Social & Organizational Psychology

This is Unit Eleven of Psychology, Part Two: groups, helping, and work. This part opens with three words that get used interchangeably and name three different things. One is an attitude. One is a belief. One is a behavior. And an error entry exists specifically because collapsing them makes it impossible to say what changed when something improves. Then the mechanisms that distort how groups see each other — and one hypothesis about reducing prejudice that is often quoted with its conditions removed. Contact reduces prejudice under four specific conditions. Without them, the claim is not what the research found. The middle of the part covers helping and its absence, including the finding that a person is less likely to help when other people are present — which is counterintuitive until the mechanism is named. And the last third is the applied field: how jobs are defined, how candidates get chosen, how performance gets rated, and what a workplace does to the people in it. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: tell prejudice, stereotype and discrimination apart. Two: state the four conditions for contact. Three: say what separates the two kinds of aggression. Four: say what produces the bystander effect. Five: diagnose a group failure by naming the process.

Four entries, and the distinction is practical rather than pedantic. If a policy reduces discrimination and leaves prejudice in place, that is a real result and a limited one — and you cannot say so without three separate words.

The attitude.

Psych 1236 Prejudice

A negative attitude toward a person based on their membership in a group. An evaluation, held about somebody because of a category.

The belief.

Psych 1237 Stereotype

A generalized belief about the characteristics of members of a group. A belief rather than an evaluation — which means it can be held without hostility and still do damage.

The behavior.

Psych 1239 Discrimination

Behavior that treats a person differently because of their group membership. The only one of the three that anybody outside the person can observe.

And the error.

Psych 1240 Confusing Prejudice with Discrimination

Treating prejudice and discrimination as the same thing, when one is an attitude and the other a behavior. They come apart in both directions, and only one of them is what anyone can act on.

Four entries. Three mechanisms distorting how groups perceive each other, and then a hypothesis about reducing it — which is quoted constantly with its conditions dropped. The conditions are the finding.

The first mechanism.

Psych 1242 In-Group Bias

Evaluating one's own group and its members more favourably than others. It appears with groups assigned arbitrarily, which is the striking part.

The second.

Psych 1244 Out-Group Homogeneity

Perceiving members of other groups as more similar to one another than members of one's own. The other group looks uniform and your own looks varied.

The third.

Psych 1246 Scapegoating

Directing blame for a problem toward a group that did not cause it. It requires a problem and a group, and no relationship between them.

And the reduction.

Psych 1248 The Contact Hypothesis

Contact reduces prejudice when the groups have equal status, shared goals, cooperation and institutional support. Four conditions — contact without them is not what the research supports.

Three entries. A definition with a clause most people leave out — the target has to be motivated to avoid it — and then two kinds divided by what the harm is for.

The definition.

Psych 1250 Aggression

Behavior intended to cause harm to another person who is motivated to avoid it. Both clauses — the intent, and the target's wish not to receive it — are part of the definition.

Two kinds.

Psych 1252 Hostile and Instrumental Aggression

Hostile aggression is driven by anger and aims at harm itself; instrumental aggression is a means to some other goal. Divided by purpose rather than by severity.

One form.

Psych 1254 Bullying and Cyberbullying

Repeated aggression against a target with less power — and its online form carries it into settings the target cannot leave. Cannot leave is what makes the second version different.

Four entries. Two kinds of helping, distinguished by whether anything is expected back — and then the finding that people are less likely to help when others are present, with the mechanism that produces it.

The category.

Psych 1256 Prosocial Behavior

Action intended to benefit another person. Defined by intent, which leaves the motive open.

The stricter case.

Psych 1257 Altruism

Prosocial behavior motivated by concern for another with no expected benefit to oneself. The stricter definition, and it is hard to demonstrate.

The finding.

Psych 1259 The Bystander Effect

The reduced likelihood that any individual will help when others are present. Counterintuitive — more people available, less help delivered.

And the mechanism.

Psych 1260 Diffusion of Responsibility

The reduction in each person's felt obligation to act as the number of people present increases. The obligation gets divided rather than shared, which is why nobody carries a whole one.

Three entries. What actually predicts liking — and the list is less romantic than expected, because the first item on it is being nearby. Then an effect produced by repetition alone, and one account of love as three components.

The predictors.

Psych 1262 Interpersonal Attraction

Attraction is predicted by proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, and reciprocity of liking. Proximity is on the list, and it does more work than people expect.

Repetition alone.

Psych 1264 The Mere Exposure Effect

Increased liking for a stimulus produced by repeated exposure alone. No content, no argument, no acquaintance — the repetition is the whole cause.

And love.

Psych 1266 Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love

Love as combinations of intimacy, passion and commitment. Three components, and the different combinations name different kinds of relationship.

Five entries opening the applied half. Defining a job before hiring for it, asking every candidate the same questions, and rating performance against criteria — with a final entry naming what goes wrong in the rating.

The field.

Psych 1268 Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Applying psychological research to selection, performance, and the conditions of work. Three areas, and the unit covers all three.

Defining the job.

Psych 1270 Job Analysis

Systematically identifying the tasks a job requires and the characteristics needed to perform them. It has to come before selection, or selection has no criterion.

Choosing.

Psych 1272 Structured Interviews and Selection

Asking every candidate the same job-related questions and scoring answers against defined criteria. Same questions, defined criteria — which is Unit One's standardization, applied to hiring.

Rating.

Psych 1274 Performance Appraisal

Systematic evaluation of an employee's work against defined job criteria. Defined criteria again — the same requirement, at the other end of employment.

And its distortion.

Psych 1275 Rater Bias in Appraisal

Systematic distortion in ratings caused by the rater rather than by the employee's performance. Systematic — which means it is correctable, unlike random error.

Four entries on what it is like to be there. A shared way of doing things, an overall evaluation of the job, four named stressors — and then a field that designs equipment and interfaces around what human perception and cognition can actually do.

The shared thing.

Psych 1277 Organizational Culture

The shared values, norms and practices characterising how work is done in an organisation. Unit-level norms from Part One, at organisational scale.

The evaluation.

Psych 1279 Job Satisfaction

An employee's overall evaluation of their work, shaped by the work itself, conditions, pay and relationships. Four inputs, and pay is only one of them.

The costs.

Psych 1281 Workplace Stress and Harassment

Excessive demands, low control, unclear roles and harassment — each associated with health and performance costs. Low control is on the list, which is the one organisations most often overlook.

And design.

Psych 1283 Human Factors Psychology

Designing equipment, interfaces and environments to fit human perceptual and cognitive capacities. Unit Four and Unit Six, turned into a design discipline.

Two entries closing the unit. A procedure that takes a group failure and names which social process produced it — with the evidence for each named rather than assumed. Then the capstone, which does exactly that on one incident.

Watch a failure get diagnosed.

Psych 1285 Diagnosing a Group Failure

Identifying which social process produced a group failure — conformity, obedience, groupthink, polarization, loafing, or diffusion — and naming the evidence for each. Six candidates, and the evidence decides.

The capstone. One incident, explained.

Psych 1287 Why No One Called for Help

Combining attribution, norms, informational influence and diffusion into one account of a single bystander failure. Both parts of this unit, on one incident.

Five things you can now do, and Unit Eleven is complete. You can tell prejudice, stereotype and discrimination apart — an attitude, a belief, and a behavior — and say why collapsing them makes it impossible to describe what changed. You can state the four conditions under which contact reduces prejudice: equal status, shared goals, cooperation, and institutional support. You can say what separates the two kinds of aggression — one aims at harm itself and the other uses harm as a means — and that the division is by purpose. You can say what produces the bystander effect: felt obligation divided among the people present, so nobody carries a whole one. And you can diagnose a group failure by naming which of six processes produced it and stating the evidence for each.