SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

• Social Psychology


  It is a science that studies the influences of our situations, with special attention to how we view and affect one another.
• Social Psychology


  It is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another
• Social Psychology


  studies our thinking, influences, and relationships.
• Sociology


  the study of people in groups and societies.
• Social Psychology


  focuses more on individuals and does more experimentation.
• Personality Psychology


  zooms in on the individual. It explores what makes people different, focusing on traits, motivations and how this influence behavior
• We construct our reality


  People often desire to explain and attribute behavior to a cause, thereby making it appear orderly, predictable, and controllable.
• There is an objective reality out there, but we always view it through the lens of our beliefs and values.
• Our instant intuitions shape fears (Is flying dangerous?), impressions (Can I trust him?), and relationships (Does she like me?).
• Dual processing


  Thinking memory and attitudes all operate on two levels – one conscious and deliberate, the other unconscious and automatic
• Intuition is also perilous. We intuitively judge the likelihood of things by how easily various instances come to mind.
• SOCIAL INFLUENCES SHAPE OUR BEHAVIOR


  We speak and think in words we learned from others. We long to connect, to belong, and to be well thought of. Relationships are a big part of being human.
• SOCIAL INFLUENCES SHAPE OUR BEHAVIOR


  Example: Mehl and Pennebaker (2003) studied students' social behavior by recording conversation time every 12 minutes, revealing that nearly 30% of their time was spent in conversation.
• Sometimes the power of a social situation leads us to act contrary to our expressed attitudes.
• Our culture helps define our situations. Whether you tend to be expressive or reserved, casual or formal, hinges partly on your culture and your ethnicity.
• People are, above all, malleable
• PERSONAL ATTITUDES AND DISPOSITIONS ALSO SHAPE BEHAVIOR

  Example: An extravert would likely enjoy a crowded party, while an introvert may suffer.
• PERSONAL ATTITUDES AND DISPOSITIONS ALSO SHAPE BEHAVIOR


  Internal forces also matter. Our inner attitudes affect our outer behavior, our attitudes also follow our behavior. Facing the same situation, different people may react differently
• SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IS BIOLOGICALLY ROOTED


  Nature also endows us with an enormous capacity to learn and to adapt to varied environments.
• Social Neuroscience


  An interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of social and emotional processes and behaviors, and how these processes and behaviors affect brain and biology
• Social psychology has the potential to illuminate your life, to make visible the subtle influences that guide your thinking and acting.
• Social thinking, influence, and relationships significantly impact human health, judicial procedures, juror decisions, and behaviors promoting an environmentally sustainable future
• 1940s


  the study of prejudice flourished during the 1940s as fascism raged in Europe
• 1950s


  a time of look-alike fashions and intolerance of differing views, gave us studies of conformity.
• 1960s


  the interest in aggression increases with riots and rising crime rates.
• 1970s


  the feminist movement helped stimulate a wave of research on gender and sexism
• 1980s


  A resurgence of attention to psychological aspects on countries’ improving military resources
• 1990s


  Marked by heightened interest in how people respond to diversity in culture, race, and sexual orientation.
• Science is not purely objective. Scientist interpret nature, using their own mental categories. Our numbers do not speak for themselves. We interpret them.
• Social Representations


  A society’s widely held ideas and values, including assumptions and cultural ideologies. Our social representations help us make sense of the world. Example: nature vs nurture, teleology vs determinism
• Psychologist’s own values may play an important part in the theories and judgements they suppor
• Psychological Concepts Contain Hidden Values


  Maslow's self-actualized personality descriptions, influenced by his personal values, reflect his own self-actualization, a concept that is also reflected in psychological advice.
• Psychological advice also reflects the advice giver’s personal values. When mental health professionals advise us… they are expressing their personal values
• Hidden values even seep into psychology’s research based concepts.

  A psychologist uses personality tests to determine an individual's ego strength and defensiveness, reflecting their judgment and responses to the test.
• Value judgements are often hidden within our social psychological language


  Whether we label someone engaged in guerrilla warfare a “terrorist” or a “freedom fighter” depends on our view of the cause. Whether someone involved in an extramarital affair is practicing “open marriage” or “adultery” depends on one’s personal values
• It’s that scientific interpretation, even at the level of labeling phenomena, is a human activity. It is therefore inevitable that prior beliefs and values will influence what social psychologists think and write.
• Social psychology faces two contradictory criticismsit is trivial because it documents the obvious and it is dangerous because its findings could be used to manipulate people.
• Hindsight bias


  The tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.
• Hindsight bias


  It is conducive to arrogance—an overestimation of our own intellectual powers.
• Hindsight bias


  A student reading a textbook perceives it as easy. Later, when taking a test the task becomes surprisingly difficult. The student may say “ I thought I knew the material.” The I-knew-itall-along phenomenon can have unfortunate consequences.