History of Social Psychology

History of Social Psychology

• Aristotle believed that society shapes human development.
• Comte argued that people cause societal consequences, and are products and producers of their social environment.
• 1879: Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab, separating psychology from philosophy and biology.
• 1898: Norman Triplett began social psychology, writing the first paper on social facilitation theory.
• John Dewey's collectivist work emphasized how shaping society benefits the masses.
• 1908: McDougall wrote the first social psychology textbook.
• 1920-1930: Floyd Allport, considered the father of social psychology and experimental psychology, focused on individual dispositions, not society. He also researched the Great Depression, finding community ties protected people from bad things.
• 1930-1950s: Festinger's work, during World War 2, focused on conformity, obedience, and authority studies.
• Skinner was a behaviorist, believing mental states are preconditioned.
• Lewin's interactionism perspective studied how behaviors and attitudes interact between a person and their environment.
• 1960-1970s: A significant shift in social psychology occurred, questioning lab validity and ethics. Milgram and Zimbardo conducted prominent, but ethically questionable, studies during this period.

Crisis in Social Psychology

• The 1960-70s saw a questioning of the reliability of lab observations and ethics of experiments.

Pluralism (1970-2000s)

• Lab research combined with correlation research led to better measurement and more varied variables.
• Field studies became more popular, less controlled than lab studies.
• Diversity (different cultures, participants) and ethical standards increased.
• There was a renewed focus on oppressed groups and cultures.
• Informed consent was emphasized.
• Collectivist perspectives in psychology were incorporated.

Social Facilitation

• The presence of others often enhances performance.
• Norman Triplett coined the term "social facilitation".
• Several theories exist: Aerodynamic (Suction, Shelter), Psychological (Hypnotism, Encouragement, Brain Worry, Automatic, Dynamogenic).
• The presence of others might increase arousal and influence performance both positively (facilitation) and negatively (inhibition).

Social Inhibition & Drive Theory

• Robert Zajonc (1965): Arousal facilitates performance of dominant responses and inhibits non-dominant. Easier tasks in the presence of others lead to improved performance, while difficult tasks lead to worse performance.
• Drive theory 2 from Michael et al (1982), looked at pool players and reinforced the fact that performance in the presence of others can be impacted in various ways.

Drive Theory Criticisms and Limitations

• Lack of objective criteria to determine task difficulty.
• Limited meta-analytic support, explaining only a small variance in performance.
• Inconsistency and contradictory results.
• Disregarding dispositional factors (individual differences).

Individual and Dispositional Factors

• Uziel (20027) found that self-assured individuals perform better in social situations versus those with social inhibition and negative self-esteem.
• Personality and social orientation are crucial factors influencing task performance.

Replication Crisis

• John Ioannidis (2005): Many published research findings are false due to poor scientific practices.
• Daryl Bem (2011): Studied ESP (ExtraSensory Perception) and anomalous retroactive influences on cognitive effects.
• Open Science Collaboration (2015): Demonstrated the difficulty in replicating psychological findings, with ~25% of replications failing.

Problems with Replications

• Few studies can be replicated.
• Original data falsification, "publish or perish," file-drawer problem (journals favor significant results), and small sample sizes can result in problems with replication.
• Effects can depend on specific cultures or world events, and results might not universally apply.

Quality of Replication

• Methodology and sample size are crucial.
• Reporting guidelines and data dredging (p-hacking) can affect results, as can conflicts of interest and inadequate methodology.

Priming Theory

• Priming is a phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences the response to a subsequent stimulus unconsciously.
• Michael Mosley tests, priming words related to older adults.
• This theory is not well-supported by current research.

Measures for Replicability & Reliability

• Methods transparency, clear reporting, reproducibility standards, and consistent evaluation methodologies are crucial.

Ways to Improve Research

• Protecting against cognitive biases (self-deception, blinding).
• Improving methodological training.
• Independent methodology support (mulitdisciplinary trials and teams).
• Collaboration and Team Science, to reduce false positives, increase generalizability and power.
• Promoting pre-registration of studies, to reduce bias and increase transparency.
• Ensuring reproducibility by clearly defining methods.
• Employing incentives that reward high-quality research and replication.

Explore the pivotal milestones in the evolution of social psychology, from Aristotle's theories to the foundational work of early psychologists like Wundt and McDougall. Discover how societal influences and individual behaviors intertwine through notable studies and figures. This quiz encapsulates key contributions and shifts in understanding the social aspects of human psychology.