# The Social Minds ## Conformity - Push-pull - we want to individuate, but also belong to a group - [Asch experiment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA), volunteer vs confederates, which lines have the same length? We tend to follow the herd. ## Authority - [Stanley Milgram experiment](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-milgrams-shock-experiments-really-mean/) - Confederate is always made the learner, volunteer is always made the teacher - Teacher and hear and speak to the learner - After each wrong answer, experiment conductor will require the teacher to shock the learner with higher voltage - People follow authority even when they think it's wrong ![[variations-on-milgram-experiment.png]] ## Protecting the Self - Self-serving bias - We tend to attribute failure to the environment, success to ourselves. - Which is helpful for our recognizing our own value. - Depressed individuals do the opposite - Just World Hypothesis - We tend to think victims must be guilty and deserve what happened to them. - Underlying logic: Our desire for **security**. "If we don't deserve it, bad things won't happen to us." - External vs Internal Locus of Control. - Can we determine what happens? - Disempowerment, shifting the locus of control to the external, makes Alzheimer patient become nasty. ## Good People Do Bad - [Stanford Prison Experiment](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwfNs1pqG0) by Philip Zimbardo - At the beginning prisoners joke with the guards. Then a guard decided to "exert control on the prisoners."... - Prison culture then emerged. Guards act oppressive. - "The Lucifer Effect". Bad apples... When we're in the context, any of us could behave in that certain way... ## Bystander Interference - Kitty Genovese Case - It was estimated that 30 to 40 people in the apartment heard the scream. However, nobody came out to help Kitty. - Bystander Effect = The more people there are that could help, the less likely any will help. - [Diffusion of Responsibility](https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/happiness-in-world/201006/the-diffusion-responsibility) - Responsibility is diffused among the group. - Somebody is more capable. - Or, the distance of the victim also diffuses your feel of guilt. ![[diffusion-of-responsibility.png]] ## Schema, Stereotypes and Prejudice - Generalization and Discrimination; Sometimes this could be applied to people... - Schema = the cognitive script that we follow when entering into a familiar or similar situation - Indirect experience ## Competition, Ignorance, Fear and Prejudice - In-groups and out-groups - [Robber's Cave Experiment](http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Sherif/) by Muzafer Sherif - Similar kids were randomly assigned into two groups - Stage 1: Create in-group identities such as names, flags, in-group activities. - Stage 2: Add in cross-group competition. - Prejudice emerges! Kids rate very positively to their in-groups, but act prejudicial to the out-groups. - Stage 3: Have groups join forces to defeat a "common enemy". - At this point, the bias decreased. Kids know each other more. - Basis of prejudice: lack of knowledge. ## Attraction - [First impression](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g513EUHqkfw) matters. Positive adjectives first or negative ones first? The first words set the tone! - Animals don't have sense of attraction based on beauty. They do so based on heat and odor. - In human world, long-term relation must be formed in order to raise off-springs. - Humans like averaged (symmetrical) face. [Average is Beautiful](https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/HumBeh_p055/human-behavior/are-composite-faces-more-attractive)! We're attracted by symmetry. - Large pupils are attractive. Interest increases the size of the pupil. We like people who like us. - Waist to Hip Rate = 7/10. Which is related to less health problems, and higher survival rate in child birth, more likely to give birth to healthy and more children.