PSY 121 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Fundamental Attribution Error, Covariance, Angelina Jolie
Document Summary
The power of the situation: obedience to authority. Both normative and informational sources of influence involved. Obedience to authority an ingrained habit: the stanford prison experiment. The power of the situation can alter our social reality. Ordinary people can exhibit horrendous behaviours under situational forces: zimbardo and haney designed classic stanford prison experiment. Male university students randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards. Prisoner role associated with distress, helplessness, apathy, rebellion, and panic. Guard role some were nice, others tough but fair, but a third of guards became punitive and harsh: powerful demonstration of how the social situation affects behaviour. Why people obey: consequences of disobedience, hope to gain advantages, promotions, knowledge, or experience, dependent or respect the authority"s legitimacy, don"t want to be disliked or rejected, entrapment: Gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort.
