Introduction to Social Psychology

Introduction to Social Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.Yes, that is correct. Psychology is scientific. Psychology utilizes the same scientific process and methods used by disciplines such as biology and chemistry. Psychology seeks to understand both w...

Introduction to Social Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes.Yes, that is correct. Psychology is scientific. Psychology utilizes the same scientific process and methods used by disciplines such as biology and chemistry. Psychology seeks to understand both why people behave the way they do and how it happens. It looks at things like what happens in the brain when you run to catch a ball, why we choose certain words when we're in love, how we react to loud sounds, and why people may view others negatively. Social psychology - studies how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by their interactions with others. Unlike sociology, which focuses on larger groups and societies, social psychology zeroes in on the individual’s behavior in social contexts. Personality psychology, on the other hand, examines individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behavior. While social psychologists might look at how a person’s behavior changes in different social situations, personality psychologists explore how stable traits influence behavior. Social psychologists study behavior by observing how people act in different situations. They look at things like reactions to disasters, public displays of affection, or responses to new restaurants. Observing alone isn’t enough; researchers must clearly define what they’re studying, measure and record it, and often manipulate conditions to understand how these factors influence behavior. This approach helps them make informed conclusions about social behavior. Science has two main forms: basic and applied. Basic science aims to gain knowledge for its own sake, Example: Basic research might explore why people behave a certain way. Applied science seeks to solve real-world problems. Example: Uses basic research findings to address practical issues, like improving social programs or job interviews. Sociology - examines how social structures, institutions, and cultural norms influence and are influenced by social issues. It looks at how society as a whole impacts individuals and groups. Social Psychology - Social psychology explores how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence and actions of others. It often focuses on interpersonal dynamics and how people perceive and interact with each other. Personality Psychology - Personality psychology investigates how individual differences in personality traits influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It looks at how stable characteristics affect how people respond to various situations. Wilhelm Wundt - Established psychology as a science in 1879 by setting up the first laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. He used introspection (examining one's own thoughts) and emphasized experimental methods.  CHAPTER 1 Social psychology is a science that studies how situations influence us, with special attention to how people view and affect one another. More precisely, it is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another Social psychology lies at psychology’s boundary with sociology. Compared with sociology (the study of people in groups and societies), social psychology focuses more on individuals and performs more experiments. Compared with personality psychology, social psychology focuses less on differences among individuals and more on how people, in general, view and affect one another Social psychology focuses less on individuals than Our interpretations of others' actions can influence outcomes. personality psychology. It also has a shorter history. For example, happily married people might think a spouse’s harsh comment is due to a bad day, while unhappy couples might see it as a sign of meanness. This difference in interpretation can lead to different reactions: one might respond with understanding, while the other might react defensively, potentially worsening the situation. When $2 million spilled onto a street in Columbus, Ohio, most people took the opportunity to keep the money, with only $100,000 returned. Similar events in San Francisco and Toronto showed the same pattern. This raises questions about what drives people to be either helpful or selfish in such situations and whether cultural settings, like small towns, influence people to be more generous and less inclined to take advantage of others. In social psychology, the focus is on understanding how people interact with and influence one another in various social contexts. Here's a breakdown of what this involves: Social Relations - This examines how people relate to each other in different ways. It includes studying topics such as: Prejudice - Negative attitudes or beliefs about others based on their group membership. Aggression - Behavior intended to harm others. Attraction and Intimacy - How people form romantic and close relationships. Helping - Why people assist others in need. Social Influence - This looks at how individuals are affected by the presence and actions of others. Key areas include: Culture - How shared beliefs and practices of a group affect behavior. Pressures to Conform - How people change their behavior to match that of a group. Persuasion - How people are convinced to change their attitudes or behaviors. Groups of People - How being in a group affects individual behavior and decision-making. Social Thinking - This involves understanding how people perceive, believe, and make judgments about themselves and others. It covers: How We Perceive Ourselves and Others - The way we view ourselves and others in social contexts. social representations are the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people.  What We Believe - Our core beliefs and how they influence behavior. Judgments We Make - The decisions and evaluations we make about people and situations. Our Attitudes - Our general feelings and opinions about various aspects of life and people. THE BIG IDEAS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 1. We Construct our Social Reality We try to understand behavior by attributing it to specific causes, which helps us feel in control. Reactions vary based on our interpretations—like viewing a friend's insult as intentional or due to a bad day. We act like "intuitive scientists," often assuming negative traits based on others' actions. Our self-view also influences our emotions and behavior, shaping how we experience and interact with the world. You and I may react differently to a situation because we think differently. There is an objective reality out there, but we always view it through the lens of our beliefs and values. We explain people’s behavior, usually with enough speed and accuracy to suit our daily needs. When someone’s behavior is consistent and distinctive, we attribute that behavior to their personality. 2. Our Social Intuitions Are Often Powerful but Sometimes Perilous Our intuitive judgments heavily influence how we perceive risks, trust people, and form relationships. These quick, instinctive responses affect everyone, from presidents to jurors, and are guided by what we might call an “intuitive mind.” This intuitive processing is fast and automatic, often occurring beneath our conscious awareness. Psychological science has unveiled that our thinking operates on two levels: the intuitive and the deliberate. The intuitive system is fast and automatic, handling everyday decisions and reactions, while; The deliberate system is slower and more analytical. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman describes this in his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. While intuition helps us navigate life efficiently, it can also be misleading. For example, people often fear flying more than driving, despite the fact that flying is statistically much safer. Our intuitions can also mislead us about ourselves, such as overestimating how well we’ll handle future events or misjudging our own preferences. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our intuitive processes helps us make better decisions. While quick judgments can be useful, critical thinking is important, especially in situations where accuracy is crucial. By recognizing the limits of our intuitive responses, social psychologists aim to improve our decision-making and understanding. 3. Social Influences Shape Our Behavior Humans are inherently social beings, deeply connected to others through daily activities and digital interactions. For instance, University of Texas students spend nearly 30% of their time socializing, and platforms like Facebook, with 2 billion users, reflect our need for connection. Our behavior is influenced by social contexts, sometimes leading us to act against personal values or display extraordinary kindness during crises. Cultural factors also shape attitudes, such as views on same-sex relationships and norms around punctuality and dress. Social psychologist Hazel Markus emphasizes that we are adaptable, shaped by our environments, and our attitudes and actions are influenced by the social forces around us. 4. Personal Attitudes and Dispositions Also Shape Behavior Internal factors, such as our attitudes and personality traits, significantly impact how we behave. For example, our political beliefs can shape how we vote, and our views on alcohol can affect how we handle peer pressure to drink. Our attitudes also follow our behavior, which means we often believe strongly in what we have committed ourselves to or suffered for. Personality dispositions mean that people can react differently to the same situation. For instance, someone who has experienced political imprisonment might respond with bitterness and a desire for revenge, while another person, like Nelson Mandela, might focus on reconciliation and unity. In short, both attitudes and personality play crucial roles in influencing our behavior. 5. Social Behavior is Biologically Rooted Twenty-first-century social psychology shows that our behaviors are shaped by both biology and experience. Evolutionary psychology suggests that we inherit traits beneficial for survival and reproduction. We carry the genes of those whose traits enabled them to survive and reproduce. Our behavior, too, aims to send our DNA into the future. Thus, evolutionary psychologists ask how natural selection might shape our actions when dating and mating, hating and hurting, and caring and sharing. Nature also endows us with an enormous capacity to learn and to adapt to varied environments. We are sensitive and responsive to our social context. If every psychological event (every thought, every emotion, every behavior) is simultaneously a biological event, then we can also examine the neurobiology that underlies social behavior. Naturalist fallacy is the error of defining what is good in terms of what is observable. Our ability to learn and adapt makes us responsive to our social environment. Social neuroscience explores the connection between brain activity and behaviors like love and aggression, revealing how biology and social context interact. Understanding social behavior requires considering both biological factors, such as hormones and brain functions, and social influences. This integrated approach helps us grasp how our genetics and biology influence feelings and actions.. Hormones affect how we feel and act: A dose of testosterone decreases trust, and a dose of oxytocin increases it. Feeling left out elevates blood pressure. Social support strengthens the disease-fighting immune system. We are bio-psycho-social organisms. We reflect the interplay of our biological, psychological, and social influences. Social neuroscience - An interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of social and emotional processes and behaviors, and how these processes and behaviors affect our brain and biology. social neuroscience - neural bases of social and emotional process and behaviors  6. Social Psychology’s Principles Are Applicable in Everyday Life Social psychology is all about life — your life: your beliefs, your attitudes, your relationships. Social psychology reveals the hidden influences that shape our thoughts and actions, offering practical guidance on self-awareness, relationship building, and transforming negative behaviors into positive ones. Its principles can enhance health, inform judicial decisions, and promote sustainable practices. While it may not address life’s deeper questions of meaning or purpose, social psychology provides valuable frameworks for exploring beliefs, attitudes, and relationships. This chapter will examine how the values of social psychologists influence their research and how their methods can enhance our understanding of social behavior. Perceived Obviousness - Social psychology explores patterns in human behavior that might seem intuitive but are not always accurate or universally applicable. For instance, research might show that less-educated soldiers adapt poorly to stress, contrary to what common sense might suggest. Hindsight Bias - also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon. It is the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out. This bias leads us to believe we knew the results all along, making the findings of psychological research appear less surprising after the fact. Theory - An integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events. Theories are ideas that summarize and explain facts. Values enter the picture with Facts - are agreed-upon statements about what we observe. our choice of research topics. What makes a good theory? 1. It effectively summarizes many observations 2. Makes clear predictions that we can use to a. confirm or modify the theory b. generate new research, and c. suggest practical applications Hypothesis - A testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events. Hypotheses serve several purposes: 1. First, they allow us to test a theory by suggesting how we might try to falsify it. 2. Second, predictions give direction to research and sometimes send investigators looking for things they might never have considered. 3. Third, the predictive feature of good theories can also make them practical. Random Sampling - Survey procedure in which every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of inclusion. With random sampling, any subgroup of people — blondes, joggers, liberals, women — will tend to be represented in the sample in the same proportion they are represented in the total population. Nonrandom sampling causes the most problems when the sampling is skewed by interest in the topic or other factors that might strongly affect the outcome. If you ask fans at a soccer game, “What is your favorite sport?” their answers will be unlikely to represent that of the national population. Low response rate - a sample can also be unrepresentative if few people respond to a poll — known as having a low response rate — and the people who do not respond differ in important ways from those who do. Sample size - is the total number of participants in a study. Framing - The way a question or an issue is posed; framing can influence people’s decisions and expressed opinions. Correlational research - The study of the naturally occurring relationships among variables. Using a coefficient known as r, correlations quantify the degree of relationship between two factors, from −1.0 (as one factor score goes up, the other goes down) to 0 (indicating no relationship) to +1.0 (as one factor goes up, the other also goes up). For example, self reports of self-esteem and depression correlate negatively (about −.60). Identical twins’ intelligence scores correlate positively (above +.80). The great strength of correlational research is that it tends to occur in real-world settings where we can examine factors such as race, gender, and social status — factors that we cannot manipulate in the laboratory. It's great disadvantage lies in the ambiguity of the results. This point is so important that even if it fails to impress people the first 25 times they hear it, it is worth repeating a 26th time: Knowing that two variables change together (correlate) enables us to predict one when we know the other, but correlation does not specify cause and effect. Knowing that two variables change together (correlate) enables us to predict one when we know the other, but correlation does not specify cause and effect. Advanced correlational techniques can, however, suggest cause–effect relationships. Time-lagged correlations reveal the sequence of events (for example, by indicating whether changed achievement more often precedes or follows changed self-esteem). Experimental Research - Studies that seek clues to cause–effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent variables) while controlling others (holding them constant). Random Assignment - The process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition. (Note the distinction between random assignment in experiments and random sampling in surveys. Random assignment helps us infer cause and effect. Random sampling helps us generalize to a population). Random assignment eliminates all extraneous factors. Independent variable - The experimental factor that a researcher manipulates. Dependent Variable - The variable being measured, so called because it may depend on manipulations of the independent variable. Replication - Repeating a research study, often with different participants in different settings, to determine whether a finding could be reproduced. Replication = confirmation. Meta-analysis - A “study of studies” that statistically summarizes many studies on the same topic. The emphasis on summarizing the results across many different studies IS to discover the average effect. Meta-analysis can work along with replication studies to discover which effects appear across many studies including many people; as you learned in the section on sample size, studies with larger samples are more reliable. 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. Ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association (2017), the Canadian Psychological Association (2017), and the British Psychological Society (2018) mandate investigators to: 1. Tell potential participants enough about the experiment to enable their informed consent. 2. Be truthful. Use deception only if essential and justified by a significant purpose; do not deceive about aspects of the study that would influence their willingness to participate. 3. Protect participants (and bystanders, if any) from harm and significant discomfort. 4. Keep information about individual participants confidential. 5. 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. Deception - In research, a strategy by which participants are misinformed or misled about the study’s methods and purposes. Demand Characteristics - Cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected. In subtle ways, too, the experimenter’s words, tone of voice, and gestures may Experimenters standardize their instructions to call forth desired responses. subjects in order to minimize demand characteristics. Informed Consent - An ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate. Debriefing - In social psychology, the post experimental explanation of a study to its participants. Debriefing usually discloses any deception and often queries participants regarding their understandings and feelings. The experimenter should be informative and considerate enough that people leave feeling at least as good about themselves as when they came in. Better yet, the participants should be compensated by having learned something. When treated respectfully, few participants mind being deceived, and psychological after-effects are few. Generalizing from Laboratory to Life Social psychology connects everyday experiences with laboratory research, illustrating a dynamic relationship between real-world observations and controlled experiments. For example, studies on violent television and aggression emerge from daily concerns, refining our understanding and informing policy. However, laboratory research, while insightful, operates in a simplified environment that may not capture real-life complexities, limiting the direct application of findings. Many studies involve participants from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) cultures, which can restrict generalizability. Despite these limitations, some psychological processes are consistent across cultures, suggesting that while behaviors may differ, the underlying social forces are often universal. Thus, while laboratory research is essential for grasping psychological principles, applying these findings to real-world situations requires careful consideration of their context and constraints. Opposites attract. False. Social psychology research generally supports the idea that "birds of a feather flock together." People are more likely to form close relationships with others who share similar attitudes, values, and interests. While some differences can complement each other, similarity is often a stronger predictor of attraction and relationship satisfaction.