Module 1 U1-2 - 2 U1.docx

**MODULE 1 Social Psychology: Nature, Science and Value** [Unit 1. Social Psychology as a Science] *What is Social Psychology?* **Gordon Allport**: The scientific study of how individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people. Four Key aspects of the definition: 1....

**MODULE 1 Social Psychology: Nature, Science and Value** [Unit 1. Social Psychology as a Science] *What is Social Psychology?* **Gordon Allport**: The scientific study of how individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people. Four Key aspects of the definition: 1. **Influenced by other people** - Social psychology is the study of how other people affect us. This "social" aspect is probably the single most important thing about social psychology and is true for all research in the field. So long as someone is being affected in any way by other people, including their imagined presence, the situation is relevant to social psychology. **2. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors** - Social psychologists are interested in how other people affect every aspect of individual's lives including thought (cognitions), feelings (affect), and behaviors. A. Thoughts (cognitions) -- how individuals process information about other people and how they store the information in their memory. B. Feelings (affect) -- how people form prejudice against out groups and their affection for friends and lovers. C. Behavior -- to understand why various kinds of actions toward other people occur or do not occur. 2. **Individual's perspective** - Social psychologists take the perspective of individuals in a social setting, rather than focusing only on objective features of the situation. 3. **Scientific study** - Social psychologists rely on direct tests of their ideas. Scientific evidence is necessary before a proposal will be taken seriously; it is not enough merely to speculate about an event and generate a plausible explanation. *How do other people affect us?* **Herman Melville** -- "Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads." Social Psychology aims to illuminate those threads and it does so by asking questions that have intrigued us all: ✓ How much of our social world is just in our heads? ✓ Would you be cruel if ordered? ✓ To help, or to help oneself? A common thread runs through these questions, they all deal with how people view and affect one another. And that is what SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY is all about. Today, the expanding field of social psychology emphasizes: **✓ The Power of the Situation** - We are creatures of our cultures and contexts. Evil situations sometimes overwhelm good intentions, inducing people to follow falsehoods or comply with cruelty. **✓ The Power of the Person** - We are also the creators of our social worlds. If a group is evil, its members contribute to (or resist) it's being so. Facing the same situation, different people may react differently. **✓ The Importance of Cognition** - People react differently partly because they think differently. Social reality is something we construct subjectively. Our beliefs about ourselves also matter. **✓ The Applicability of Social Psychological Principles** Social psychologists are more and more applying their concepts and methods to current social concerns, such as emotional well-being, health, courtroom decision making, prejudice reduction, environmental design and conservation, and the quest for peace. **\* SOCIOLOGY**- Provides general laws and theories about societies, not individuals **\* SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY-** Studies the psychological processes people have in common with one another that make them susceptible to social influence. **\* PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY-** Studies the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from one another. **HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY** Social Psychology emerged as a field distinct from other disciplines and from other areas of psychology sometime in the middle 20th century, perhaps most clearly during the 1950's. Important social psychological studies had been done prior to this time, but few specialized theories had appeared, and the field's reliance on the experimental method had not solidified. Thus, "modern" social psychology has existed only 50 or 60 years. Ancient Greeks: - **Plato** -- generally considered the father of Western philosophy, suggested that people experience the world in three distinct ways: in thought, in emotion, and in action. Thus, the triumvirate of cognitive (thoughts), affective (feelings), and behavioral aspects of experience is very old. ✓ Elements of the Self -- Appetitive, Spirited, Mind ✓ Allegory of the Cave ✓ True Lie Plato's "crowd mind" speculations: "even when the wisest individuals when assembled into a crowd might be transformed into an irrational mob." - **Aristotle** -- one of Plato's students, argued forcefully that living a good life and achieving personal happiness are both dependent on providing benefits to other people in addition to the self. Aristotle's view was that the connection with others forms an essential part ofwho we are. ✓ This idea is consistent with social psychological work on the self-concept, which has shown that our social relationships are important components of how we define ourselves. ✓ The concept of social norms can be traced back to one of the greatest ideas of philosophy: the "Social Contract" -- the idea that to survive and prosper, human groups had to develop some basic rules of social and moral conduct. - **Middle 19th Century** -- field of psychology separated from philosophy and became a distinct discipline. - **1898** -- An American psychologist, NORMAN TRIPLETT, conducted the first American empirical study that could be classified as social psychological in nature. Triplett was curious about a pattern he noticed in bicycle racing times. His topic became known as "social facilitation." - **1908** -- Publication of the first two textbook bearing the name Social Psychology authored by an English Psychologist WILLIAM McDOUGAL and an American sociologist EDWARD ROSS. - **Early decades of the 20th century** -- view on BEHAVIORISM strengthened. - **1930's to 1940's** -- two critical events occurred that had the most important impact in the development of Social Psychology: ✓ Great Depression in the U.S. ✓ World War II - **KURT LEWIN** who is often regarded as the father of modern social psychology was instrumental in establishing social psychology as a respected field of scientific inquiry. - **1950's to 1960's** -- Social Psychology flourished. - **1970's** -- scientific maturity. - **1970 to present** -- recognition of gender and racial bias; culture specificity. **MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY** **1. Socio-Cultural Perspective** - Social behavior reside in the social group that we find ourselves going along ''social currents.'' ✓ "CRAZES" - products of the ''mob mind.'' - an irrational unanimity of interest, feeling, opinion or deed in a body of communicating individuals which results from suggestion and imitation. ✓ ''Social Norms'' -- rules about appropriate behavior. ✓ ''Culture'' -- set of beliefs, customs, habit, language shared by people living in a particular time and place. **2. Evolutionary Perspective** - Human social behaviors are rooted in physical and psychological predispositions that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. ✓ ''Natural Selection'' -- process by which characters help animals survive are passed on to their offspring. **3. Social Learning Perspective** ✓ Social behavior is driven by each individual's past learning experiences with reward and punishment. ✓ Emphasize unique experiences in a particular family, school, or peer group. **4. Social Cognitive Perspective** - Social behavior is driven by each person's subjective interpretations of events in the social world. ✓ Kurt Lewin -- a person's interpretation of a situation is related to his goals at the time. ✓ Interaction between inner experience and the outside world. [Unit 2. Research Methods in Social Psychology] Recalling the Scientific Method Research Methods in Social Psychology - **Laboratory Research** The use of complex experimental designs, with multiple independent and/or dependent variables, has grown increasingly popular because they permit researchers to study both the main and combined effects of several factors on a range of related situations (recall experimental designs in Experimental Psychology). Moreover, with the technological advancements and the growth of social neuroscience, an increasing number of researchers now integrate biological markers (e.g., hormones) or use neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) in their research designs to better understand the biological mechanisms that underlie social processes. Social psychologists often venture into that ethical gray area when they design experiments that engage intense thoughts and emotions. - **Mundane Realism** -- degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations. - **Experimental Realism** -- degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants. - **Field Research** Social psychology is primarily focused on the social context (groups, families, and cultures) so, researchers commonly leave the laboratory to collect data on life as it is actually lived. To do so, they use a variation of the laboratory experiment, called a field experiment. An experiment that occurs outside of the lab and in a real world situation. A field experiment is similar to a lab experiment except it uses real-world situations, such as people shopping at a grocery store. One of the major differences between field experiments and laboratory experiments is that the people in field experiments do not know they are participating in research, so---in theory---they will act more naturally. Demand Characteristics - clues that seem to "demand" certain behavior from participants. Usually, experimenters typically standardize their instructions or even use a computer to present them to avoid demand characteristics. Ethics of Experimentation: Ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association (2010), the Canadian Psychological Association (2000), and the British Psychological Society (2009) mandate research experimenters to: ✓ tell potential participants enough about the experiment to enable their informed consent. ✓ be truthful. Use deception only if essential and justified by a significant purpose and not "about aspects that would affect their willingness to participate." ✓ protect participants (and bystanders, if any) from harm and significant discomfort. ✓ treat information about the individual participants confidentially. ✓ Debrief participants. Fully explain the experiment afterward, including any deception. The only exception to this rule is when the feedback would be distressing, such as by making participants realize they have been stupid or cruel. The Different Methods  Between 1961 and 1965, Milgram carried out a series of experiments at Yale University in which human subjects were instructed to administer what they thought were progressively more painful electric shocks to another human being to determine to what extent people would obey orders even when they knew them to be painful and immoral. The experiments came under heavy criticism at the time but were ultimately vindicated by the scientific community.  **3. Correlational Method** ✓ To establish whether two or more variables are associated or related to each other. ✓ Variables are measured, after which a correlational analysis (ex. Pearson r) is conducted to determine the relationship. ✓ The range of the correlation coefficient or r = zero to one (0 to +1 or 0 to -1). 0 = no relationship 1 = perfect relationship +1 = direct relationship ( as X increases = Y increases OR as X decreases = Y decreases) -1 = inverse relationship ( as X increases = Y decreases OR as X decreases = Y increases) ✓ We can also test for the significance of r by checking the critical r value required that depends on the sample size. ✓ One advantage is that it focuses on the investigation of naturally occurring variables or those that tend to occur in the real-world setting. ✓ A disadvantage is that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. In search of possible links (correlation) between socioeconomic status and health, Douglas Carroll and his colleagues (1994) ventured into Glasgow, Scotland's old graveyards and noted the life spans of 843 individuals. As an indication of status, they measured the height of the grave pillars, reasoning that height reflected cost and therefore affluence. Their results show that status (taller grave markers) predicted longer lives. Carroll and colleagues report that other researchers, using contemporary data, have confirmed the status-- longevity correlation. *[Note on Correlation vs Causation]* Correlations indicate a relationship, but that relationship is not necessarily one of cause and effect. Correlational research allows us to predict, but it cannot tell us whether one variable (such as social status) causes another (such as longevity). **4. Survey Method** ✓ In this diverse world, survey research offers itself as an invaluable tool for social psychologists to study individual and group differences in people's feelings, attitudes, or behaviors. ✓ Written questionnaire, personal interviews, or focus groups. ✓ Consider the instrument and sampling. ✓ Sampling is an essential issue because erroneous conclusions may be made if the sample is not representative of the population being studied. ✓ A major disadvantage is the issue of accuracy. **5. Archival Method** ✓ Written records (ex. public and private documents), statistical archives, and physical traces of human beings are systematically studied in lieu of actual behaviors. ✓ Records are analyzed for a new purpose. ✓ An advantage is that it allows hypothesis testing over a wider range of time and societies. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-- **MODULE 2: Social Perception** [Unit 1. Social Perception] Why do we need to make impressions? Because they simplify life and contribute significantly to a better understanding of other people and events. This is the concept of social perception or social cognition -- essentially how we think about the people, events and things around us. Sometimes, we engage in **Object perception** where we attach meanings to stimulus objects like perhaps a red backdrop signifying war or revolution or a white dove signifying peace. More often than not, we engage in person perception. This is how we come to know about other people's intentions, attitudes, emotions, ideas and possible behavior so that we can eventually describe them, explain their behavior and form and change our impressions, opinions and feelings about them. For example, when we talk about the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, we may have formed an opinion about who she is, why she acts that way, what she is passionate about and so on and so forth. **Person perception** helps us to interact with others more seamlessly. Our perceptions determine our behavior. If we think that our classmate dislikes us, we tend to adjust and react accordingly. If we think (more like feel) that somebody favors us, we tend to be more receptive of them. *STRATEGIES / INITIAL PROCESSING* The thing is: people value different things so what is important to them may not be the same for others. What then happens? People attend to different things. Their attention depends on: a\) Individual concerns b\) Physical characteristics of the stimulus c\) Their preoccupations d\) Anything really! So in the same way, when a new girl classmate walks in, some boys may be looking at her lovely face. Some girls may be checking out her fashion. Some may be sizing up her personality. The teacher may be gauging her intelligence. There's one stimulus (your new classmate) but multiple inferences depending on what is important to the one who is perceiving. *What is Social Perception?* **There are strategies for INITIAL PROCESSING:** **1. Schemas** -- are mental representations of objects or categories (THINK OF PROTOTYPES in COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY) which contain the central features of the object / category and assumptions about how the object or category works. e.g. She must be an elitist. **2. Selective attention** -- focusing on salient aspects. I like her poreless appearance (while disregarding the chicken skin on her underarms perhaps). **3. Categorization** -- for example, gender, race or ethnicity. She looks like she's Tagalog. Why do our brains do these things? Because we need to simplify life and simplify our assumptions. Sometimes, we can be right in our assumptions. **FAULTY ASSUMPTIONS** (where we get the idea yan tuloy, mali ka, assuming ka kasi!). Understand that limited information in limited interactions become the basis for forming impressions, and therefore can be WRONG. These are: **1. Temporal extension** -- a momentary characteristic is regarded as an enduring attribute. e.g. A Louisian makes a beeline for his friends in the front of the line at the jeepney terminal while you are patiently waiting at the very back. He is therefore somebody you can never trust. **2. Resemblance to familiar person** e.g. Your mother's workmate looks like Mocha Uson, therefore, she is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. Your classmate looks like Manny Pacquiao, he must be filthy rich and charitable. **3. Categorization / classification** e.g. Your co-passenger in the jeep is wearing a jersey, has a towel hanging from his arm, has an arm band. He must be a varsity player. **4. Inference by analogy** **a. Metaphorical generalization** -- body parts signify personal characteristics because of the meanings attached to the physical characteristic. e.g. Makapal ang kilay / thick eyebrows = domineering; wide forehead = highly intelligent. **b. Functional inference** -- personality is based on the functioning of a physical attribute. e.g. broad shoulders = good protector; wide mouth = fast talker FORMING IMPRESSIONS We form impressions by integrating and organizing various sources of information and inferences about someone into a consistent meaningful whole / an overall judgment. What factors contribute to this? **A. Cues in Impression Formation** Other person's behavior or characteristics Characteristics of the perceiver Situational context You are checking out the displays in Fully Booked when a heavyset woman steps on your left foot. You yelp in pain and probably have a knee-jerk reaction BUT you ask yourself for a possible explanation too. "Why did she do that?" If you see that there's a lot of space, you'll probably think, "How rude?" If you notice that the store is crammed and that the woman is in a hurry or that you're blocking the way, you'll probably think she didn't do it on purpose. If she apologizes profusely, you think, maybe she could actually be kind but clumsy. **1. Verbal cues** -- think of the statements you have often heard from the President of the Philippines. How does his verbal cues affect your perception of him? **2. Nonverbal cues** -- non-verbal cues can say so much more than our words. These can include interpersonal distance (how far we are from a person we talk to), facial expressions, paralanguage, gestures, length of gaze, posture, tone of voice and the like. **a. Physical Appearance** -- Physical appearance matters most at first, but its appeal is less noticeable when people get more acquainted with one another. Height, physique, weight and facial features are also noticeable. **b**. **Facial Expressions** -- There are cross-cultural / universally understood facial expressions. From an evolutionary perspective, these were genetically programmed and had survival value for our species. They can help us predict behavioral intentions (Will he kill me?) and help understand how others interpret the world (Why are they so scared?). People are most sensitive to fear and anger facial expressions as these are danger cues. **c. Paralanguage** -- this refers to pitch, loudness, rhythm, inflections, and hesitations that convey information. "Sandali lang!" when said quickly and with an assertive tone is different from a gentle "sandali lang." **d. Eye contact** -- looking away -- stops the listener from responding or interrupting, looking up signals the end of a thought, lack of eye contact means someone is not interested in what we are saying. In some Asian cultures, looking at someone straight in the eye can be disrespectful while not looking at someone is disrespectful for other cultures. **e. Gestures** -- the meaning of gestures varies according to context, the person and the culture. There are direct and straightforward gestures while there are subtle ones.