UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

FACULTY OF ARTS

In collaboration with

CENTRE FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING

PSYCHOLOGY

CPY 203: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

AUTHOR

PRISCILLA KARIUKI
 LECTURE ONE
DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Lecture Outline
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objectives
1.3 What is Social Psychology?
1.4 Social Psychology and Related Disciplines
1.5 Development of Social Psychology
1.6 Methods of Social Psychology
1.7 Applicability of Social Psychology
1.7.1 Social Psychology in Education
1.7.2 Social Psychology and Mental Health
1.7.3 Social Psychology and Crime and Delinquency
1.7.4 Social Psychology in Business and Industry
1.7.5 Social Psychology in Community and National Affairs
1.8 Summary
1.9 References

1.1 Introduction
In this lecture, we shall introduce the discipline of social psychology and its scope,
provide a definition and show how it is related to other disciplines. The development of
social psychology and the methods used in the study and research in the discipline will be
discussed. The lecture will also identify areas in which social psychology is applicable.

1.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Assess the term social psychology
2. Distinguish social psychology from other disciplines
3. Describe and relate the development of social psychology
4. Describe and apply the methods used in the study of social
psychology
5. Discuss areas in which social psychology is applied

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1.3. What is Social Psychology?
Social Psychology is a discipline devoted to the systematic study of human interaction
and its psychological basis. We can also say that social psychology is the scientific study
of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence
and relate to others.

From the above, you should be able to notice that social psychology is a science and that
social psychologists are keenly interested in underlying social and cognitive processes as
well as overt behaviour. In particular you need to note that the central concern of social
psychology is how people understand and interact with others.

Social psychologists are interested in people’s relationships because they are critically
important but hard to understand, so they deserve careful study and thoughtful
explanation.

The social psychologist tries to develop explanations and to show how they relate to daily
life. This is done to improve human conditions by furnishing insights and answers to
questions that enable people to lead more fulfilling lives.

Social psychology spans an immense range of concerns which include:

 How people perceive and think about each other
 Why people develop feelings of attraction and hostility
 How people’s attitudes develop and change
 Why people hurt one another
 How people select their leaders and why they rebel against them.

Activity 1.1
1. What is Social Psychology?
2. Discuss the main concerns of Social Psychology

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1.4 Social Psychology and Related Disciplines
The social psychologist’s concern with human interaction is shared with sociologists and
anthropologists among others. Boundaries among these disciplines are not clearly
defined and there is much overlap. You should however notice two key differences that
distinguish social psychology,
1. Individual actor is the main concern in social psychology. This means how
the individual person carries out relationships with others. Sociology is
interested in large institutions or groups.

2. Internal processes of the individual is the focus of interest in social

psychology. Social psychology explains people’s action in terms of thoughts,
emotions and attitudes. Sociology uses external processes e.g. distribution of
power and explains group action.

Social psychologists also share interests with social anthropologists but there is one
major difference.
1. Social psychology searches for similarities among people across cultures

2. Social anthropology is interested in the way cultures differ from one another. An
attempt is made to understand patterns of human relationships within cultures.

1.5 Development of Social Psychology

The interest in the problems of human interaction is not new. Scholars and philosophers
e.g Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Locke, Rousseu etc thought deeply about how people come to
act as they do. Their work set the stage for modern social psychology.

A century ago, there was no recognisable profession of social psychology. Social

thought was confined to the study of philosophy. Today, there are many psychologists in
the USA Canada, Britain and other countries who devote their professional lives to the
systematic study of social behaviour. This means the rate of growth in the field of social
psychology has been phenomenal.

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It is worth noting that over 90% of all investigations in social psychology have been
conducted in the last 50 years or so.

The first North American textbook in social psychology was written by William
McDougall and published in 1908. Social Psychology is now an identifiable profession.

The development of social psychology has had two notable effects on social theory.
1. Advances have taken place in the richness or complexity of social thought.
Early theoretical formulations tended to be simple and relied on a single
guiding principle.

2. Social psychologists now see a wide range of factors motivating people’s

behaviour, try to understand and take account of their complexity. No simple
formulations are used.

The development of social psychology has also been accompanied by increased concern
for application. For instance, today’s social psychologists are concerned with how theory
can help solve the concrete problems that face society. Early social thinkers were
simplistic in approach.

We should note that theory helps social psychologists in increased understanding,

increased sensitivity and access to new ways of behaving.

1.6 Methods of Social Psychology

Social Psychologists have developed many different methods for studying behaviour.
These include:
 Laboratory experiments
 Field observations
 Descriptive methods
 Systematic research
 Naturalistic observations
 Clinical procedures

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Social Psychologists employ these methods in order to explain, describe, predict and
make inferences about behaviour. They help to interpret and perceive the world around
us.

1.7 Applicability of Social Psychology

In order to understand social psychology, it is necessary to recognize the scope of the
issues with which it deals. Social Psychology deals with immediate, everyday social
problems. It cannot find solutions for all these problems but in many ways contributes
useful guidance toward possible ways of understanding and working with these problems.

In recent years, there has been an increasing public awareness of the applicability of
social psychology to important social issues.

1.7.1 Social Psychology in Education

Education is a process of social learning, in which an individual attempts to communicate
skills and ideas to others. As teacher provides a model for imitative or observational
learning. He manipulates rewards and punishments contingent upon the students’
behaviour.

In classroom settings, the teacher must use verbal communication in attempts to shape
attitudes, opinions and values of students. In this context, findings from research on
communication and attitude change, persuasion and propaganda are applicable to
educational issues. Teacher - student perception can also lead to expectations that affect
classroom behaviour and academic performance.

1.7.2 Social Psychology and Mental Health

Another significant area of applied psychology is mental health and psychotherapy.
Many attempts have been made to apply basic psychological knowledge to prevention
and cure of individual behavioural disorders.

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This means, behaviour disorders that threaten the smooth functioning, happiness or
security of either the individual or the society in which he lives. The emphasis here is on
the importance of interpersonal relationships and social influences in shaping both the
healthy and the unhealthy personality.

1.7.3 Social Psychology and Crime and Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is likely to occur in organized gangs in urban communities. They
have norms that override the individual youth’s own personal standards of conduct.
Often they deal with such socially unacceptable acts as theft, rape or excessive aggression
against organized society. Being in such gangs gives the youth identification of social
status and acceptance within the peer group.

Group psychotherapy procedures may be utilized to re-align these adolescent group

forces, so that they are more in accord with recognized dominant social standards. This
requires sensitivity and skill on the part of the worker and full acceptance by the group.

1.7.4 Social Psychology in Business and Industry

Significant applications of social psychology occur in the field of marketing and
advertising. Distribution of goods and services depends on making the consumer aware
of their availability and persuading him to buy from one vendor rather than another.

The advertiser must cultivate favourable attitudes toward his product. Through large-
scale survey research methods, large sums of money are spent annually by manufacturers
to ascertain prevailing public attitudes.

Findings of these surveys are translated into policy decisions involving the naming of
products, stores, their packaging, location and appearance and their advertisement
through the mass media.

Another significant application of social psychology in business and industry derives

from psychological research on the structure and function of small groups. Most

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industrial operations involve complex social organizations. The applicability of
psychological research findings has given rise to what is now called organizational
psychology, which deals with production rate, task performance, morale and job
satisfaction.

1.7.5 Social Psychology in Community and National Affairs

Social psychology and its research findings are broadly applicable to human affairs at
community, national and international levels.

Techniques in group therapy can be utilized to deal with:

- general social problems involving group relations
- alleviate racial and ethnic tensions
- ease management – worker relations in business organizations
- at community level, any issues to reduce detrimental selfish views that impede
harmony apply such techniques.

During campaigns, political candidates depend on feedback from voter surveys to plan
their speeches and maximize appeal.

Activity 1.2
1. Distinguish between social psychology and sociology
2. Enumerate the methods used in the study of social psychology
3. List the areas in which social psychology is applicable.

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1.8 Summary
In the foregoing lecture, we have:
1. Defined social psychology as the scientific study of how people
think about, influence and relate to one another.
2. Discussed the relationship between social psychology and related
disciplines like
Sociology and anthropology
3. Examined the development of the discipline of social psychology
and the methods used in its study and research.
4. Noted some areas such as education, business and industry in
which social psychology is applicable.

1.9 References

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 LECTURE TWO
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Lecture Outline
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 What is Social Perception?
2.4 Impression Formation
2.5 Stereotypes
2.6 Attribution: Explaining Behaviour
2.6.1 What are Attributions?
2.6.2 Distinctiveness
2.6.3 Consensus.
2.6.4 Consistency
2.7 Attraction and Liking
2.7.1 Proximity
2.7.2 Similarity
2.7.3. Complementarity
2.7.4. Attractiveness
2.7.5. Rewardingness
2.7.6. Reciprocity
2.8 Summary
2.9 References

2.1. Introduction
The aim of this second lecture is to assist the learner to understand the concept of social
perception. We shall define social perception and show how we form our first
impressions of people. The lecture will also examine the role of stereotypes and
attribution in the process of social perception, as well as explain why we are attracted to
some people and not to others.

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 2.2. Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define social perception and show how it is related to
impression formation
2. Explain how stereotypes relate to first impressions of people.
3. Discuss how attribution explains the causes of behaviour
4. Explain why we are attracted to some people and not to others

2.3 What is Social Perception?

Can you remember the first meeting of your introductory psychology class?
What impression did your professor make on you that day? Did he or she appear to be
confident? Easy going? Open-minded? Cynical? Friendly? Were your first impressions
supported or undermined by subsequent observations?

When you interact with people, you are constantly engaged in social perception; the
process of forming impressions of others. People show considerable ingenuity in
piecing together clues about others’ characteristics. However, impressions are often
inaccurate because of the many biases that occur in social perception. In this lecture, we
shall consider some of the factors that influence and often distort people’s perceptions of
others.

2.4 Impression Formation

Information about people with whom we interact is difficult to obtain before we meet
them. So we are forced to form first impressions of people using only scanty evidence.
So how do we form our first impressions of people? What external cues do we use? And
how accurate are we?

When we meet someone for the first time, we notice a number of things, including their
clothes, gestures, manner of speaking, tone of voice, or even the firmness of the
handshake. We then use these cues to fit the person into ready - made categories or
classifications.

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Each of these categories carries with it a set of characteristics called schemas, which we
assume apply to all people in the category. Individuals use schemas to organise the
world around them, including their social world. Social schemas are organized clusters
of ideas about categories of social events and people.

People have social schemas for events such as dates, picnics, committee meetings and
family re-unions. Schemas serve a number of important functions:
1. They allow us to make inferences about other people. We assume for
example, that a friendly person is also likely to be good natured or to do a
small favour for us. We may not know these things for sure, but our schema
for “friendly person” allows us to infer them.
2. Schemas also play a crucial role in how we interpret and remember
information. Research shows that people have difficulty with information that
does not fit an established schema.
3. Schemas can also lure us into remembering things about people that we never
actually observed. For most of us, for instance, shyness, quietness and
preoccupation with one’s own thoughts, are traits associated with the schema
“introvert”. So if we notice that Jane is shy, we are likely to categorise her as
an introvert. Later we may remember that she also seemed preoccupied with
her own thoughts.

In other words, thinking of Jane as an introvert, saves us the trouble of taking

into account all the subtle shades of her personality. But this can easily lead
to errors if we attribute to Jane, qualities that belong to the schema but not to
her.

In impression formation, primacy effect is important. This is the extent to

which the first information we receive about someone influences our
impression of that person more heavily than later information. The first
information “primes” a certain schema or a way of thinking about people.

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 Hence, people reinterpret, explain away or ignore facts in later information
that are inconsistent with the schema suggested by the first.

Research indicates that if people are specifically warned to be aware of first

impressions, or if they are encouraged to interpret information about others
slowly and carefully, the primacy effect can be weakened or even nullified.
Generally, however, the first impression is the lasting impression and it can
affect our behaviour, even when its not entirely accurate.

2.5 Stereotypes
Some of the schemas that individuals apply to people are unique products of their
personal experiences, while others may be part of their shared cultural background. A
stereotype is a set of characteristics believed to be shared by all members of a social
category. In effect, a stereotype is a special kind of schema that is based on almost any
distinguishing feature, including sex, race, occupation, physical appearance, place of
residence and membership of a group or organization (Hansen, 1984).

When our first impressions of people are governed by a stereotype, we tend to infer
things about them solely on the basis of their social category. We also tend to ignore
facts that are inconsistent with the stereotype. As a result, we remember things about
them selectively or inaccurately, thereby perpetuating the initial stereotype.

The most common stereotypes in our society are those based on sex, age and membership
in ethnic or occupational groups. People who subscribe to traditional gender stereotypes
tend to assume that women are emotional, submissive, illogical and passive, while men
are unemotional, dominant, logical and aggressive. Age stereotypes suggest that elderly
people are slow, feeble, rigid, and forgetful. Notions that Kikuyus like money, that
Kambas like sex and Luos know how to handle women are examples of common ethnic
stereotypes. Occupational stereotypes suggest that lawyers are manipulative,
accountants are conforming and artists are moody.

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In addition to the above, we generally have more favourable expectations of physically
attractive people. We expect them to be intelligent, successful, friendly, warm and more
sociable than those who are less attractive. (Eagly et al. 1991; Wheeler and Kim, 1997).

Intext Question

Why do we inaccurately assume that a connection exists between

good looks and personality?

One reason is that extremely attractive people are vastly overrepresented in the
entertainment media, where they are mostly portrayed in a highly favourable light.

These expectations affect subsequent behaviour and may turn into self-fulfilling
prophecies. This means, the process in which a person’s expectation about another elicits
behaviour from the second person that confirms the expectation. Social perception goes
beyond simple impression formation. We also try to make sense out of people’s
behaviour, to uncover the reasons why they act as they do. This leads us to a discussion
of the process of attribution.

2.6 Attribution: Explaining Behaviour

It is Friday evening and you are sitting around at home feeling bored. You call afew
friends to see whether they would like to go out. They all say that they would love to go,
but they have other commitments and cannot. Their commitments sound vague and you
feel that their reasons for not going out with you are rather flimsy. How do you, explain
these rejections? Do your friends really have commitments? Are they worn out by
school and work? Do your friends find you boring? These questions illustrate a process
that people engage in routinely: the explanation of behaviour. Attributions play a key
role in these explanatory efforts, and they have significant effects on social relations.

2.6.1 What are Attributions?

Attributions are inferences that people draw about the causes of events, other’s
behaviour, and their own behaviour. If you conclude that a friend turned down your

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invitation because she’s overworked, you have made an attribution about the cause of her
behaviour.

Suppose you run into a friend at the supermarket. You greet him warmly, but he barely
acknowledges you, mumbles “Hi” and walks away. You feel snubbed and try to explain
his behaviour.
1. Did he behave that way because of something in the situation?
2. Perhaps he had no luck finding the groceries he wanted; or
3. Perhaps someone had just blocked his way by pushing his cart before his at
the cashiers, or
4. Did something within him, some personal trait e.g moodiness’ or
arrogance, lead him to behave that way?

It makes a difference which of these explanations is correct. Social interaction is filled

with occasions like this one, which invite us to make judgements about the causes of
behaviour. Social psychologists have discovered that we go about this process of
judgement in predictable ways. These findings and the principles derived from them are
summarized in attribution theory. This is the theory that addresses the question of how
people make judgements about the causes of behaviour.

Harold Kelley (1967) developed one of the most influential attribution theories.
According to Kelley, we rely on three kinds of information about behaviour in an effort
to draw conclusions about its cause. These include:

2.6.2 Distinctiveness
The first piece of information is distinctiveness. Mary likes movies. If Mary laughs
during a particular movie but not very often at movies in general, we would assume the
movie was funny but not that Mary has a tendency to laugh. When a behaviour (laughing)
occurs only when a particular event also occurs (movie), we tend to attribute the
behaviour to that event.

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2.6.3 Consensus
Secondly we consider consensus, which is the degree to which other people in the
situation are behaving in the same way. If everyone in the theatre is laughing, we would
attribute Mary’s (behaviour) laughter to the film. But if she’s laughing alone, we would
attribute her behaviour to some aspect of her personality, such as an unusual sense of
humour. Thus high consensus points to the environment as a cause, while low consensus
suggests a cause unique to the person.

2.6.4 Consistency
Next we consider consistency of behaviour. This is the extent to which a particular event
produces the same behaviour each time it is present. If behaviour is inconsistent, it is
probably due to some temporary feature of the environment.

If Mary saw the movie last week but did not laugh, then, we cannot confidently explain
her happiness either in terms of her personality or the movie. Instead, we would assume
that a passing mood, a good day at work or some other momentary circumstance is
operating.

According to Kelley, internal attributions ascribe the causes of behaviour to personal

dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings. External attributions ascribe the causes of
behaviour to situational demands and environmental constraints. Parents who find out
that their teenage son has just banged up the car may blame it on his carelessness (a
personal disposition) or on slippery road conditions (a situational factor). Internal and
external attributions can have a tremendous impact on everyday interpersonal
interactions. If parents attribute their son’s car accident to slippery road conditions they
are likely to deal with the event very differently than if they attribute it to his
carelessness.

Research has generally confirmed Kelly’s model,. The model does not however take into
account all aspects of the attribution process. Our attributions appear to be open to a
number of biases.

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1. One bias is our general tendency to attribute our own actions to situational
factors and the behaviour of others to internal or personal factors. For
example:

In your own view as a driver, the unforeseen pothole or bump and dusty
conditions caused you to hit the car ahead of you. A companion, however,
might be more inclined to relate your mishap to your inexperience as a driver
or to your carelessness.

The tendency to give too much emphasis to personal factors when accounting
for other people’s actions is so common that one psychologist has termed it
the fundamental attribution error (Ross, 1977) Too much emphasis to
personal factors may lead to attribution error.

2. A related bias is called defensive attribution. Studies have shown that we

tend to explain our successes according to our personal abilities while
attributing our failures to forces beyond our control. (Zuckerman, 1979).

For example, students tend to regard examinations on which they do well as

good indicators of their abilities, examinations on which they do poorly as
defective indicators.

By the same token, studies also show that when students do well, teachers
are more likely to assume responsibility for their performance than when
students perform poorly.

3. Another kind of attribution error arises from the assumption that the world is
just: Bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good
people. This is called the just world hypothesis (Lerner, 1980) This means,
when misfortune strikes someone, we often assume the person deserved it

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 rather than give full weight to situational factors that may have been
responsible.

One explanation for this attribution error is that we defend ourselves against
the implied possibility that such a thing, could happen to us. By relocating the
cause of a major accident from a chance event to the victim’s own negligence,
we defend ourselves against realizing that we could ever suffer such a
misfortune.

2.7 Attraction and Liking

You have probably heard some comments like, “I just don’t know what she sees in him.
I suppose he’s a nice guy, but they are just not right for each other”. Such comments
illustrate people’s interest in analyzing the dynamics of attraction, Interpersonal
attraction refers to positive feelings towards another person. Social psychologists use
this term broadly to encompass, a variety of experiences, including liking, friendship,
admiration, lust and love. In this section, we shall examine factors that influence
attraction and liking.

When people meet, what determines if they will like each other? This is the subject
of much speculation and mystification. Popular explanations run from fate to compatible
astrological signs. Romantics believe that irresistible forces propel them toward an
inevitable meeting with their beloved. Social psychologists take a more serious view of
the matter.

Social psychologists have found that attraction and liking are closely linked to such
things as: proximity, similarity, complementarity, attractiveness, rewardingness and
reciprocity. We shall now briefly examine each one of these factors:

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2.7.1 Proximity
Proximity is probably the most important factor in determining attraction. The closer two
people live to each other, the more they like each other. Proximity is the principle by
which people’s closeness to one another contributes to their mutual attraction. Lawton et
al (19975) found that 93% of residents in an urban housing project chose their best friend
from the same building.

2.7.2 Similarity
Similarity of attitudes and interests is another important basis for attraction. When we
know that a person shares our attitudes and interests, we tend to have more positive
feelings toward that person. Similarity is the principle by which shared characteristics
contribute to mutual attraction. The higher the proportion of attitudes that two people
share, the stronger the attraction between them.

This relationship between similarity and attraction holds true only up to a point. Some
bases of similarity are clearly more important than others. A shared taste for “mandazi” is
not as consequential for friendship as a common interest in sports or religion. The true
degree of similarly may not be as important as perceived similarity. We often assume that
we share attitudes with people who attract us in other ways.

2.7.3. Complementarity
Some relationships are based on complementarity rather than similarity. Research has
found a tendency for each partner in a marriage to possess needs or personality traits that
the other did not have. Complementarity is the principle by which people tend to be
attracted to others possessing characteristics that they lack.

Women who show a need to take care of others are often married to men who need to be
nurtured. Perhaps opposites do sometimes attract. On the whole, the evidence in support
of complementarity is not as strong as the evidence for similarity.

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2.7.4. Attractiveness
We tend to credit physically attractive people with a wealth of positive qualities, and we
also tend to like them more than we do less attractive people. Attractiveness is the
principle by which people tend to associate physical attractiveness with other positive
qualities such as warm, intelligent or sociable. The relationship has been found to hold
among members of the same sex as well. The physically attractive are more popular than
less attractive people.

2.7.5 Rewardingness
According to the reward model of attraction or the principle of rewardingness, we tend to
like people that we associate with rewards. This means with behavior that appeals to our
own values and beliefs, but the relationship between attraction and rewardingness is
complex. For example, Aronson’s (1984) gain-loss theory of attraction suggests that
increases in rewarding behaviour influence attractiveness more than constant rewarding
behavior does. We tend to dislike people whose opinion of us changes from good to bad
even more than we dislike those who consistently display a low opinion of us from the
beginning.

2.7.6 Reciprocity
Reciprocity refers to the tendency of people to like others who like them. Once person A
has expressed liking for person B, B feels a strong obligation to reciprocate. So it
involves liking those who show that they like you. Studies have shown that subjects are
attracted to people whom they believe to like them. Reciprocity is the principle by which
people tend to be attracted to people who are attracted to them. In general, research
indicates that we tend to like those who show that they like us and that we tend to see
others as liking us more if we like them. It appears then that liking breeds liking and
loving promotes loving.

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2.8. Summary
In the foregoing lecture, we have:
1. Defined social perception as the process of forming impressions of
others.

2. Described the process of impression formation and given the factors

involved

3. Discussed stereotypes and attribution processes in social perception

4. Described the factors involved in attraction and liking within

interpersonal interactions.

2.9 References

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 LECTURE THREE
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
Lecture Outline
3.1 I ntroduction
3.2 Objectives
3.3 What is Social Influence?
3.4 Conformity
3.5 Compliance
3.6 Obedience
3.7 Helping behaviour
3.8 Deindividuation
3.9 Summary
3.10 References

3.1 Introduction
In this lecture, we shall examine the concept of social influence and show the various
forms through which people influence others behavior. We shall discuss the reasons why
people conform, comply or obey the rules or norms laid down by society. The conditions
which lead people to behave in a helpful or unhelpful way will be discussed.

3.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Explain the term social influence
2. Describe the various forms of social influence
3. Distinguish between conformity, compliance and obedience
4. Discuss the conditions in which helping behaviour is most
likely to occur
5. Define de-individuation

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3.3 What is Social Influence?
To many social psychologists, social influence refers to “any actions performed by one or
more persons to change the attitudes, behaviour or feelings of one or more others” (insert
ref).

One form of social influence is attitude change, which we shall discuss in lecture four.
Our focus now is on direct control of behaviour by others without any regard to their
underlying attitudes.

3.4 Conformity
To conform is to choose to yield to social norms, which are shared ideas and expectations
about how members of a group should behave. It means yielding voluntarily to social
norms, even at the expense of one’s own preferences.

We know that some norms are written into law, while others are unwritten expectations
enforced by teasing, frowns, ostracism and other informal sanctions. Without norms,
social life would be chaotic. With them, we are able to predict other people’s behaviour.

We should note that most cases of uniformity are not cases of conformity. For example,
many Kenyans drink tea in the morning, but they do not do so to conform. They drink
tea because they have learned to like it and desire it.

Conformity implies a conflict between the individual and the group. It is a conflict that
the individual resolves by yielding his or her own preferences or beliefs to the norms or
expectations of a larger group.

In the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted the first careful study of conformity. In a series
of experiments, Asch demonstrated that under some circumstances, people conform to
group pressures even when this results in the denial of physical evidence.

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His studies tested visual judgement. People were asked to choose from a card with
several lines of differing lengths, the line most similar to a line on a comparison card.
The lines were deliberately drawn so that the comparison was obvious and the correct
choice was clear. All but one of the subjects were planted by the experimenter. On
certain trials, these people deliberately gave the same wrong answer. This put the subject
on the spot.

Should he conform to what he knew to be a wrong decision and agree with the group or
should he disagree with the group and not conform?

On the whole, the subjects conformed on about 35% of the trials, but there were large
individual differences.

Subsequent research discovered that two kinds of factors influence the likelihood that a
person will conform:
 Characteristics of the situation
 Characteristics of the individual

Situational variables include:

 Size of the group
 Degree of unanimity in the group
 Nature of the task

Personal characteristics include:

 Degree of attraction to the group
 Expectation to interact with the group in the future
 Relatively low status in the group
 Fear of rejection

3.5 Compliance
We have noted that conformity is a response to pressure exerted by norms that are
generally left unstated.
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In contrast, compliance is a change of behaviour in response to the explicit request of
someone else. The request maybe intended to satisfy the needs of the person making it
e.g “Please help me wipe the dishes”.

Social psychologists have studied several techniques by which people can get others to
comply with their requests.

One procedure is based on the so-called foot-in-the-door effect. Sales people know that
the moment a person allows the sales talk to begin; the chances of making a sale improve
greatly. This means that once a person has granted a small request, he/she is more likely
to comply with a larger one as well.

In a study of this phenomenon, Freedman and Fraser (1966) approached some residents
of a town in California, posing as members of a committee for Safe Driving. Residents
were asked to place a large ugly sign reading “Drive Carefully” in their front yards. Only
17% agreed to do so.

Other residents were asked to sign a petition calling for more safe-driving laws. When
these same people were later asked to place the ugly “Drive Carefully” sign in their
yards, an amazing 55% agreed to do so.

Compliance with the initial small request more than tripled the rate of compliance with
the larger request. This technique seems to work because agreeing to the token act
(signing the petition) changes the subject’s self-perception towards that of the person
favouring the cause. When presented with the larger request the person then feels
obligated to comply.

Activity 3.1
1. What is social influence?
2. Distinguish between conformity and compliance.

24
3.6 Obedience
We have discussed that compliance involves agreeing to change behaviour in response to
a request. Obedience is compliance with a command. Like compliance, it is a response
to an explicit message. But in this case, the message is a direct order generally from a
person in authority, for example a police officer, parent or teacher who can back up the
command if necessary.

Obedience is social influence in its most direct and powerful form. Studies have shown
how far many people will go in order to obey someone in authority.

Milgram (1963) informed his subjects that they would participate in an experiment
designed to test the effects of punishment on learning. Their job was to administer an
electric shock to another subject (a confederate) every time he/she made an error in a
learning trial.

The shocks were to be increased in voltage for each error, up to a potentially fatal 450
volts. The learner received no real shock whatsoever. An astounding 65% of Milgram’s
subjects proceeded to administer the entire series of shocks up to a maximum.

What factors influence the degree to which people will do what they are told?
Studies in which people were asked to put money in a parking meter by people wearing
uniforms showed that, one important factor is the amount of power vested in the person
giving the orders. A guard whose uniform looked like a police officer’s, was obeyed
more often than a man dressed either as a milkman or a civilian. Another factor is
surveillance. If we are ordered to do something and then left alone, we are less likely to
obey than when we are being watched.

Milgram’s experiments also revealed that when responsibility for an act was shared, such
that the person was only one of many doing it, obedience was much greater. Executions
by firing squads illustrate this principle.

What makes people willing to obey an authority figure, even if it means violating their
own principles?

25
Milgram (1974) thinks that people feel obligated to those in power: First, because they
respect their credentials and assume that they know what they are doing. Second,
because they have established trust with the people in authority by agreeing to do
whatever they ask. Subjects may experience conflict about what they are doing, but
through rationalization, they can forget about it and thus minimize the conflict.

3.7 Helping Behaviour

Another behaviour that is sensitive to social influence is our willingness to help others.
Our treatment of others is often motivated by our own self-interest. For example, we
may offer our boss a ride home from office because we know that our next promotion
depends on how much he/she likes us. When our neighbours are away, we may volunteer
to water their flower garden because we want to use their swimming pool.

We should note however, that if this kind of behaviour is not linked to personal gain, it is
called altruistic behaviour. A person who acts in an altruistic way does not expect any
recognition or reward in return. He/she maybe satisfied with the good feeling that comes
from helping the needy. Many altruistic acts, including many charitable contributions are
directed at strangers and are made anonymously.

Under what circumstances/conditions is helping behaviour most likely to occur?

Like other social- psychological phenomena, helping is influenced by two sets of
variables:
 Those pertaining to the situation
 Those relevant to the individual

Situational Characteristics
1. The presence of other people is an important situational variable. As the number
of passive bystanders increases, the likelihood decreases that any one of them will
help someone in trouble.
2. Another aspect of the situation is its ambiguity. Any factors that make it harder
for others to recognize a genuine emergency reduce the probability of helping.

26
Personal Characteristics
1. The personal characteristics of bystanders affect helping behaviour. Not all of
them are equally likely to help a stranger. For example when someone asks you
to watch over their property (bag) while the stranger is away. (e.g. toilet). The
amount of personal responsibility that one feels (e.g. to stop the theft of the
stranger’s property) increases the likelihood of helpful support.
2. The amount of empathy that we feel with another person also affects our
willingness to act in a helpful way.
3. If individuals feel that their values and personalities are similar to a victim’s, they
are more likely to try to help even if their own safety is jeopardized.
4. Mood also makes a difference. A person in a good mood is more likely to help
another in need than is someone who is in a neutral or bad mood.

3.8 Deindividuation
In social psychology, we have several cases of social influence in which people act
differently in the presence of others than they would by themselves.

The most striking instance of this is mob behaviour. For example the looting that
accompanies urban rioting or the destruction of property that occurs during peaceful
demonstrations.

One reason for such behaviour is that people lose their personal sense of responsibility in
a group, especially in a group subjected to intense pressures and anxiety.
This is called deindividuation because people respond not as individuals, but as
anonymous parts of a larger group. The more anonymous people feel in a group, the less
responsible they feel as individuals.

Being “deindividuated” produces more aggressive and more hostile behaviour. This
hypothesis supports the idea that the loss of a feeling of individuality maybe a major
cause of the violent, antisocial behaviour sometimes shown by groups.

27
Deindividuation partly explains mob behaviour. Another factor is that, in a group, one
dominant and persuasive person can convince people to act through a snowball effect,
that is: If he/she convinces afew people, those few will convince others.

In addition, large groups provide protection. Anonymity makes it difficult to press

charges. If two or even ten people start smashing windows, they would probably be
arrested. But if a thousand people do it, very few of them maybe caught or punished.

Activity 3.2
1. What is altruistic behaviour?
2. Explain why there is so little helping behaviour in our society
today
3. Define deindividuation

3.9 Summary
In this lecture we can deduce the following:
1. That social influence includes any actions performed by people to
change the attitudes, behaviour or feelings of others.
2. That conformity, compliance and obedience are forms of social
influence that focus on direct control of behaviour by others.
3. That our willingness to help others is another behaviour which is
sensitive to social influence and its often motivated by our own
self-interest.
4. That deindividuation occurs when people lose their personal sense
of responsibility in a group, especially when subjected to intense
pressures and anxiety.

28
3.10 References

29
 LECTURE FOUR
DEVELOPMENT OF ATTITUDES

Lecture Outline
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Objectives
4.3 Definition of Attitudes
4.4 Nature of attitudes
4.5 Attitudes and Behaviour
4.6 Development of Attitudes
4.7 Attitude Change
4.7.1 The Informational Approach
4.8 Summary
4.9 References

4.1 Introduction
The aim of this lecture is to introduce the learner to the important topic of attitudes. We
shall define attitudes, explain their nature and their components and discuss the
relationship between attitudes and behavior. The lecture will also explain how attitudes
develop and change.

4.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define attitudes and give the major components.
2. Explain the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
3. Describe the development of attitudes.
4. State how attitudes change from day today.

30
4.3 Definition of Attitudes
In our conversation with other people we have all heard the phrase “Change your
attitude” or “I don’t like his attitude”
 What does this mean?
 What are attitudes?
 How are they formed?
 How can they be changed?

An attitude is a fairly stable organization of beliefs, feelings and behaviour tendencies

directed toward some object such as a person or group.

4.4 Nature of Attitude

An attitude toward something has three major components:
 Beliefs about the object.
 Feelings about the object
 Behaviour tendencies toward the object.

Beliefs include facts, opinions and our general knowledge about the object. Feelings
include love, hate, like, dislike and similar sentiments. Behaviour tendencies include our
inclinations to act in certain ways toward the object, to approach it or avoid it. Our
attitude toward a political candidate includes our beliefs about the candidate. These
include hi/her qualifications and expectations about how the candidate will vote on
crucial issues.

Our feelings about the candidate include liking or disliking, trust or mistrust in what he
does. Our behavior toward the candidate includes voting for or against him/her; to
contribute time or money to the candidates’ campaign; to attend or avoid rallies for the
candidate.

These three aspects of an attitude are often consistent with one another. For example, if
we have positive feelings toward something, we tend to have positive beliefs about it and

31
to behave positively toward it. His does not however, mean that our actual behavior will
accurately reflect our attitude. So let us have a closer look between attitude and behavior.

4.5 Attitudes and Behavior

The relationship between attitudes and behavior is not a straightforward one.
Researchers point out that behavior is influenced by many factors besides attitudes.
Behavior is closely linked to a person’s intentions. Intentions are only partly a product of
a person’s attitude. They also reflect his/her acceptance of norms and social pressures to
perform or not to perform the behavior.

Personality traits are also important in this relationship. Some people consistently match
their actions to their attitudes. Others have a tendency to override their own attitudes in
order to behave properly in a given situation. As a result, attitudes do not predict
behaviour as well among some people as among others.

Take Note
Attitudes then, can predict behaviour but other variables affect the
relationship between the two. Intentions, social norms and willingness to
override one’s attitudes are just a few of these other factors.

4.6 Development of Attitude

Hoe do we acquire our attitudes? Where do they come from? Many of our most basic
attitudes derive from early, direct personal experience. This means that they develop
during our early childhood experiences.

Children are rewarded with positive encouragement when they please their parents. They
are punished through disapproval when they displease them. These early experiences
give the child enduring positive and negative attitudes toward objects. Attitudes are also
formed by imitation. Children mimic the behavior of their parents and peers. They thus
acquire attitudes even when no one is trying to influence their beliefs. Teachers, friends,
famous people are also important in influencing our lives. The media, television, radio,

32
newspapers also have a great impact on the formation of attitude. We are aware that the
television bombards us with messages in subtle ways, for example by repeating that
women are dependent on men.

4.7 Attitude Change

 What makes one attempt to change attitudes fail and another succeed?
 How and why do attitudes change?
 When do we resist change?
 How successful is our resistance likely to be?

The answers are the above questions depend on the technique used to influence our
attitudes.

4.7.1 The Informational Approach.

On a daily basis, we are all bombarded with attempts to change attitudes, on subjects
ranging from toothpaste to child abuse. Few of the methods used succeed. One major
reason for this is our ability to tune out what we do not want to hear.

Studies show that subjects are more likely to attend to supportive messages than non
supportive ones. Even if we attend to a message, several factors determine how likely it
is to change our attitudes. The effectiveness of the message depends upon its source.

The credibility of the source is especially important. One source may have greater
expertise or be more trustworthy than the other and therefore be more credible. Research
indicates that the credibility of the source is most important when we are not inclined to
pay attention to the message itself.

In cases where we have some interest in the message, the message itself plays a greater
role in determining whether we change our attitudes. For example, the more arguments
the message makes in favour of a position, the more effective the message.

33
Another important aspect of the message is fear. Studies show that fear is an effective
persuader in efforts to convince people to get HIV tests, to take care of their teeth and to
drive safely. We should note, however, that too much fear can scare an audience to such
an extent that the message has little effect.

Whether to include both sides of an argument is another well – researched question. The
data indicates that one-sided and two-sided arguments are equally persuasive. But a two-
sided presentation of a message generally makes the speaker seem less biased and thus
adds to his or her credibility.

The organization of a message and the medium in which it is presented also affect its
impact. For example, in presenting two sides of a question, it is better to put forth your
own side first. But, if a long time elapses between presentation of the first and second
positions, the audience tends to recall best what it heard last. In this situation you should
present your own view second.

As to the choice of the medium writing appears to be best suited to getting others to
understand complex arguments. Videotaped or live media presentations are more
effective in persuading an audience once it has understood an argument.

Overall, the most important factors in changing attitudes are those that have to do with
the audience. These factors are the most difficult to control. Commitment of the
audience to its present attitudes is very important. It has been shown for example, that a
person whose attitudes are shared with other people is less susceptible to attitude change.
If the attitude has been instilled during early childhood by important groups such as the
family, it is not easy to change.

Another audience factor is the discrepancy between the contents of the message and the
present attitudes of the audience. The greater the difference between the two, the greater
the likelihood of attitude change. But if the discrepancy is too great, the audience may
reject the new information altogether. In this case, the expertise of the communicator is

34
important. Aspects of personality also tend to make some people more susceptible to
attitude change than others. People with low self-esteem are more easily influenced,
especially when the message is complex and hard to understand.

People who are highly intelligent tend resist persuation because they can think of
counter-arguments more easily. When the message is complex, only highly intelligent
people may be able to understand it and hence be influenced by it.

Intext Question
Are there sex differences in the tendency to change attitude?

Traditionally, women have been considered easier to influence than men. Research
shows that this is only true when men conduct the research. Otherwise, there are no sex
differences in persuasibility. Male experimenters tend to use materials unfamiliar to
women, making them seem more subject to attitude change in general.

Take Note
In theory, attitudes are open to change. But in fact, they are very
difficult to change. Often behavior changes then attitude changes as a
result.

4.7.2 The Cognitive Consistency Approach

One of the most fascinating approaches to understanding attitude change is the theory of
cognitive dissonance, developed by Leon Festinger in 1957.

Cognitive dissonance exists whenever a person has two contradictory cognitions at the
same time. In this theory, a cognition is a piece of knowledge about something. “I do
not like fish” is a cognition. “Yesterday I ate fish” is also a cognition. These two
cognitions are dissonant since each one implies the opposite of the other.

35
According to Festinger, cognitive dissonance creates unpleasant psychological tension.
This tension motivates the individual to try to resolve the dissonance in some way.

Sometimes changing ones’ attitude is the easiest way to reduce the discomfort of
dissonance. One can easily change the fact that he ate fish. So it is easier to change
attitude about such a meal. The new attitude will fit the behaviour. It should be noted
that discrepant behaviour does not necessarily bring about attitude change.

There are other ways to reduce cognitive dissonance. One alternative is to increase
the number of consonant elements. This means the thoughts that support one or the
other dissonant cognition.

For example:
I might note that the fish was a bargain since it was very fresh and cheap.

In this situation, my action would be less discrepant with my attitude about fish.

Another option is to reduce the importance of one or both cognitive elements.

For example:
I might note that I just wanted to check and be sure that I really don’t like fish and I was
right, I don’t. This means that by reducing the significance of my behavior, I reduce the
dissonance that I experience.

An important question follows:

Intext Question
Why would someone engage in attitude discrepant behavior in the first
place?

36
One answer is that cognitive dissonance is a part of everyday life. For example, by
simply choosing between two or more desirable alternatives, this leads inevitably to
dissonance.

Suppose you are in the supermarket for a computer and cannot decide between a Compaq
and a Toshiba. If you choose the Compaq, all of its bad features and all of the good
aspects of the Toshiba contribute to dissonance.

After you have chosen the Compaq, you can reduce the dissonance by changing your
attitude. You might decide that the Toshiba does not have as many functions as you
thought and that some of the “bad” features of the Compaq are actually desirable.

Apparently, when people are convinced that there is a good reason to perform a
discrepant act, they experience little dissonance and their attitudes are not likely to
change, although their behavior may shift for a time.

4.8 Summary
In the foregoing lecture, we have:
1. Defined an attitude as a fairly stable organization of beliefs,
feelings and behavior toward a person or a group.
2. Discussed the nature and development of attitudes.
3. Examined the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
4. Described two approaches that are used in attitude change.

4.9 References

37
 LECTURE FIVE
PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
Lecture Outline
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Objectives
5.3 What is Prejudice?
5.4 What is Discrimination?
5.5 Roots of Prejudice
5.5.1 Early Socialisation
5.5.2 Mass Media
5.5.3 Consciousness Raising
5.6 Maintenance of Prejudice
5.6.1 Social Support
5.6.2 Stereotypes
5.7 Reduction of Prejudice
5.7.1 Contact
5.7.2 Education
5.7.3 Consciousness Raising
5.8 Summary
5.9 References

5.1 Introduction
The purpose of this lecture is to introduce to you the concepts of prejudice and
discrimination. You will learn how to distinguish the two concepts and to show how
they affect all of us in one way or the other. We shall examine how prejudice
comes about and how it can be reduced in society.

5.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define the terms prejudice and discrimination
2. Explain the roots of prejudice
3. Explain how prejudice and discrimination can be reduced in
society.

38
5.3. What is Prejudice?
Prejudice is often used to refer to bias or partiality. It is an opinion for or against
something without adequate basis. Prejudice can also be said to be a belief which is held
in the absence of evidence. To many social psychologists, a prejudice is normally
emotionally loaded and for this reason, it is highly resistant to logical argument.

5.4 What is Discrimination

To discriminate is to make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of
people, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age. When one is a victim of social and
economic discrimination, he/she experiences suffering and hardship that results from it.
For example the experiences of the American Blacks and Native Indians in USA. The
more obvious effects of discrimination include lack of equal opportunity.

Prejudice is a type of attitude while discrimination is a type of behaviour. The two words
are used interchangeably but social psychologists consider the attitude – behaviour
distinction important.

We should note that people do not always act the way they feel. Situational constraints
may prevent a prejudiced person from behaving in a discriminatory manner. In addition,
some acts of discrimination maybe so ingrained in a culture that a sexist or racist person
maybe unaware of his or her feelings of prejudice.

This means that attempts to reduce prejudice may sometimes be quite different from
attempts to reduce discrimination. As a theoretical and research issue, prejudiced
attitudes have received more attention in social psychology than discriminatory
behaviour. We shall therefore mainly focus on prejudice in this lecture.

Intext Question
1. How is prejudice acquired in childhood and later in life?
2. How is it supported in day-to-day experience?
3. What can be done about it

39
5.5 Roots of Prejudice
We should note that prejudice pervades society. Everyone has harboured some prejudice
at some time or has been the victim of prejudice. The question is, how does it begin?

Two major sources of prejudice demand particular attention in this lecture.

1. Early Socialization
2. Mass Media

5.5.1 Early Socialisation

Most attitudes are established in the early years of life or in the formative years.
Racial prejudice has, for example, been detected in white American children as young as
three years of age. Such attitudes are found to increase in intensity until late adolescence
when they become stabilized.

These findings however vary in time and place. It has been noted that in New Zealand,
racial discrimination is not evident until about seven years of age. Later studies appear to
suggest that whether prejudice is learned as a child or at whatever age, this depends on
historical circumstances.

How then do children learn prejudiced attitudes?

Two possible sources through which children learn prejudiced attitudes are:
1. Parental modeling
2. Mass media

Parents can have powerful influence on their children’s patterns of action. Children
observe what parents do and copy, they repeat the actions and hence modeling takes
place. This then is a process by which children acquire parents attitudes, especially their
prejudices.

5.5.2. Mass Media

In recent years children have been exposed to Television programmes, radio, children’s
books, the internet, magazines etc. Psychologists believe that these sources of

40
information have strong formative influences on children’s ideas and behaviour.
Children may spend many hours watching TV. It has been observed that by the age of
twelve, many children have spent more hours in front of the TV than in school in a place
like the USA.

Children’s books and TV programs are usually planned to have maximum impact and
strong appeal. They are of course not intended to teach prejudice. But close analyses of
TV programs and contents of books suggest that unplanned and inadvertent messages
often contribute to patterns of prejudice and discrimination.

Studies have shown that when there are sex-bias ratios in children’s stories and in favour
of males, this lack of balance teaches children that men are more important and more
central to the culture than are women. This is particularly so when the stories describe
male characters with such traits as bravery, curiosity, achievement striving or
sportsmanship. While in contrast, female characters are portrayed as being incompetent,
fearful, dependent and concerned with appearance

Studies on the content of TV programs reveal a similar pattern of sex bias. Men
portrayed on popular children’s programs tended to be constructive, helpful and
aggressive. They were often rewarded for their actions. In contrast, women were
portrayed as being nice, respectful and passive. They were frequently punished for their
activities.

Observations also indicate that in commercials about cleaning products, women speak far
more than men do. Yet, when the voice of authority is heard to speak about the benefits
of the product, 95% of the time the voice is male.

This means that if the media continually suggest that a group is inferior, members of the
group may eventually come to accept this idea. Hence, experiences during the early
years maybe responsible for much of the prejudice that is experienced in daily life.

41
5.6. Maintenance of Prejudice
Is prejudice changeable or is it stable over time? The answer to this question may be
seen from the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland or between
Arabs and Israelis which have continued for many years.

Research suggests that prejudice persists and is expressed if sustaining mechanisms are
present to support and maintain it from one situation to the next. Without sustaining
mechanisms, an individual’s attitudes and actions may change as circumstances change.
In the presence of sustaining mechanisms, prejudice may endure for a lifetime.

We shall examine two important influences that maintain prejudice within social groups:
These include the following:
1. Shared values/social support
2. Shared labels/stereotypes

5.6.1 Social Support

The persistence of prejudice depends largely on the amount of social support that the
prejudices receive. If expressing prejudices elicits acts of friendship, then prejudiced
attitudes are hard to give up. If the prejudice elicits punishment, it may disappear rapidly.
The social costs of expressing prejudice maybe so high that it cannot be sustained. When
the social costs of retaining and expressing prejudice are too severe, the prejudice may be
denied temporarily or abandoned permanently.

The social support that parents give their children is important. For example, when
parents oppose the integration of normal children and those with special needs in schools,
such children are likely to remain prejudiced.

Maintaining an attitude requires that the attitude be made salient. This means it must be
made prominent by calling attention to it. This is often done through public speeches,
bumper stickers, parades etc which increase attitudinal salience.

42
5.6.2 Stereotypes
These are oversimplified descriptions of groups of people. Social scientists today talk
about stereotypes as concepts or categories into which we place other people.

A category is a stereotype when the members of a culture or a subculture unquestioningly

believe that a particular concept characterize all members of a group. Stereotypes are a
major mechanism in sustaining prejudice. Once people agree on prejudicial labels, such
labeling becomes resistant to change. Members of the labeling group have a shared
reality that helps them communicate with each other.

Stereotypes influence many daily actions for example the simple matter of dressing or
clothing. Apparently, people continuously monitor the clothing, that others wear. Son in
deciding how to react, they fall back on stereotyped ideas about characteristics of the
people who wear particular kinds of clothing. But the question is, do clothing stereotypes
guide people’s actions?

5.7 Reduction of Prejudice

Some prejudices present real social dangers and feed bitter struggles between races,
economic groups, sexes and religions. Social scientists have therefore tried to find ways
to reduce prejudice.

One obvious possibility of reducing discrimination, which means by changing people’s

actions. For example, parents can reduce discrimination in their children by not showing
discriminatory behaviour. Negative stereotypes in books and in TV programs can be
eliminated. Dealing with prejudice as it develops in daily relations is more difficult,
since it is often supported by peer groups and in common custom.

This means that specialized programs and policies may be needed to combat these more
informal sources of prejudice. For example:
1. increased contact
2. education
3. consciousness-raising

43
5.7.1 Contact
Many psychologists believe that the best means by which to reduce prejudice between
groups is brining the groups together. This means putting them in situations where each
group can lean more about the other and the two can develop lasting relationships.

Communication barriers which seem to be a primary source of conflict between people

can be overcome. When people lack information about others, they fail to understand the
reasoning behind their actions. They develop hostility since they are frustrated by the
other person’s actions. With contact one begins to see similarities between oneself and
members of the other group. On the other hand, simply putting people together will not
reduce prejudice. Other factors such as equality of status, common goals, and
participation in decision making within such groups must be taken into account.

5.7.2 Education
Education is considered to be a principal means by which prejudice can be reduced.
Education can offer information about groups of people. Exposure to such information
should make people more accepting of others. Education should be liberating. But is it
infact? Is there any evidence to show that education makes a difference? Education may
only appear to be reducing prejudice but more research on this matter is needed.

5.7.3 Consciousness Raising

Consciousness – raising techniques can be used by targets of discrimination in order to
reduce the effects of discrimination on them and to change society. The aims of such
efforts are to sensitize group members to oppressive influences on their lives and to
develop a sense of solidarity and collective power and a means of collective defense. An
additional benefit derived from consciousness – raising activity, is the creation of
alternative realities.

Consciousness raising gives the oppressed person another way of evaluating his or her
position and thereby may offer freedom from the shackles of majority reality. The
question is, do consciousness-raising endeavours produce significant change?

44
Not all may offer significant change, but they may make an important difference.
Research shows that participants develop an active outgoing approach to the world, they
may gain in self-esteem, self-insight and feelings of competence. Thus consciousness –
raising techniques have significant potential.

Activity 5.1
1. Distinguish between prejudice and discrimination
2. Explain how prejudice comes about and how it is maintained in society.
3. State three reasons why it is so difficult to reduce prejudice and
discrimination in our society today.

5.8 Summary
In this lecture, we have learned that:
1. Prejudice is an irrationally based negative attitude against certain groups
and their members.
2. Discrimination is a process of exclusion against an out group, racial or
cultural based simply on who they are than on their knowledge or
abilities
3. Prejudice is established during early childhood through socialization,
parental modeling and the mass media among others.
4. Prejudice is maintained by sustaining mechanisms and influences such
as social support and stereotypes.
5. Prejudice can be reduced in society with the use of increased contact
between people, education as well as consciousness – raising
techniques.

45
5.9 References

46
 LEC TURE SIX
FRUSTRATION AND AGGRESSION
Lecture Outline
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Objectives
6.3 Definition of Aggression and Frustration
6.4 Types of Aggression
6.5 Explanations of Aggression
6.6 Relationship between Frustration and Aggression
6.7 Sex, Drugs and Aggression
6.8 Social and Physical Surroundings on Aggressions
6.8.1 Presence of Others
6.8.2 Presence of Weapons
6.8.3 Heat and Temperature
6.9 Summary
6.10 References

6.1 Introduction
In this lecture, you will learn about the concepts of frustration and aggression and how
they influence people’s behaviour. We shall examine distinctions among different kinds
of aggression, discuss explanations of aggression and understand the relationship
between frustration and aggression. The role of sex and drugs in aggressive behaviour as
well and drugs in aggressive behaviour as well as the effects of social and physical
surroundings will be discussed.

6.2. Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define frustration and aggression
2. Explain the various kinds of aggression
3. Understand the explanations of aggression
4. Discuss the effects of sex, drugs, social and physical surroundings on
aggressive behaviour.

47
6.3 Definition of Aggression
Aggression relates to behaviour that is intrusive, assertive and domineering. In its more
extreme forms, it involves physical damage to people or objects. This is more properly
referred to as violence or hostility, whether physical or psychological. Most social
psychologists define aggression as behaviour that is designed to deliver negative
outcomes such as pain, sorrow or death, to another person.

What is Frustration?
Frustration is defined as the effect of being prevented from reaching a goal, progressing,
succeeding or being fulfilled.

6.4 Types of Aggression

We can make several distinctions among different kinds of aggression. For example:
1. Direct aggression - in which the aggressive act is an end in itself. For
Instance, to insult someone who has been rude to you is a form of direct
aggression. The insult is designed specially o hurt the person.
2. Indirect aggression - in which the infliction of pain or suffering is a means to
Some other end. To strike a child for playing on the street is a form of
indirect aggression. The pain is a means of teaching the child to stay out of
the street.
3. Active aggression - in which harm is delivered through an activity such as
striking a blow or criticizing,
5. Passive aggression - in which inactivity may cause harm, for example, by
failing to help someone reduce his pain as in an accident.

6.5 Explanations of Aggression

1. One of the oldest explanations in psychological literature describes aggression
as the inevitable consequence of frustration, where frustration is seen as the
effect of being prevented from reaching a goal.
2. A second explanation is ethological in origin. It draws parallels between

48
 aggression in animal behaviour and human behaviour. This explanation
attributes aggressiveness to biological predispositions. It maintains that in
certain circumstances e.g threat to one’s children or one’s life, aggression is
the natural response.
3. A third explanation attributes aggression to other forms of social behaviour
and to the influence of models. For example, the effects of TV and films on
aggressive behaviour
4. A fourth explanation involves physiology and attributes aggressiveness to
hormones or the activity of specific brain structures. Evidence shows that
injections of testosterone increase aggressiveness in monkeys and that damage
to the thalamus can increase or even trigger aggressive behaviour.
5. A fifth explanation suggests that males with an extra Y chromosome
(XYY syndrome) are characteristically tall and muscular. Some research
evidence has linked this syndrome with criminality. This follows the
observation that more of the tall men within prison populations are of the
XYY type. The theory is that the extra chromosome is linked with greater
aggressiveness, hence the greater tenderness toward violent crimes. This
conclusion remains tentative. Certainly not all XYY individuals manifest
undue aggression.

6.6 Relationship Between Frustration and Aggression

Aggression research conducted from 1940 to 1960 by American psychologists was
dominated by the ideas put forward in Dollard et. Al. (1939) classic volume, “Frustration
and Aggression”.

The authors of this volume suggested0 that the occurrence of aggressive behaviour
always presupposes the existence of frustration. Contrariwise, the existence of frustration
always leads to some form of aggression.

The suggestion here is that whenever people experience frustration, aggression will be a
certain outcome. That is whenever aggression occurs, one need only to look for the
frustration that caused the aggression to understand it. This is referred to as The
“Frustration – aggression Hypothesis”

49
The above suggestion was criticised for being too broad and too simplistic.
1. Frustration does not seem to always produce aggressive behaviour, e.g. some
people are depressed and inactive when frustrated. So frustration can produce
other reactions, not just aggression.
2. Aggression may often occur without prior frustration. eg. Soldiers may fire
on enemy troops because they have been ordered to do so or due to a sense of
patriotism, but not feeling frustrated.

In view of these contradictions, the formulation was revised and it was argued that:
frustration could precede some forms of aggression and that sometimes aggression was
produced by frustration.

Question Under what conditions will frustration precede aggression?

1. One condition that may increase aggression is an increase in the amount of
frustration that an individual experiences. That is, the more something is
desired, the greater the frustration, and the greater the likelihood of
aggression when the desire is thwarted.
2. A second condition that may strengthen the link between frustration and
aggression is arbitrariness. The more arbitrary the frustrating agent, the
more aggressive the reaction.
3. A third condition is that if you are frustrated by another person, you are more
likely to react aggressively if the other person is less powerful or has no
capacity to retaliate.

6.7 Sex, Drugs and Aggression

Can sexual arousal and drugs such as alcohol or marijuana increase aggressive
tendencies?

The relationship between sex and aggression has been of interest in the arts as well as in
the sciences. For example: In the works of some painters, the sexual woman is often

50
portrayed as a vampire who kills her lover. Studies on animals also suggest a strong link
between sexual and aggressive drives as seen in the courting of household cats.

Research findings on the effects of sexual arousal on aggression are contradictory.

Some show that being exposed to sexually arousing pictures can make people more
aggressive. Others say it can decrease tendencies to behave aggressively.

Intext Question
What are the effects of arousal – producing drugs on aggression?

Popular wisdom suggests that alcohol contributes to aggression and that marijuana leads
to a mellow state of pacificism. Studies show that the use of marijuana is correlated with
violent crimes.

Even though drugs may affect the level of arousal, their ultimate effect on behaviour will
be influenced by social definition. This means that when people believe that alcohol
causes aggression, they have an excuse to aggress when they are drinking. They can
blame their aggression on the consumption of alcohol and thus reduce their
responsibility. When a man beats his wife, people hold him less responsible if drunk than
if he is sober. Ironically, if a wife is beaten by her husband, she receives more blame if
she’s drunk than if she’s sober.

6.8 Effects of Social and Physical Surrounds on Aggressive Behaviour

This relates to the following conditions:
1. Presence of people
2. Presence of weapons
3. Heat and temperature

51
6.8.1 Presence of Others
Question. Is a person likely to be more or less aggressive if other are present? This
question has broad implications for social planning, for instance, people in urban areas
are almost always in the present of others. If that increases the likelihood of violence,
then densely populated areas maybe a breeding ground for violence. If it reduces
aggression, then cities might be especially safe places to live.

Aggression ought to be reduced by the presence of others. Since it is considered

undesirable, the presence of witnesses should reduce the likelihood of aggression.

After all, identification can bring punishment. The situation is far more complex in urban
environments. When people are assembled in large groups, identification is difficult. No
one person stands out so aggression is likely to increase. The dense population offers
freedom to aggress others.

6.8.2 Presence of Weapons

Question Why should the presence of weapons increase the amount of violence?

Many psychologists believe that two mechanisms operate to increase danger when
weapons are present.
1. Presence of weapons may increase the salience of aggressive actions. This
means that it may encourage he likelihood of aggressive options.
2. Weapons may also influence aggression by furnishing a means for reaching a
goal or for solving a problem. For example, in some countries, police
officers do not carry side arms, so they cannot easily shed blood as they solve
daily problems. In others, a police officer’s possession of a pistol represents
a constant invitation for violence.

6.8.3 Heat and Temperature

Common terms such as hot-tempered heated argument, heat of battle, suggest that heat
and aggression is related.

52
Question. Do these terms actually reflect the environment’s subtle influence on our
actions? Violent riots and the rise in temperature have been found to be related. In the
1960s in the US, it was observed that as temperature’s increased, so did the probability of
a riot. Heat was of course not the direct cause of the riots, but it served to trigger
violence in urban ghettos. Heat produces irritability and negative feelings. This negative
arousal maybe channeled into aggression. Thus as temperature rises, aggression may
increase.

But, when temperature creates great discomfort or increases beyond a certain point,
people are far less concerned with aggression than they are with finding ways to keep
cool. People living in hot climates are no more aggressive than those who live in milder
climates.

Activity 6.1
1 Why do people engage in aggressive behaviour?
2 How does culture influence aggressive behaviour
3 What are he potentially useful social functions of aggression?
4 Are there sex differences in aggression?

53
 6.9 Summary
The range and persistence of aggressive behaviour suggest that aggression
is part of human nature. Aggressive behaviour is found among every age
group. The current knowledge suggests that the explanations of
aggression are complementary. The manifestation of aggression is to a
considerable extent under the control of environmental experiences such
as frustration or modeling.

There is considerable agreement that aggression is more characteristic of

males than females. This is a fact that an e attributed not only to our
cultural biases and stereotypes but to physiological factors as well.
It is important to understand that aggression is opposed to such forms of
prosocial behaviour as helping, sharing and cooperating. Since care and
concern facilitates prosocial behaviour, then its absence may encourage
aggressiveness.

Judging by the number of people who meet violent death, human beings
seem to be using their wisdom not to control or reduce aggression, but
rather to perfect the tools of violence.

References

54
 LECTURE SEVEN
LEADERSHIP AND POWER
Lecture Outline
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Objectives
7.3 Definition of Leadership
7.4 Types of Leaders
7.5 Power and Prestige
7.6 Characteristics of Leaders
7.7 Styles of Leadership
7.8 Emergence of a Leader
7.9 Summary
7.10 References

7.1 Introduction
In this lecture, we shall examine the concept of leadership and show the various ways in
which leaders use power to influence the behaviour of one or more members of a group.
We shall discuss the various types of leaders and how they utilize power and prestige in
different positions. The characteristics that effective leaders should have as well as their
styles of leadership will also be discussed.

7.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define the term leadership
2. Distinguish between Leadership power and prestige
3. State the characteristics of effective leaders
4. Understand different styles of Leadership

7.3 Definition of Leadership

Leadership is the process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group.
A leader is defined as the group member who exerts more positive influence over others
than they exert over him. Any attempt to influence the behaviour of one or more
members of a group is an attempt at leadership.

55
7.4 Types of Leaders
Some leaders are formally appointed or elected, others emerge informally as the group
interacts. What makes for good leadership often depends on the situation. Some people
excel at task leadership which means at organizing work, setting standards and focusing
on goal attainment. Others excel at Social leadership which means at building
teamwork, mediating conflicts and being supportive.

Task leaders often have a directive style. Being goal-oriented, such leaders keep the
groups attention and effort focused on its mission. Social leaders often have a democratic
style which means one that delegates authority and welcomes input from team members.
Such leadership is good satisfied when they participate in making decisions. Women,
more often than men have a democratic leadership style.

There are many ways in which individuals can influence others, although some roles are
more conducive to influence than others. Individuals who play leadership roles in one
context tend to play them in others as well especially when situations are similar.

Intext Question
What do leaders actually do?

We should keep in mind that many categories of leadership overlap and so the activities
of a given leader will put him in several categories at one time or another.
1. The Administrator
This is a broad and general term which covers a wide variety of activities, e.g
planning, coordinating, managing and organizing. Administrators are people
who see that things get done according to policy. They occupy key positions
in organizations and groups.
2. The bureaucrat
This term is applied to individuals who hold positions in the intermediate and

56
 lower levels of the administrative hierarchy in an organization. They have
specialized duties in directing and supervising oganisational processes. The
power of the bureaucratic leader derives from the structure of the organization
and the formalized regulations that prescribe, define and limit his roles and
functions.

3. The Policy Maker

Policy makers are likely to be members of boards of directors, legislators or
administrators. The policy maker is the man or women behind the throne.
He/she is a covert leader who may exert influence without revealing himself.

4. The Expert
The expert generally works in a consultancy capacity to policy makers and
administrators. He/She is a specialist in some field of information which is of
value to the organizational leaders. eg a medical specialist. His role is
generally that of a commentator, critic and a special resource person.

5. The Ideologist
The ideologist is a specialist in ideas and beliefs rather than in some technical
field. He/she is concerned with the basic theories that are implied by various
forms of social behaviour. Examples of highly influential ideologists whose
teachings have altered the lives of millions include Mohamed, Martin Luther
and Karl Marx. Most leaders are ideologists.

6. Charismatic Leader
Charisma is a Greek term used to designate a favour or a gift granted by God
that enables the recipient to have some special power with respect to his
fellow men e.g ability to heal or to perform miracles. Charismatic leaders
have strong emotional appeal and a compelling vision of some desired state
of affairs. An ability to communicate this to others in clear and simple

57
 language and enough optimism and faith in their group to inspire others to
follow.

7. Political Leader
The political leader embodies most of the above as he is a policy maker, often
an ideologist and must at least have a touch of charisma in order to be elected.
Politicians achieve goals for themselves, their friends and the people who
elect them by bargaining and trading favours. They also use methods such as
double-dealing to further their own ends.

8. Symbolic Leader
An important dimension of a leader’s role is his ability to represent and speak
for his group and also to represent the group symbolically. For example
Ambassadors and High Commissioners. Relations between National take
place between symbolic leaders interacting in a formal way.

9. The Parent figure

The earliest group that most of us experience is the family and the first leaders
with whom we become acquainted are our parents. As we go on to school,
teachers take on parental roles. During childhood and adolescence, we tend to
regard all authority figures in the same way we regard our parents. They
reward, punish, admonish, encourage and direct. These are all part of the role
traditionally assigned to parents.

There are two types of parental leaders:

1. “father figure” - dominating, forbidding, punishing,
demanding, authoritarian leader
2. “mother figure” - nourishing, sheltering, understanding, supportive,
reasoning.

58
 Most Leaders irrespective of their sex represent a combination of these two
types.

7.5 Power and Prestige

Power is the extent to which leaders can influence the behaviuor of others. Power varies
with the prestige of the leader, the degree to which his actions are regarded as significant,
relevant and important by others. Prestige maybe attached to a position and the way their
behaviour is perceived by others. What happens when a TV celebrity appears at a social
gathering e.g a musician or comedian? Such people are listened to carefully even when
they do not have anything important to say.

Celebrities possess salience, which is the quality of being highly visible and standing out,
hence they attract attention. Prestige is, also claimed due to a person’s social class.

7.6 Characteristic of Leaders

Effective leaders engender trust by consistently sticking to their goals. They often exude
a self-confident charisma which kindles the allegiance of their followers.

Personality tests reveal that effective leaders tend to be outgoing, energetic,

conscientious, agreeable, emotionally stable and self-confident. Groups tend to influence
their leaders. Someone who typifies the group’s views is more likely to be selected as a
leader.

A leader who deviates too radically from the group’s standards may be rejected. Smart
leaders usually remain with the majority and spend their influence prudently. In rare
circumstances, the right traits matched with the right situation can yield history-making
greatness. To have a Winston Churchill or a Margaret Thatcher or a Martin Luther King
Junior takes the right person, in the right place at the right time.

Question. What does it take to be a leader?

59
Observations indicate that the major quality is experience. Others include intelligence,
skill, determination, dominance, self-confidence and social charisma.
A good leader is not merely someone who is capable of ordering other people
around. He/she should be able to understand the goals of the group he is to
command, to convince the group that he does understand these goals and to channel
the group’s efforts into achieving them. Leadership then, is the performance of those
acts which help the group to achieve its preferred outcomes.

7.7 Styles of Leadership

Leadership can be authoritarian, democratic or Laissez-faire in their styles of
exercising influence.
1. Authoritarian - In this style the leader determines group’s policies, gives
directions, assigns work partners, provides praise and criticism, retains
authority and responsibility and stifles individual initiative. He dictates the
nature of projects to be done but refrains from active participation.

2. Democratic - The leader in this style delegates authority, allows participation

in decision-making, suggests alternative procedures, calls for discussion of
policies and promotes individual commitment.

3. Loussez-faire - In this style, the leader allows group members to do as they

please. The leader adopts a passive, uninvolved stance, provides materials
suggestions and help only when requested. The group lacks direction.

7.8 Emergence of a Leader

The emergence of any given individual as a leader depends upon how well his particular
abilities and traits match a given leadership role.

A leader must be above average in intelligence but the most brilliant individual is not
necessarily the group leader. He/she must be bright but not a deviate and must be close
to other group members in attitudes and values. If members tend to be authoritarian, he

60
must be moderately authoritarian as well. There must be some congruence I leader –
follower characteristics.
This also depends upon the group situation. A task leader is likely to emerge if the
condition of the group is unusually good or if the situation has deteriorated to the
point where the group is disintegrating. In both cases, an almost dictatorial and task-
oriented leader is acceptable.

On the other hand, when the conditions are neither extremely favourable nor
extremely unfavourable, a social specialist is likely to be chosen to maintain group
solidarity and cohesion.

So there’s a relationship between type of leadership and the specific situation. If the
situation changes significantly, the group will choose a new leader, if it has this
option. A group may vary in its responsiveness to different leadership roles,
depending on the urgency of the circumstances and constitution of the group
authoritarian and democratic leadership.

The demands of leadership are so exacting that it is surprising to find people rubbing
shoulders, fighting and scheming to become leaders. Leading is a hard risky,
humbling and painful job.

Intext Question
Why then are individual lives, organizations, and nations
destroyed in the quest for the highest positions?

The position of the leader from the angle of a subject, appears envious, lucrative and
tempting. So people rush for it. Everyone is liable to struggle for leadership without
carefully thinking about its demands. One should count the cost before plunging into
a leadership role. Many are blinded by what appears to be the incentives or prestige
of leadership positions.

61
 Activity
1. Define the term leadership
2. Distinguish leadership and power
3. Discuss the characteristics of effective leaders
4. Are leaders born or made or how do they emerge?

7.9 Summary
In the already concluded lecture, we have:
1. Defined the concept of leadership
2. Distinguished between leadership, power and prestige
3. Discussed different types of leaders and their styles of leadership
4. Noted the characteristics of effective leaders and what it takes to be
a leader.
5. Described particular abilities and traits that match a given
leadership role.

7.10 References

62
 LECTURE EIGHT
CROWDING AND PERSONAL SPACE
Lecture Outline
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Objectives
8.3 Definition of Personal Space
8.4 Crowding and Density
8.5 Environmental Stress
8.6 Effects of Noise
8.7 Summary
8.8 References

8.1 Introduction
In this lecture, we shall learn about the concepts of crowding and personal space and how
they affect our relationships with others. We shall discuss the effects of density, noise
and other environmental stressors which interfere with the way we perceive and treat
other people. The loss of control over one’s surroundings due to environmental stress
will also be discussed.

8.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture you should be able to:
1. Define the terms crowding and personal space
2. Explain the effects of noise, density and congestion in personal
relationships
3. Discuss the importance of maintaining appropriate personal space in
interpersonal relationships

8.3 Definition of Personal Space

Personal space is a phrase coined by the anthropologist Edward Hall (1959). It refers to
the amount of physical space between people, how they relate to this space, and how they
manipulate it in their relationships with others.

63
Explanation of Personal Space
In one experiment, a student posed as a policeman and interviewed other students about
the contents of their wallets. As the interview progressed, the “policeman” edged closer
to the students.

When the “policeman” moved as close as 8 inches to a student, the student usually, grew
tense, uncomfortable and suspicious. When the distance was kept at about two feet, the
interviews went smoothly, with no sign of discomfort from the students.

In general, the more intimate we are with people, the more likely we are to sit or stand
closer to them. Similarly, the more friendly people are with one another, the less they
notice how close to one another they are sitting or standing.

The distance that you put between yourself and others is one way of showing interest or
liking, especially with someone you have just met or want to get to know.

If we do not want to meet people, for example, while studying in the library, we are
inclined to view any attempt to “enter” our space as an invasion.

This principle was tested by Robert Sommer (1959) by having women approach other
women who were studying alone at a library table. If the confederate sat down a few
chairs away, she was ignored. But, if she sat next to the subject, the subject expressed
discomfort, irritation and even anger.

In follow-up studies, some interesting differences in the way men and women react to
strangers who invade their personal space were discovered. The experimenters had
confederates approach students sitting alone and sat either directly across the table or in
the chair next to the student on the same side of the table.

The results showed that regardless of the invader’s sex, males were most disturbed by a
person sitting across from them, while females were bothered more by someone sitting

64
beside them. Another study revealed that even when no intruder was present, men tended
to guard their personal space by placing books or other objects in front of them, while
women built barriers on either side.

The circumstances in which we find ourselves also affect our perception of personal
space. When a stranger has no other choice but to stand close to us, we tend to ignore the
intrusion of our personal space. At rush hours, for instance, buses, matatus and trains in
some cities are so jammed that it is often impossible to preserve even a trace of personal
space.

This means that people who would otherwise be repelled by the closeness of strangers
seem to pay no attention to their proximity during these hours. On the other hand, if we
sense that some strange person is deliberately invading our personal space, even in a
crowded setting, we are likely to be offended.

The ways in which we behave with regard to our sense of personal space are very
significant forms of nonverbal behaviour. Research has shown that children are sensitive
to violations of personal space within months of becoming mobile. The extent to which
people require or tolerate spatial contact seems to be fairly standard regardless of culture.

For unknown reasons however, cultures near the equator prefer less space and more
touching and hugging. Thus the British and Scandinavians prefer more space and
distance than the French and the Arabs. North Americans prefer more space than Latin
Americans.

8.4. Crowding and Density

In recent years, a lot of attention has been paid on how our environment influences us and
our relationships with others. Since we accept our environment as a given, we are often
unaware of the effects of such factors as crowding, noise, isolation and urban tension.

65
A new branch of psychology, known as Environmental Psychology, studies how these
factors contribute to the complex ways in which we relate to our world.

Observations indicate that in New York City, as many as 70,000 people live and work
within a single square mile. One of New York’s larger apartment complexes could house
the entire population of many small towns. Sidewalks are so jammed at certain hours of
the day that even walking from one place to another becomes a challenge. This means
that maneuvers such as passing, weaving and dodging become as important to people
walking on the sidewalk as to the czars on the street.

Many suburban towns were originally built to avoid this sort of crowding, but they too
have become densely populated. It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult for
people to have the kind of “elbow room” that they value and expect.

Because of increased crowding in urban and suburban areas, more attention has been
recently paid on how human beings react to crowding and to the invasion of their
personal space.

Researchers distinguish between density and crowding. Density is the quantity of people
in a given area or space, it is therefore the number of people per square foot. Crowding is
the subjective experience of being crowded. It is possible to feel crowded even when
density is low. For example, if you go to a secluded beach to swim with a friend and
discover that there are 5 or 6 other people there, you may feel crowded even though there
is no lack of physical space.

Many studies have examined how animals react to high population density. Calhoun
(1962) created rat colonies in which the population was far denser than normal. He found
that rats developed “abnormal” traits under these conditions that had not been present
before. Maternal behaviour was disturbed and cannibalism and homosexuality
developed. In general, the rats behaved as if their social bonds had been dissolved.

66
Some studies have found strong and positive correlations between density and various
forms of social pathology, for example, juvenile delinquency, mental illness and infant
death rate.

Among humans, the distinction between density and crowding is critical. It is the
experience of being crowded that produces psychological stress. Partly, the stress maybe
due to sensory overload in which sights and sounds multiply so fast that they soon
overload the sensory circuit of people in crowds. In part, the stress of crowding may be
due to lack of privacy.

Congestion in urban areas has led social psychologists to devote attention to density and
crowding as environmental stressors.

8.5 Environmental Stress

Individuals who cannot withdraw from contact with others or prevent them from
intruding on their personal space experience stress. When many people surround us, it is
more difficult to control our interactions with them. The loss of control over one’s
surroundings can be stressful.

Research has shown that students living in long-corridor dormitories feel more crowded
than students living in short-corridor residences, even though the actual density is the
same. The reason appears to be that the heavier traffic in the halls and lounges of long-
corridor dorms lead to feelings of greater crowding. Students who live in long-corridor
dorms are also more likely to feel powerless to control their environment.

It has been observed that not everyone reacts to crowding in the same way.
Individualistic persons tend to experience more stress from crowding than those who
work in cooperation with others. Compatibility is also more important. Being enclosed
in tight quarters with others whose company one does not enjoy is a perfect recipe for
stress. Some evidence suggests that men suffer more stress from high – density
conditions than do women.

67
8.6 Effects of Noise
Noise can have a powerful impact on mental functioning, for example, in a classroom
setting, hundreds of students had began to work on an important examination, when the
sound of an electric guitar pierced the walls. A kilometer away in a park, a young man
had set up a pair of loudspeakers which were so powerful that the students could hear
every mistake he made on his guitar.

Since it was impossible for most of the students to concentrate on the examination under
these distracting conditions, the invigilators had to collect the examination booklets and
move everyone to a room on the other side of the building.

It should be note that noise affects more than concentration. It also affects interpersonal
interaction, including the tendency to help others – who are in need. In one study,
subjects exposed to different levels of noise saw a stranger drop a stack of books and
magazines. He greater the noise, the less likely subjects were to help pick up the books.

In addition, noise seems to impair our ability to notice cues in social situations and in the
environment in general. In one experiment subjects, watching a video tape while
exposed to noise were less likely to distinguish victims from harm-doers, than were other
subjects who were not exposed to noise.

Finally, noise facilitates aggressive responses. In one experiment, a group of college

students heard loud random bursts of noise and then they were angered by a confederate.
Next, they had the chance to “shock” another person. These subjects delivered more
intense shocks than did students who had heard only soft noise. Noise then, is more than
a distraction. Under certain conditions, it can also reduce altruism, attention to social
cues, and self-restraint in interaction with others.

68
 Activity 8.1
1. What is personal space?
2. Explain why people do not respect others personal space.
3. What are the effects of crowding, density and noise?
4. Explain how environmental stress brings about loss of control.

8.7 Summary
In this lecture, we can deduce the following:
1. That personal space is kind of buffer zone that we like to maintain
between ourselves and others. As the situation changes, the zone
varies in size.

2. That with strangers, we maintain a fairly large personal space and

that in crowded buses or libraries, we protect our space and respect
other’s space.

3. That crowding, density and noise can bring about environmental

stress that interferes with our relationships with others.

8.8 References

69
 LECTURE NINE
COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOUR
Lecture Outline
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Objectives
9.3 Definition of Collective Behaviour
9.4 Classification of Crowds
9.5 Characteristics of Collective Behaviour
9.6 Determinants of Collective Behaviour
9.6.1 Structural Conduciveness
9.6.2 Structural Strain
9.6.3 The Growth and Spread of a generalized belief
9.6.4 Precipitating factors
9.6.5 Mobilisation of Participants for action
9.6.6 The Operation of Social Control
9.7 Psychology of the Crowd
9.8 Summary
9.10 References

9.1 Introduction
In this lecture, you will be introduced to the concept of collective behaviour. You will
learn the reasons why people join crowds and why they behave the way they do, unlike
when they are alone by themselves. The characteristics of crowds and the determinants
of collective behaviour will also be discussed.

9.2 Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
1. Define the term collective behaviour
2. Describe the characteristics of crowds
3. Understand the determinants of collective behaviour
4. Explain the behaviour and the psychology of the crowd

70
9.3 Definition of Collective Behaviour
Collective behaviour is a type of behaviour that develops in response to problematic
situations. It includes riots, crazes, fads, social movements, panics and revolutions.
Collective behaviour is extraordinary behaviour which is spontaneous as well as
dramatic. It maybe foolish and disgusting but it will always be something of an
entertainment. When a collective manifestation occurs in some large cities for example,
newspaper reporters usually call social psychologists in universities to get their
interpretation.

Explanation of Collective Behaviour

Gustave Le Bon, whose book La Foule (1895) was translated in 1896 as The Crowd,
wrote about crowds during the French Revolution. He said that …”the crowd is always
intellectually interior to the isolated individual” and that the …” mob man is fickle,
credulous and intolerant”. Le Bon was of the opinion that the… “mob man shows the
violence and ferocity of “primitive beings” which were listed as “women, children,
savages and lower classes”.

Le Bon held that these inferior forms of life manifest emotionality and irrationality. He
offered a neurological theory of the mob mind and the primitive minds it resembled by
arguing that, “the lot of them were operating under the influence of the spinal cord”. Can
we really say that only the less intelligent are prepared to join mobs and crowds? This is
not always the case. Mob behaviour is seen when there are fires, floods, tornadoes,
explosions, earthquakes and other disasters.

Why does violence, selfishness, folly and extravagance emerge in the crowd?
Why do people in a crowd behave as they do not behave in more ordinary
circumstances?

9.4 Classification of Crowds

One way of classifying crowds is by their mode of behaviour. For example:
An aggressive crowd - whose goal is to seek a target for attack

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 An escaping crowd - seeks an exit or means of removal from danger
An acquisitive crowd - seeks some economic goal as in looting and obtaining
illegally.

An expressive crowd - seeks to express itself as in revival meetings or

celebrations of a football game victory. Conversion experiences occur in revival
meetings, miracle cures, confessions and speaking in tongues. The concern is to
save people out of a sinful world.

Panics – involve a competition for something in short supply, for example exists
if the word fire is shouted in a meeting, land or food. If people are waiting to
enter a theatre, a bank or a stadium, and there’s time and space shortage, some
maybe trampled to death. When that kind of thing happens, people push, clothing
s torn and women faint.

9.5 Characteristics of Collective Behaviour

 It is behaviour that involves a number of interacting persons
 The interaction need not be face to face
 Persons need not be assembled in one place, but they must influence one
another.
 Collective behaviour is not institutionalized behaviour, it is behaviour that
is not clearly governed by established cultural norms.
 Leaders may emerge, but they are not selected according to any accepted
procedures.
 There is no pre-established membership criteria
 If collective behaviour lasts for a while, norms may develop.
 Such norms are emergent or spontaneous rather than formalized.

9.6 Determinants of Collective Behaviour

The determinants of collective behaviour are clearly outlined in Smelser’s Theory of
Collective Behaviour (1963). Smelser holds that collective behaviour is behaviour that is

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dominated by certain kinds of beliefs. These are beliefs in extraordinary forces at work
in the world, beliefs in great dangers, in conspiracies and in golden wish-fulfilling
prospects.

The determinants of collective behaviour in Smelser’s Theory include:

 Structural conduciveness
 Structural strain
 Growth and spread of a generalized belief
 Precipitating factors
 Mobilisation of participants for action
 Operation of social control

Each of these six conditions is said to be a necessary condition for the production of
collective behaviour, and all six together are said to be sufficient.

9.6.1 Structural Conduciveness

This refers to social conditions that are permissive of a given sort of collective behaviour
e.g. a tribal or a race riot. To make a riot, the minority must fight back and for that to
happen, there probably must be a large compact minority population. Such populations
only exist in cities and so a race riot is an urban phenomenon. For example, a large
residentially segregated population (such as Mathare or Kibera) is a structural feature
conducive to or permissive of a race/tribal riot.

9.6.2 Structural Strain

This is a matter of conflict among values or norms. For example, the inequality of Blacks
and Whites in the US is a source of structural strain because it is believed that all citizens
should have equal opportunities.

9.6.3 The Growth and Spread of a generalized belief

The belief identifies the source of the strain, attributes certain characteristics to this
source and recommends that certain actions be taken to relieve the strain.

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9.6.4 Precipitating factors
This refers to closeness in time to the riot. For example, a fight between a white man and
a black man is not inevitably a “racial incident”. But its interpretation may make it racial
in terms of the hostile beliefs and its occurrence in a situation of structural strain.

9.6.5 Mobilisation of Participants for action

This is a matter of leadership and communication. People are mobilized to deal with the
conflict by an appropriate leader.

9.6.6 The Operation of Social Control

This is a counter-determinant. The relative weakness or absence of social control makes
collective behaviour possible.

These six determinants will only generate collective behaviour if they are at work in the
same mind. The way in which those conditions are apprehended or combined is also
critical. Crowds indulge in panics of escape or acquisition, in outbursts that are hostile or
expressive, when certain patterns of impulse, restraint, and preference are present in a
large number of people.

9.7 Psychology of the Crowd

Gustave Le Bon’s characterissation of crowds has two parts.
1. Crowds are held to be homogeneous in action and thought. Le bon had this to
say:
“Whoever be the individuals that compose it, however like or
unlike be their mode of life, their occupations, their character or
their intelligence, the fact that they have been transformed into a
crowd, puts them in possession of a sort of collective mind” (1960,
p.27)

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 2. The actions and mental states of members of a crowd have a particular
character that is highly emotional and irrational.

According to Le Bon, the character of the mob is more brutish than the
average of the private character of the persons composing it.

What are the chief problems which crowd behaviour poses for scientific
explanation?
1 Le Bon says that - the wildness and folly of the crowd are not created afresh in
the crowd. The impulses are always there in all of us.
2 But crowd behaviour seems to be inconsistent with private character. Since
impulses are acted out in the crowd, which are ordinary controlled and kept
unconscious by social considerations.
3 It takes membership in a crowd to release stupidity and ferocity in a civilized
man. The crowd lifts the lid on pre-existent primitive urges

How does this happen?

1. The anonymity that comes with large numbers causes a loss of responsibility.
2. Emotionality and irresponsibility in a crowd is powerfully contagious, it causes
a “mental unity” or a collective mind. This contagion is also referred to as
“social facilitation”, “rapport” or “circular reactions”.
3. Crowd behaviour, like collective behaviour is spontaneous and
uninstituionalised.

The Setting for Mob Psychology

 A large number of people
 With a common conflict of impulse
 In communication with one another
 Having the physical possibility of acting out the impulse they would not
ordinarily act out.

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  We should note that the hostile and expressive outburst requires to be
triggered. Someone must initiate action so that others can believe in the
action – readiness of the mass.

The people who trigger mob action are not always undersocialised. Observations
indicate that alcohol can render someone temporarily unrestrained and so qualified to
function as a trigger.

When some people have behaved in an undignified and abandoned way, others feel free
to do the same for example what happens in revival meetings.

Activity 9.1
1. Define collective behaviour
2. Describe the characteristics of collective behaviour
3. Explain why people are prepared to join crowds.
4. Discuss what determines collective

9.8 Summary
In this lecture, we can deduce the following:
1. That collective behaviour develops when there is a problematic
situation and the solution is not imminent.
2. That any one can join crowd behaviour especially in situations
such as floods, fires, earthquakes, revival meetings etc.
3. That in a crowd, people behave in ways they would not in more
ordinary circumstances, leading to selfishness, stupidity or
violence.
4. That anonymity, emotionality, and irresponsibility tend to
characterize collective behaviour.

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9.9 References

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