PSYC 325 - Chapter 1, Part 2

Social Psychology Overview

Introduction

• Lecture 2 taught by Dita Kubin, PhD at Concordia University, PSYC325/04 Winter 2025.

Outline of Today's Lecture

• Administrative issues discussed:

  • Sharing notes among students.

  • Participant pool and Mastery training details.

  • Office hour room allocations.

• Coverage of the rest of Chapter 1

• Discussion on the brief history of social psychology.

• Exploration of current trends in social psychology.

History of Social Psychology

Birth and Infancy (1880s–1920s)

• Norman Triplett (1898)

  • Introduced the concept of social facilitation.

  • Conducted a bicycling study demonstrating that cyclists perform better in the presence of others.

  • Conducted fishing reel study, illustrating performance improvements through competition.

• Max Ringelmann (1913)

  • Identified the phenomenon of social loafing through tug of war studies.

  • Found that individual effort decreases in group settings.

Call to Action (1930s–1950s)

• Influence of Adolf Hitler on the field:

  • 1930s marked by unrest in Europe leading to migration of academics to North America.

  • 1940s war times fueled an explosion of psychological research focused on propaganda and public support for the war.

• Key figures and theories from this period:

  • Kurt Lewin (1930s) - Emphasized that behavior is a function of the interaction between a person and their environment.

  • Muzafer Sherif (1936) - Conducted groundbreaking research on social influence and group processes.

  • Gordon Allport (1954) - Authored "The Nature of Prejudice;" a major work on intergroup relations.

  • Solomon Asch (1951) - Famous for studies on conformity.

  • Leon Festinger (1954, 1957) - Pioneered research on social comparison and cognitive dissonance.

Confidence and Crisis (1960s–Mid 1970s)

• Explosion of interest in psychological phenomena:

  • Stanley Milgram (1960s) - Known for research on obedience and authority.

  • Albert Bandura (1960s) - Developed theory of social learning and self-efficacy.

  • John Bowlby (1960s) - Contributed to attachment theory.

  • Abraham Maslow (1960s) - Proposed the hierarchy of needs.

• Period marked by ethical turmoil:

  • Concerns over the ethics of lab experiments and biases in research.

An Era of Pluralism (Mid-1970s–2000s)

• Response to the crisis led to more rigorous ethical standards:

  • Establishment of Research Ethics Boards (REBs) and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs).

• Adoption of more stringent research protocols to mitigate biases (e.g. double-blind studies).

• Emphasis on cross-cultural differences in behavior and the importance of diverse methodologies:

  • Growth of social cognition as a subfield.

  • Increase in multicultural and international perspectives.

Replication Crisis (2010–Present)

• Concerns about the lack of reproducibility in psychological studies:

  • Direct and conceptual replication discussed, including examples related to social loafing.

• Significant replication attempts included those by Open Science Collaboration (2015), revealing low replication rates of studies.

• Broader implications realized in fields beyond social psychology, highlighting the integrity of research methodologies.

Solutions to the Replication Crisis

• Emphasis on new research standards and practices:

  • Transparent research protocols, pre-registrations, and sharing of methods and data.

  • Collaboration across multiple labs for replication studies.

Current Trends in Social Psychology

Integration of Emotion, Motivation, and Cognition

• Exploration of the cold and hot perspectives in social psychology:

  • The balance between cognitive explanations and the influence of emotions and motivations on social phenomena.

• Motivated cognition: Impact of these perspectives on behavior and decision-making.

Cultural Perspectives

• Definition and importance of culture in social psychology.

• Distinction between cross-cultural and multicultural research:

  • Evaluation of universal versus culturally-specific psychological theories.

  • Examples of cultural differences in emotional expression and discrimination.

The Social Brain and Body

• Introduction to social neuroscience:

  • How neural processes influence social interactions and responses.

  • The roles of the amygdala in social stimuli reactions.

  • Connections between social pain (rejection) and physical pain experiences.

New Technologies and the Online World

• Advances in noninvasive techniques for studying brain processes:

  • Use of technologies like fMRI and PET in social psychological research.

• Implications of social media and technology on human behavior:

  • Questions surrounding relationship dynamics, attraction on social networks, and cyberbullying.

Loneliness in the Online World

• Consequences of increased loneliness in contemporary society:

  • The cyclical nature of loneliness and its health implications.

  • How social media may contribute to feelings of loneliness through displacement vs. stimulation hypotheses.

Closing

• Questions and discussion points mentioned for further exploration in the course.

• Reminder of assigned reading and upcoming class work.