History of Social Psychology

History of Social Psychology

• Aristotle believed society shapes human development
• Comte argued individuals are both products and producers of society

Key Historical Figures and Milestones

• 1879: Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab, separating psychology from philosophy and biology
• 1898: Norman Triplett's work on social facilitation laid groundwork
• 1908: McDougall and Ross published early social psychology textbooks
• 1920s-1930s: Floyd Allport focused on individual dispositions over societal influences, and studied the Great Depression.
• 1930s-1940s: Sumner critiqued racial biases in IQ tests
• 1940s-1950s: Festinger studied conformity, obedience, and authority during WWII. This period was impacted by WWII
• John Dewey emphasized collectivism's role in shaping society

Important Research and Concepts

• Skinner (Behaviorism): Mental states conditioned through reinforcement and punishment
• Cognitive Revolution: Challenged behaviorism, arguing thoughts and cognition drive behavior

Lewin's Interactionalism

• Behavior is a result of interaction between person and environment
• Conducted field research impacting propaganda resistance and social change

Social Facilitation & Inhibition

• Social Facilitation (Triplett, 1898): Presence of others boosts performance, especially on familiar tasks (e.g., cyclists racing faster with others.)
• Social Facilitation Theories: Various theories like suction effect, encouragement, and dynamogenic effect, explaining how others influence performance.
• Social Inhibition (Zajonc, 1965): Arousal by others enhances dominant responses while hindering non-dominant responses. Examples of this were given in the studies.
• Limitations of Drive Theory: Lack of clear criteria for defining difficulty and lack of consideration for personality/mood aspects in performance impact

Replication Crisis in Social Psychology

• John Ioannidis (2005): Many published research findings are likely false due to poor scientific practices.
• Open Science Collaboration (2015): 100 replications found only 25% successfully replicated initial findings

Improving Research Practices

• Protecting against cognitive biases: Use blinding, improve training (e.g. understanding effect size, null hypothesis and P-values) and ensure methodological rigor.

• Independent methodology support: Multidisciplinary teams to review research methods, avoid conflicts of interest and mitigate potential biases.

• Collaboration and team science: Increased generalizability and reduces false positives through collaboration.

• Study pre-registration: Transparency in research design, avoiding publication bias.

• Reproducibility: Ensure methods are clearly reported to enable replication. Address issues of incentives in research and publication.

Priming Theory

• Priming: Exposure to stimuli influences subsequent related responses often without awareness.
• Example: Age-related words influencing walking speed.
• Criticism of priming: Not always replicable (e.g., Lynott et al., 2014 found no significant effect of priming on walking speed.)

Ethical Considerations in Social Psychology

• Deception: Commonly used in experiments but must be ethically sound; participants must be debriefed and consent should allow for withdrawal

Key Takeaways for Replication & Research Reliability

• Replication Crisis: Highlights need for transparency and accurate methodologies. The need for accurate reporting and avoiding potential biases
• Collaboration, pre-registration, and improved ethical standards: Necessary to improve the quality of psychological research.

Explore the evolution of social psychology through its key historical figures and milestones. From Aristotle's views on society to the pivotal developments in the 20th century, this quiz covers the foundations and significant research that shaped the field. Test your knowledge on influential theorists and crucial concepts.