History of Social Psychology

1900s

1900s

the first social experiments were conducted

1908

first social psychology textbook by WILLIAM MCDOUGALL

1940s and 1950s

KURT LEWIN & LEON FESTINGER - refined experimental approach to studying behavior and created social psychology as a scientific discipline

Kurt Lewin

Father of Social Psychology

Kurt Lewin

• Developed many important ideas of the discipline

• Focused on the "dynamic interactions among people"

Leon Festinger (1954, Research Methods in Behavioral Sciences)

• stressed the need to measure variables and laboratory experiments to systematically test research hypotheses about social behavior

• believed that it may be necessary to deceive participants about the true nature of the research

Muzafir Sherif

Research on OBEDIENCE fueled by Adolf Hitler's Dictatorship: 1936 - conformity

Solomon Asch

Research on OBEDIENCE fueled by Adolf Hitler's Dictatorship: 1952 - conformity

Stanley Milgram

Research on OBEDIENCE fueled by Adolf Hitler's Dictatorship: 1974 - obedience

Philip Zimbardo

Research on OBEDIENCE fueled by Adolf Hitler's Dictatorship: 1973 - Stanford Prison Experiment (1960s)

Stanford Prison Experiment (1960s)

a. Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison

b. Demonstrated the POWER OF THE SOCIAL SETTING

John Darley and Bibb Latane

• Bystander intervention in emergencies

• Diffusion of responsibility

Leonard Berkowitz

1974 - aggression

Irving Janis, 1972

groupthink and group behavior

Gordon Allport and Muzafir Sherif

• Intergroup relations

- stereotyping

- prejudice

- discrimination

ATTITUDES, COGNITIVE PROCESS

In the latter part of the 20th Century, Social Psychology expanded to the field of -, with emphasis on the

Social Psychology

• to study of the dynamic relations between INDIVIDUALS and the people around them

• field of psychology that studies the nature and causes of individual thoughts, feelings, and overt behavior in social situation

Person-Situation Interaction

• B = f (person, social situation)

• The behavior of a given person at any given time is a function of (DEPENDS ON) both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation.

Kurt Lewin

proponent of Person-Situation Interaction

a. Sensations

b. Actions

Person-Situation Interaction: The World

Sensations

stimuli, input from the world

Actions

responses, output to the world

a. Anticipations

b. Adaptations

Person-Situation Interaction: The Self

Anticipations

our predictions and expectations based on our MODEL (certain knowledge of the world)

Adaptations

pertain to LEARNING when we don't anticipate well