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By Root 907 0

arose. Elliott Aronson and Alex Gonzalez devised the jigsaw classroom based on contact theory. Elementary school teachers broke their classrooms into a number of diverse expert groups that all learned one part of a lesson. Next individuals from each expert group met with others in the jigsaw group. In order to learn the entire lesson, students were dependent upon each other. Their equal status was based on the “expert” knowledge of information not held by others. Stereotypes about inferior Mexican children disappeared as the self-concept and performance of these children improved and this experiment in group cooperation proved successful. Industrial-organizational psychologists can play roles in hiring, team-building, and providing a work/learning environment that helps people increase their productivity by applying social psychology concepts.

Friendships

In friendships, proximity is the primary determinant of who will initially become friends. Long distance romances can continue, but it is more likely that one of the pair will become attracted to someone he/she sees every day. The mere exposure effect explains some of this. The more we come into contact with someone, the more likely we are to like that person. Certainly physical attractiveness is also a major factor. Most consider the “beautiful” people to be more socially skilled than less attractive others. Studies show that friends usually are rated very similarly in physical attractiveness. Similarity of interests and social background is also likely to determine who becomes friends. Another factor is utilitarian value or complementary needs. If you are less skilled at some activity, getting to know someone who can help you improve in that skill can form the basis of friendship.

Conformity, Compliance, Obedience

Conformity

Solomon Asch set up a laboratory experiment using deception and confederates to determine what factors were involved in individual decisions to conform with a group decision. Asch instructed subjects to choose which of three lines was the same length as the original line shown. Each subject was on a panel with other “subjects” (Asch confederates) who all initially gave the same wrong answers. Approximately 35% of the real subjects chose to give an obviously wrong but conforming choice. Asch found that the greatest amount of conformity by subjects came when the confederates all gave the same wrong answer. If even one confederate voiced a different judgment, however, the subject was released from the conformity effect. During the debriefing sessions, subjects attributed their conformity to confusion about the nature of the task or doubts about what they were perceiving. Because subjects selected the correct line when allowed to vote secretly, Asch concluded that normative social influence resulting from a desire to gain social approval was the cause of the subjects’ behavior rather than informational social influences.

Compliance

Individuals and groups are skilled in their ability to convince others to go along with their requests. The foot-in-the-door phenomenon is a tendency to comply with a large request if we have previously complied with a smaller request. John asks Mary for help with his physics problem set. If Mary agrees to help him she is much more likely to later agree to go out on a date with him. Reciprocity is a technique sometimes used by groups soliciting contributions. First a group member gives us a small gift like a flower or pamphlet and we politely listen to their pitch. Later when they ask for a small donation for their worthy cause, we may feel obligated to comply with that request because of the initial gift. The low-ball technique occurs when someone offers an initially cut-rate price, but then “ups the ante” with additional costs we assumed were included. We may decide to have expensive laser surgery from one doctor because his initial cost is so much lower than others, only to find out that required follow-up exams are not included. Finally, with the door-in-the-face technique, someone makes a very large request