5th SEMESTER

SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
TEAM PSYCHOCRASH

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 MODULE 1:

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY

Definition of social psychology

• Social psychology investigates the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actions are
influenced by the social environments in which we live—by other people or our thoughts
about them.
• Social psychology is defined as the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature
and causes of individual behavior, feelings, and thought in social situations.
• Floyd Allport (1924) has defined social psychology as “the scientific study of the
experience and behaviour of individuals in relation to other individuals, groups and
culture”.
• Gordon W. Allport (1968) states that social psychology is a discipline “that attempts
to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behaviour of an individual are
influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.”

Origin and development of psychology

1908 and 1924:

• Period during which social psychology become an independent field.

• In both these years books containing social psychology as their titles were published.

William McDougall;

o 1908
o The first book which was based on the view that social behavior tends from innate
tendencies or instincts.
Floyd Allport

o 1924 published second volume of the book

o He argued that social behavior stems from many different factors including the
presence of others and their specific actions.
o The book emphasized the value of experimentation and contained discussions of
actual research that already been conducted on such topics as conformity, the
ability to recognize others emotions from their expression and the impact of
audiences on task performance.

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20th century;

• By the middle of twenties, social psychology had appeared on the research field and had
begun to investigate many of the topics.
1930s and early 1940s;

• Two decades after the publication of allport’s book were marked by rapid growth.
• New issues were studied and new methods for investigating them were devised.
1935 muzafersherif and kurtlewin;

• Important milestones in the development of social psychology during this period

includes research by two of its founders.
• Muzafer sheriff studied the nature and impact of social norms and rules indicating how
individuals ought to behave and so contributed basic insights to our understanding of
pressures toward conformity.
• Kurt lewin and his colleagues carried out revealing research on the nature of leadership
and other group processes.
• Lewin’s influence on social psychology was profound, because many of his students went
on to become very prominent contributors in this field.
• By the close of the 1930s, social psychology was a growing field that had already
contributed much to our knowledge of social behaviour.
Social psychology growth: the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s

1940 and 1950:

• Social psychologists focused on attention on the influence that group and group
membership exert on individual behaviour(forsyth,1991)
• They examined the link between various personality traits and social behaviour.

1957, leonFestinger;
• Most important event during this period was the development of cognitive
dissonance theory.
• This theory proposed that human beings dislike inconsistency and strive to reduce it.
Specifically, the theory argues that people seek to eliminate inconsistency between
various attitudes that they hold or between their attitudes and behaviour.

1960;
• The time when social psychology came of age.
• So many lines of research either began or expanded during these years like
“interpersonal attraction and romantic love, repression, formation, attribution and
other aspects of social perception; many different aspects of social influence such as
obedience, conformity and compliance, the cause and prevention of human
aggression and effects of the physical environment on many forms of social
behaviour.

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 1970-1990: a maturing field
• Many lines on research began during the 1960s were expanded and several new
topics to prominence. The most important among that are:

1. Attribution: the process through which we seek to understand the cause of

others behaviour.
2. Gender differences and sex discrimination: investigation of the extent
to which the behaviour of women and men actually differs and the impact of
negative stereotypes concerning the traits supposedly possessed by gender.
3. Environmental psychology: investigations of the effects of the physical
environment-noise, heat, crowding, air quality on social behaviour.
• Social psychology reached maturity in both theory and method during the 1980s and
1990s. Modern researchers are interested in a variety of phenomena, but attribution,
social cognition, and self-concept are perhaps the greatest areas of growth.
• Social psychologists have also maintained their applied interests, with contributions
in health and environmental psychology, as well as the psychology of the legal
system.

Nature of social psychology

• The core values that are essential for a field to be considered as scientific in nature.
o Accuracy: A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the
world (including social behavior and thought) in as careful, precise, and error-
free a manner as possible.
o Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a
manner that is as free from bias as humanly possible.
o Skepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only to the extent
they have been verified over and over again.
o Open-mindedness: A commitment to changing one’s views—even views that
are strongly held—if existing evidence suggests that these views are inaccurate.

Social psychology is scientific in nature

• Social psychology is scientific in its approach to the range of topics it deals.
• One may find many common-sense explanations and literary works that tell us about
interpersonal relations, love, jealousy, aggression, altruism (helping behaviour) and the
roles of individuals in groups.
• The difference lies in the approach that a social psychologist adopts.

Social psychology focuses on the behaviour of individuals

• Societies differ greatly in terms of their views concerning courtship and marriage, yet it
is still individuals who fall in love.
• Similarly, societies vary greatly in terms of their overall levels of violence, yet it is still
individuals who perform aggressive actions or refrain from doing so.
• The same argument applies to virtually all other aspects of social behavior, from
prejudice to helping: the actions are performed by, and the thoughts occur in, the minds
of individuals, although they may, of course, be strongly influenced by other people.

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• Because of this basic fact, the focus in social psychology is strongly on individuals. Social
psychologists realize, of course, that we do not exist in isolation from social and cultural
influences.
• But the field’s major interest lies in understanding the factors that shape the actions and
thoughts of individuals in social settings.

Social psychology seeks to understand the causes of social behaviour and

thought

• Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors and
conditions that shape the social behavior and thought of individuals, their actions,
feelings, beliefs, memories, and inferences concerning other people.
The actions and characteristic of other people
• other people’sbehavior often has a powerful impact upon us.
• For example, you are in a hurry and notice that you are driving faster than you usually
do—above the speed limit, in fact. Suddenly, up ahead, you see the blinking lights of a
state trooper who is in the process of pulling another driver over to the side of the road.
• In addition, we are also often affected by others’ appearance.
• Research findings indicate that we cannot ignore others’ appearance even when we
consciously try to do so and it plays an important role in dating and romantic
relationships.

Cognitive process

• Cognitive processes play a crucial role in social behavior and social thought.
• We are always trying to make sense out of the social world, and this basic fact leads us
to engage in lots of social cognition—to think long and hard about other people—what
they are like, why they do,what they do, how they might react to our behavior, and so on.
• Social psychologists are well aware of the importance of such processes and, in fact,
social cognition is one of the most important areas of research in the field.

Environmental variables: impact of the physical world

• Are people more prone to wild impulsive behavior during the full moon than at other
times.
• Do we become more irritable and aggressive when the weather is hot and steamy than
when it is cool and comfortable?
• Does exposure to a pleasant smell in the air make people more helpful to others and
does that occur on baseball playing fields as well in crowded and largely unconditioned
sections of cities?
• Research findings indicate that the physical environment does indeed influence our
feelings, thoughts, and behavior, so these variables, too, certainly fall within the realm of
modern social psychology.

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 Biological factors
• our preferences, behaviors, emotions, and even attitudes are affected, to some extent, by
our biological inheritance
• Although social experiences too have a powerful effect, and it often interact with genetic
factors in generating the complex patterns of our social lives.
• The view that biological factors play an important role in social behavior comes from the
field of evolutionary psychology.
• This new branch of psychology suggests that our species, like all others on the planet,
has been subject to the process of biological evolution throughout its history, and that as
a result of this process, we now possess a large number of evolved psychological
mechanisms that help (or once helped) us to deal with important problems relating to
survival.

Goals of social psychology

1. Social psychologists seek to understand the causes of social behavior and thought.
Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors and
conditions that shape the social behavior and thoughts of individuals.

2. To understand the actions and characteristics of others.

One person’s behavior and their characteristics expressed in the behavior
directly influence other person’s feelings and actions.

3. To understand the cognitive processes.

The cognitive processes such as perception, memory and inferences play a key role
on the understanding and behavior of every individual in the society.

4. The environmental factors

The weather and climate a person experiencing has an impact in their behavior.

5. The cultural context

People live in different cultural setting. each culture comes out with its own rules
and norms to be systematically followed in different faces of human life cycle.
6. The biological/evolutionary factors
This is a new branch of social psychology that seeks to investigate the potential role
of genetic factors in various aspects.

Scope of social psychology

• Social stimuli and social stimulus situations

• Individuals reactions and experiences which arise from social situations
• Impact of social environment on the individuals social behavior is a result of four
factors.

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 1. Characteristics of the people.
2. cognitive processes.
3. Physical environment
4. Cultural context

➢ The physical context in which an event takes place is very crucial.

➢ Each social behaviorhas a specific cultural context and as a result, same behavior
may be interpreted in an entirely different way.
➢ It tries to see how thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals are influenced by
the actual imagined or implied presence of others. This includes social perception,
social interaction and many kinds of social influence like trust, power and
persuation.
➢ It tries to understand the influence that individual perceptions and behavior of
groups. This includes looking at things like group productivity in the workplace and
group decision making.
➢ Social psychology tries to understand groups itself as behavioral entities and the
relationships and influeces that one group has upon another group.

METHODS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

1) Systematic observation

• One basic technique for studying social behavior involves systematic observation—
carefully observing behavior as it occurs.
• A method of research in which behavior is systematically observed and
recorded.
• Observation accompanied by careful, accurate measurement of a particular behavior
across people.
Naturalistic observation
This technique involves observing the spontaneous behaviour of participants in natural
surrondings.
• For example, suppose that a social psychologist wanted to find out how frequently
people touch each other in different settings. The researcher could study this topic by
going to shopping malls, restaurants and bars, college campuses, and many other
locations and observe, in those settings, who touches whom, how they touch, and with
what frequency.
• Note that in such observation, the researcher would simply record what is happening in
each context; she or he would make no attempt to change the behavior of the people
being observed. In fact, such observation requires that the researcher take great pains to
avoid influencing the people observed in any way. Thus, the psychologist would try to
remain as inconspicuous as possible, and might even try to hide behind natural
barrierssuch as telephone poles, walls.

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1) Survey method
• A method of research in which a large number of people answer questions
about their attitudes or behavior
• In this method researchers ask large numbers of people to respond to questions about
their attitudes or behavior.
• Surveys are used for many purposes—to measure attitudes toward specific issues such as
smoking, to find out how voters feel about various political candidates, to determine how
people feel about members of different social groups, and even to assess student
reactions to professors.
• Social psychologists often use this method to assess attitudes toward a variety of social
issues—for instance, national health care reform or affirmative action programs.
• Scientists and practitioners in other fields use the survey method to measure everything
from life satisfaction around the globe to consumer reactions to new products.
• Surveys offer several advantages. Information can be gathered about thousands or even
hundreds of thousands of people with relative ease. In fact, surveys are now often
conducted online, through the Internet.
• Disadvantage:the survey method can be a useful approach for studying some aspects of
social behavior, but the results obtained are accurate only to the extent that issues
relating to sampling and wording are carefully addressed.

2) Correlation method
• The term correlationrefers to a tendency for one event to be associated with changes in
the other.
• Social psychologists refer to such changeable aspects of the natural world as variables,
since they can take different values.
• When a correlation exists, it is possible to predict one variable from information about
one or more other variables.
• The ability to make such predictions is one important goal of all branches of science,
including social psychology. Being able to make accurate predictions can be very helpful.
• Correlations can range from 0 to –1.00 or +1.00; the greater the departure from 0, the
stronger the correlation.
• Positive numbers mean that as one variable increases, the other increases too. Negative
numbers indicate that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
• For instance, there is a negative correlation between age and the amount of hair on the
heads of males: the older they are, the less hair they have.
• Correlational method: A method of research in which a scientist
systematically observes two or more variables to determine whether
changes in one are accompanied by changes in the other.
• This involves carefully measuring each variable, and then performing appropriate
statistical tests to determine whether and to what degree the variables are correlated.
Perhaps a concrete example will help.
• Hypothesis: An as yet unverified prediction concerning some aspect of social behavior
or social thought
• Advantages It can be used in natural settings where experiments might be very
difficult to conduct, and it is often highly efficient.
• A large amount of information can be obtained in a relatively short period of time.

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• Disadvantages: it is generally not conclusive with respect to cause-and-effect
relationships

3) Experimental method

• A method of research in which one or more factors (the independent

variables) are systematically changed to determine whether such variations
affect one or more other factors (dependent variables).
• If systematic changes in one variable produce changes in another variable, it is possible
to conclude with reasonable certainty that there is indeed a causal relationship between
these variables: that changes in one do indeed cause changes in the other.
• Independent variable: The variable that is systematically changed (i.e., varied) in an
experiment.
• Dependent variable: The variable that is measured in an experiment.

Major theoratical perspective of Social psychology

1. Researchers who adopt a sociocultural perspective consider how behavior is

influenced by factors that operate in large social groups, including social class,
nationality and cultural norms.
2. Evolutionary perspective focuses on social behavior as evolved adaptions that
helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
3. The social learning perspective focuses on past learning experiences as
determinants of a person’s social behavior
4. Phenomenological perspective focuses on a person’s subjective interpretations of
events in the social situation.
5. Social cognitive perspectives focus on the mental processes involved in paying
attention to interpreting, judging and remembering social experiences.

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 MODULE 2

SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Social perception

• The process through which we seek to know and understand other people.
• This process can be done through both verbal and non-verbal communication.
Non-verbal communication
• Communication between individuals that does not involve the content of spoken
language. It relies instead on an unspoken language of facial expressions, eye contact,
and body language.
• Information that is provided not through any spoken language, but by facial expression,
eye contact, body movements, postures and even by changes in body chemistry which
are communicated through tiny amounts of substances released into air.
• Changing moods, shifting emotions, fatigue, illness, drugs, even hidden biological
processes such as the menstrual cycle—can all influence the ways in which we think and
behave.
• We often try to find out how others are feeling right now. Sometimes, doing so is quite
straightforward—we ask other people how they are feeling or what kind of mood they are
in, and they tell us. Sometimes, other people will be unwilling to reveal their inner
feelings.
• In situations like ones in which we can’t ask others how they are feeling, we pay careful
attention to nonverbal cues provided by changes in their facial expressions, eye contact,
posture, body movements, and other expressive actions.
• Such behavior is relatively irrepressible (difficult to control), so that even when others
try to conceal their inner feelings from us, these often “leak out” in many ways through
nonverbal cues.
• The information conveyed by such cues, and our efforts to interpret this input, are often
described by the term nonverbal communication.

✓ Non-verbal communication channels

Research finding indicate that there exist 5 basic channels for non-verbal communication

1) Facial expression
• The Roman orator Cicero stated: “The face is the image of the soul.” By this he meant
that human feelings and emotions are often reflected in the face and can be read there in
specific expressions.
• It is possible to learn much about others’ current moods and feelings from their facial
expressions.
• In fact, it appears that five different basic emotions are represented clearly, and from a
very early age, on the human face: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and disgust.

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• It’s important to realize that the fact that only five different emotions are represented on
our faces does not imply that human beings can show only a small number of facial
expressions.
• Emotions occur in many combinations (e.g., joy together with sorrow, fear combined
with anger) and each of these reactions can vary greatly in strength.
• Thus, while there may be only a small number of basic themes in facial expressions, the
number of variations on these themes is immense.
• Facial expression are universal and have few exceptions.
• It has been found that certain facial expressions such as smiles, frowns, and other signs
of sadness are recognized as representing basic underlying emotions (e.g., happiness,
anger, sadness) in many different cultures.
• Cultural differences certainly do exist with respect to the precise meaning of facial
expression.
• For example, in india geographical, linguistic, religious, and other factors are so diverse
across the country, that it is difficult to generalise the meaning of non-verbal expression.
Expression of emotions like “lajja” can differ vastly with the situation, because lajja can
be associated with shyness, shame, guilt, happiness, bliss and so many such other
emotional expression.

2) Eye contact
• ancient poets often described the eyes as “windows to the soul”
• We do often learn much about others’ feelings from their eyes. For example, we interpret
a high level of gazing from another as a sign of liking or friendliness. In contrast, if
others avoid eye contact with us, we may conclude that they are unfriendly, don’t like us,
or are simply shy.
• Even a high level of eye contact with others is usually interpreted as a sign of liking or
positive feelings, If another person gazes at someone continuously and maintains such
contact regardless of what the recipient is do, such eye contact can be said to be staring.
• A stare is often interpreted as a sign of anger or hostility and most people find this
particular nonverbal cue disturbing.
• In fact, we may quickly terminate social interaction with someone who stares at us and
may even leave the scene.
• Coming to the indian society, the indian child is socialized to avoid direct eye contact
with elders while communicating, as it is considered as a sign of disrespect.
• On the other hand, in adult to adult communication, if one avoids looking at others eyes,
it is considered as evasion of truth.

3) Body language
• Our current moods or emotions are often reflected in the position, posture, and
movement of our bodies. Together, such nonverbal behaviors are termed body language
• Body language: Cues provided by the position, posture, and movement of others’
bodies or body parts.
• Body language often reveals others’ emotional states.
• Large numbers of movements, especially ones in which one part of the body does
something to another part (touching, rubbing, and scratching) suggest emotional

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 arousal. The greater the frequency of such behavior, the higher the level of arousal or
nervousness.
• Larger patterns of movements, involving the whole body, can also be informative. Such
phrases as “she adopted a threatening posture,” and “he greeted her with open arms”
suggest that different body orientations or postures indicate contrasting emotional
states.
• The findings of the experiment conducted by Aronoff and his colleagues shows that the
dangerous, threatening characters would show more diagonal or angular postures,
whereas the warm, sympathetic characters would show more rounded postures.
• These and related findings indicate that large-scale body movements or postures can
sometimes provide important information about others’ emotions, and even about their
apparent traits.
• More specific information about others’ feelings is often provided by gestures. These
fall into several categories, but perhaps the most important are emblems: body
movements carrying specific meanings in a given culture.
• Gender difference in the use and perception of various gestures do appear to exist.

4) Touching
• Touching depends mainly on three factors:
I. Who does the touching(a friend or a stranger or a member of your own
gender or the other gender)
II. Nature of the physical contact (if the touch is prolonged or brief, if it is
gentle or rough, which part of the body is being touched.)
III. The context in which the touching takes place( if it is on a business setting
or social setting or at a doctor’s office)
• Depending on such factors, touch can suggest affection, sexual interest, dominance,
caring, or even aggression.
• Existing evidence indicates that when touching is considered appropriate, it often
produces positive reactions in the person being touched.
• For eg. showing respect to elders by touching by touching the feet is viewed positively in
Indian culture.
• One acceptable way in which people in many different cultures touch strangers is
through handshaking.
• “Pop psychology” and even books on etiquette (e.g., Vanderbilt, 1957) suggest that
handshakes reveal much about other people.
• Levav and Argo (2010) found that a light, comforting pat on the arm can induce feelings
of security among both women and men, but only if the touching is performed by a
woman. Such feelings of security, in turn, influence actual behaviour.
• Individuals touched on the shoulder by a female experimenter actually showed greater
risk taking in an investment task than those not touched, or ones who were touched only
through handshakes.
• In sum, touching can serve as another source of nonverbal communication, and when it
is appropriate (as, for example, in handshakes in cultures that view this as an
appropriate means of greeting others), it can induce positive reactions. If it is viewed as
inappropriate, however, it can encourage negative perceptions of the person doing the
touching.

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5) Deception:
• This includes very small “white lies” designed to avoid hurting others feelings or
accomplish other positive social purposes to ones designed to get us out of trouble or
further our own goals (“I’m sorry, Professor—I missed the exam because of an
unexpected death in my family . . .”).
• Research findings indicate that most people tell at least one lie every day and use
deception in almost 20 percent of their social interactions.
• Experiments confirming these findings indicate that a majority of strangers lie to each
other at least once during a brief first encounter.

6) Micro expressions:
• These are fleeting facial expressions lasting only a few tenths of a second.
• Such reactions appear on the face very quickly after an emotion-provoking event and are
difficult to suppress.
• As a result, they can be very revealing about others’ true feelings or emotions.

ATTRIBUTION

• We simply want to know how others have acted that can be readily observed. We also
want to understand why they have done so, because this knowledge can help us to
understand them better and also can help us to better predict their future actions. The
process through which we seek such information and draw inferences is known as
attribution.
• Attribution refers to our efforts to understand the causes behind others’ behavior and,
on some occasions, the causes behind our behavior, too.

THEORIES OF ATTRIBUTION

1. Correspondent inference theory

• Proposed by jones and davis in 1965.
• A theory describing how we use others’ behavior as a basis for inferring their stable
dispositions.
• In other words, the theory is concerned with how we decide, on the basis of others’ overt
actions, whether they possess specific traits or dispositions likely to remain fairly stable
over time.
• At first glance, this might seem to be a simple task. Others’ behavior provides us with a
rich source on which to infer, so if we observe it carefully, we should be able to learn a lot
about them. Up to a point, this is true. However the task is complicated by the following
fact: Often, individuals act in certain ways that does not reflects their own preferences or
traits, but rather shows behaviour demanded by some external factors which leave them
little choice.
• For example, suppose you go to a restaurant and the young woman who greets you
“Please Wait to Be Seated” sign smiles and acts in a friendly manner. Does this mean
that she is a friendly person who simply “likes people”? It’s possible, but perhaps she is

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 acting in this way because that is what her job requires; she has no choice. Her boss has
told her, “We are always friendly to our customers; I won’t tolerate anything else.”
Situations like this are common, so using others’ behavior as a guide to understand their
lasting traits or motives can be very misleading.
• According to Jones and Davis’s theory, we accomplish this task by focusing our attention
on certain types of actions.
• First, we consider only behavior that seems to have been freely chosen, while largely
ignoring ones that were somehow forced on the person in question.
• Second, we pay careful attention to actions that show what Jones and Davis term
noncommon effects, effects that can be caused by one specific factor, but not by others.
• Actions that produced by noncommon effect are informative because they allow us to
zero in on the causes of others’ behaviour.
• Finally, Jones and Davis suggest that we also pay greater attention to actions by others
that are low in social desirability than to actions that are high on this dimension.
• In other words, we learn more about others’ traits from actions they perform that are
somehow out of the ordinary than from actions that are very much like those of most
other people.
• In sum, according to the theory proposed by Jones and Davis, we are most likely to
conclude that others’ behavior reflects their stable traits (i.e., we are likely to reach
correspondent inferences about them), when that behavior(1) is freely chosen; (2)
yields distinctive, noncommon effects; and (3) is low in social desirability.

2. KELLEY’S THEORY OF CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS

• Theory was proposed by Kelley in 1972.

• According to Kelley, in our attempts to answer the why question about others’ behavior,
we focus on three major types of information.
• First, we consider consensus—the extent to which other people react to a given
stimulus or event in the same manner as the person we are considering. The higher the
proportion of people who react in the same way, the higher the consensus.
• Second, we consider consistency—The extent to which an individual responds to a
given stimulus or situation in the same way on different occasions (i.e., across time)..
• And third, we examine distinctiveness—The extent to which an individual responds in
the same manner to different stimuli or events..
• According to Kelley’s theory, we are most likely to attribute another’s behavior to
internal causes under conditions in which consensus and distinctiveness are low but
consistency is high.
• In contrast, we are most likely to attribute another’s behavior to external causes when
consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness are all high.
• Finally, we usually attribute another’s behavior to a combination of internal and
external factors when consensus is low but consistency and distinctiveness are high.
• The basic assumptions of Kelley’s theory have been confirmed in a wide range of social
situations, so it seems to provide important insights into the nature of causal
attributions.
• However, research on the theory also suggests the need for certain modifications or
extensions, as described below

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 While we are often very interested in knowing whether others’ behavior stemmed mainly
from internal or external causes, In addition, we are also concerned with two other
questions:
1. Are the causal factors that influenced their behavior likely to be stable over time
or likely to change?
2. Are these factors controllable—can the individual change or influence them if he
or she wishes to do so)?
These dimensions are independent of the internal–external dimension we have just
considered.

For instance, some internal causes of behavior tend to be quite stable over time, such as
personality traits or temperament.

In contrast, other internal causes like motives, health, and fatigue can often do, change
greatly.

Similarly, some internal causes are controllable,individuals can, if they wish, learn to hold
their tempers in check; other internal causes, such as chronic illnesses or disabilities, are
not.

The same is true for external causes of behavior: some are stable over time (e.g., laws or
social norms telling how we should behave in various situations) whereas others are not
(e.g., bad luck).

A large body of evidence indicates that in trying to understand the causes behind others’
behavior, we do take note of all three of these dimensions internal–external, stable–
unstable, controllable–uncontrollable.

ATTRIBUTION ERRORS
1. Correspondence bias (fundamental attribution error);
• The tendency to explain others’ actions as stemming from dispositions even in the
presence of clear situational causes.

For example,Imagine that you witness the following scene. A man arrives at a
meeting 1 hour late. Upon entering, he drops his notes on the floor. While trying to
pick them up, his glasses fall off and break. Later, he spills coffee all over his tie. How
would you explain these events? The chances are good that you would reach
conclusions such as “This person is disorganized and clumsy.” Are such attributions
accurate? Perceiving and Understanding Others possible that the man was late
because of unavoidable delays at the airport, he dropped his notes because they were
printed on slick paper, and he spilled his coffee because the cup was too hot to hold.

• This bias seems to be so general in scope that many social psychologists refer to it as
the fundamental attribution error. We tend to perceive others as acting as they do

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 because they are “that kind of person,” rather than because of the many external
factors that may influence their behavior.
• This tendency occurs in a wide range of contexts but appears to be strongest in
situations where both consensus and distinctiveness are low, as predicted by Kelley’s
theory.

2. Self serving bias; The tendency to attribute our own positive outcomes to internal
causes but negative ones to external factors is known as the self-serving bias

For example, you write an exam and when you get to know the marks, you find the
following comment on the first page: “An outstanding paper—one of the best I’ve
seen in years. A.” Probably, you will explain it in terms of internal causes—your high
level of talent, the effort you invested in writing the paper, and so on. Now, imagine
that when you get the paper back, these comments are written on it. “Unsatisfactory
paper—one of the worst I’ve seen in years. D.” The chances are good that you will be
tempted to focus mainly on external (situational factors)—the difficulty of the task,
your professor’s unfairly harsh grading standards, the fact that you didn’t have
enough time to do a good job, and so on.

• There are Several possibilities for these attributions occur but most of these fall into
two categories: cognitive and motivational explanations.
• The cognitive model suggests that the self-serving bias stems mainly from certain
tendencies in the way we process social information. Specifically, it suggests that we
attribute positive outcomes to internal causes, but negative ones to external causes
because we expect to succeed and have a tendency to attribute expected outcomes to
internal causes more than to external cause.
• In contrast, the motivational explanation suggests that the self-serving bias stems from
our need to protect and enhance our self-esteem or the related desire to look good to
others.
• Regardless of the origins of the self-serving bias, it can be the cause of much
interpersonal friction. It often leads people working with others on a joint task to
perceive that they, not their partners, have made the major contributions, and to blame
others in the group for negative outcomes.
• Interestingly, the results of several studies indicate that the strength of the selfserving
bias varies across cultures. In particular, it is weaker in cultures, such as those in Asia,
that place a greater emphasis on group outcomes and group harmony, than it is in
Western cultures, where individual accomplishments are emphasized and it is
considered appropriate for winners to gloat (at least a little!) over their victories.
• we see that cultural factors often play an important role even in very basic aspects of
social behavior and social thought. While both cognitive and motivational factors may
well play a role in this kind of attributional error, research evidence seems to offer
more support for the motivational view.

THE ACTOR–OBSERVER EFFECT

The fundamental attribution error, powerful as it is, applies mainly to attributions we make
about others—we don’t tend to “overattribute” our own actions to external causes. This fact
helps explain another and closely related type of attributional bias known as the actor–

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observer effect the tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational (external) causes
but that of others to dispositional (internal) ones.
For example, when we see another person trip and fall, we tend to attribute this
event to his or her clumsiness. If we trip, however, we are more likely to attribute this event
to situational causes, such as ice on the sidewalk.

• We are quite aware of the many external factors affecting our own actions but are less
aware of such factors when we turn our attention to the actions of other people. Thus,
we tend to perceive our own actor-observer effect The tendency to attribute our own
behavior mainly to situational causes but the behavior of others mainly to internal
(dispositional) causes.
• The Correspondence Bias and Gender research participants still attributed women’s
emotional reactions to dispositional characteristics (they are “emotional”), but men’s
reactions to situational (external) causes (they are just having a “bad day”).

Attitude and behavior

According to allport, an attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized

thought experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individuals response
to all objects and situations with which it is related.
According to robbin, an attitude is a manner of disposition, feeling or position with
regard to a person or thing , tendency or orientation especially in mind.

Nature of attitudes

• Attitudes are complex combination of things we tend to call personality, beliefs,

behavior, motivation etc.
• Attitudes can be found anywhere along a continuum to vary from favourable to
unfavourable.
• An attitude exist in every persons mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions,
and influence how we judge others.
• Although the feelings and beliefs component of attitudes are internal to a person. we can
view a persons attitude from the resulting behavior.

Components of attitude

1. 1.Beliefs /cognition: an attitude is based on a set of cognition or knowledge structures

associated with the attitude object. Ie, the thoughts and beliefs that people form about
the attitude object.
2. 2.Evaluation/affective component: an attitude also has an evaluative or affective
component.it is based more on peoples feelings and values that their beliefs about the
nature of an attitude object.

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3. 3.Behavioural predisposition: an attitude also involve a predisposition to respond
or a behavioral tendency toward the object. ‘it is boring’ interprets a tendency to avoid
the class.’ I like my job’ suggests an intention to go to work. People who hold a specific
attitude are inclined to behave in certain ways that are consistent with the attitude.

Attitude formation

Attitudes may be formed through the reinforcement (instrumental conditioning) through

the association of stimulus and responses (classical conditioning) or by observing
others(observational learning).

Classical conditioning and attitude formation

classical conditioning a basic form of learning in which one stimulus, initially neutral,
acquires the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated pairing with another stimulus. In
a sense, one stimulus becomes a signal for the presentation or occurrence of the other.

• It is a basic principle of psychology that when a stimulus that is capable of evoking a

response—the unconditioned stimulus—regularly precedes another neutral stimulus, the
one that occurs first can become a signal for the second—the conditioned stimulus.
• Advertisers and other persuasion agents have considerable expertise in using this
principle to create positive attitudes toward their products. First, you need to know what
your potential audience already responds positively toward (what to use as the
unconditioned stimulus). If you are marketing a new beer, and your target audience is
young adult males, you might safely assume that attractive young women will produce a
positive response. Second, you need to pair your product repeatedly (the formerly
neutral or conditioned stimulus—say, your beer logo) with images of beautiful women
and, social learning. The process through which we acquire new information, forms of
behavior, or attitudes from other people.
• classical conditioning a basic form of learning in which one stimulus, initially neutral,
acquires the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated pairing with another stimulus.
In a sense, one stimulus becomes a signal for the presentation or occurrence of the
other.
• unconditioned stimulus - A stimulus that evokes a positive or negative response
without substantial learning.
• conditioned stimulus-The stimulus that comes to stand for or signal a prior
unconditioned stimulus.
• Such classical conditioning can affect attitudes via two pathways: the direct and indirect
route.
• The more generally effective and typical method used— the direct route—can be seen in
the advertisement. That is, positive stimuli (e.g., lots of different women) are repeatedly

17
 paired with the product, with the aim being to directly transfer the affect felt toward
them to the brand. However, by pairing a specific celebrity endorser who is already liked
by the target audience with the new brand, a memory link between the two can be
established. In this case—the indirect route— the idea is that following repeatedly
presenting that specific celebrity with the product, then whenever that celebrity is
thought of, the product too will come to mind.
• Not only can classical conditioning contribute to shaping our attitudes—it can do so
even though we are not aware of the stimuli that serve as the basis for this kind of
conditioning.
• Thefindings suggest that attitudes can be influenced by subliminal conditioning—
classical conditioning that occurs in the absence of conscious awareness of the stimuli
involved.
• mere exposure—having seen an object before, but too rapidly to remember having
seen it—can result in attitude formation. We know that this is a case of subliminal
conditioning because patients with advanced Alzheimer’s disease—who therefore cannot
remember seeing the stimuli—show evidence of having formed new attitudes as a result
of mere exposure.
• Classical Conditioning of Attitudes—The Indirect Route The manufacturers of these
watches hope that by repeatedly pairing Tiger Woods with their product, a memory link
between that celebrity and the product will be created. If the link formed in memory is
sufficiently strong, then whenever consumers think of that celebrity, their watch brand
name will come to mind.
• Classical Conditioning of Attitudes—The Direct Route Initially people may be neutral
toward this brand’s label. However after repeatedly pairing this product’s logo with an
“unconditioned stimulus” of various women who are attractive to the targeted group of
young males, seeing the beer logo may come to elicit positive attitudes on its own.

Instrumental learning

• Attitudes that are followed by positive outcomes tend to be strengthened and are likely
to be repeated, whereas attitudes that are followed by negative outcomes are weakened
so their likelihood of being expressed again is reduced. Thus, another way in which
attitudes are acquired is through the process of instrumental conditioning— differential
rewards and punishments.
• Sometimes the conditioning process is rather subtle, with the reward being
psychological acceptance—by rewarding children with smiles, approval, or hugs for
stating the “right” views. Because of this form of conditioning, until the teen years—
when peer influences become especially strong—most children express political,
religious, and social views that are highly similar to those of their parents and other
family members.
• Part of the college experience involves leaving behind our families and high school
friends and entering new social networks— sets of individuals with whom we interact on
a regular basis.

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• The new networks (e.g., new sorority or fraternity) we find ourselves in may contain
individuals who share our attitudes toward important social issues, or they may be
composed of individuals holding diverse and diverging attitudes toward
• subliminal conditioning- Classical conditioning of attitudes by exposure to stimuli
that are below individuals’ threshold of conscious awareness.
• mere exposure- By having seen before, but not necessarily remembering having done
so, attitudes toward an object can be formed.
• Illusion of truth effect- The mere repetition of information creates a sense of
familiarity and more positive attitudes.
• instrumental conditioning the basic form of learning in which responses that lead to
positive outcomes or which permit avoidance of negative outcomes are strengthened.
social networks Composed of individuals with whom we have interpersonal
relationships and interact with on a regular basis.
• These results suggest that new social networks can be quite influential—particularly
when they introduce new strong arguments not previously encountered (Levitan &
Visser, 2008).
• The desire to fit in with others and be rewarded for holding the same attitudes can be a
powerful motivator of attitude formation and change.

Observational learning

• A third means by which attitudes are formed can operate even when direct rewards
for acquiring or expressing those attitudes are absent. This process is observational
learning, and it occurs when individuals acquire attitudes or behaviors simply by
observing others.
• For example, people acquire attitudes toward many topics and objects by exposure to
advertising—where we see “people like us” or “people like we want to become” acting
positively or negatively toward different kinds of objects or issues.
• The answer behind this learning involves the mechanism of social comparison—our
tendency to compare ourselves with others in order to determine whether our view of
social reality is correct or not (Festinger, 1954). That is, to the extent that our views
agree with those of others, we tend to conclude that our ideas and attitudes are
accurate; after all, if others hold the same views, these views must be right.
• People often adjust their attitudes so as to hold views closer to those of others who
they value and identify with—their reference groups. For example, Terry and Hogg
(1996) found that the adoption of favorable attitudes toward wearing sunscreen
depended on the extent to which the respondents identified with the group
advocating this change. As a result of observing the attitudes held by others who we
identify with, new attitudes can be formed
• research findings indicate that hearing others whom we see as similar to ourselves
state negative views about a group can lead us to adopt similar attitudes—without
ever meeting any members of that group .

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 • the attitudes we form are indeed strongly influenced by our identification with
various groups and our perception of what attitudes are held by members of those
groups.
Persuasion

Efforts to change others’ attitudes through the use of various kinds of messages.

Persuasion research conducted by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley (1953) find out that

1. Communicators who are credible

• who seem to know what they are talking about or who are expert with respect to the
topics or issues they are presenting are more persuasive than those who are seen as
lacking expertise.
For instance, in a famous study on this topic, Hovland and Weiss (1951) asked
participants to read communications dealing with various issues. Participants
expressed their attitudes toward these issues a week before the experiment, and
then immediately after receiving the communications. Those who were told that
the source of the messages they read was a highly credible ingroup member
showed significantly greater attitude change than those who thought the message
was from the outgroup, which lacked trustworthiness and credibility.
• Communicators can, though, lose their credibility and therefore their ability to
persuade. One means by which credibility can be undermined is if you learn that a
communicator has a personal stake (financial or otherwise) in persuading you to
adopt a particular position.
• communicators are seen as most credible and therefore persuasive when they are
perceived as arguing against their selfinterests.

2. Communicators who are physically attractive are more persuasive than

communicators who are not attractive.
• advertisers who use attractive models are attempting to suggest to us that if we buy
their product, we too will be perceived as attractive.
• Another way that communicators can be seen as attractive is via their perceived
likeability. We are more likely to be persuaded by a communicator we like than one
we dislike. This is why actors or famous peoples are selected as spoke person for
various products advertisement as we already like them, so are we more persuaded by
them.
3. Messages that do not appear to be designed to change our attitudes are often
more successful than those that seem to be designed to achieve this goal. Indeed, a meta-
analysis of the existing research on this issue indicates that forewarning does typically
lessen the extent to which attitude change occurs.

4. fear appeals—messages that are intended to arouse fear in the recipient.

For example, Janis and Feshbach (1953) gave people one of three messages about the tooth
decay that can result from not brushing one’s teeth. They found that the mild fear-inducing

20
message resulted in the greatest subsequent tooth brushing, while the most fear-inducing
message resulted in the least increase in brushing. When the message is sufficiently fear
arousing that people genuinely feel threatened, they are likely to argue against the threat, or
else dismiss its applicability to themselves

Cognitive approaches to persuasion

we can process persuasive messages in two ways

1. systematic processing
2. heuristic processing

Systematic processing

• The systematic processing or the central route to persuasion, involves careful

consideration of message content and the ideas it contains.
• Such processing requires effort, and
• it absorbs much of our information-processing capacity. Attitude change depends
upon the strength of the arguments in the message.

Heuristic approach

• theheuristic processing or the peripheral route to persuasion, involves the use of

simple rules of thumb mental shortcuts such as the belief that “experts’ statements
can be trusted,” or the idea that “if it makes me feel good, I’m in favor of it.”
• This kind of processing requires less effort and allows us to react to persuasive
messages in an automatic manner.
• It occurs in response to cues in the message or situation that evoke various mental
shortcuts (e.g., beautiful models evoke the “What’s beautiful is good and worth
listening to” heuristic).
When do we engage in each of these two distinct modes of thought? Modern theories of
persuasion such as the elaboration-likelihood model,and the heuristic-
systematic model provide the following answer

• We engage in the most effortful and systematic processing when our motivation and
capacity to process information relating to the persuasive message is high. This type of
processing occurs if we have a lot of knowledge about the topic, we have a lot of time to
engage in careful thought, or the issue is sufficiently important to us and we believe it is
essential to form an accurate view.
• In contrast, we engage in the type of processing that requires less effort (heuristic
processing) when we lack the ability or capacity to process more carefully (we must
make up our minds very quickly or we have little knowledge about the issue) or when

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 our motivation to perform such cognitive work is low (the issue is unimportant to us or
has little potential effect on us).
• Advertisers, politicians, salespeople, and others wishing to change our attitudes prefer to
push us into the heuristic mode of processing because, for reasons we describe later, it is
often easier to change our attitudes when we think in this mode than when we engage in
more careful and systematic processing.

The ELM Model: A Cognitive Theory of Persuasion According to the elaboration

likelihood model (ELM), persuasion can occur in one of two ways. First, we can be
persuaded by systematically processing the information contained in the persuasive
messages (the central route), or second, by use of heuristics or mental one word shortcuts
(the peripheral route). Systematic processing occurs when the message is important to us
and we have the cognitive resources available to think about it carefully. Heuristic
processing is most likely when the message is not important to us or we do not have the
cognitive resources (or time) to engage in careful thought.

• The discovery of these two contrasting modes of processing— systematic versus

heuristic—has provided an important key to understanding when and how persuasion
occurs.
• For instance, when persuasive messages are not interesting or relevant to individuals,
the degree of persuasion they produce is not strongly influenced by the strength of the
arguments these messages contain. When such messages are highly relevant to
individuals, however, they are much more successful in inducing persuasion when the
arguments they contain are strong and convincing.

Resistance to persuasion

Reactance:

• Negative reactions to threats to one’s personal freedom. Reactance often increases

resistance to persuasion and can even produce negative attitude change or opposite
to what was intended.
• Research indicates that in such situations, we do often change our attitudes and
behavior in the opposite direction from what we are being urged to believe or to do.
• Indeed, when we are feeling reactance, strong arguments in favor of attitude change
can increase opposition compared to moderate or weak arguments.
• When individuals perceive such appeals as direct threats to their personal freedom
(or their image of being an independent person), they are strongly motivated to
resist.
Forewarning: (prior knowledge of persuasive intend)

• Advance knowledge that one is about to become the target of an attempt at

persuasion.
• Forewarning often increases resistance to the persuasion that follows.

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 • It provides us with more opportunity to formulate counter argument (those that
refute the message) and also it can reduce the impact of the message.
• In addition, forewarning provides us with more time to recall relevant information
that may prove useful in refuting the persuasive message.
Selective avoidance:

• A way in which we resist attempts of persuasion is through selective avoidance.

• A tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing
attitudes.
• Such avoidance increases resistance to persuasion.
• Selective exposure: ignoring information that contradicts our attitude, while actively
attending to the information that are consistent.
Actively defending our attitudes: counterarguing against the competition:

• Ignoring or screening out information incongruent with our current views is certainly
one way of resisting persuasion. But growing evidence suggests that in addition to
this kind of passive defence of our attitudes, we also use a more active strategy as
well: We actively counterargue against views that are contrary to our own. By doing
so, it makes the opposing views more memorable than they would be otherwise, but
it reduces their impact on our attitudes.
• Exposure to the arguments that opposes our attitude can serve to strengthen the
views we already hold, making us more resistant to subsequent efforts to change
them.
Individual difference in resistance to persuasion

• some people may be resistant to persuasion because they are motivated to engage in
counterarguing
• some people may be resistant to persuasion because they attempt to support(bloster)
their own belief when they encounter counter attitudinal messages.
Cognitivedissonance

• An internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between two or
more attitudes or between their attitudes and behaviour.
• Cognitive dissonance can sometimes lead us to change our own attitude, to shift
them so that they are consistent with our overt behaviour, even in the absence of
strong external pressure.
• We can reduce cognitive dissonance by acquiring new information that justify or
support our behaviour. Also by deciding that the inconsistency actually dosent exist.
Cognitive dissonance and attitude change

• Cognitive dissonance theory argues that dissonance will be stronger when we have
few reasons for engaging in attitude-discrepant behavior. This is so because when we
have little justification and therefore cannot explain away our actions to ourselves,
dissonance will be quite intense.

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• Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that it will be easier to change individuals’
attitudes by offering them just enough to get them to engage in attitude-discrepant
behavior.
• Social psychologists sometimes refer to this surprising prediction as the less-leads
to-more effectless reasons or rewards for an action often leads to greater attitude
change—and it has been confirmed in many studies.
• Indeed, the more money or other rewards that are offered to people for them to
behave in an attitude-discrepant way provides a justification for their actions and can
undermine the likelihood that attitude change will occur.
• In addition, small rewards lead to greater attitude change primarily when people
believe that they were personally responsible for both the chosen course of action
and any negative effects it produced. For instance, when ordered by an authority to
do a particular behavior that is inconsistent with our personal attitudes, we may not
feel responsible for our actions and therefore not experience dissonance.
• Why Smaller Inducements Often Lead to More Attitude Change After
Attitude-Discrepant Behavior:When individuals have strong reasons for
engaging in attitude-discrepant behavior, they experience relatively weak dissonance
and do not change their attitudes. In contrast, when they have little apparent
justification for engaging in the attitudediscrepantbehavior, they will experience
stronger dissonance and greater pressure to change their attitudes. The result—less
justification leads to more dissonance and more change following attitude-discrepant
behavior.
• Dissonance induced through hypocrisy:inducing individuals to advocate
certain attitude or behaviour and then reminding them that their own behaviour has
not always been consistent with these attitudes. It can be a powerful tool for
inducing beneficial change in behaviour.
• For eg:statements likePeople who don’t wear seat belts are much more likely to die
in accidents than those who do
• People who smoke are much more likely to suffer from lung cancer and heart disease
than those who don’t
• People who engage in unprotected sex are much more likely than those who engage
in safe sex to contract dangerous diseases, including AIDS, as well as have unplanned
pregnancies.

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 MODULE 3

GROUP, LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL

INFLUENCE
GROUP

• “A group is an organized system of more individuals who are related to one

another so that it performs some functions; it has a standard of role relationship
and has a set of norms that regulate the function of the group.” – Mc David
• Sheriff and sheriff (1969) define a group as follows: “A group is a social unit which
consists of a number of individuals who stand in role and status relationship to
one another stabilized in some degree at the time and who possess a set of value
or norms of their own regulating their behaviour at least in matter of consequence
to the group”.
• Group is defined by Baron and Byrne (1988) as follows: “Group consist of two or
more persons engaged in social interaction who have some stable structure
relationship with one another, are independent, share common goals and
perceive that they are in fact part of a group”. Thus when two or more individuals
gather together to serve a common purpose or common motive it is called a
group.

Nature of group

• It is an assemblage of individuals.
• It has its own structure and organization of forces.
• It has its own standard and norms of behaviour of performance.
• It stands in role and status of relationship to one another.
• It performs as some specific functions.
• It provides motivation and satisfaction of needs of the members.
• It provides the awareness of members by the process of interaction.
• It has its goals and objectives.
• It has dynamic process of social and emotional development of the member.
• It has a common fate or future. The members are interdependent.
• It has own leader, may be formal i.e. teacher or informal.

Functions of the group

(i) Satisfaction of Needs:
Satisfaction of needs of individual members is supposed to be the most essential features of
the function of a group. People join different groups and societies for satisfaction of

25
different needs. For example, people join photographic society, music associations, health
clubs, dance clubs, psychological or economic society according to their respective interests.

(ii) Loyalty of the Members:

The group loyalty will depend upon the extent to which the group satisfies the vital needs of
the individual members. These vital needs are social and biological. In a social context, the
need for dominance or belongingness, recognition, prestige etc. are important.

More a person identifies with a group with the hope of satisfaction of his needs, more will be
the loyalty to that group. Smooth group functioning is closely inter-related with such
membership loyalty.

(iii) Belief for the Group:

Just as people have common needs in a group, a common belief also serves as uniting the
different members of the group. Different values for the group are also connected with the
beliefs. The degree to which a group can live upto its values and beliefs with more solidarity
is to be expected in the group.

Features of Groups
Groups usually have the following features:

• Norms that determine appropriate behavior

• Roles that are assigned to people that determine what behaviors and responsibilities
people should take on
• A communication structure that determines who talks to whom within the group
• A power structure that determines how much authority and influence group members
have.
Example: A college psychology class has norms, such as when people should arrive for
class. The professor’s role includes teaching, inviting discussion, and administering exams.
The students’ role is to attend class, listen to lectures, read materials, and pose questions.
The communication structure of the class demands that students listen without talking to
each other while the professor lectures. The power structure gives the professor more
authority than any of the students. Some students also may have more authority and
influence than other students, such as those who are more familiar with the class material.

Productivity in Groups
Research shows that productivity tends to decline when a group of people are working on a
task together. This happens for two reasons: insufficient coordination and social loafing.

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Insufficient Coordination
When many people work on a task, their efforts may not be sufficiently coordinated.
Several people may end up doing the same portion of the task, and some portions of the
task may be neglected.

Group Decision-Making
Members of a group are often required to make decisions together. Three concepts
related to group decision-making are groupthink, group polarization, and minority
influence.

Groupthink
Groupthink is the tendency for a close-knit group to emphasize consensus at the
expense of critical thinking and rational decision-making. In a groupthink situation,
group members squash dissent, exert pressure to conform, suppress information from
outside the group, and focus selectively on information that agrees with the group’s
point of view.
Groupthink is more likely to occur when groups have certain characteristics:

• High cohesiveness. Group cohesiveness is the strength of the liking and

commitment group members have toward each other and to the group.
• Isolation from outside influences
• A strong leader
• The intent to reach a major decision

Group Polarization
The dominant point of view in a group often tends to be strengthened to a more extreme
position after a group discussion, a phenomenon called group polarization. When a
group starts out with a dominant view that is relatively risky, the group is likely to come
to a consensus that is even riskier. This phenomenon is calledrisky shift.

Minority Influence
A committed minority viewpoint can change the majority opinion in a group. Group
members are more likely to be influenced by a minority opinion when the minority holds
the opinion firmly.

De-individuation
When people are in a large group that makes them feel aroused and anonymous, they
may experience deindividuation. When people become deindividuated, they lose their
inhibitions and their sense of responsibility and are not self-conscious about their
behavior. Deindividuation is a major reason for the violence that sometimes happens in
mobs.

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LEADERSHIP

• Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a

common goal.
• He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality
and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.
• Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real
changes and reflect their mutual purpose.
• With this definition, we accept the following attributes of leadership
➢ Leadership is not an act or set of acts, it is a process.
➢ Leadership is not just influence, yet it involves influencing others through the
leadership. While between the leader and the followers, the influence is
mutual, together they influence the environment around them in some way.
➢ Leadership goes beyond goals. There is a purpose or cause which is broad
enough to create a vision that connects followers who might have different
individual goal.

Types of leadership
A leadership style refers to a leader's characteristic behaviors when directing, motivating,
guiding and managing groups of people. Great leaders can inspire political movements and
social change. They can also motivate others to perform, create and innovate.

Kurt Lewin's three leadership styles or behaviors, described below, influence the leader-
follower relationship, group success, group risk-taking, group problem-solving strategies,
group morale, and group relations.

1.Authoritarian Leadership
• Authoritarian leaders, also referred to as autocratic leaders, are characterized as
domineering.
• Autocratic leadership allows autocratic leader to take the ultimate control of
taking decisions without consulting others. An autocratic leader possess high level
of power and authority and imposes its will on its employees.
• This type of leadership proves to be useful where close level of supervision is
required. It is gained through punishment, threat, demands, orders, rules, and
regulations.
• Creative employees morale goes down because their output is not given
importance and is often detest by employees.
• The functions of authoritarian leadership include unilateral rule-making, task-
assignment, and problem solving while the roles of authoritarian followers
include adhering to the leader's instructions without question or comment.
• Authoritarian leadership is appropriate in settings with a constant stream of new
employees, limited decision-making time or resources, and the need for large-
scale coordination with other groups and organizations.

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 • Authoritarian leadership is not suited to environments in which members desire
to share their opinions and participate in decision-making processes. Critics of
authoritarian leadership argue that the leadership style leads to high member
dissatisfaction, turnover, and absenteeism.

2.Democratic Leadership

• Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership or shared

leadership, is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a
more participative role in the decision-making process.
• This type of leadership can apply to any organization, from private businesses to
schools to government.
• Everyone is given the opportunity to participate, ideas are exchanged freely, and
discussion is encouraged.
• While the democratic process tends to focus on group equality and the free flow of
ideas, the leader of the group is still there to offer guidance and control.1
• The democratic leader is charged with deciding who is in the group and who gets
to contribute to the decisions that are made.

Characteristics of democratic leadership include:

➢ Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the
leader retains the final say over decisions.
➢ Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.
➢ Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

• Researchers suggest that good democratic leaders possess specific traits that include
honesty, intelligence, courage, creativity, competence, and fairness. Strong
democratic leaders inspire trust and respect among followers.3
• These leaders are sincere and make decisions based on their morals and values.
Followers tend to feel inspired to take action and contribute to the group. Good
leaders also tend to seek diverse opinions and do not try to silence dissenting voices
or those that offer a less popular point of view.

3.Laissez-Faire Leadership
• Laissez-faire leaders are characterized as uninvolved with their followers and
members; in fact, laissez-faire leadership is an absence of leadership style.
• Leaders of this style make no policies or group-related decisions. Instead, group
members are responsible for all goals, decisions, and problem solving.
• Laissez-faire leaders have very little to no authority within their group organization.
• The functions of laissez-faire leadership include trusting their members or followers
to make appropriate decisions and bringing in highly trained and reliable members
into the group or organization.
• The roles of laissez-faire followers include self-monitoring, problem solving, and
producing successful end products.
• Laissez-faire leaders are most successful in environments with highly trained and
self-directed followers.

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 • Laissez-faire leadership is appropriate in particular settings such as science
laboratories or established companies with longterm employees.
• Laissez-faire leadership is not suited to environments in which the members require
feedback, direction, oversight, flexibility, or praise.

Other types of leadership involves

4. Charismatic leadership

• The charismatic leader is visionary and works by infusing high amount of energy and
enthusiasm in his team.

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 • He sets as role model for his team and drive others to show high level of
performance.
• This type of leader is committed to the organization and believes more in him rather
than his team.
• The presence of charismatic leader works as a boost for rest of the employees and
therefore such type of leader should be committed to the organization for the long
run.
• A charismatic leadership may pose as a risk to the company if he decided to leave to
explore new opportunities and it might take a lot of time and hard work by the
company to win the confidence of its employees.

5. Transactional leadership

• Transactional leadership, also known as managerial leadership, focuses on the role of

supervision, organization, and group performance.
• Leaders who implement this style focus on specific tasks and use rewards and
punishments to motivate followers.
• Characteristics of transactional leadership includes

➢ People perform their best when the chain of command is definite and clear.
➢ Rewards and punishments motivate workers.
➢ Obeying the instructions and commands of the leader is the primary goal of the
followers.
➢ Subordinates need to be carefully monitored to ensure that expectations are met.

• Transactional leaders focus on the maintenance of the structure of the group.

• They are tasked with letting group members know exactly what is expected,
articulating the rewards of performing tasks well, explaining the consequences of
failure, and offering feedback designed to keep workers on task.

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6. Transformational leadership

• Transformational leadership is a leadership style that can inspire positive changes in

those who follow.
• Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate.
• Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also
focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well.
• Through the strength of their vision and personality, transformational leaders are
able to inspire followers to change expectations , perceptions and motivations to
work towards common goals.

Theories of leadership

Theories are commonly categorized by which aspect is believed to define the leader the
most. The most widespread one’s are:

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1. "Great Man" Theory
• Thomas Carlyle proposed the Great Man theory in the 1840s, and it merely
believes that leadership is an inherent trait of a person who is destined to become
a great leader by birth and they prove themselves when the great need arises.
• In other words, some people are born to become leaders and leadership is a
heroic act.
• The term "Great Man" was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of
primarily as a male quality, especially in terms of military leadership.
• Criticisms: this theory was criticized or questioned due to the following reasons:
➢ It was a male-centric approach when women have proved to be great leaders
too.
➢ This theory explains that leadership cannot be learned or taught; it’s an
inherent trait.
➢ There is no scientific validation to support this theory.
➢ It neglected the environmental and situational factors which affect the
leadership process.

2. Trait Theory
• Ralph M. Stogdill proposed the trait theory of leadership in the late 1940s.
• He explained that an individual must possess the key personality traits and
characteristics to be an effective leader and these traits are inherent by birth.
• The theory focused on analyzing mental, physical, and social characteristic in
order to gain more understanding of what is the characteristic or the combination
of characteristics that are common among leaders.
• Some of the core leadership traits based on this theory can be categorized as
follows:
➢ Physiological traits: Height, weight, structure, color, appearance and so
forth.
➢ Socioeconomic characteristics: Gender, religion, marital status, age,
occupation, literacy and earnings.
➢ Personality traits: Extraversion, self-confidence, patience, agreeable,
reliable, honesty, and leadership motivation.
➢ Intellectual traits: Decisiveness, intelligence, judgmental ability,
knowledge and emotional attribute.
➢ Task-related traits: Attainment drive, dedication, initiative, determination
and business expertise.
➢ Social characteristics: Socially active, cordiality and cooperation.
➢ Some of the other traits being charisma, adaptiveness,, creativity,
uniqueness.
• Criticisms:
➢ This theory was criticized since it neglected the environmental factors which
may not always remain the same.

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 ➢ The list of traits is quite vast and keeps on changing from time to time.
➢ It was unable to explain failures despite possessing the certain traits specified
in the theory. Moreover, of the identified traits can be acquired through
learning and training.
➢ There are plenty of people who possess the personality traits associated with
leadership, yet many of these people never seek out positions of leadership.

3.Behavioral Theory
• Behavioral theory of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are
made, not born. Consider it the flip-side of the Great Man theories. Rooted
inbehaviorism, this leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders not on
mental qualities or internal states.
• According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching
and observation.
• Thus, the researchers focused on the leader’s behavior rather than traits. To study
the behavior of leaders, two major research programs were started by two
different universities namely, the Ohio State Leadership Studies and the
University of Michigan Studies.
• The Ohio State University Studies: A group of researchers at the university
prepared a questionnaire to be surveyed in military and industrial setups, to
determine the perception the subordinates for the actual behavior of their
leaders. From their findings, the researchers identified two major categories of
leader behavior:
➢ Consolidation: The leaders are attentive towards their subordinates and
build up an excellent inter-personnel relationship with them. They are very
supportive and friendly. This was termed as “people oriented behavior”.
➢ Initiating structure: The leaders are majorly concerned about the
achievement of goals and schedule and structure work accordingly. For
such leaders, subordinates are just resources, and they have to make the
optimal utilization of them. This was termed as “task-oriented behavior”.
• The University of Michigan Studies: This study is based on how the leader’s
behavior is related to group performance. Researchers made a comparison of
effective managers with the ineffective ones and found that the two can be
discriminated on the basis of their behavior. i.e. job-centric behavior and
organizational-member centric behavior.
• The study further resulted in the identification of four additional behaviors
essentially for effective leadership which are support, goal emphasis, work
facilitation and interaction facilitation.

4. Contingency Theories
• Contingency theories of leadership state that effective leadership comprises of all
the three factors, i.e. traits, behavior and situation. A leader’s behavior varies as

34
 per the situation. To support this theory of leadership various models were
developed, and multiple studies were conducted in this direction.
• Contingency theories of leadership (1960s’) focus on particular variables related
to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is
best suited for the situation.
• According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations.
• Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leadership style,
qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation.
• The theory argues that there is no single way of leading and that every leadership
style should be based on certain situations, which signifies that there are certain
people who perform at the maximum level in certain places; but at minimal
performance when taken out of their element.

5. Charismatic leadership theory

This theory believes that a leader must possess some extraordinary and exceptional
qualities to become an effective leader. Such leaders are led by their key traits i.e.

1. Envisioning/ Foreseeing: Leaders foresees future possibilities and create a vision

accordingly, usually having high expectations and dreams.
2. Energizing/ Empowering: Leaders are highly enthusiastic, proactive, energetic
and confidently aiming towards success.
3. Enabling/ Guiding: Leaders provide complete support and guidance and show
compassion and trust in followers. Such leaders are highly focussed and
committed towards their goal accomplishment.

6. Transactional leadership theory

• Transactional theory (1970s’), also known as exchange theory of leadership, are

characterized by a transaction made between the leader and the followers. In fact, the
theory values a positive and mutually beneficial relationship.

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 • The theory emphasizes the realization of a desired outcome and result. The leaders
motivate the followers by way of a reward system, i.e. rewarding the performers and
punishing the non-performers.
• The transactional theorists state that humans in general are seeking to maximize
pleasurable experiences and to diminish un-pleasurable experiences. Thus, we are
more likely to associate ourselves with individuals that add to our strengths.

7. Transformational leadership theory

• The theory states that a leader is effective only if he can transform or change the
perceptions, behavior and expectations of the followers and direct them towards a
common goal which will lead to the accomplishment of the leader’s vision.
• The essence of transformational theories is that leaders transform their followers
through their inspirational nature and charismatic personalities. Rules and
regulations are flexible, guided by group norms. These attributes provide a sense of
belonging for the followers as they can easily identify with the leader and its purpose.
• Following are the key factors behind transformational leadership:
➢ Psychological transformation: Bring about a change in the perception and
mindset of the follower.
➢ Influential: Creates a strong impact on the followers.
➢ Motivational: Generates positive energy within followers.
➢ Inspirational: Encourages them to achieve something.
➢ Individual impact: Creates a powerful effect on the behavior and perception of
the followers.

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Social Facilitation
In some circumstances, individuals perform better when other people are present. This
phenomenon is called social facilitation. Social facilitation is more likely to occur on
easy tasks. On difficult tasks, people are likely to perform worse in the presence of
others.

Social Loafing
Social loafing, which contributes to declines in the productivity of a group, is the
reduced effort people invest in a task when they are working with other people.
Diffusion of responsibility contributes to social loafing. A person does not feel as
responsible for working on a task if several others are also present, since responsibility is
distributed among all those present.

Social loafing is particularly likely to happen in the following circumstances:

• When the group is large

• When it is difficult to evaluate individual contributions to a task
• When people expect their coworkers to pick up the slack

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SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Efforts by one or more persons to change the behavior, attitudes, or feelings of one or more
others.

It can be achieved through

• Conformity – Pressures to behave in ways that are viewed as acceptable or

appropriate by a group or society.
• Compliance – Direct efforts to get others to change their behavior in specific ways.
• Obedience – Social influence in which one person simply orders one or more others
to do what they want.

1. CONFORMITY
• A type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behavior
to adhere to existing social norms.
• A change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.
• Conformity, in other words, refers to pressures to behave in ways consistent with
rules indicating how we should or ought to behave. These rules are known as
social norms, and they often exert powerful effects on our behavior.
• Social norms: Rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in
specific situations.
• We can say that conformity is at times bad (when it leads someone to drive drunk
or to join in racist behavior), at times good (when it inhibits people from cutting
into a theater line).
• Conformity is not just acting as other people act; it is also being affected by how
they act. It is acting or thinking differently from the way we would act and think if
we were alone. Thus, conformity is a change in behavior or belief to accord with
others.
• Muzaffer sheriff (1935, 1937) observed that others’ judgments influenced people’s
estimates of the movement of a point of light that actually did not move
(autokinetic phenomenon)

Asch’s Conformity Study

In the 1950s, the psychologist Solomon Asch did a famous study that demonstrated
that people often conform.
Asch recruited male undergraduate subjects for the study and told them that he was
doing research on visual perception. He placed each subject in a room with six
accomplices. The subject thought that the six were also subjects. The seven people were
then given a series of easy tasks. In each task, they looked at two cards, one with a single
line on it and the other with three lines of different lengths. The people were asked to
decide which line on the second card was the same length as the line on the first card.

38
 On the first two tasks, the accomplices announced the correct answer to the group, as
did the subject. On the next twelve tasks, the accomplices picked a line on the second
card that was clearly a wrong answer. When put in this situation, more than one-third of
the subjects conformed to the choices made by their group.

Factors that Influence Conformity

1) Cohesiveness: It refers to the extent to which we are attracted to a social group and
want to belong to it.
• The greater cohesiveness is, the more we tend to follow the norms (ie., rules) of
the group.
• This is hardly surprising: the more we value being a member of a group and
want to be accepted by the other members, the more we want to avoid doing
anything that will separate us from them.

2) Group size: Asch (1956) and other early researchers (eg., Gerard, Wilhelmy&Conolley,
1968) found that conformity increases with group size, but only up to about 3 or 4
members; beyond that point, it appears to level off or even decrease.
• The larger the group – the greater the number of people who behave in some specific
way – the greater our tendency to conform and “do as they do”.

3) Social norms: Rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific
situations.
• Descriptive norms are ones that simply describe what most people do in a given
situation. They influence behavior by informing us about what is generally seen
as effective or adaptive in that situation.
• In contrast, injuctive norms specify what ought to be done – what is approved or
disapproved behavior in a given situation.

4) Group unanimity: conformity is reduced if the modeled behavior or belief is not

unanimous.
• People will usually voice their own convictions if just one other person has also
differed from the majority.
• Observing someone else’s dissent – even when it is wrong – can increase our own
independence.

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5) Social status: The higher the status of those modeling the behavior or belief, the greater
the likelihood of conformity.
• Junior group members – even junior social psychologists – acknowledge more
conformity to their group than do senior group members.

6) Public response: people also conform most when their responses are public (in the
presence of the group).
• In experiments, people conform more when they must respond in front of others
rather than writing their answers privately. It is much easier to stand up for what
we believe in the privacy of the voting booth than before a group.

7) Prior commitment: A prior commitment to a certain behavior or belief increases the

likelihood that a person will stick with that commitment rather than conform.

Reasons for Conforming

People have many reasons for conforming:

• They want to be accepted by the group, or they fear rejection by the group. In this
case, the group is exerting normative social influence.
• The group provides them with information. In this case, the group is exerting
informational social influence.
• They want a material or social reward, such as a pay raise or votes.
• They admire the group and want to be like other group members.

2. COMPLIANCE

Compliance refers to changing one's behavior due to the direct request from one person
to another person.
It is going along with the group or changing a behavior to fit in with the group, while still
disagreeing with the group.
Unlike obedience, in which the other individual is in a position of authority, compliance
does not rely upon being in a position of power or authority over others.

Underlying principles or factors

1. Ingratiation
• Getting others to like us so that they will be more willing to agree to our requests.
• This approach involves gaining approval from the target in order to gain their
compliance.
• Strategies for ingratiation include:
➢ Flattering – praising others in some manner – is one of the best.
➢ Self-promotion – informing others about our past accomplishments or
positive characteristics.

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 ➢ Incidental similarity – calling attention to small and slightly surprising
similarities between them and ourselves.
➢ Other techniques that seem to work are improving one’s own appearance,
emitting many positive non-verbal cues, and doing small favors for the
target people.

2. Reciprocity
• People are more likely to comply if they feel that the other person has already
done something for them.
• We have been socialized to believe that if people extend a kindness to us, then we
should return the favor.
• Researchers have found that the reciprocity effect is so strong that it can work
even when the initial favor is uninvited or comes from someone we do not like.

3. Consistency
• Once we have committed to a position or action, we are more willing to comply
with requests for behaviors that are consistent with this position or action than
with requests that are inconsistent with it.

4. Friendship or liking
• In general, we are more willing to comply with requests from friends or from
people we like than with requests from strangers or people we don’t like.
• People are more likely to comply when they believe that they share something in
common with the person making the request.

5. Scarcity
• In general, we value, and try to secure, outcomes or objects that are scarce or
decreasing in availability. As a result, we are more likely to comply with requests
that focus on scarcity than ones that make no reference to this issue.
• Playing hard to get – A technique that can be used for increasing compliance by
suggesting that a person or object is scarce and hard to obtain.
• Deadline technique – A technique for increasing compliance in which target
people are told that they have only limited time to take advantage of some offer or
to obtain some item.

6. Authority
• In general, we are more willing to comply with requests from someone who holds
legitimate authority – or simply appears to do so.

Techniques Used to Gain Compliance

Compliance is a major topic of interest within the field of consumer psychology. This
specialty area focuses on the psychology of consumer behavior, including how sellers can

41
influence buyers and persuade them to purchase goods and services. Marketers often
rely on a number of different strategies to obtain compliance from consumers.
Some of these techniques include:

1. The "Door-in-the-Face" Technique

• A procedure for gaining compliance in which requesters begin with a large request
and then, when this is refused, retreat to a smaller one (the one they actually
desired all along).
• In this approach, marketers start by asking for a large commitment. When the
otherperson refuses, they then make a smaller and more reasonable request.
• For example, imagine that a business owner asks you to make a large investment in
a new business opportunity. After you decline the request, the business owner asks
if you could at least make a small product purchase to help him out. After refusing
the first offer, you might feel compelled to comply with his second appeal.

2. The "Foot-in-the-Door" Technique .

• A procedure for gaining compliance in which requesters begin with a small request
and then, when this is granted, escalate to a larger one (the one they actually
desired all along).
• In this approach, marketers start by asking for and obtaining a small commitment.
• Once you have already complied with the first request, you are more likely to also
comply with a second, larger request.
• For example, your co-worker asks if you fill in for him for a day. After you say yes,
he then asks if you could just continue to fill in for the rest of the week.

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3. The "That's-Not-All" Technique.
• A technique for gaining compliance in which requesters offer additional benefits to
target people before they have decided whether to comply with or reject specific
requests.
• Have you ever found yourself watching a television infomercial? Once a product
has been pitched, the seller then adds an additional offer before the potential
purchaser has made a decision. "That's not all," the salesperson might suggest, "If
you buy a set of widgets now, we'll throw in an extra widget for free!" The goal is to
make the offer as appealing as possible.

4. The "Lowball" Technique .

• This strategy involves getting a person to make a commitment and then raising
the terms or stakes of that commitment.
• For example, a salesperson might get you to agree to buy a particular cell phone
plan at a low price before adding on a number of hidden fees that then make the
plan much more costly.

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3. OBEDIENCE
• Obedience is a form of social influence in which one person orders one or more others
to do something, and they do so. It is, in a sense, the most direct form of social
influence.
• Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure.
• Obedience is less frequent than conformity or compliance because even people who
possess authority and could use it often prefer to exert influence in less obvious ways
– through requests rather than direct orders.

Milgram’s Obedience Study

In the 1960s, the social psychologist Stanley Milgramdid a famous research study
called the obedience study. It showed that people have a strong tendency to comply with
authority figures.
Milgram told his forty male volunteer research subjects that they were participating in a
study about the effects of punishment on learning. He assigned each of the subjects to
the role of teacher. Each subject was told that his task was to help another subject like
himself learn a list of word pairs. Each time the learner made a mistake, the teacher was
to give the learner an electric shock by flipping a switch. The teacher was told to increase
the shock level each time the learner made a mistake, until a dangerous shock level was
reached.

44
 Throughout the course of the experiment, the experimenter firmly commanded the
teachers to follow the instructions they had been given. In reality, the learner was not an
experiment subject but Milgram’s accomplice, and he never actually received an electric
shock. However, he pretended to be in pain when shocks were administered.
Prior to the study, 40 psychiatrists that Milgram consulted told him that fewer than 1
percent of subjects would administer what they thought were dangerous shocks to the
learner. However, Milgram found that two-thirds of the teachers did administer even the
highest level of shock, despite believing that the learner was suffering great pain and
distress. Milgram believed that the teachers had acted in this way because they were
pressured to do so by an authority figure.

Factors That Increase Obedience

Milgram found that subjects were more likely to obey in some circumstances than
others.
Obedience was highest when:

• Commands were given by an authority figure rather than another volunteer

• The experiments were done at a prestigious institution
• The authority figure was present in the room with the subject
• The learner was in another room
• The subject did not see other subjects disobeying commands
In everyday situations, people obey orders because they want to get rewards, because
they want to avoid the negative consequences of disobeying, and because they believe an
authority is legitimate. In more extreme situations, people obey even when they are
required to violate their own values or commit crimes. Researchers think several factors
cause people to carry obedience to extremes:

• People justify their behavior by assigning responsibility to the authority rather

than themselves.
• People define the behavior that’s expected of them as routine.
• People don’t want to be rude or offend the authority.
• People obey easy commands first and then feel compelled to obey more and more
difficult commands. This process is called entrapment, and it illustrates the foot-
in-the-door phenomenon.

Destructive obedience

• Social psychologists have identified several factors that seem to play a role in destructive
obedience, and together, these combine to make an array of situational pressures most
people find very hard to resist.
• First, in many situations, the people in authority relieve those who obey of the
responsibility for their own actions. “I was only carrying out orders” is the defense many
offer after obeying harsh or cruel commands.

45
• Second, people in authority often possess visible badges or signs of their status. They
wear special uniforms or insignia, have special titles, and so on. These serve to remind
many individuals of the social norm “Obey the people in charge”. This is a powerful
norm, and when confronted with it, most people find it difficult to disobey.
• A third reason for obedience in many situations where the targets of such influence
might otherwise resist involves the gradual escalation of the authority figure’s orders.
Initial commands may call for relatively mild actions, such as merely arresting people.
Only later do orders come to require behavior that is dangerous or objectionable.
• Finally, events in many situations involving destructive obedience move very quickly:
demonstrations turn into riots, arrests into mass beatings or murder, and so on, quite
suddenly. The fast pace of such events gives participants little time for reflection or
systematic thought: people are ordered to obey and – almost automatically – they do so.
• Several factors can help to reduce the occurrence of destructive obedience. These
include:
➢ Reminding individuals that they share the responsibility for any harm produced.
➢ Reminding them that beyond some point, obedience is inappropriate.
➢ Calling the motives of authority figures into question.

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 MODULE 4

INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION AND

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

• Interpersonal attraction is “an individual’s tendency or predisposition to evaluate

another person in a positive (or negative) way” (Berscheid & Walster, 1978).
• It can take many forms, including liking, love, friendship, lust, and admiration.
• Social psychologists have identified several major factors that influence interpersonal
attraction which is anything that draws two or more people together characterized by
affection, respect, liking, or love.
• Interpersonal attraction has been an important topic of research in psychology,
because humans are social animals, and attraction serves an important function in
forming a social network, which in turn provides security and satisfies people’s need
to belong to a social group.
• In assessing the nature of attraction, psychologists have used methods such as
questionnaires, survey, and rating scale to determine level of one’s attraction toward
another.

Determinants of Interpersonal Attraction

Many factors influence whom people are attracted to. They include physical attractiveness,
proximity, similarity, reciprocity and need for affiliation.

1. Physical attractiveness:
• Research shows that romantic attraction is primarily determined by physical
attractiveness.
• In the early stages of dating, people are more attracted to partners whom they
consider to be physically attractive.
• Men are more likely to value physical attractiveness than are women.
• Furthermore, attractive people are judged to be healthier, more intelligent, more
trustworthy, and as possessing desirable social characteristics such as kindness,
generosity and warmth to a greater extent than less attractive ones.
• People’s perception of their own physical attractiveness also plays a role in romantic
love.
• The matching hypothesis proposes that people tend to pick partners who are
about equal in level of attractiveness to themselves.
• The “What is beautiful is good” effect: Lemay et al (2010) propose that 3 steps
are involved. First, we desire to form relationships with attractive people. Second,

47
 this strong desire leads us to perceive them as interpersonally responsive in return –
as kinder, more outgoing, and socially warmer than less attractive people. In other
words, we project our own desire to form relationships with these people to them and
third, it is this projection that generates very positive perceptions of them.

2. Proximity:
• Proximity refers to the physical closeness between two individuals.
• The smaller the physical distance, the greater the probability that the 2 people
will come into repeated contact experiencing repeated exposure to one another,
positive affect, and the development of mutual attraction.
• The mere exposure effect refers to people’s tendency to like novel stimuli
more if they encounter them repeatedly ie., the more often we are exposed to new
stimulus – a new person, a new idea, a new product – the more favourable our
evaluation of it tends to become.

3. Similarity:
• People also tend to pick partners who are similar to themselves in characteristics
such as age, race, religion, social class, personality, education, intelligence, and
attitude.
• This similarity is seen not only between romantic partners but also between friends.
• Some researchers have suggested that similarity causes attraction. Others
acknowledge that people may be more likely to have friends and partners who are
similar to themselves simply because of accessibility: people are more likely to
associate with people who are similar to themselves.

4. Reciprocity:
• People tend to like others who reciprocate their liking.
• In general, we especially like other people who indicate that they like us. We very
much dislike those who dislike and negatively evaluate us.

5. Need for affiliation

• The basic motive to seek ad maintain interpersonal relationships.
• The need to affiliate with others and to be accepted by them may be just as basic to
our psychological well-being as hunger and thirst are to our physical well-being.
• Basically, we tend to seek the amount of social contact that is optimal for us,
preferring to be alone some of the time and in social situations some of the time.

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 Determinants of Attraction

I. Internal Determinants of Attraction: The Need to Affiliate and the Basic Role of
Affect

1. The Importance of Affiliation for Human Existence

• Based in evolution
• Ability to communicate/work together
• Need to affiliate is hard-wired
• The tendency to affiliate appears to be based on neurobiological factors. Human
infants seem to be born with the motivation to seek contact with those in their social
environment. Newborns prefer to look at faces more than other stimuli.
People respond automatically to facial cues.

A. Individual Differences in the Need to Affiliate

• Need for affiliation is a basic motive to seek and maintain interpersonal
relationships. Need appears to be a relatively stable trait; varies across people. When
affiliation needs are not met, sadness and anger may result and cognitive functioning
may be affected.

B. Situational influences on the need to affiliate

• Threatening situations (e.g., natural disasters) may increase the need to affiliate.
• People like to affiliate with those who are experiencing the same negative event.

C. Ostracism– acts of excluding or ignoring

• Used to regulate social behaviour.

• Reactions- especially females- depressed mood, anxiety, hurt feelings, efforts
torestore relationships, and eventual withdrawal

2. Affect and Attraction

• Affect as a Basic Response System, is a person’s emotional state include positive and
negative feelings and moods. Two important characteristics are intensity (strength)
and direction (positive and negative). Emotional states influence interpersonal
attraction. Affect consists of at least two dimensions that stimulate different parts of
the brain. This explains why people can respond to situations with ambivalence.
A. The Direct Effect of Emotions on Attraction
• Attraction occurs when someone does/says something that makes you feel good or
bad.
• Positive affect leads to liking others.
• Negative affect leads to disliking others.

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 B. The Associated Effect of Emotions on Attraction
• This refers to the fact that our mood when we interact with someone affects how we
feel about that person. For example, subliminal presentation of pleasant pictures can
increase expressed liking of a person one meets shortly after viewing the pictures.

C. Additional Implications of the Affect-Attraction Relationship

• Laughter and liking: Laughter helps strengthen bonds between people. Early
interactions with others involve forms of play that evoke laughter. Sharing a
humorous experience increases the likelihood of a pleasant interaction between
individuals.

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II. External Determinants of Attraction: Proximity and Observable characteristics

1. The Power of Proximity

Smaller physical distances are related to an increased likelihood that two people will come
into repeated contact and exposure to each other, feel positive affect, and develop mutual
attraction.

A. Why does proximity matter? Repeated exposure is the key

Repeated exposure (sometimes called the mere exposure effect)—Zajonc’s (1968) finding
that frequent contact with any mildly negative, neutral, or positive stimulus results in an
increasingly positive evaluation of that stimulus

Repeated exposure without harmful effects increases familiarity, reduces uncertainty, and
increases liking.

B. Extensions of the repeated exposure effect

The repeated exposure effect is stronger when people are not aware that the exposure has
occurred.

Positive affect elicited by repeated exposure to subliminal stimuli generalizes to other,

similar stimuli

People high in the need for structure may be more responsive to repeated exposure effects.

The repeated exposure effect does not happen when people’s initial reaction to a stimulus is
very negative. In this case, familiarity can result in more dislike.

C. Applying knowledge about the effects of proximity.

It is possible to learn from research findings on proximity and apply them to one’s
surroundings and the choices made within them.

Architects have used this research to design offices and neighborhoods to promote social
interaction.

2. Observable Characteristics: Instant Evaluations

A. First impressions can arouse strong affect and may overcome the effects of
proximity.

Indicates the influences of past experiences, stereotypes, and attributions that do not apply
to a particular person, but yet are used in the evaluation of him or her.

B. Physical attractiveness: combination of characteristics that are evaluated as beautiful

or handsome at the positive extreme and as unattractive at the negative extreme. Found to

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 be an important factor in interpersonal attraction. It is like judging books by their covers.
Physical appearance determines many social outcomes.

C. Stereotypes: People hold stereotypes based on people’s appearance. Most believe that
attractiveness in both men and women is associated with being interesting, sociable,
exciting, well-adjusted, and successful. Most assume that “what is beautiful is good”.
Positive stereotypes are universally related to attractiveness. However, the content of the
stereotypes may differ according to which traits a culture values. Most of the common
appearance stereotypes are inaccurate. However, attractiveness is associated with
popularity, good interpersonal skills, and high self-esteem, which probably result from how
attractive people are treated by others.

D. Appearance Anxiety:People can be wrong about others’ perceptions of how they

look.

Appearance anxiety is the apprehension or worry about whether one’s physical appearance
is adequate and about the possible negative reactions of other people. This can lead to anger
and dissatisfaction with oneself.

E. Other aspects of appearance and behavior that influence attraction: Neatness and
color of one’s clothing, observable disabilities, actions that suggest mental illness, perceived
age, eyeglasses, and men’s facial hair etc. Men’s height is perceived to be related to qualities
such as leadership and masculinity. A person’s physique is related to stereotypes that affect
attraction despite no relationship between it and personality. Excess fat is the least favored
physique. Obesity is stigmatized and it can be associated with someone who is physically
near a person who is obese. This occurs despite the fact that stereotypes associated with
weight do not result in accurate predictions about an individual’s behavior.

F. Observable differences in behavior influence attraction: A youthful walking style, a

firm handshake, animated behavior, active participation in discussions, and modesty are
associated with positive responses from others. Men who act in a dominant, authoritative,
and competitive manner in initial encounters are liked better than those who appear
submissive, non-competitive, and less masculine. After subsequent interactions, men who
are prosocial and sensitive are preferred. People who eat healthy food are judged as more
likeable and morally superior compared to those who eat “junk food”. A person’s first name
also plays a role in interpersonal attraction.

III. Interactive Determinants of Attraction: Similarity and Dissimilarity.

1. Similarity predicts subsequent liking - Equally true for males, females, and
different age, educational, and cultural groups.

2. Similarity-dissimilarity predicts attraction.

Similarity-dissimilarity effect: consistent finding that people respond positively to

indications that another person is similar to themselves and negatively to indications that

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another person is dissimilar from themselves. Also, similar people are judged as more
intelligent, informed, moral, and better adjusted than people who are dissimilar.

LOVE

Robert Sternberg developed the triangular theory of love. In the context of interpersonal
relationships, the three components of love, according to the triangular theory, are an
intimacy component, a passion component, and a decision/commitment component.

1. Intimacy – Which encompasses feelings of attachment, closeness, connectedness,

and bondedness.

2. Passion – Which encompasses drives connected to both limerence and sexual

attraction.

3. Commitment – Which encompasses, in the short term, the decision to remain with
another, and in the long term, plans made with that other.

The amount of love one experiences depends on the absolute strength of these three
components, and the type of love one experiences depends on their strengths relative to
each other. Different stages and types of love can be explained as different combinations of
these three elements; for example, the relative emphasis of each component changes over
time as an adult romantic relationship develops. A relationship based on a single element is
less likely to survive than one based on two or three elements.

Forms of Love

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• Nonlove: refers simply to the absence of all three components of love. Nonlove
characterizes the large majority of our personal relationships, which are simply casual
interactions.

• Liking/friendship: is used here in a nontrivial sense. Rather, it refers to the set of

feelings one experiences in relationships that can truly be characterized as friendship.
One feels closeness, bondedness, and warmth toward the other, without feelings of
intense passion or long-term commitment.

• Infatuated love: infatuation results from the experiencing of passionate arousal in

the absence of intimacy and decision/commitment. Romantic relationships often start
out as infatuated love and become romantic love as intimacy develops over time.
Without developing intimacy or commitment, infatuated love may disappear suddenly.

• Empty love: is characterized by commitment without intimacy or passion. A

stronger love may deteriorate into empty love. In an arranged marriage, the spouses'
relationship may begin as empty love and develop into another form, indicating ‘how
empty love need not be the terminal state of a long-term relationship, but the beginning
rather than the end’.

• Romantic love: derives from a combination of the intimate and passionate

components of love. Romantic lovers are not only drawn physically to each other but are
also bonded emotionally- bonded both intimately and passionately, but without
sustaining commitment.

• Companionate love: is an intimate, non-passionate type of love that is stronger

than friendship because of the element of long-term commitment. This type of love is
observed in long-term marriages where passion is no longer present but where a deep
affection and commitment remain. The love ideally shared between family members is a
form of companionate love, as is the love between close friends who have a platonic but
strong friendship.

• Fatuous love: can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage - fatuous

in the sense that a commitment is made on the basis of passion without the stabilizing
influence of intimate involvement.

• Consummate love: is the complete form of love, representing an ideal relationship

which people strive towards. Of the seven varieties of love, consummate love is theorized
to be that love associated with the "perfect couple." According to Sternberg, these
couples will continue to have great sex fifteen years or more into the relationship, they
cannot imagine themselves happier over the long-term with anyone else, they overcome
their few difficulties gracefully, and each delight in the relationship with one other.
However, Sternberg cautions that maintaining a consummate love may be even harder
than achieving it. He stresses the importance of translating the components of love into
action. “Without expression”, he warns, “even the greatest of loves can die”. Thus,
consummate love may not be permanent. If passion is lost over time, it may change into
companionate love.

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PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

• Prosocial behaviors are those intended to help other people.

• Prosocial behavior is characterized by a concern about the rights, feelings and
welfare of other people.
• Behaviors that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy and concern for
others and behaving in ways to help or benefit other people.
• Daniel C. Batson explains that prosocial behaviors refer to "a broad range of actions
intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself - behaviors such as
helping, comforting, sharing and cooperation”.
• Norm of reciprocity: The norm of reciprocity suggests that when people do
something helpful for someone else, that person feels compelled to help out in
return. Essentially, helping others means that they might help us in return. This
norm developed, evolutionary psychologists suggest because people who understood
that helping others might lead to reciprocal kindness were more likely to survive and
reproduce.

Responding to emergency

John Darley and Bibb Latane, two social psychologists studied a famous murder in New
York city. In this tragic crime, a young woman (Kity Genovese) was assaulted by a man in a
location where many people could see and hear what was going on; all they had to do was
look out of their apartment windows. Yet, despite the fact that the attacker continued to
assault the victim for many minutes, and even left and then returned to continue the assault
later, not a single person reported the crime to the people. When news of this tragic crime
hit the media, there was much speculation about the widespread selfishness and
indifference of people in general or, at least, of people living in big cities.

Darley and Latane, referred to this as diffusion of responsibility, and suggested that
according to this principle, the greater the number of strangers who witness an emergency,
the less likely are the victims to receive help.

After all, the greater the number of potential helpers, the less responsible any one individual
will feel, and the more each will assume that “someone else will do it”.

Situational Influences on Prosocial Behavior

Characteristics of the situation can also have a powerful impact on whether or not people
engage in prosocial actions.

The bystander effect is one of the most notable examples of how the situation can impact
helping behaviors.

The bystander effect refers to the tendency for people to become less likely to assist a
person in distress when there are a number of other people also present.

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For example, if you drop your purse and several items fall out on the ground, the likelihood
that someone will stop and help you decreases if there are many other people present.

There are two major factors that contribute to the bystander effect.

• First, the presence of other people creates a diffusion of responsibility. Because

there are other observers, individuals do not feel as much pressure to take action,
since the responsibility to take action is thought to be shared among all of those
present.
• The second reason is the need to behave in correct and socially acceptable
ways. When other observers fail to react, individuals often take this as a signal that a
response is not needed or not appropriate. Other researchers have found that
onlookers are less likely to intervene if the situation is ambiguous. In the case of Kitty
Genovese, many of the 38 witnesses reported that they believed that they were
witnessing a "lover's quarrel," and did not realize that the young woman was actually
being murdered.
• Fear of being judged by other members of the group also plays a role. People
sometimes fear leaping to assistance, only to discover that their help was unwanted
or unwarranted. In order to avoid being judged by other bystanders, people simply
take no action.

Steps to Provide help:

When we are suddenly and unexpectedly faced with an emergency, the situation is often
complex and hard to interpret. Before acting, we must figure out what, if anything, is going
on, and what we should do about it.

Lantane and Darley have suggested that five key things must happen in order for a person
to take action. An individual must:

1. Notice what is happening

• It includes noticing, or failing to notice, that something unusual is happening.

2. Interpret the event as an emergency

• The presence of multiple witnesses may inhibit helping not only because of the
diffusion of responsibility, but also because it is embarrassing to misinterpret a
situation and to act inappropriately.
• Making such a serious mistake in front of several strangers might lead them to think
you are over reacting in a stupid way.
• When people are uncertain about what is happening, they tend to hold back and do
nothing.

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 • Pluralistic ignorance refers to the fact that because none of the bystanders
respond to an emergency, no one knows for sure what is happening and each
depends on the others to interpret the situation.
• This inhibiting effect is much less if the group consists of friends rather than
strangers, because friends are likely to communicate with one another about what is
going on.

3. Experience feelings of responsibility

• It involves deciding that it is your responsibility to provide help.

• In many instances, the responsibility for helping is clear.
• If responsibility is not clear, people assume that anyone in a leadership role must
take responsibility – for instance, adults with children, professors with students.

4. Believe that they have the skills to help

• It involves deciding whether you have the knowledge and/or skills to act.
• When emergencies require special skills, usually only a portion of the bystanders are
able to help.
• If not, the best you can do is offer to call for assistance.

5. Make a conscious choice to offer assistance

• Helping at this final point can be inhibited by fears (often realistic ones) about
potential negative consequences.
• In effect, potential helpers engage in “cognitive algebra” as they weigh the positive
versus the negative aspects of helping.

The rewards for being helpful are primarily provided by the emotions and beliefs of the
helper, but there are a great many varieties of potential costs.

Other factors that can help people overcome the bystander effect including having a
personal relationship with the individual in need, having the skills and knowledge to
provide assistance, and having empathy for those in need.

ALTRUISM

• Altruism is sometimes seen as a form of prosocial behavior, but some experts suggest
that there are actually different concepts.
• While prosocial behavior is seen as a type of helping behavior that ultimately confers
some benefits to the self, altruism is viewed as a pure form of helping motivated purely
out of concern for the individual in need.
• Altruism involves the unselfish concern for other people.
• It involves doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to
out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons.

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• Everyday life is filled with small acts of altruism, from the guy at the grocery store who
kindly holds the door open as you rush in from the parking lot to the woman who gives
twenty dollars to a homeless man.
• Altruism is one aspect of what social psychologists refer to as prosocial behavior.
Prosocial behavior refers to any action that benefits other people, no matter what the
motive or how the giver benefits from the action. Remember, however, that pure
altruism involves true selflessness.
• While all altruistic acts are prosocial, not all prosocial behaviors are completely
altruistic. For example, we might help others for a variety of reasons such as guilt,
obligation, duty, or even for rewards.
• Psychologists have suggested a number of different explanations for why altruism exists,
including:

a) Biological Reasons:
Kin selection is an evolutionary theory that proposes that people are more likely to
help those who are blood relatives because it will increase the odds of gene
transmission to future generations. The theory suggests that altruism towards close
relatives occurs in order to ensure the continuation of shared genes. The more closely
the individuals are related, the more likely people are to help.

b) Neurological Reasons:
Altruism activates reward centers in the brain. Neurobiologists have found that when
engaged in an altruistic act, the pleasure centers of the brain become active.

c) Social Norms:
Society's rules, norms, and expectations can also influence whether or not people
engage in altruistic behavior. The norm of reciprocity, for example, is a social
expectation in which we feel pressured to help others if they have already done
something for us. For example, if your friend loaned you money for lunch a few weeks
ago, you will probably feel compelled to reciprocate when he asks if you if he can
borrow $100.
He did something for you, now you feel obligated to do something in return.

d) Cognitive Reasons:
While the definition of altruism involves doing for others without reward, there may
still be cognitive incentives that are not obvious. For example, we might help others to
relieve out own distress or because being kind to others upholds our view of ourselves
as kind, empathetic people.

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VOLUNTEERING

• Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity where an individual or

group provides services for no financial gain.
• Volunteering is also renowned for skill development, and is often intended to
promote goodness or to improve human quality of life.
• Volunteering may have positive benefits for the volunteer as well as for the person or
community served.
• It is also intended to make contacts for possible employment.
• Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine,
education, or emergency rescue. Others serve on an as needed basis, such as in
response to a natural disaster.
• Snyder, Omoto and their colleagues eventually surveyed volunteers who did all kinds
of other community work too, as well as young, middle-aged and older volunteers.
• Over the years, they've identified five primary motivations for volunteering:

➢ Values. Volunteering to satisfy personal values or humanitarian concerns.

For some people this can have a religious component.

➢ Community concern. Volunteering to help a particular community, such as

a neighborhood or ethnic group, to which you feel attached.

➢ Esteem enhancement. Volunteering to feel better about yourself or escape

other pressures.

➢ Understanding. Volunteering to gain a better understanding of other

people, cultures or places.

➢ Personal development. Volunteering to challenge yourself, meet new

people and make new friends, or further your career.

EXPLANATIONS FOR PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

1. Empathy Joy Hypothesis

• The Empathic joy hypothesis is based on the assumption that a sight or news of
emergency evokes empathy and a feeling to have a positive influence on the needy.
• The helping behaviour is thus dependent on the fact that he/she would feel good if
the help improves the needy person’s condition.
• An important implication of this idea is that it is crucial for the person who helps to
know that his or her actions had a positive impact on the victim.
• The hypothesis is presented below :

Emergency observed → Desire to have a positive effect on victim → Help

provided as it made the helper feel good out of a successful outcome

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 2. Empathy-altruism hypothesis
• The empathy-altruism hypothesis posits that there is dominant role of the feeling of
potential helper’s empathy – that is aroused in an emergency situation faced by the
needy – in the helping behaviour. ie., some prosocial acts are motivated solely by the
desire to help someone in need.
• Such motivation can be sufficiently strong that the helper is willing to engage in
unpleasant, dangerous and even life-threatening activities.
• According to the hypothesis, when empathy is aroused, the potential helper actually
gets a positive feeling by helping the needy.
• The hypothesis is presented below:

Emergency observed → Empathy aroused → Help provided to the victim as it

gave good feeling to the helper

3. Negative-state relief model

• The negative-state relief model is based on the logic that the potential helper is in a
negative mood when he/she comes across an emergency situation faced by the
needy.
• The prosocial behaviour is motivated by the bystander’s desire to reduce his or her
own uncomfortable negative emotions or feelings.
• The helper, through the helping behaviour attempts to manage one’s own negative
mood. In other words, we do good things in order to stop feeling bad.
• The knowledge that others are suffering, more generally, witnessing those in need
can be distressing. To decrease this distress in ourselves, we help others.
• The hypothesis is presented below:

Emergency observed → Helper with negative affect → Help provided to reduce

helper’s own negative affect

4. Genetic determinism model

• The Genetic determinism model is based on the assumption that there is an
unconscious desire in us to help people who are genetically similar to us (e.g.,
siblings) so that they survive.
• The hypothesis is presented below:

Emergency observed → Unconscious desire to help for those genetically similar

→ Help provided to maximize the survival of similar genes

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5. Kin selection theory
• A theory suggesting that a key goal for all organisms – including human beings – is
getting our genes into the next generation; one way in which individuals can reach
this goal is by helping others who share their genes.
• In general, we are more likely to help others to whom we are closely related than
people to whom we are not related.

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