Post on 21-Dec-2015
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Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Chapter OneIntroducing Social Psychology
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology Defined
• The study of how our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by other people
– a science of people, rather than other species
– others don’t need to be physically present to influence us
– outward social behavior and inner mental life are both of interest to social psychologists
– social psychology is a science, and as such relies on the scientific method to answer its questions of interest
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
How Other People Affect Us
• Other people affect how we interpret events
– behavior occurs in a social context
• Other people affect how we feel about ourselves
– social comparison theory is an example of this
• Other people affect how we behave
– the presence of others can change how we act in a situation
– deindividuation is an example
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology and Common Sense
• Social psychology is not just common sense
– many social psychological findings confirm people’s intuitions about social behavior
– many other findings, however, disconfirm intuition
• intuitions can differ across people
• intuitions can be vague
• intuitions can be wrong
– science trumps intuition
• Hindsight appears clearer than it is
– the hindsight bias describes our tendency to believe that we had predicted an outcome ahead of time, after learning of the result
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Some Benefits of Studying Social Psychology
• Being an informed citizen
– using scientific findings to form strategies for dealing with social problems and social issues
• Applying social psychological knowledge
– applications to health, business, politics, law, and other areas show the breadth of social psychology
• Understanding the influences on your own life
– learning about social psychology assists in learning about oneself
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology’s Connections to Other Areas
• Social psychology relates to several other areas of psychology
– Personality psychology
– Developmental psychology
– Cognitive psychology
– Clinical and counseling psychology
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social and Personality Psychology
• Personality psychologists study traits or dispositions in order to understand human behavior
• Social psychologists study the situations that impact human behavior
• The intersection between dispositions and situations nicely informs both personality and social psychology
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social and Developmental Psychology
• Developmental psychology examines human growth and change over the lifespan
– social development represents the overlap between the disciplines
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social and Cognitive Psychology
• Social psychology overlaps considerably with cognitive psychology
– social cognition examines perception, memory, language, reasoning, and other cognitive processes in a social context
– both disciplines also use similar research methods
– both disciplines embrace similar theoretical approaches
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social, Clinical, and Counseling Psychology
• Social cognition informs research on self-esteem, depression, social anxiety, loneliness, shyness, and other types of mental disorders
• More extreme forms of psychopathology fall outside the realm of social psychology
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology’s Connections to Other Disciplines
• Social psychology relates to several other disciplines
– Sociology
– Anthropology
– Political science
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Concept Review
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology and Sociology
• “Two social psychologies”
– psychological social psychology is the focus of this book
– sociological social psychology emphasizes the role of larger social structures in influencing behavior
• significant overlap between the two until WWII
• more divergence between the two currently
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology and Anthropology
• Both fields focus on cultural and evolutionary influences on behavior
• Little overlap between the fields, however
– cultural anthropologists prefer cultural immersion and participant observation, rather than experimentation
– physical anthropologists have long relied on evolutionary models; social psychologists have embraced such an approach only relatively recently
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Social Psychology and Political Science
• Both fields have grown independently into well-developed disciplines
• Political psychology has emerged as a hybrid of the two
– voter behavior, political decision making, perceptions of candidates, operation of political systems are some examples
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
The History of Social Psychology
• Ancient Greek philosophers suggested some elements of modern social psychology
– tripartite experience of thought, feeling, action
– social contract: implicit rules of social conduct
– the nature of personality and identity
• Social psychology evolved into an empirical science
• World War II provided a boost to the discipline
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Classical Problems of Social Psychology
• Basic issues
– theory and experimentation inform social psychology
• Perceiving the social world
– cognition, judgment, attribution drive social behavior
• The person in the situation
– self-concept and attitudes affect behavior
• Social influence
– personality and persuasion shape social behavior
• Harmful and helpful social behavior
– people demonstrate the capacity for both
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
Many Contexts of Social Psychology
• Cultural context
– cultural differences and similarities help us understand social behavior
• Health context
– social psychological research offers many insights for health maintenance and illness prevention
• Law context
– social psychology helps shape our understanding of the legal system
Social Psychology Alive, Breckler/Olson/WigginsChapter 1
It’s Alive! It’s Alive!!
• Social psychology is all around us
– personality scales allow for self-understanding
– do-it-yourself research projects are fun and informative
– read more about it in scientific journals
– watch television…sensibly, with an eye toward understanding social behavior
– read newspapers and magazines
– gather information from the Internet
– observe the behavior of others
– observe your own behavior