Social Psychology Exam 1 - Takooshian

Psychology

The science of behavior

Social Psychology (narrow)

How others influence the individual

Social Psychology (broad)

How external factors (environment, culture, religion, economy, etc.) influence the individual

Past vs. History

Past (or antiquity): since humans first started questioning the individual and social groups. Includes Plato, Aristotle, etc. Has been done for a very long time.

History: when science was introduced and social psychology became a field. Relatively recent.

Allport’s quote about social psych

“social psychology has a long past but a short history”

Human nature

Humans at their essence/core. Good or bad? Moral or immoral?

1776 USA vs 1789 France

1776 USA: based on the idea that humans are flawed and need checks and balances (Hobbes)

1789 France: based on the idea that humans are good (“noble savages”) but society ruins them (Rousseau)

Marxism

1800s: a lot of bad in society is caused by greed; communism creates a utopia because it removes greed

1917+ : “progressive” socialists, such as Hitler, Mao, andn Stalin, emerged.

1989: Tianemmen Square in China - crushed a student revolution, led to several losses

20th C: Huxley’s Brave New World about conformity, Orwell’s 1984 about obedience

1884 Galton

Proposed the first social psych experiment

Inclination: when people lean towards each other, they are attracted to each other and vice-versa

1897 Triplett

FIRST to execute and publish a social psychology experiment! Father of soc psych

Kids wounding string alone vs together

Social facilitation: people perform better when they are in groups (e.g. study group)

Social inhibition: people perform worse when they are in groups (e.g. stage fright)

1965 Zajonc

90% of our behavior is social facilitation (improved performance when in group)

10% of our behavior is social inhibition (weakened performance when in group; due to pressure)

Simple vs. complex and well-learnt vs. poorly learnt → factors that impact behavior facilitation/inhibition

1908 Ross/McDougal textbooks

First textbooks in social psychology!

William McDougal: psychologist

Edward Alsworth: sociologist

APA today

American Psychological Association

54 divisions; specialization

JASP 1925

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

articles based on social behavior, personality

JPSP 1966

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Changed name from JASP to include personality to social behavior

Aronson’s examples

Asch’s experiment of conformity

Point out line that matches length of another line. When people were in groups that gave the wrong answers, most people also gave the wrong answers

Hindsight bias

When someone thinks they accurately predicted an event before it occurred

(“I knew it!!”)

“Crazy” / dispositional view

People who do crazy things aren’t necessarily crazy

We often tend to assign particular personality traits to explain behavior of others

(e.g. “Maria never washes the dishes, she’s so lazy!”)

Dispositional view: people who behave a certain way are a certain way (e.g. people who do evil things are evil)

Social vs Abnormal psych

People used to think psychological abnormalities were caused by society, but they are often not.

Certain situations can cause people to behave abnormally

Social vs. Personality psych

Social: behavior comes from external factors

Personality: behavior comes from internal factors

Disposition

Natural tendencies of behavior, thoughts, etc.

SPSP

Society for Personality and Social Psychology

division of the APA

Situationism

When a person blames a situation or somebody else for their actions. Not responsible for their actions.

Ex: Milgram’s study of obedience

Psychological Social Psych (PSP)

How does an individual influence another individual?

Micro

Sociological Social Psych (SSP)

How does the group influence an individual?

Macro

E.g. Asch’s study of conformity

Universal v cultural psych

Universal: social psych that applies to everyone

Cultural: social psych that depends on culture

WEIRD

Westernized Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic

Most psych studies are from WEIRD countries → do not represent whole world population

Positive Social Psychology

Lopez ‘03

Study of positive things in psych, such as attraction, friendship, forgiveness, etc.

Behavioral v Cognitive Psych

Behavioral: studies how people behave

Cognitive: studies how people think (surveys, questionnaires, etc)

Basic v Applied psych

Basic: study for the sake of curiosity

Applied: study to solve a particular issue

Weather soc Psych

How weather impacts our social behavior and cognition

(e.g. more crimes occur in the summer)

Climate soc psych

Psych can be used to encourage people to fight climate change by adopting certain behaviors (e.g. taking the bus, recycling, etc.)

Lighting soc psych

How lighting influences behavior

Time soc psych

How time affects behavior (e.g. school start time)

Faith SP

How faith influences behavior/experience

E.g. Christians who survived hurricane had a more positive outlook than atheist survivors

Neuro SP

Behavior is wired in the brain

The social brain → Aronson

Innate

Characteristics of the social brain

not rational, biased

Confirmation bias

We tend to look for evidence that matches with what we already believe in

Egocentric bias

We rely more on our experiences/perspectives than on others’

Negativity bias

We are attracted to negative things (bad news, etc.) and often forget/neglect the positive side