Social Psychology Overview

Social Psychology

• Social psychology is the study of how people think, influence, and relate to one another.
• Social intuitions are conscious and deliberate, as well as unconscious and automatic.
• Social influences shape behavior through locality, educational level, subscribed media, culture, and ethnicity.
• Personal attitudes and dispositions are internal forces (inner attitudes) influencing individual reactions in particular situations.

Research Methods in Social Psychology

• Social facilitation is the increase in performance/effort when others are present.
• Social loafing is the decrease in effort/performance when working in a group.
• Social psychology research is steadily developing, using applied science, to study invisible scientific constructs.
• Research design involves deciding on the purpose (basic or applied), observing patterns, generating hypotheses, testing, interpreting results, and refining hypotheses if needed.

Correlation

• Descriptive designs define, explain, and clarify patterns without intervention.
• Archival data is stored information from other purposes.
• Naturalistic observation is observation in natural settings.
• Descriptive surveys include self-report scales like asking questions graded on a scale.
• Correlational analysis involves analyzing two pieces of information (e.g., study hours and grade).
• Experiments involve pre-experimental designs (single group), quasi-experiments (comparing different groups), and true experiments (comparing equivalent random groups).

Self Concept & Processes

• Self-awareness is understanding oneself as a separate entity.
• Self-recognition encompasses self-awareness.
• Self-concept is a personal summary of qualities, relationships, memberships, and beliefs.
• Self-schemas are mental organizers for self-relevant information
• Social identity theory examines how personal identity interacts with group memberships and cultural expectations.
• Culture significantly influences personal and social identity.
• Independent self-perceptions focus on personal qualities, competition, and success, whereas interdependent self-perceptions emphasise social qualities and group memberships.
• Self-perception implies inferring our motives and values from behavior
• Self-discrepancies involve differences between actual self and ideal/ought selves which result in various emotional reactions such as shame, guilt, and embarassment.

Social Psychology

• Self-expansion: describes the idea that close relationships expand one's self-concept.
• Self-presentation highlights our attempts to convey an image of ourselves in various situations.
• Impression management involves strategically modifying attitudes/behaviours to influence others' perceptions.
• Collective self-esteem evaluates the perceived worth of social groups.
• Optimal margin theory views individuals as flexible with diverse skills applicable to many areas.
• Cognitive biases include self-serving biases that enhance self-concept.
• Self-esteem is a personal evaluation of one's self-concept, and is separate from narcissism, self-efficacy, and self-compassion.
• Person perceptions involve forming judgments based on initial impressions and observed behaviors.
• Micro-expressions are involuntary flashes of emotional honesty.

Attribution Theory & Attitudes

• Halo effect occurs when an entire perception is constructed around a single trait.
• Self-fulfilling prophecies are expectations that shape behaviour and influence others' reactions, fulfilling their initial prediction
• Attribution theory explains how people explain others' behaviour.
• Attributions are inferences drawn to explain behaviour, distinguishing between internal (dispositional) and external (situational) factors.
• Fundamental attribution error is overestimation of individual personality traits and underestimation of situational factors when explaining others' behaviour.
• Actor-observer bias involves attributing more importance to personality factors in explaining others' behaviour while considering situational factors for self-behaviour.
• Self-serving attributions include biased perceptions of both oneself and others
• Attitudes represent inner evaluations of people or objects.
• Dual attitudes include contrasting evaluations about the same object.

Attitude & Change

• Attitude functions include instrumental (helping achieve goals), value-expressive (expressing values), social adjustive (maintaining social ties), and ego-defensive (protecting self-esteem).
• Attitudes may originate from nature and nurture.
• Classical conditioning involves automatic reactions to stimuli after pairing.
• Operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of behaviour.
• Impression management is modifying behaviours to influence others' perceptions.