the "I can't keep up" phenomenon
- Helping must not be seen as "all or nothing"
Kohn: Raising a Helpful Child
- focus on positive
- explain the reason
- set an example
- let them help
- promote a pro-social self-image
- be a warm, empathetic parent
Beaman Study
- two weeks after learning about Latane and Darley's work, Ps met a person lying on the floor of campus
- Ps who had heard the lectures were twice as likely to help
How do we avoid traps of social dilemmas? (3)
- may have to regulate behavior
- improve situation
- solutions involve trust
Keltner and Robinson (1996)
- studied debate over Western Literary Canon
- two sides: traditionalists vs. revisionists
- asked profs to select 15 books they'd teach, and 15 their opponents would teach
- profs on each side chose 7 of the same books, even though they expected no overlap
Mirror Image Perceptions
- in one study, students on both sides watched attacks on funerals, and thought their group was defending themselves
4 "c"s of peacemaking
1. contact
2. cooperation
3. communication
4. conciliation
GRIT
- graduated and reciprocated initiatives tension reduction
Prejudice - any group can be targeted, based on....
- nationality
- gender
- ethnicity
- religion
- sexual orientation
- appearance
- descriptive labels
- job
- physical state
Clark & Clark (1940)
- offered African American kids a choice of dark-skinned or white-skinned doll to play with
- great majority chose white dolls (seen as prettier, better)
Cormblum et al (1993)
- white and first nations kids presented with drawings of white or first nations kids
- white kids chose white kids
- more than 1/2 of First Nations kids chose white kids (they'd be friendlier, less bad)
3 components of prejudice
- affect
- behavior
- cognition
affect
- emotions, feelings, reaction
- pre-judgement of a group of people
- doesn't mean disliking someone because of their behaviour
- dislike of someone because they belong to a particular group
- negative feelings - fear, hostility, anxiety
cognition
- stereotypes
- we carry images in our heads of other groups
- categorize according to norms (typicality)
- we categorize to simplify our world
- Alport: we are "cognitive misers"
- Bargh: becomes automatic over time
behaviour
- discrimination
- unjustified harmful actions
Study: treatment towards psychiatric patients
- 2 common methods to deal with violent misbehavior: time out and straight jacket, tranquilizers
- at first, more than 60% of the time, the black patients were restrained physically, white patients 6% of the time
- after telling them, 14% of the time for black patients, 11% of white patients
- having our biases and prejudices pointed out to us helps (but there is still prejudice there)
Cognition and Stereotyping
- stereotyping is an inevitable by-product of our information-processing
- we categorize
- form schemas
- rely on heuristics
- depend on selective, faulty memories
- we process new info according to schemas
Taylor and Gardiner
- English students asked to characterize French Canadians and listened to French Canadian speaker contradict those stereotypes, students rate speakers' personality
- still rated him according to stereotype
U of Waterloo
- Ps read descriptions of monogamous homosexual male
- contradicted stereotype of promiscuity
- some told Ps told 'he's an accountant'
- those not told occupation changed stereotype
- those told profession did not, maintained stereotypes by creating mental categories
Social Categorization
- we divide world into "we" and "they"
- helps us simplify
- but, we evaluate our group (in-group) more positively than they (out-group)
Study (Queen's University)
- Canadians of 14 ethnic groups rated group traits
- virtually every group rated themselves above average
Participants at McGill U rated McGill hockey team vs. opponents
- rated opposition as more aggressive, arrogant, esp. as game went on
Supporters of Liberals, Conservatives, NDP viewed photos of strangers, guess their views
- Liberals, Conservatives assumed best-looking people would vote for their party.
Why do we favour our own group?
- our groups are part of our social identity
- social identity contributes to our self-esteem
- in face of threat, denigrate our group as a way to protect self-esteem
Felin and Spencer
- some Ps made to feel bad (responsible for accident)
- asked to complete survey re: Quebec issues
- those feeling bad rated French Canadians more negatively