main study social psychology

What is social psychology?

Social psychology studies how people think, feel and behave because of other people, groups, norms, culture and situations.

What is the main idea of the whole module?

The social world shapes who we are, how we think, how we behave, and how we understand right and wrong.

What does “the social world is not inherently bad for us” mean?

Being social can lead to negative things like conformity or prejudice, but it also gives us identity, support, cooperation, helping and collective action.

What does “social behaviour is contextual” mean?

People’s behaviour depends on the situation, culture, group norms and social setting, not just personality.

What does “beyond experiments” mean in social psychology?

Social psychology should not only use lab experiments; it can also use methods like conversation analysis, qualitative methods and social constructionism.

What does “beyond the individual mind” mean?

Social psychology looks at relationships, groups, culture and shared meaning, not just what happens inside one person’s brain.

Why are norms important in social psychology?

Norms guide behaviour by telling people what is normal, expected or acceptable in a group or society.

What is the self?

The self is how a person becomes aware of themselves as an object of their own thoughts and reflections.

What is self-awareness?

Self-awareness is knowing that you are separate from other people and objects in the world.

What is self-concept?

Self-concept is your answer to “Who am I?” including traits, relationships, group identities and beliefs.

Gallup, 1970

Gallup created the mirror self-recognition test. It suggests basic bodily self-awareness when an animal recognises the mirror image as itself.

What does the mirror test show?

It shows physical self-awareness, but not necessarily a full psychological sense of self.

What is introspection?

Introspection means looking inward and reflecting on your own thoughts, feelings and reasons for behaviour.

Why can introspection be unreliable?

People are not always aware of the true reasons for their behaviour and may create explanations after the event.

Johansson et al., 2005

Johansson’s choice blindness study showed that people can confidently explain choices they did not actually make.

What is choice blindness?

Choice blindness is when people fail to notice a mismatch between their choice and the outcome, then explain the wrong choice as if they chose it.

Mead, 1934

Mead argued that the self develops socially through interaction with other people and society.

What is Mead’s “generalised other”?

The generalised other is our understanding of the expectations, norms and attitudes of wider society.

What is intersubjectivity?

Intersubjectivity means shared understanding between people.

What is the double empathy problem?

The double empathy problem suggests communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic people can go both ways, not just from autistic people.

What is attribution?

Attribution is how people explain the causes of behaviour and events.

Heider, 1958

Heider argued that people are naïve psychologists who try to explain behaviour using internal and external causes.

What is an internal attribution?

An internal attribution explains behaviour as caused by the person, such as personality, attitude or ability.

What is an external attribution?

An external attribution explains behaviour as caused by the situation, environment or outside factors.

Heider & Simmel, 1944

Heider and Simmel showed that people interpret moving shapes as if they have intentions and social relationships.

Jones & Davis, 1965

Jones and Davis developed correspondent inference theory, which explains how people infer personality from behaviour.

What is correspondent inference theory?

It is the idea that people often assume someone’s behaviour reflects their underlying personality or disposition.

Kelley, 1967

Kelley developed the covariation model of attribution.

What is Kelley’s covariation model?

It says people use consistency, distinctiveness and consensus to decide whether behaviour is caused by the person or the situation.

What is consistency in Kelley’s model?

Consistency asks: does this person behave this way in this situation repeatedly?

What is distinctiveness in Kelley’s model?

Distinctiveness asks: does this person behave this way only in this situation, or in many situations?

What is consensus in Kelley’s model?

Consensus asks: do other people behave the same way in this situation?

What is the fundamental attribution error?

The fundamental attribution error is when people overestimate personality causes and underestimate situational causes for other people’s behaviour.

What is technology in social psychology?

Technology is a human-made tool that extends human abilities.

What is practical technology?

Practical technology acts on the material world, such as tools for digging, travelling or building.

What is cognitive technology?

Cognitive technology acts on the mind, self or other people, such as language, writing, books, phones and the internet.

Tomasello, 1999

Tomasello argued that language is a form of cognition because it helps us think, communicate and influence attention.

Why is language a cognitive technology?

Language helps people organise thoughts, plan behaviour, communicate and influence others.

Why is writing a cognitive technology?

Writing extends memory and communication by allowing information to be stored and shared across time and distance.

Markus & Nurius, 1986

Markus and Nurius developed the idea of possible selves.

What are possible selves?

Possible selves are ideas of who we might become in the future, including hoped-for selves and feared selves.

What is an avatar?

An avatar is a digital or virtual representation of a person.

Yee & Bailenson, 2007

Yee and Bailenson developed the Proteus Effect, showing that avatar appearance can influence behaviour.

What is the Proteus Effect?

The Proteus Effect is when people change their behaviour based on the characteristics of their avatar.

What is an emotion?

An emotion is a brief, goal-related response to an important challenge or opportunity.

What is affect?

Affect is any feeling state that is experienced as positive or negative.

What is mood?

Mood is a more general feeling state that is less focused than an emotion.

What is the difference between emotion and mood?

Emotions are usually specific and linked to an event, while moods are more general and less focused.

Darwin, 1872

Darwin argued that emotional expressions may have evolved and may be shared across humans and animals.

What is basic emotion theory?

Basic emotion theory says there are a limited number of evolved, universal emotions with recognisable expressions.

Ekman & Friesen, 1969/1971

Ekman and Friesen studied facial expressions and found support for cross-cultural recognition of basic emotions.

What does “universal facial expressions” mean?

It means people from different cultures may recognise similar facial expressions for emotions like happiness, anger or fear.

What is appraisal theory of emotion?

Appraisal theory says emotions arise from how we interpret or evaluate situations in relation to our goals.

What is constructionist theory of emotion?

Constructionist theory says emotions are built from affect, bodily states, concepts, language and context.

Basic emotion theory vs constructionist theory

Basic emotion theory sees emotions as universal categories; constructionist theory sees emotions as constructed from context and meaning.

Cowen & Keltner, 2017

Cowen and Keltner suggested there may be more emotion categories than the traditional basic emotions.

Why are relationships important in social psychology?

Relationships affect wellbeing, identity, support, attraction, learning and belonging.

What is affiliation?

Affiliation is the human need to connect with other people.

What is social support?

Social support is emotional or practical help from other people.

What is emotional support?

Emotional support means comfort, reassurance and care from another person.

What is instrumental support?

Instrumental support means practical help, such as helping with tasks or resources.

Festinger, 1954

Festinger developed social comparison theory.

What is social comparison theory?

Social comparison theory says people compare themselves with others to evaluate their abilities, opinions and identity.

What is social exclusion?

Social exclusion is being left out, rejected or ignored by others.

Williams et al., 2000

Williams used Cyberball to show that social exclusion can reduce belonging, control and mood.

What is Cyberball?

Cyberball is a virtual ball-tossing game used to study social exclusion.

Eisenberger et al., 2003

Eisenberger found that social rejection was linked to brain activity associated with physical pain.

What is the physical attractiveness stereotype?

The idea that attractive people are often judged more positively on other traits.

What is the matching phenomenon?

The matching phenomenon suggests people often choose romantic partners with similar levels of attractiveness.

What is the propinquity effect?

The propinquity effect means physical closeness or proximity can increase liking and attraction.

Sternberg, 1986

Sternberg developed the triangular theory of love.

What are the three parts of Sternberg’s triangular theory of love?

Intimacy, passion and commitment.

What is intimacy in Sternberg’s theory?

Intimacy means emotional closeness and connection.

What is passion in Sternberg’s theory?

Passion means physical attraction, desire and excitement.

What is commitment in Sternberg’s theory?

Commitment means deciding to maintain a relationship over time.

What is social influence?

Social influence is how other people affect our thoughts, feelings or behaviour.

What are social norms?

Social norms are shared expectations about how people should behave.

What is compliance?

Compliance is publicly changing behaviour in response to a request, without necessarily changing private beliefs.

What is conformity?

Conformity is changing behaviour or beliefs to fit with a group norm or majority.

What is obedience?

Obedience is following an order from an authority figure.

Sherif, 1936

Sherif’s autokinetic effect study showed that group norms can form in ambiguous situations.

What did Sherif’s autokinetic study show?

It showed that when people are uncertain, they may use others’ judgments to form a shared group norm.

Asch, 1951/1952

Asch’s conformity study showed that people may give an obviously wrong answer because the majority does.

What did Asch’s line study show?

It showed that people can conform to majority pressure even when the correct answer is clear.

What is normative influence?

Normative influence is conforming because you want to fit in or avoid rejection.

What is informational influence?

Informational influence is conforming because you believe others may be correct.

Milgram, 1963

Milgram’s obedience study showed that people may obey authority even when it conflicts with personal morals.

What did Milgram’s study test?

It tested obedience to authority, using a situation where participants believed they were giving electric shocks.

Freedman & Fraser, 1966

Freedman and Fraser showed the foot-in-the-door technique.

What is foot-in-the-door?

Foot-in-the-door is when a small request increases the chance of agreement to a larger request later.

Cialdini et al., 1975

Cialdini showed the door-in-the-face technique.

What is door-in-the-face?

Door-in-the-face is when a large request is refused, making a smaller request seem more reasonable.

Moscovici, 1969

Moscovici studied minority influence and showed that a consistent minority can influence the majority.

What is minority influence?

Minority influence is when a smaller group changes the opinions or behaviour of the majority.

What is prejudice?

Prejudice is a negative attitude or judgment toward a person because of their group membership.

What is an ingroup?

An ingroup is a group you belong to or identify with.

What is an outgroup?

An outgroup is a group you do not belong to or see as different from your group.

Adorno et al., 1950

Adorno developed Authoritarian Personality Theory, suggesting some personality patterns are linked to prejudice.

What is Authoritarian Personality Theory?

It suggests that people with rigid, authority-focused personality traits may be more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes.

Altemeyer, 1981

Altemeyer developed the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale to measure authoritarian attitudes.