Intro to Social Psychology Pt. 1-

Three main periods: early thinking (social philosophy, ancient times to late 1800s); early studies (social empiricism, late 1800s to 1920s); modern science (social analysis, 1920s to now)
Social philosophy: People are naturally social; society shapes individuals.
Social empiricism: The idea that groups create a 'collective mind' that makes individuals act differently than when alone (Le Bon's crowd theory).
Social analysis: Focus on experiments and studying how individuals are influenced by social situations; includes behaviorism.

Aristotle (ancient Greece): Humans are social by nature; society comes before the individual.
Hobbes (1600s): People are like "wolves" to each other, leading to conflict unless controlled.
Rousseau (1700s): People are born good, like "noble savages."

German ethnopsychologists: Studied the psychology of different groups of people.
Le Bon (1896, The Crowd): When people are in a crowd, they develop a shared way of thinking and feeling, which changes how they act compared to when they are alone.

First social psychology experiments (early 1900s): Looked at how people perform tasks better or worse when others are around (social facilitation).
Allport, F. (1924) Social Psychology: Stressed using experiments and focusing on individual behavior; linked to behaviorism (the study of observable actions).

Combines emotions/motivation ("hot") and thinking/cognition ("cold") to explain why people act the way they do.
Considers evolution and genetics in social behavior.
Explores cultural influences on social behavior.

For your job: Understanding social situations can help you find opportunities and solve problems.
For your personal life: Knowing about social contexts can improve your health, sense of purpose, and happiness.
For others: Helps you create environments that contribute to other people's health, purpose, and happiness.