Unit I: What is Social Psychology? - Foundations, Theories, and Research Methods

Flashcards covering core vocabulary terms, major theorists, historical foundations, and research methods in Social Psychology.

Social Psychology

A branch of psychology that scientifically studies how an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the presence of other people and the social environment.

Kurt Lewin

The Father of Modern Social Psychology who introduced scientific methods to study social behaviour and developed the formula $B = f(P, E)$.

Lewin's Formula

The principle formulated as $B = f(P, E)$, meaning that Behaviour ($B$) is a function of the Person ($P$) and the Environment ($E$).

Boundaries of Social Psychology

The limits or scope explaining what Social Psychology studies and how it distinguishes itself from related disciplines such as Sociology, Personality Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Anthropology, and Biology.

Plato's View on Social Behaviour

The philosophical perspective that society shapes the individual, meaning a person's behaviour, beliefs, values, and personality are largely influenced by their social environment.

Aristotle's View on Social Behaviour

The philosophical perspective that individuals shape society through their personal behaviour, decisions, values, and actions.

Social Norms

The accepted rules and expectations that guide appropriate behaviour in society, such as standing in a queue or greeting teachers respectfully.

Social Roles

The expected behaviour associated with a particular position in society, such as the distinct duties of a teacher, doctor, or student.

Group Behaviour

The tendency of individuals to act, decide, cooperate, lead, or conform differently when they are members of a group compared to when they are alone.

Émile Durkheim

A sociologist who studied how society influences individual behaviour, asserting that social facts such as norms and values guide people's actions.

Max Weber

A sociologist who investigated how individuals understand and interpret social situations and how personal beliefs and values influence behaviour.

Wilhelm Wundt

The Father of Experimental Psychology who emphasised studying consciousness, social behaviour, and human experience using laboratory experimental methods.

William James

An early psychologist who contributed to Social Psychology through writings on the self, human consciousness, and social behaviour.

Norman Triplett's Cycling Experiment (1898)

The study regarded as the birth of social facilitation, demonstrating that cyclists performed better when racing alongside other cyclists than when cycling alone.

Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study (1963)

A landmark study showing that ordinary people often obey authority figures even when instructed to administer painful electric shocks to another individual.

Solomon Asch's Conformity Experiment (1951)

A classic experiment demonstrating that individuals frequently conform to incorrect group consensus to avoid standing out or facing social rejection.

Trait Theory

A theory associated with Gordon Allport explaining that personality consists of stable characteristics or traits that influence behaviour.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

A theory developed by Leon Festinger stating that individuals experience psychological discomfort when their beliefs and actions do not match, driving them to alter attitudes or justify behaviour.

Social Learning Theory

A theory proposed by Albert Bandura positing that people learn behaviours by observing and imitating others rather than relying solely on direct experience.

Social Neuroscience

An interdisciplinary field combining Social Psychology and Neuroscience to study how brain activity and biological factors (such as the hormone oxytocin) influence social behaviour.

Social Cognition

An area combining Social Psychology and Cognitive Psychology that studies how individuals process social information, form impressions, stereotype, and make social judgments.

Cultural Psychology

A subfield examining how culture influences thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours, such as comparisons between American individualist and Indian collectivist orientations.

Big Data

Extremely large collections of digital information gathered from social media, mobile apps, websites, GPS, and purchases to analyse patterns in human behaviour on a broad scale.

Theory

A set of organized ideas and principles developed from many studies that systematically explains and predicts social behaviour.

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables, derived from a theory and tested in a single research study.

Null Hypothesis ($H_0$)

A statistical hypothesis asserting that there is no significant relationship or difference between the variables being tested.

Alternative Hypothesis ($H_1$)

A hypothesis stating that a significant relationship or difference exists between the variables under study.

Classical Conditioning

A learning theory associated with Ivan Pavlov where a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a natural stimulus to produce the same response through association.

Operant Conditioning

A learning theory developed by B. F. Skinner in which behaviour is learned through reinforcement (which increases behaviour) and punishment (which decreases behaviour).

Observational Learning

A learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura indicating that individuals acquire new behaviours by observing, retaining, and imitating the actions of others.

Attribution Theory

A cognitive theory formulated by Fritz Heider that explains how people interpret and assign causes to personal or other people's behaviours.

Internal Attribution

An explanation attributing a person's behaviour to internal personal qualities, effort, traits, or abilities.

External Attribution

An explanation attributing a person's behaviour to environmental conditions, situational factors, or outside circumstances.

Schema Theory

A cognitive framework introduced by Frederic Bartlett explaining that organized packets of past experience (schemas) help individuals interpret, store, and recall information.

Theory of Planned Behaviour

A cognitive theory proposed by Icek Ajzen positing that behaviour is determined by attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.

Experimental Research

A research methodology that establishes cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating an independent variable while controlling extraneous factors to observe the effect on a dependent variable.

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable in an experiment that is deliberately manipulated or altered by the researcher to determine its causal effect.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The outcome variable in an experiment that is measured to observe the effect produced by manipulating the independent variable.

Correlational Research

A non-experimental research method that measures naturally occurring variables to identify the strength and direction of relationships without establishing causation.

Positive Correlation

A statistical relationship where an increase in one variable corresponds to an increase in another variable, or both decrease together.

Negative Correlation

A statistical relationship where an increase in one variable corresponds to a decrease in another variable.

Zero Correlation

A condition in which there is no discernible statistical relationship between two variables.