Social Psychology Seventh Canadian Edition PDF

Social Psychology Seventh Canadian Edition Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Psychology Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-1 Chapter Outline...

Social Psychology Seventh Canadian Edition Chapter 1 Introduction to Social Psychology Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-1 Chapter Outline What is Social Psychology? The Power of the Situation Where Construals Come from: Basic Human Motives Social Psychology and Social Problems Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-2 What Is Social Psychology? (1 of 3) Social Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. Social psychologists are interested in studying how and why our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are shaped by our social environment. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-3 What Is Social Psychology? (2 of 3) What matters most is not so much the objective properties of the social environment, but rather how people perceive, comprehend, and interpret their social world. Social psychologists refer to these subjective interpretations of social phenomena as construals. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-4 What Is Social Psychology? (3 of 3) Social psychology is also an experiment-based science. Ideas and assumptions about social thinking and behaviour are tested by the objective and systematic collection of data using the scientific method. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-5 Social Psychology, Science, and Common Sense Social Psychologists and philosophers address similar questions about human nature, but social psychologists use controlled experiments to do so. Folk psychology and common sense are other ways of understanding human nature. But the conclusions reached by these methods are unreliable, oversimplified and contradictory. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-6 Social Psychology Compared with Sociology (1 of 2) Both share an interest in situational and societal influences on behaviour. They differ in their level of analysis. – Social Psychology studies individuals. – Sociology examines broad societal factors. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-7 Social Psychology Compared with Sociology (2 of 2) Social psychology seeks to identify universal properties of human nature that make everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-8 Social Psychology Compared with Personality Psychology (1 of 2) Both share an emphasis on individuals and the reasons for their behaviour. Social psychologists emphasize the psychological processes shared by most people that make them susceptible to social influence. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1-9 Social Psychology Compared with Personality Psychology (2 of 2) Personality psychologists focus on individual differences, or the aspects of people’s personalities that make them different from others. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 10 The Power of the Situation (1 of 4) The social environment has a powerful influence on human behavior. However, people often underestimate its effects on behaviour. In doing so, they commit the fundamental attribution error. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 11 Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to overestimate the extent to which a person’s behaviour is due to internal, dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of external, situational factors. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 12 The Power of the Situation (2 of 4) Underestimating the power of the situation, leads to oversimplification of complex situations. Oversimplification decreases our understanding of human behavior, and can also lead to victim blaming. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 13 Underestimating Situational Factors Study by Liberman, Samuels, and Ross (2004) Asked students to predict if fellow students would behave competitively or cooperatively in a strategy game. The students who played were told it was either a “Wall Street Game” or a “Community Game”. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 14 Liberman et al. (2004) Independent variables – How students were predicted by others to play (cooperatively or competitively) – Instructions given to players (Wall Street vs. Community Game) Dependent variable – Percentage choosing cooperative strategy Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 15 Results Players were mostly influenced by the name given to the game (the situational factor). Figure 1.1 What Influences How Cooperative People Will Be —Their Personalities or the Nature of the Social Situation? (Adapted from Liberman et al., 2004) Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 16 The Power of the Situation (3 of 4) Behaviorists seek to understand the power of the situation by considering the effect of reinforcing properties of the environment on human behavior. But to fully understand human behavior, we need to consider how individuals construe or perceive the situation. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 17 The Power of the Situation (4 of 4) The emphasis on subjective perceptions has its roots in a school of psychology called Gestalt psychology. Kurt Lewin, a founding father of modern experimental social psychology, applied Gestalt principles to social perception. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 18 Where Construal Comes From: Basic Human Motives The need to feel good about ourselves The need to be accurate about ourselves and our social world Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 19 The Self-Esteem Approach Self-esteem is an evaluation of one’s self-worth. Most of us have a need to maintain a positive view of themselves. So much so that we will often sacrifice the need to be accurate in order to protect our self-esteem. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 20 Self-Justification (1 of 2) We may alter our recollections of past actions of which we are unhappy, upset, or ashamed, in order to feel good about our past actions and decisions. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 21 Self-Justification (2 of 2) We may also modify our attitudes about painful situations we have chosen to endure, in order justify our participation to ourselves. E.g., Enduring an embarrassing initiation to join a club or team may cause individuals to increase their positive feelings about the club. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 22 Social Cognition Refers to how people think about themselves and their social world. – How people select, interpret, remember and use social information. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 23 The Social Cognition Approach The incorporation of human cognitive abilities into theories of social behaviour. E.g., reasoning abilities, decision-making, judgments about others, explanations of others’ behaviour, etc. Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 24 Social Psychology and Social Problems Much social psychological research has attempted to understand human social behavior and to find solutions to social problems. Sample topics: – Reducing hostility and prejudice – Examining the effects of violent television on behaviour – Discouraging unhealthy behaviours Copyright © 2022 Pearson Canada, Inc. 1 - 25