Introduction to Understanding Individuals & Groups I: Examining Crises and Controversies PDF

Introduction to Understanding Individuals & Groups I: Examining Crises and Controversies Dr. Sam Fairlamb The Psychology Debrief Department of Psychology @thepsychdebrief Next drop-in session: Today 11-12 @thepsychologydebrief Learning outcomes 1. Course overview –...

Introduction to Understanding Individuals & Groups I: Examining Crises and Controversies Dr. Sam Fairlamb The Psychology Debrief Department of Psychology @thepsychdebrief Next drop-in session: Today 11-12 @thepsychologydebrief Learning outcomes 1. Course overview – the teaching team, assessments, learning support 2. Be able to understand what is meant by personality and social psychology, and what it investigates 3. Understanding the term ‘person-situation’ controversy, and be able to describe some empirical evidence relating to this 4. An ability to critically appreciate issues of reliability in this area of study  PS1030 Teaching Team Dr. Sam Fairlamb Dr. James Ravenhill Dr. Izzat Morshidi (Module Coordinator) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1. Course Overview  PS1030 Timetable Week Topic Lecturer 02/10/2024 Introduction to Understanding Individuals & Groups I SF 09/10/2024 Introduction to Understanding Individuals & Groups II JR 16/10/2024 Attitudes SF 23/10/2024 Attitude Change & Persuasion SF 30/10/2024 Conformity SF READING WEEK 13/11/2024 Prosocial Behaviour & Aggression JR 20/11/2024 Values IM 27/11/2024 Cross-cultural Psychology IM 04/12/2024 Leadership IM 11/12/2024 People in Groups SF PS1030: Supporting your learning ▪ Lecture slides posted on Moodle (at least 24hrs in advance) ▪ Reading list for each lecture on Moodle ▪ No need to read everything ▪ ‘How am I doing?’ documents ▪ Have a question about module content? ▪ Useful companions for ▪ Ask on Moodle forum Years 1 and 2 ▪ Hardcopies and electronic ▪ Use staff drop-in sessions versions available via library PS1030 Assessments ▪ Two assessments on this module ▪ Essay (50%) ▪ Exam (50%) ▪ Your module mark is calculated as an average across both components ▪ Grade boundaries are provided in the student handbook Got Questions? Go to menti.com | Enter Code: 7132 1133 Essay (50%) ▪ Refer to Assignment Information on PS1030 Moodle ▪ 1500 words ▪ Tests one specific lecture (Lec 4) ▪ Upload your answer to Turnitin Box on PS1030 Moodle ▪ Deadline: Mon, 9th Dec, 10am ▪ Difficulty uploading? Email LSE Admin team before deadline Essay (50%) ▪ Support on PS1030 Moodle ▪ Coursework information sheet ▪ Essay writing guidance ▪ Expectations for 1st class essay ▪ Moodle forum – ask questions here ▪ CeDAS ▪ Support in improving your academic writing ▪ The Psychology Debrief ▪ Covers aspects of writing psychology essays with examples Writing an academic essay ▪ Essays will be a common feature throughout your degree ▪ Support offered here, and feedback provided on this assignment may be useful to other assessments ▪ Keep calm, and give it a go – practice is your ticket to success! Writing an academic essay: tips ▪ Consider the essay question carefully – stick to what it asks ▪ Essays are not regurgitation of lecture or textbook content – these might be good starting points, but show independence ▪ Identify relevant published research/theory using RHUL Library, Google Scholar or other databases ▪ Do not use Wikipedia or websites like Simply Psychology ▪ Use APA referencing – see student handbook Writing an academic essay: tips ▪ Avoid being too descriptive, instead try to be analytical, critical and evaluative e.g., ▪ Instead of just summarising a theory or research, evaluate its merit and how well it addresses the question ▪ Avoid superficial or general comments, stick to issues that are more specific to this area e.g., ▪ General comments such as ecological validity or generalisability could be applied to any essay, they don’t demonstrate a deep understanding of the specific question Writing an academic essay: structure ▪ Introductory paragraph – short and brief ▪ Introduce topic, set up question and insight to argument ▪ Main body – where most words should be used ▪ Explanation and discuss relevant research/theory ▪ Organise information for clear, easy understanding ▪ Aim to balance breadth and depth of points ▪ Conclusion – short and brief ▪ Conclude your argument and offer a take home- message, without repeating previous points Exam (50%) ▪ Format ▪ 4 out of 6 short answer questions ▪ Open note exam ▪ In person ▪ Tests entire module ▪ Takes place in January Assessment Period (13-17 January 2025) Exam (50%) ▪ Support ▪ Last year’s exam and cohort feedback on PS1030 Moodle ▪ ‘How am I doing?’ documents - example exam style questions ▪ A lot of the same basics of essay writing apply to exam writing ▪ Personal Tutoring will also cover Exam Support  2. Personality and Social Psychology and the Person-Situation Controversy Social and Personality Psychology “Social Psychology is the attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings” Allport (1954) “A dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings…” Allport (1961) Social and Personality Psychology ▪ Distinction not so clear-cut! ▪ Are individual differences caused by social context? ▪ Do individual differences impact social attitudes (e.g., prejudice) ▪ Do individual differences make people more susceptible to situational influences (e.g., self-monitoring) Why do people do the things that they do? Fundamental Attribution Error Personality Situation He is a Something is grumpy making him person grumpy Reasoning bias where we emphasise internal characteristics (e.g., the person) rather than external factors (e.g., the situation) as explaining behaviour Person-situation controversy ▪ Personality traits are not good at predicting how people behave (Mischel, 1968) ▪ Personality coefficient – only explain 10% of variance (r =.2-.3) ▪ If personality traits are stable, why is behaviour inconsistent across situations? SCAN ME Maltby J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2017). Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. (4th ed., pp. 90-91). Pearson Education Limited. Person-situation controversy Hypothetical distribution Hypothetical distribution supporting personality view supporting situationist view Let’s take a break Responses to Mischel’s claims ▪ Situational influences do not explain Correlation between behaviour more than personality personality and behaviour 5 traits (Funder & Ozer, 1983) 4.5 Mischel (r =.30) 4 ▪ Studies not appropriate for examining 3.5 Epstein (r =.52) personality – need to take an 3 2.5 aggregate approach (Epstein, 1973) 2 1.5 ▪ Examination of behaviours across 1 14 days Maltby J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2017). Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. (4th ed., pp. 90-91). Pearson Education Limited. Behaviour: stable and unstable? Association between one’s Association between one’s behaviour behaviour from hour to hour may be from week to week may be quite highly varied (weakly correlated) consistent (strongly correlated) Fleeson (2001) Fleeson, W. (2001). Toward a structure-and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of personality and social psychology, 80(6), 1011-1027. Persons and Situations ▪ People vary in behaviour according to the situation, but How talkative they are in these may still differ in these situations situations because of their personality 7 Introverted 6 Extraverted ▪ Imagine an introverted and 5 4 extraverted individual 3 2 ▪ How might they behave in 1 0 respect to being out with Out with friends At work At church friends, at work, and at church? Persons and Situations ▪ Study on social interactions with another participant – free to discuss whatever they like ▪ All participants complete situation twice (different partner each time) ▪ Research assistants code each interaction for 62 features Enthusiasm Smiles frequently Humour Reserved Awkward Speaks quickly Dominates interaction Eye contact Expresses sympathy Fearful/timid Interest in situation Interrupts partner Expresses hostility Relaxed/comfortable Asks lots of questions Funder & Colvin (1991) Funder, D. C., & Colvin, C. R. (1991). Explorations in behavioral consistency: properties of persons, situations, and behaviors. Journal of personality and social psychology, 60(5), 773-794. Persons and Situations ▪ Considerable cross-situational consistency – 45 out of 62 features were significantly correlated across session 1 and session 2 (average r =.37) ▪ Substantial situational change – 20 of the 62 features significantly differed in average occurrence ▪ Both situations and personality are important Funder & Colvin (1991) Funder, D. C., & Colvin, C. R. (1991). Explorations in behavioral consistency: properties of persons, situations, and behaviors. Journal of personality and social psychology, 60(5), 773-794. Persons and Situations ▪ Core assumption: behaviour is the joint product of the person and the situation Interactive effects: Independent effects: Behaviour = f (P x E) Behaviour = f (P + E) External attribution for result (e.g., How talkative they are in these luck) situations 8 7 Introverted Low 7 Self- 6 Extraverted Esteem 5 6 High 4 5 Self- 3 4 Esteem 2 3 1 2 0 Success Failure Out with friends At work At church The influence of persons on situations ▪ Situations influence behaviour, but people influence situations ▪ Situation selection – freedom in which they put themselves in (Buss; 1987; Snyder, 1983) ▪ Situation evocation – unintentional alteration of situation by one’s own presence (Buss, 1987) Buss, D. M. (1987). Selection, evocation, and manipulation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 53(6), 1214-1221. 3. Replication Crisis in Social and Personality Psychology Research Social and Personality Psychology: replication crisis? Open Science Collaboration et al. (2015) Social and Personality Psychology: replication crisis? ▪ Why might findings fail to replicate? ▪ Statistical/methodological reasons – small samples; statistical power; measurement error etc. Average effect size r =.21 (small) Solution: multiple studies; increased sample sizes etc. Richard et al., (2003) Social and Personality Psychology: replication crisis? ▪ Why might findings fail to replicate? ▪ Questionable research practices Solution: John et al. (2012) Social and Personality Psychology: replication crisis? ▪ Why might findings fail to replicate? ▪ Publication biases ▪ File drawer problem ▪ ‘WOW’ rather than ‘HOW’ (Kruglanski et al., 2017) Kruglanski, A. W., Chernikova, M., & Jasko, K. (2017). Social psychology circa 2016: A field on steroids. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(1), 1-10. Social and Personality Psychology: replication crisis? ▪ Why might findings fail to replicate? ▪ A historical inquiry – durability of effects? (Gergen, 1973) Numerical anchoring American flag priming (Jacowitz & Kahneman, 1995) (Carter et al., 2011) ▪ Asked to estimate ▪ Exposure to USA flag (vs. something (e.g., distance; control) age; cost) ▪ Vote intention and party ▪ Given initial starting affiliation measured estimate (high or low) ▪ USA Flag increased support ▪ Initial estimate anchors for McCain (vs Obama) and future guesses Republican party Which one do you think replicated? Replications in Klein et al., (2014) Can we replicate PS1030 content? ▪ Conceptual replications of findings taught on this module ▪ Links to participate on PS1030 Moodle Page ▪ Each study approx. 5 min Students participate in replication studies Study deadline – Friday 11th October, 9am Finding revealed and discussed in lectures Can we replicate PS1030 content? ▪ Conceptual replication teaching strategy in collaboration with University of Surrey ▪ Ongoing research aiming to examine effectiveness and student perceptions of this approach ▪ Two phases – link on PS1030 Moodle ▪ Phase 1 (deadline, Fri 4th Oct) ▪ Phase 2 (opens, Wed 11th Dec) ▪ Participation is voluntary ▪ Personality and Social Psychology are core components of a Psychology degree ▪ These areas examine situational and person-centred views of human behaviour, which both are important factors in many facets of human behaviour ▪ The reliability of findings should be questioned and better practice in science is required