Aim: Why do we act the way we do? (pt.1)

January 6, 2014 Spark: What is one trend you have been

a part of? Why do you think trends happen?

Reminders

Welcome Back! Again.

Two weeks from tomorrow, you will be taking your final for this course.

Turn in all missing work this week. I will NOT accept missing work turned in at the last minute.

Agenda

Trends and Conformity

Authority and Obedience Psychology

Protecting and Empowering yourself

Exit Slip

Review

a b c

Social Psychology

Humans and other primates are social animals

Survival and success is dependent upon interacting with others

Humans = Social Animals

Humans evolved to interact with others

People often want to belong to part of a group

IndividualityWithin groups, people want to be recognized as individuals

To stand out, people start doing something (fashion, behavior, style)

TrendsIf individuals start doing something, it can spread rapidly within a group.

Trends come and go

Once a trend is “popular” it no longer makes you an individual

Trends must be refreshed

ConformityAs individuals spread their trends, others in the group adopt that trait

People are influenced by others, sometimes you want to stand out, sometimes you don’t

Authority and Obedience Psychology

- Milgram and Stanford Prison Experiments

Obedience Psychology

Being able to blame somebody else lessens personal responsibility

Sharing responsibility makes people more likely to do something wrong

How good people turn bad

Certain contexts encourage bad behavior

If others encourage bad behavior, people are more likely to do it

Self - Serving BiasSelf -serving bias

Failure is due to others, events, world around us

Success is due to us

Important for maintaining Self - esteem

Depression can reverse this

Just World Hypothesis

Blaming victims for something that happened to them

Bad things happen to those that deserve it

Just World Hypothesis

- Homeless because they’re lazy

- Raped because “they were asking for it”

- If you live in areas that get hurricanes, it’s your fault if you’re hurt in a hurricane

Are there any other situations that you

can think of for just world hypothesis?

Locus of ControlWhat you can control

External - outcome determined by world, not by what you do

Internal - outcome determined by you

What type of locus of control do you

usually have?

Exit Slip In your notebooks, answer the following:

1. Why do people conform?

2. Why do people follow authority figures?

3. What is self-serving bias?

4. Write out an example of the just world hypothesis.

5. What is the difference between external and internal locus of control?

Review