Social Psychology: Introduction to the Science of Social Psychology

Social Psychology

• The branch of psychological science mainly concerned with understanding how the presence of others affects our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• All about investigating the ways groups function, the costs and benefits of social status, the influences of culture, and all the psychological processes involving 2 or more people
• Scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave, in a social context
• Study of the person in the situation

3 Key Components

• Scientific
  • Uses scientific methods to study social situations
  • Involve: systematic observation, measurement, description
• Focuses on people’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors
  • Focuses on huge variety of topics
  • Affective: feelings, emotions
  • Behavioral: behaviors
  • Cognitive: thoughts, beliefs, attitudes
  • The individual person is the “unit of analysis” even when studying groups
• “Limited” to social situations
  • But all situations have social components even when people are alone
  • Relevant when people’s thought, feelings or behaviors:
  • Focuses on other people
  • Are influenced by other people
  • Others don’t need to be present to affect our thoughts, feelings, behaviors

Sociology vs Social Psychology

• Different fields of study
  • Psychologists study individuals
  • Social psychologists conduct lots of laboratory experiments
  • Sociologists tend to study societal groups or classes and they are much less likely to use experimental methods
  • Interests overlap: prejudice, violence, marriage, obedience
  • Sociology: culture of military obedience
  • Social Psychology: situational factors that influence obedience (can manipulate situations)

Clinical Psychology vs Social Psychology

• Clinical psychologists focus on treating people with thought and behavioral disorders
• Social psychologists don’t conduct therapy
  • They study the ordinary ways that people think, feel, behave, and influence each other

Personality Psychology vs Social Psychology

• Personality psychologists study how different between people (traits) affect their behavior
• Social psychologists study how situational factors affect behavior
  • Power of the situation
• They complement each other particularly well

Interactionist Perspective

B = f(P x E)

wherein,

B = behavior

P = person/personality

E = environment

Cognitive Psychology vs Social Psychology

• Cognitive psychologists study how people think, learn, remember, and reason
• Social psychologists study how these mental processes, as well, but in social situations
  • Social Cognition: how people reason in making a decision but has clear social factors involved

Social Psychology and Common Sense

• Common sense may lead us astray
• People are notorious for feeling as if they knew-it-all along, regardless of the final outcome [HINDSIGHT BIAS]

What is included in Social Psychology?

• Most social psychology research topics fall into one or more of each of these areas:
  • Attraction
  • Can begin with first impressions, then extend to courtship and commitment
  • Involves the concepts of beauty, sex, and evolution
  • Might study stalker behavior
  • Might research divorce or remarriage
  • Might study changing standards of beauty across decades
  • Attractiveness is an evolutionary and biological process
  • Certain features are signals of health and reproductive fitness
    • Something especially important when scoping out strangers
  • People tend to be attracted not just to muscles and symmetrical faces but also to kindness and generosity
  • Attitudes
  • Opinions, feelings, and beliefs about a person, concept, or group
  • Stereotyping
    • A way of using information shortcuts about a group to effectively navigate social situations or make decisions
    • Information may or may not be correct
    • May be positive or negative
    • All people use stereotypes, because they are efficient and inescapable ways to deal with huge amounts of social information
    • Stereotypes do not apply to every member of the group
    • Can seem unfair to judge an individual based on perceived group norms
  • Prejudice
    • Refers to how a person feels about an individual based on their group membership
    • Can be positive or negative
  • Discrimination
    • Occurs when a person is biased against an individual, simply because of the individual’s membership in a social category
    • Would come when you act on the stereotype
  • Possible for people to change their attitudes and took more favorably on people they might otherwise avoid or be prejudiced against
  • Peace and Conflict
  • Research conflicts ranging from the small – such as a spat between lovers – to the large – such as wars between nations
  • Interested in the mental processes associated with conflict and reconciliation
  • Want to understand how emotions, thoughts, and sense of identity play into conflicts, as well as making up afterward
  • Culture of Honor
    • A cultural background that emphasizes personal or family reputation and social status
  • Social Influence
    • Heart and soul of social psychology
    • Conformity: benign persuaded to give up our own opinions and go along with the group
    • Obedience: following orders or requests from people in authority
    • Persuasion
    • Among the most researched topics
    • The act of delivering a particular message so that it influences a person’s behavior in a desired way
    • Reciprocity: giving a small gift puts people in the frame of mind to give a little something back
  • Social Cognition
  • The term for the way we think about the social world and how we perceive others
  • We are continually telling a story in our own minds about the people around us
  • Social Attribution: when we make educated guesses about the efforts or motives of others
    • “Attributing” their behavior to a particular cause
  • Fundamental Attribution Error
    • The consistent way we attribute people’s actions to personality traits while overlooking situational influences
    • Can include groups we belong to versus opposing groups
    • This mental process allows a person to maintain his or her own high self-esteem while dismissing the bad behavior of others