...Born on August 15th, 1933, Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist. He is most notable for his Milgram experiment, a controversial experiment that drastically changed the way social psychologist’s looked at obedience. Early Years and Education In his early years, Milgram lived in the Bronx. By the time he had reached college age, his family had moved to Queens. Here, Milgram attended Queens College in New York. In 1954, he would receive his Bachelor’s degree in political science. From here, his interests shifted to psychology. He applied to Harvard University’s graduate program in Social Relations but was initially rejected due to never have taken a single psychology course in his undergraduate years. Later, he was able to gain...
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...Power of the Situation in Milgram's Obedience Experiments Ahsan Chishty Ohlone College POWER OF SITUATION AND OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY The Power of the Situation in Milgram's Obedience Experiments Stanley Milgram is a name universally known for the Yale professor who shocked the world with his experiments on obedience. In 1961, Milgram along with many other colleagues devised an experiment after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct an experiment in response to the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Milgram wanted to know if Germans under the rule of authority figures did exactly what they were instructed to do by those of higher power than them due to the fact that many of the explanations for the Nazi atrocities was simply that Nazi soldiers were following orders. After placing an ad in the New Haven Register for a learning experiment on the study of memory. According to Thomas Blass (2009), offering participants $4.50 and a paid bus fare for an hour of their time seemed to be the biggest factor that attracted people to the ad but several of the participants also agreed to be a part of the study to learn something about themselves, expand their curiosity about psychology, or because they were fascinated by memory and hoped to understand it better through an experiment like Milgram's. The subjects were introduced to a man in a lab coat who would administrate the experiment. Subjects were told they would be taking the...
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...Abstract The use of power to influence others within a social group has evolved over centuries. Gaining dominion, wealth and social standing are central motives for gaining power over others within a communal group. Those with power can leverage off humans innate psychological leanings toward normative and informative influences to create the norms which others in society will accede to. Psychological experiments by Stanley Milgram and Solomon Asch demonstrate humans predisposition to obedience and compliance, in order to secure their acceptance within society, mean many can are influenced by those in power. It is an astonishing power, to influence another person or a whole society to buy into a reality created by another. To first understand how those in power can influence others, an understanding of ‘power’ is required. Power is a currency, a power currency, that’s desired by others which affords the holder the ability to exert both influence and dominion over people and surroundings. The ‘currency’ can be power of knowledge, love, charisma, wealth, fear, acceptance, social status, strength, or beauty to identify just a few. An individual or group possessing a power currency desired or feared by others ultimately holds a social balance of power and subsequently gains the ability to influence. Those in power use the media to tell others how they should look, who they should like, how they should act and what they should believe. The powerful use media to sell...
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...Research Application Samir Khadra Psychology 370 7/31/2012 Integration Social psychology generally involves the way in which people behave, feel and think. All this is influenced by imagined, actual or the implied presence of other people. Since this is an article critique, it is indispensable to evaluate and analyze. This section therefore analyzes, evaluates and interprets a text. It answers questions including why, how well and how. This section analyzes the topics learnt in class. It evaluates, interprets and analyzes attitude which is the main factor in social psychology (Smith & Mackie, 2000). Attitude refers to the global evaluations as well as learned characteristics of an object, a person, an issue or a place that influences actions and thoughts. They are the basic expressions that show approval or disapproval. They also depict non-favorability or favorability or likes and dislikes. Social psychologists as learned in class have often studies attitude as well as its structure. These include attitudes’ functions as well as the relationships that are between behavior and attitudes. General attitudes are not mean predictors of any given behavior mainly because people often act under the influence of a given situation. The most decisive factor is the point that attitudes are often central to people’s self-concept and therefore might lead to behaviors (Smith & Mackie, 2000). The article argues that research has played a crucial role in developing attitude. Researches...
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...R. Abelson et al.), 1968 Voices of Modern Psychology, 1969 The Social Animal, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Readings About the Social Animal, 1973, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004; (with J. Aronson), 2008 Social Psychology (with R. Helmreich), 1973 Research Methods in Social Psychology (with J. M. Carlsmith & P. Ellsworth), 1976 The Jigsaw Classroom (with C. Stephan et al.), 1978 Burnout: From Tedium to Personal Growth (with A. Pines & D. Kafry), 1981 Energy Use: The Human Dimension (with P. C. Stern), 1984 The Handbook of Social Psychology (with G. Lindzey), 3rd ed., 1985 Career Burnout (with A. Pines), 1988 Methods of Research in Social Psychology (with P. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales), 1990 Age of Propaganda (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992, 2000 Social Psychology, Vols. 1–3 (with A. R. Pratkanis), 1992 Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 1994 Cooperation in the Classroom: The Jigsaw Method (with S. Patnoe), 1997 Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine, 2000 Social Psychology: An Introduction (with T. D. Wilson & R. M. Akert), 2002, 2005, 2007 The Adventures of Ruthie and a Little Boy Named Grandpa (with R. Aronson), 2006 Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) (with C. Tavris), 2007 Books by Joshua Aronson Improving Academic Achievement, 2002 The Social Animal To Vera, of course The Social Animal, Tenth Edition Sponsoring Editor:...
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...Chapter 1 What is social psychology? LEARNING OUTCOMES When you have finished studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1 Outline the main differences between experimental and critical approaches to social psychology. 2 Describe the three main ‘metaphysical battles’ between them. 3 Trace the origins of social psychology through the work of William McDougall and William James, and the contributions made by Völkerpsychologie and crowd psychology. 4 Describe the two contrasting images of ‘the person’ in social psychology. 5 Identify the roots of and describe the historical development of both experimental and critical social psychology. 6 Describe the main elements of Modernism and Postmodernism, and how these relate to contemporary social psychology. 7 Explain how these two approaches are different, and why they cannot be integrated. Introduction On a March night in 1964, Kitty Genovese was attacked by a maniac as she came home from work at 3 A.M. Thirty-eight of her Kew Gardens neighbors came to their windows when she cried out in terror – but no one came to her assistance. Even though the attack, which resulted in her death, lasted more than half an hour, no one even so much as called the police. . . . The thirty-eight witnesses to Kitty 3 4 FOUNDATIONS AND PRINCIPLES Genovese’s murder did not merely look at the scene once and then ignore it. Instead they continued to stare out, fascinated, distressed, unwilling to act but unable...
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...Social influence is the change in the way that an individual behave, think or comport themselves that occur when they relate or interact with another individual or groups of individuals (Rashotte, 2007, p.562). These changes may be deliberate or sometimes occur subconsciously and the individual in question may not be aware of them (Wood, 2000). There are various forms of social influence among which the most important and widely recognised ones are conformity and obedience. They are concepts that put into perspective how individuals’ behaviours are affected or influenced in a group or social circumstances. This essay looks to explore compliance and obedience in detail. It may seem sometimes these two concepts might be slightly similar in how they affect behaviour in such situations; however they are not to be confused for each other. This essay aims to clarify such perception and distinctively point out the similarities and differences between these two concepts by exploring how they come about and factors that influence them using relevant research evidence. Conformity can be defined as the inclination by individuals to modify their attitudes or manner of behaving to suit that of the social standards. It simply means to succumb to pressures of the society (Crutchfield, 1955) However, it does not necessarily mean that their opinion or perception has changed; it simply means that they have changed their behaviour just for the purpose of being considered acceptable by the society...
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...Running head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION PAPER Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY 400 October 24, 2011 Matt Diggs Social Psychology Very often, one wonders why one acts the way he or she does. It just seems to be human nature to ask such questions and to try to discover more about the complexity of human actions and causes. Of course, there are many perspectives in the field of psychology that attempt to address these significant questions. For instance, biopsychology considers important factors including one’s brain, genetic predisposition, and many others when addressing behavior. However, social psychology, even though it agrees with other branches in psychology, does focus on different aspects when seeking these kinds of conclusions. Social psychology centers their attention on understanding human actions such as what led to the cruelty of killing millions of people during War II. Why will one always help him or herself first, before helping others? Why do others matter more when making decisions? Social psychology is essential not only to the field of psychology but also to every individual because it provides answers to questions one seeks about him or herself and others. However, social psychology does more than provide answers to these few questions, as these merely touch the surface of social psychology’s focus (Myers, 2010). Definition of Social Psychology Social psychology is a science just like many other fields including astronomy...
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...Social influence occurs when one's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others.[1] Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.[2] 1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. 2. Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity. 3. Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately. Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence), and our need to be liked (normative social influence).[3] Informational influence (or social proof) is an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality. Informational influence comes into play when people are uncertain, either because stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because there is social disagreement. Normative influence is an influence to conform to the positive expectations of others. In terms of Kelman's typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance. [edit] Types Social Influence is a broad term...
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...Stanley Milgrim’s Experiment on Obedience. Obedience is an act in which a person is in compliance with a serious if orders or requests by law or authority. Authority figures thrive on individuals that follows orders from an authority, because individuals like these are easy to have control over in social environments. In the early 1960s a social psychologist for Yale University named Stanley Milgrim, orchestrated a series of obedience experiments to obtain direct empirical data to support his belief that a persons character shouldn’t be a determination of how a person’s behavior changes once being influenced by an authority figure. Social psychology utilizes scientific methods to determine how and why an individuals thought process, feelings and behavior can be influenced by another human being. A number of topics are analyzed in social environments including group behavior and leadership. Social psychologists like Milgrim engross themselves in social environments and group interactions, and how they have an affect on attitudes and behaviors of an individual. The behavior of an individual is a reflection of that persons morals, it consists of how a person conducts him or herself as well as rationalizes situations. Social psychologists believe that once an individuals are placed in a group setting their behavior is subject to change. Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders mirror the role of dictators. Auttocratic leaders are independent thinkers that...
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...Social Psychology: Prosocial Behavior Social psychology is one of the wide topics in sociology that have been widely studied. Social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social context. Stangor (2013) has described social psychology as the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave around people and how people’s feelings, thoughts and behaviors are influenced by these people. It aims at studying and explaining how individual personalities change due to social groups. Social psychology helps one understand how individuals fit in the society. Social psychology exists in our daily life. When we make friends, when we argue with friends, how we live with people and relate with them, are all examples of social psychology. There are different study areas in social psychology and they are; prosocial behaviors, prejudice, discrimination and diversity, self and social behavior, social influence, cultural links, psychology of gender and violence, conflict resolution and peace. In this paper I will discuss prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is the opposite of anti-social behavior. While anti-social people will exclude themselves from the society, are selfish and don’t contribute much in conversations, prosocial people are philanthropic, obedient and cooperate with others. Prosocial behavior has been described as the phenomenon where people help each other, either willingly or with a hidden motive. Prosocial behavior should not be confused with altruism, which is...
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...Professor: Ashraf Esmail SOCL102-1404B-08 Phase 3 IP The Studies of Non-Conformity Conformity is a normal in this day and age. This is largely due to aggressive marketing campaigns, however those campaigns target a natural human flaw. The majority of the population holds this flaw, but we are starting to see many more break free. Influence without Marketing During the Asch experiment, the line test showed that about one third conformed to the majority opinion despite the fact that the answer was wrong. (McLeod, 2008). Keep in mind that these results were achieved by just having the participant in the room with others who influenced their opinions. The results that could have been achieved if the participants were brainwashed with marketing could have been unimaginable. Consider the fact that every year, millions of people we call “sheep” line up for the latest release of the iPhone. Consider also that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on political advertising, and there is weight supporting the fact that people are easily influenced. Following Orders During the Milgram experiment, unethical tests were done using shock therapy. The findings showed that participants would allow themselves to be severely shocked simply because they were told to continue by someone with an air of authority. (McLeod, 2007). This brings to mind the litmus tests given to American Generals by the Obama administration, to find out if they would fire on pregnant women and children if...
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...Exploring a Classic Study in Social Psychology Daryl Bonelli Psych/620 January 25th, 2016 Colleen Story Individual Programmatic Assessment: Exploring a Classic Study in Social Psychology Introduction Norman Chomsky once wrote “I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom.” There is a true feeling of what authority can do if placed in situations that require someone to follow instructions. What happens to someone when they follow the orders of another person in authority? An experiment conducted by psychologist Stanley Milgram reveal how situationism applies to study results. How would this experiment differ if the participants were from various races, cultures, gender groups? A summary of the study and how it was conducted Stanley Milgram is a psychologist who conducted a study based on obedience during the 1960’s, and this experiment produced startling results. Questions still arise about the experiments validity, but the impact on psychology remains to be one of the best measures to assess how authority plays a role in obedience. In 1961 after the Trial of WWII criminal Adolph Eichmann, Milgram started his study. Stanley Milgram's experiment built on the idea of obedience, and the experiment would deliver a shock to...
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...Social Roles in Society June 18, 2011 Social Roles in Society Social roles are patterns of behavior expected from people in various social positions. The concept of social role provides a way to name individuals interdependencies. The expectations that society puts on an individual, socialization is combined with changes in social behavior and organization. Psychology can help identify the components of the development of attitudes and how they change. Many psychologists subscribe to the belief that we take on, and act out certain roles because of cultures and societies (Social Roles and Expectations, n.d.). In 1971 Psychologist Philip Zimbardo along with his colleagues conducted a study that was focused on becoming a prisoner or prison guard. More than 70 applicants answered a newspaper ad and were given application and screening to eliminate people with psychological problem, medical disabilities, and a history of crime or drug abuse (Stanford Prison Experiment, n.d.). A prison environment was assembled in the basement of the Stanford University Psychology Department building. The planned two week investigation ended after only six days, due to the guards and questioning of its morality by Christina Maslach, who was a recent Stanford Ph.D. Social influence is a change in a person’s behavior conducted by the presence or actions of others (Coon & Mitterer, 2010). Stereotyping patterns can easily be identified, when referring to Zimbardo’s Prison, social roles...
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...Social Psychology Robert Moret PSY/400 December 12, 2015 Prof. Norris Edwards Social Psychology What exactly are the aspects that mold our view points? What makes some people followers rather than leaders? At what point does racism form and why does it form in the first place? These are but some of the queries that involve the arena of social psychology. Social psychology is really just a branch of psychology that takes an in depth look at people in a social context. It is a mix of personalities, behavior, feelings and motivation and how it’s influenced by others and society. There are many facets that this discipline looks at, from how people behave when in groups to society’s perception of values and moral behavior. It covers a wide range of topics. Anyone that has ever lived has had their behavior influenced by other individuals. Observing other people and how they behave is how we learned to behave. If a child were to be raised by a pack of wild wolves then that child would grow up to exhibit behavior tendencies more akin to them then he would to other human beings. Simply because that is everything the child ever knew. So it is easy to see how social influences can affect behavior in us and in others. There are numerous ways that people can have an impact on our behavior, though maybe the most significant one is that having others around...
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