Introduction to Social Psychology, Health & Well-being

Personnel:
- Course Convenor: Dr Cate Curtis.
- Tauranga Presenter: Dr Amarie Carnett.
- Senior Tutor: Minali Mesthri (Hamilton).
Learning Format:
- Lectures: Wednesdays ( $2.10\,pm$ – $4.00\,pm$ ) and Fridays ( $12.00\,pm$ – $1.50\,pm$ ) via live-stream and Zoom recordings.
- Laboratories (Labs): Start in week $2$ ; requires selection through Moodle. Participation is required for the second assignment.
- Learning Approach: Active learning (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) to sustain interest beyond the first $10$ minutes of class.
Assessment weightings:
- Quizzes: $10\%$ total.
- Class Test: $30\%$ .
- IPRP: $10\%$ .
- Final Examination: Mandatory for all students regardless of internal marks.

Psychodynamic (Freud): Focuses on the interplay between conscious and unconscious forces, using metaphors like the iceberg.
Humanistic (Rogers, Maslow): Focuses on individual uniqueness, innate goodness, and self-actualisation.
Cognitive (Descartes, Wundt): Views the mind through an information processing model (mind as a computer).
Evolutionary: Examines feelings, thoughts, and behaviors as they relate to human evolution.
Biopsychosocial Model: Modern integrative perspective drawing from biological processes, psychological factors, and social forces.

Core Definition: The examination of how social processes influence Affect (emotions), Behaviour (actions), and Cognition (thoughts).
Cross-Cultural Psychologists: Study behavioral patterns across different cultures.
Cultural Psychologists: Study behavioral patterns within cultures.
Sociocultural Perspective: Highlights social interactions and cultural determinants such as religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomics.

Founding Years ( $1880s$ - $1920s$ ):
- Triplett ( $1898$ ): Studies on social facilitation in sports.
- First Textbooks: McDougall ( $1908$ ), Ross ( $1908$ ), and F. Allport ( $1924$ ).
- Research on suggestibility: Charcot ( $1881$ ), Binet and Henri ( $1894$ ).
- Social Loafing: Ringelmann (experiments $1882$ – $1887$ , published $1913$ ).
The Mid-Century Impact ( $1930s$ - $1950s$ ):
- Adolf Hitler had a dramatic impact on the direction of field research.
- Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues formed in $1936$ by G. Allport.
- Sherif ( $1936$ ): Experimental research on social influence.
Kurt Lewin’s Fundamentals:
- Interactionist Approach: Behaviour is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment.
Pluralism and Crisis ( $1960s$ - $1990s$ ):
- Milgram’s obedience experiments.
- Expansion followed by a crisis regarding the dominance of laboratory experiments (Gergen, Ring).
- Emergence of pluralism: Acceptance of multiple methods and international perspectives.

Foundations:
- University of Otago ( $1869$ ): First university to incorporate psychology via ‘Mental science’.
- Sir Thomas Hunter (VUW): Established social and cross-cultural psychology in the $1920s$ .
Notable Figures:
- Prof Ernest Beaglehole: Author of Property: A study in social psychology ( $1931$ ) and Some modern Maoris (sic; with his wife, Pearl Malsin) ( $1946$ ).
- Prof James Ritchie: First chair of psychology at Waikato.