Psychology of Social Situations

What this topic is about

This section examines how social situations and group membership influence behavior. Tim discusses conformity, obedience, group processes, cultural orientation, helping behavior, bystander effects, and workplace applications. For helping, it discusses reciprocity and social-responsibility norms, and explains that more bystanders can reduce each person's felt responsibility.

Key ideas

• Normative social influence involves fitting in; informational influence involves using others as a source of guidance.
• The video discusses conformity, obedience, and the Milgram study.
• Group polarization, social loafing, deindividuation, and social traps show different effects of group situations.
• Prosocial behavior is explored through reciprocity, social responsibility, and diffusion of responsibility in bystander situations.
• Individualistic and collectivist orientations and industrial-organizational psychology are also included.