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