Chapter 1 - Social Psychology

PSYC 260 - DR. ALYSSA CROFT - SFU

Social Psychology

The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are influenced by real or imagined presence of other people.

• A science to test assumptions empirically and systematically. 

• Understands how groups and society work, focusing on the individuals within them. 

Social Interpretation

How we can understand the ways in which individuals perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world.

• Behaviourism.

• Gestalt Psychology

• Construals.

Behaviourism

Directly observes behaviours instead of mental processes; important to interpret a situation from the viewpoint of those experiencing it, to see how one may construe the world around them.

Gestalt Psychology

Subjective way of how objects appear in people’s minds; interpreting the social world in a way of “picking apart” individuals through their motives, intentions, and behaviours. 

Construals

The way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world. Two motives that are important to subjectively understand the world.

• Self-Esteem Approach.

• Social Cognition Approach.

Self-Esteem Approach

Individual distort the world in order to feel good about themselves to see an underlying favourable image of themselves.

• Justifying Past Behaviour.

Social Cognition Approach

Attempting to view the world as accurately as possible.

Folk Wisdom

Traditional beliefs that can be passed down through generations within a community or culture, often in forms of sayings or proverbs. However they can contradict one another. 

Common Sense

A good sense of judgement in practical matters. However they are frequently wrong or oversimplified, so people tend not to learn from prior incidents.

Sociology vs. Social Psychology: Similarities

Study human behaviour, and share goals of improving society through employing research methods such as surveys and experiments.

• Theoretical foundations are used to understand human actions and interactions within a social context.

• Practical skills in communication analysis.

S vs. SP: Sociology

Studies the behaviour patterns of large groups (generational groups), such as how an entire population does things.

• Societal factors influencing events in a society. 

• Social class, structure, and institutions. 

• Specialize in social sciences, focusing on cross-cultural communication. 

• Predict group behaviour. 

S vs. SP: Social Psychology 

Studies the behaviour patterns of an individual within a large group, such as how an individual does things. 

• Specialize in life sciences, focusing on neurology of the brain in both humans and other organisms. 

• Predict individual behaviour. 

PP vs. SP: Personality Psychology

Observe individual differences such as the aspects of people’s personalities which make them different from one another. The insights from them increase the understanding of human behaviour.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to explain people’s behaviour in terms of personality traits and to underestimate the power of the situation.

Social Problems

Social psychologists study social behaviour in order to contribute to a solution for this ambigiuous topic.