Social Psychology: Research, Definition & Examples

Advance Comments on Social Psychology Research

• Historically, social psychology primarily focused on men and women
• Increasing recognition and inclusion of various gender categories have emerged
• A significant portion of past studies used WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) country samples
• The field is focusing on incorporating non-WEIRD countries to enhance the finding generalizability
• Some social psychology topics evoke emotional responses

Defining Social Psychology

• Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, relate to, and influence one another interpersonally or within groups

Example Questions of Interest to Social Psychologists

• Topics include promoting behaviors to mitigate climate change
• Determining who is most likely to 'radicalize'
• Examining who people will befriend during their first year
• Exploring the existence and activation of altruism

Social Psychology vs Common Sense

• Social psychology aims to move beyond common sense, although everyone gains understanding of social dynamics through experience ("Everybody is a bit of an expert")
• Scientific knowledge often reveals complexities missed by simplistic observations, though common sense can sometimes be accurate.
• Common sayings such as "Opposites attract" and "The first impression is usually best" are empirically tested

Scientific Approach of Social Psychology

• Truthfulness of claims about human behavior is determined through scientific methodology
• This approach seeks to understand if a proposition about human behavior is true or false, in what situations/circumstances, among what people, and why
• The "experimental method" is used and there is commitment to "objective, empirical and reliable research"

Levels of Analysis in Social Psychology

• Phenomena are examined at various levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, intra-group, and intergroup processes

Three Core Axioms of Social Psychology

• Human cognition, emotion, and behavior are a function of both the person and the situation
• People construct their own social reality
• People are social animals

Axiom 1: Human cognition, emotion, and behavior = f(Person x Situation)

• This emphasizes a dynamic interplay between individual characteristics ("Person") and the external context ("Situation") in shaping experience and action.
• Different people respond differently to the same situation
• The same person responds differently to different situations
• Situations activate different social roles
• Situations can select people(professional athletes)
• Situations can change based on individuals
• People actively chose their situations

The Role of the Person

• Personality Psychology: Focuses on stable traits like extraversion and agreeableness
• Social Neuroscience studies the brains role in social behaviour (amygdala)
• Evolutionary Psychology: Investigates how behaviors evolved for survival ( men fearing snakes)

The Role of the Situation

• Marketing & Consumer Behavior influences decision making
• Group Psychology social pressure influences decision making
• Cultural psychology such as views on behaviour

Axiom 2: People construct their own social reality

• People's interpretation of the situation is a determinant of their cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behavior
• The Thomas Theorem ("If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences") highlights the power of perceived reality
• Heider & Simmel's (1944) experiment showed imposing narratives on geometric figures
• People interpret information in ways that confirm their beliefs with self serving interpretations
• A tendency to selectively accept evidence that supports one's worldview is called motivated reasoning
• Ideological conflicts include differing moral worldviews which can make compromise difficult.

Axiom 3: People are Social Animals

• The axiom emphasizes the fundamental human "Need to Belong" and others' influence on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• Our social nature is "Evolutionary adaptive," like cooperation and group survival in previous environments
• The "Social Brain Hypothesis" suggests the human brains complexity evolved due to complex social lives
• The "Herding Instinct" reflects an innate desire for meaningful relatIonships
• Ostracism involves social exclusions which negatively impact fundamental phycological needs

Impact of Social Exclusion

• Cyberball and manipulation of social connection/exclusion studies show negative impacts on emotions through increased meaninglessness
• There is negative impacts on behavior through aggression measured by noise blast intensity
• Social exclusion is linked to real world phenomena like school shootings
• Social exclusion activates brain regions associated to physical pain
• Exclusion is negatively affects intelligence test performance
• Social exclusion causes school shooting

Defining a Group

• A group involves two or more people
• The people must interact with and influence one another
• The people must percieve one another as "us"

Group Dynamics

• Members influence performance, opinions, and decisions
• Groups can be hierarchal or equal
• They can be characterized by power differences and status differences

Social Facilitation

• Performance is enhanced on well-learned and simple texts with the presence of others
• Triples first observed this while bicycling was faster in groups
• Allport and Zajonc coined the term social facilitation
• People bike less fast when biking alone

Social Inhibition

• The presence of others can impair performance on difficult or normal tasks
• Micheals at al pool hull experiment shows good players preformed better with an audience while bad players preformed better when alone

Zajonc's Social Facilitation Model

• Presence of others —> physical arousal --> facilitates dominant response -->
• Improved performace on Easy tasks and inhibits non-dominant response --> which creates impaired performace on difficult tasks

Drive Theory

• Aousal strengthens the dominant repsonse

Yerkes-Dodson Law

• Highlights the connection between arousal and performance
• Suggests optimal arousal levels for different task difficulties

Evaluation apprehension

• The joging experiment demonstarted male joggers started running faster when women were watching, but not when her back was turned to the road
• Concern about being judged by others

Mere Presence

• Simple presence cause
• Zajonc's Cockroach experiment

Social Loafing

• The opposite of social facilitation which invovles inidivual perforamce
• SOcial loafing is were inididual exertion on collected tasks are less based on rising group size
• People less hard ideivudally when group size grows

Reasons for Social Loafing

• Lack of evaluation apperhension
• Diffusion of repsonibility
• Protirozing short term self interest

Make Individualy visable to reduce social loafing

• Assemly lines make 16%
• appealing change
• Increase group cohesion change
• Increase perceived importiance goal

TOO

• talent can undermind perfoarnce

Group Opinions

• Extemizing
• Group polarisation
• Like Minded CHAMBERS
• Confirmation Vias

Political Extremes

• Polaration
• Simple Categorisation

Dunning Eruge effect

• Incmprenante
• Reaches wrong inclusions

###Group Moratlity

• Intergroup competition and can create cooperation ex
• Tajfels Minimal studies

Group Making Decisions

• Shifts as a result

Groupthink

• Highly covers actions

Causes

• Covers action

Group think S

• Overestiation
• Close minded
• Unitary pressurrs

Historical Cases

• pigs 61 Etc

Preventing GroupThink

• Advocate
• Critics
• reviews

Leadership Hierarchy

• Hierarchal leader

Power corrupts

• With collecters

Implementation Consideration for Group Think

• Facilitation

Defining the Self Concept

• who and what you are

Selves

• Individula
• Relational
• Collective
• Actual
• ought
• Ideal

self aweness

• Animals

self origin

• Symbolic/herbet/mead Taking roles

Self Influences

• individualistic
• Unquie

accuracy

• Multi

Behaviour Predicatbility

• Manipulations

Predict

• Break ups/elections

Miscalulations

• money

Self Esteems

• evaluation

self distc

• REPORT

NARCISSIM

• Agression is linked

Self Maintenace

• Posive

• social comp/ reflection

Self Saving Biases

• Attritbution etc/ falisity bias

Impression management

Intimate

Self handicaps

• obtsical

Spot Light affects with barry m tee

• NOT ABOUT YOU

Lecture 4

• Perceptual chaos is goal

First judgements are mad fast

• Misers heuristic

Behaviour is spontaneous

• theory

accuracy

• in hospital
• Impression isny correct

How impression

• makeup

Dimsenions

• kind helpful

Mirroring

• Crucial

B Attribution

Accessibility

Fundamental error

Salient easier causes for behaviour

Kelley

• distinct

Q Changing impressi

• COGNITIVELY

discount present attributions

Actions of social psychology and constuctions

Group and prototypes

Re

• Heruistic

Schemes

Self fulling

• A expectation

Availability hearing

ANCHORS

Countefacts

Why minds

• Uncertyatuny

attitude definition

summarizes actions

3 Components

• Beliefs/affect and thoughts

Explicit

• Aware

FormatIons

• not by birth

Repeat exposure

• classical

Supraliminal

Attitude

• can be learned through rewards

Self perp

• important

Function

• to help help

• Instrumental

• To to help

Behaviour relarionships

• not

Always strenght

• same
• short t strngth easy recall

planned is good

Cognative

• not good

dissanances can lead

• behviour changes for etc justitfications and more