500+ Psychology Facts | ✍

721-725

721. The need to conform leads people to go along with the group. Most people will go along with the group, even if they think the group is wrong. In Solomon Asch's conformity experiments, people were asked to judge which was the longest of three lines. When other members of the group picked the wrong line, participants were more likely to choose the same line.

722. The way we categorize others helps us make sense of the world, but this also leads to stereotyped views. When we categorize information about social groups, we tend to exaggerate differences between groups and minimize the differences within groups. This is part of the reason why stereotypes and prejudice exist.

723. Our expectations influence how we view others and how we think they should behave. Our perceptions of other people are often based upon things such as expected roles, social norms, and social categorizations. Because we expect people who are in a certain role or part of a particular social group to behave in a particular way, our initial impressions of a person frequently rely on these mental shortcuts to make fast judgments of how we expect people to behave.

724. Sometimes it is easier to just go along with the crowd than cause a scene. In groups, people often go along with the majority opinion rather than cause disruption. This phenomenon is known as groupthink and tends to occur more frequently when group members share a great deal in common when the group is under stress, or in the presence of a charismatic leader.

725. We attribute outside forces for our own failures but blame others for their own misfortunes. When explaining behavior, we tend to attribute our own good fortune to internal factors and negative outcomes to external forces. When it comes to other people, however, we typically attribute their actions to internal characteristics. For example, if we get a bad grade on a paper, it's the teacher's fault; if a classmate gets a bad grade, it's because he didn't study hard enough. This tendency is known as the actor-observer bias.