Week 8: Intro to Social

• Behaviourism


  People act as a result of reward and punishment
• Behaviourism


  • Impact of reward and punishment
  • Attitudes and behaviour can be reinforced
  • Children who watch programmes where violence is rewarded are more likely to be violent
  • Children who perceive negative attitudes towards social groups from their parents, develop similar attitudes
  • Surge in research focused on positive and negative impacts on behaviour
• Behaviourism is too simplistic
• Gestalt psychology


  • Important to look at whole picture rather than specific aspects
  • Behaviour is shaped by needs and desires
  • Perception is important in determining attitudes and behaviour
• Basic research


  Focuses on fundamental questions about people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
• Applied research


  Take theories from basic research and apply them to real situations
• Basic research has low ecological validity
• Applied research has high ecological validity
• Discourse psychology


  Discourse is the primary means by which people construct, communicate and interpret social meaning
• Critical Psychology

  
  

  There are no universal laws when it comes to human nature

  
  

  It is impossible to explain human behaviour using universal principles as principles constantly change depending on context
• Critical Psychology - Social constructionism

  Emphasises the way social phenomena develop in social constructs
• Critical Psychology - Postmodernism

  Emphasises that apparent realities are only social constructs and therefore subject to change
• Critical Psychology - Social representations

  Socially shared beliefs or widely shared ideas and values associated with our cultures