Lecture 1: Introduction to Social Psychology

Social Psychology II

Social Psychology

Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others

Levels of Social Psychological Study

Macro-level: broader society

• social structures

• institutions

• culture

Meso-level: social context

• social groups

• specific others

Micro-level: individual psychology

• personality

• emotions

• cognition

History of social psychology

• The first social psychology experiments were reported in 1898, but an interest in social psychological issues has a much longer history

• in the 18th century, important contributions to social psychological theorising were given by scholars from different disciplines including philosophy, psychology and economics

The first crisis in social psychology

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, serious questions were being asked about the direction of the discipline and how well it reflected and acknowledged the social, historical, cultural and political concerns and values of the people it sought to study.

Two main criticisms:

• social psychology’s over reliance on experimental methods at the expense of more naturalistic approaches such as observation and interviewing

• excessive emphasis on individuals as individuals rather than as parts of more complex social, historical, cultural and political contexts