The Scientific Skepticism Quiz

Social Psychology Defined

Scientific: systematic and empirical

Social Influence: affects thoughts, feelings, and behaviours

The Power of the Situation

Where Construals Come From

Objective Features of the ______ situation matter, but so do interpretations

Are construals obvious

(2004) Social Dilemma Game: Choose a strategy o Play ______ – maximize winnings ($) o Play cooperatively – share the winnings (but get less) Ps were either competitive or cooperative Community Game vs

Scientific Skepticism: o The approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind, but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them as true o Refrain from accepting inadequately supported claims Skepticism is not

How do you know. Show me your ______.

Ruling out rival hypotheses o Requires that we consider alternative explanations o Experimentation is key in

Correlation is not ______ o Just because two things are associated – or correlated – does not mean that one causes the other

Testability and ______ o Can we measure the construct or phenomenon of interest. o Can we demonstrate an assertion or prediction is false.

Have findings been

The Power of the Situation o How do people assess ______. o Dispositional attributions

Kurt Lewin: “Founding Father” of Experimental Social Psychology o One of the first psychologists to focus on construal of social situations Basic Motives & Construals Where do construals come from. o The need to feel good o The need to be accurate o The need to belong (Wilson, 2022) These motives can conflict and pull us in opposite directions Accuracy is always important, at least to some extent Human Motives: SelfEsteem We need to maintain self-esteem o Good, competent, and decent Justifying Past Behaviour o E.g., Littering (Hansmann, 2017) o Personal vs. others littering Suffering and Self-Justification o Example: hockey hazing Human Motives: Accuracy Humans have a need to be accurate Social Cognition: o How people think about themselves and the social world o How they select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions Example: why is the cashier so rude. Construals (Wilson, 2022)  Construals are unconscious o The process is not known to us o Example: meeting someone new Construals are shaped by culture o But the act of construing is universal Social Psychology and Social Problems Social Psychology can contribute to the solution of social problems by understanding: o Social influence o The power of the situation o Construal Important Topics: o Aggression/violence o Prejudice o Pro-environmental behaviour Specific Issues: o E.g., Smoking The End .