Introduction to Social Psychology PDF

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY J.K. Rowling story A few years after graduating from college, things were not going well for Joyce R. As she describes it: I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is pos...

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY J.K. Rowling story A few years after graduating from college, things were not going well for Joyce R. As she describes it: I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew. In the face of all this personal and economic failure, many people might have stopped trying. But Joyce didn’t passively accept her fate. Besides struggling to put bread on the table for her young daughter, she worked long hours into the night, using her knowledge of classic literature, to write a children’s novel. Writing a novel is not a very practical formula for economic success. There are approximately 493,000 books published in English every year, and many more that are written but never find a publisher. In fact, Joyce’s novel seemed to be just another one of her life’s failures: It was rejected by 12 publishers. But an editor at the thirteenth publishing house accepted the book and offered her a £1,500 advance as well as some practical advice: He gently informed her that she was not likely to make any money writing children’s books and suggested that she instead get a day job (Blais, 2005). But Joyce’s book defied the unfavorable odds and did quite well in the bookstores. Joyce, rather than taking a day job, wrote a series of follow-up books, which also sold handsomely. Indeed, in a few short years the formerly poverty- stricken single mom was listed on Fortune magazine’s list of billionaires. You may know Joyce as J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. It might not have been surprising if Ms. Rowling, having experienced poverty, had hoarded her hardearned cash. Many people who start making a lot of money are suddenly shocked at how many dollars they pay in taxes and begin to seek tax shelters, or to consider migrating to a place with lower taxes. But not J.K. Rowling. Not only did she proudly pay her taxes, she began giving large portions of the rest of her money away. In just one single contribution, she once wrote a check for $15,000,000. And there were many, many more such checks. Indeed, she was giving away so much that she was removed from Fortune magazine’s list of billionaires. After her great financial success, Ms. Rowling was invited to give a speech to the graduates of Harvard University, amongst whom were many future millionaires and world leaders. She implored them to use their intelligence, capacity for hard work, and education to work not just for themselves, but to improve the plight of the thousands and millions of powerless people suffering throughout the world. J.K. Rowling’s story raises a number of interesting mysteries. One view of human nature foundational to many of the social sciences is that our minds are designed to be selfish—to make decisions that serve our own selfinterest. If so, why are some people, like J.K. Rowling, so generous with their money and so concerned about the welfare of others? All throughout this course, we will explore not only broad questions about human nature, but also everyday mysteries about love and hatred, generosity and aggression, and heroism and betrayal. Why do we react generously and lovingly toward some of the people we meet (and in some situations), but defensively or aggressively toward others? What are the roots of romance versus parental love? What causes some marriages, like J.K. Rowling’s, to implode after a few months, and others to flourish for a lifetime? How can we get our coworkers to cooperate with us? Why do some people make better leaders? How are our reactions to other people affected by our cultural background, by our early experiences, by our sex, and by neurochemical events in our brains? Most of us try to solve mysteries like these in our minds, by devouring news stories and books and chatting with friends about our feelings and opinions Social psychologists go a step further in their detective work; they apply the systematic methods of scientific inquiry DEFINITION OF TERMS: Social and Psychology as separate terms then put it all together. PSYCHOLOGY - is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. - Psychology is scientific - as Psychology utilizes the same scientific process and methods used by disciplines such biology and chemistry - study of behavior and mental processes - Psychology desires to not only understand why people engage in the behavior that they do, but also how. - What affects the words we choose to say when madly in love or angry, how do we interpret an event as benign or a threat when a loud sound is heard, and what makes an individual view another group in less than favorable terms? SOCIAL - is defined as relating to society or its organization (Oxford Dictionaries online) - -tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others (Merriam - Webster dictionary) SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes as they relate to how people interact with, or relate to, others. - Our starting point is on the person, and not society. - The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (Division 8 of the American Psychological Association;) defines social psychology as the “scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.” - The study of social psychology occurs in a social context meaning the individual as they relate to others and is affected by others. - On the other hand, Personality and social psychology go hand -in - hand and so we should define personality psychology PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY - is the scientific study of individual differences in people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior, and how these come together as a whole. - A social psychologist may investigate whether an individual helped another person due to a situational or personal factor, - while a personality psychologist would examine whether a certain personality type is more likely to make situational or dispositional attributions or look for traits that govern helping behavior HOW DO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGISTS DO THEIR WORK? 1. Observation - Psychology like any other science operates by observing the environment around. - we take note of other’s actions and behaviors in relation what’s happening around us 2. Measure and Record the Behavior - Ex: If we want to study public displays of affection (PDAs) we have to clearly state what these displays are or how they will appear, so we know for sure that they have occurred. This might be a gentle touch, an embrace, a passionate kiss - Once we know what we are observing, we can record its occurrence. 3. Manipulation - - scientists seek to manipulate the conditions in which people experience the world to see what the effect is on their social behavior. - they manipulate the conditions under which such behavior may occur so that they can make causal statements about social behavior. - This is the hallmark of experimentation. UNEXPECTED ORIGINS (PHILOSOPHY) - Psychology arose out of philosophy, which is defined as the love and pursuit of knowledge. - Philosophy divides itself into four main branches, each posing questions psychology addresses today as well. METAPHYSICS - is the study of the nature of reality, what reality is like, what exists in the world, and how it is ordered. - Key questions center on the existence of a higher power, what truth is, what a person is, whether all events are governed by fate or we have a free will, and causality or whether one event causes another.  EPISTEMOLOGY - is the study of knowledge and seeks to understand how we know what we know. ETHICS - concerns matters related to what we ought to do or what is best to do and asks what is good, what makes actions or people good, and how should we treat others. LOGIC - focuses on the nature and structure of arguments and determining whether a piece of reasoning is good or bad. HOW DO THESE FOUR BRANCHES LINK TO PSYCHOLOGY? Our field tries to understand people and how their mind works. We wonder why we do what we did (as you will come to see we call this an attribution) and look for causal relationships. In terms of fate vs. free will, we ask if what we will be throughout life is determined in childhood, and during a time when we cannot make many choices for ourselves Example: Consider an adult who holds prejudicial views of another group (badjaos). Did growing up in a house where such attitudes were taught and reinforced on a near daily basis make it for certain a person would express the same beliefs later in life? Issues such as this show how psychology links to philosophy. As well, we study the elements of cognition such as schemas and propositions, how we learn, and types of thinking which falls under epistemology. Psychologists also study the proper and improper use of punishment, moral development, and obedience all of which fall under the branch of philosophy called ethics as well as decision making and the use of heuristics which involves logic. Philosophy has several worldviews which have played a direct role in the development of our field and some of its key ideas DUALISM - Is the idea that questions whether the mind and body are distinct from one another. - Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) tackled this issue. - Before Descartes, it was believed that the mind influenced the body, but the body had little effect on the mind. - Descartes on the other hand said that both mind and body affected one another. - This brought about change in what was studied and how it was studied. - Attention shifted away from the soul to the scientific study of the mind and mental processes. MECHANISM - Underlying philosophy of the 17th century and remained influential until the mid-1900s - It proposed that the world is a great machine. All-natural processes were thought to be mechanically determined and so could be explained by the laws of physics and chemistry. - Due to mechanism, observation and experimentation became key features of science, with measurement following closely behind. - People were thought to be like machines and mechanical contraptions called automata were created to imitate human movement and action. These machines were incredibly precise and regular.1 DETERMINISM - The idea that every act is determined or caused by past events and so it is possible to predict changes that will occur in the operation of the universe. - Determinism leads us to casual statements and in research, we seek to make such statements. It tells us that if A occurs, B follows. Prediction is the key here. REDUCTIONISM - Breaking things down to their basic components which is the hallmark of science itself.  EMPIRICISM - The idea that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience. UNEXPECTED ORIGINS (PHYSIOLOGY) - It is important to note that psychology did not just rise out of philosophy, but also from physiology. - The mid to late 1800s provided many remarkable findings about the functioning of the human brain. - During this time, we discovered what the cerebrum, midbrain, cerebellum, and medulla did. - Thanks to the work of Flourens, began using electrical stimulation and the extirpation method - determining function by destroying a specific structure in the brain and then observing changes in behavior. - Discovered white and gray matter courtesy of Franz Josef Gall. - Realized that the nervous system was a conductor of electrical impulses and determined that nerve fibers were composed of neurons and synapses. - Key figures included people like von Helmholtz who studied the speed of neural impulse and correctly determined it to be 90 feet per second. - Weber who proposed the concepts of two-point thresholds (a test that determines whether or not a person can distinguish two separate points of contact on the skin)and the just noticeable difference (jnd), - For example, two lights may be illuminated at the same time. The difference threshold is reached when an observer can tell that one is brighter than the other. - Fechner who founded the field of psychophysics and proposed the absolute and difference thresholds - Difference thresholds are differentiated from absolute thresholds in that the former refers to the smallest difference that can be detected between two stimuli, while the latter refers to the minimum amount of change required to detect a stimulus - These figures showed how topics central to the new science of psychology could be studied empirically, provided a method for investigating the relationship between mind and body, and gave psychology precise and elegant measurement techniques. THE BIRTH OF THE FIELD PSYCHOLOGY WHILHELM WUNDT - The field of psychology did not formally organize itself until 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt founded his laboratory at Leipzig, Germany. - Wundt studied sensation and perception and began experimental psychology as a science. - He employed the use of introspection, or the examination of one’s own mental stage, which is used today after being almost discarded as a method by the behaviorists throughout the first half of the 20th century. - This method gave him precise experimental control over the conditions under which introspection was used. - He established rigorous training of his observers and focused on objective measures provided using sophisticated laboratory equipment, in keeping with the traditions of physiology. - Wundt’s brand of psychology would give rise to the school of thought called Structuralism in the Unied States under Titchener and eventually stirred a rebellion in the form of Behaviorism and Gestalt psychology. THE BIRTH OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY So, who might be considered the founder of social psychology? A few different answers are possible, starting with Norman Triplett who late in the 19th century published the first empirical research article in social psychology. He was interested in whether the presence of others might affect a person’s performance on a task.To answer the question, he compared how fast children would reel when alone and when competing with another child.His study showed that the “ bodily presence of another contestant participating simultaneously in the race serves to liberate latent energy not ordinarily available. Another candidate for founder is Maximilien Ringelmann, a French agricultural engineer, who conducted some of the earliest experiments in social psychology dating back to the 1880s. He found that people become less productive as the size of their group increases. He called this the “Ringelmann effect.” The findings of these two individuals are interesting, and contradictory.In the case of Triplett, the presence of others improves performance, but Ringelmann showed that the presence of others hinders performance. So, which is it? As you will come to see it is both. What Triplett described is today called social facilitation while Ringelmann’s work is called social loafing. One final individual is worth mentioning. Kurt Lewin, a noted Gestalt psychologist, proposed the idea of field theory and the life space, and is considered the founder of modern social psychology. He did work in the area of group dynamics and emphasized social action research on topics such as integrated housing, equal employment opportunities, and the prevention of prejudice in childhood.He promoted sensitivity training for educators and business leaders. WESTERN HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY NORTH AMERICAN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY A typical North American approach to social psychology is found in David Myer’s (2010) textbook, one of the most popular textbooks of social psychology today.It conceptualizes social psychology as three major domains: 1. SOCIAL THINKING - The self, social beliefs, and judgements - Behavior and attitudes 2. SOCIAL INFLUENCE - Genes, culture, and gender - Conformity, persuasion, and group influence 3. SOCIAL RELATIONS - Prejudice, aggression, attraction, helping, conflict, and peacemaking In the history of social psychology, several theories have become the cornerstone of North American social psychology. SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY (FESTINGER, 1954) We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves with other people We usually seek to compare ourselves with someone whom we believe is similar to us (peer groups or referent groups) upwards social comparison - we compare ourselves with people whom we deem to be socially better than us in some way (role models) Downward social comparison - acts in the opposite direction, we compare ourselves with those who are worse than us, mostly to enhance our self-esteem. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY (FESTINGER, 1957) A person may experience psychological discomfort or dissonance when there are inconsistencies between one’s cognition, which may be attitudes, beliefs or awareness of one’s behavior. Proposes that people have motivation to reduce dissonance or tension by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Cognitive dissonance theory is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories. To reduce tension, people rationalize their behavior PSYCHOLOGY OF ATTITUDES - The concept of attitude is probably the most distinctive and indispensable concept in American social psychology (Allport, 1935). - Social psychology was once defined as the study of attitudes (Fazio & Olsen, 2007) - The target of an attitude may be a person (actor-politician), concept (death penalty), or behaviors (smoking). - An attitude is expressed when one agrees or disagrees with the death penalty, likes or dislikes and actor-politician, or loves or hates smoking - The tri-componential view of attitudes conceptualizes attitude as a single entity with three components: 1. Cognitive- composed of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs (e.g, Filipinos are peace-loving) 2. Affective- the feeling and emotional component (e.g., I like Filipinos); 3. Behavioral- which are action related (e.g., I will marry a Filipino). EUROPEAN HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Social psychologists from Europe, such as Serge Moscovici and Henri Tajfel, criticized American social psychology for being too experimental and narrow in focus. North American social psychology was critiqued for its focus on individuals and sometimes interindividual influences, consequently losing the social in social psychology. Social psychology in Europe proposed the return of social or society back into social psychology. Thus, European social psychology is known for focusing on intergroup relations. This focus on social groups is lacking in many North American concepts. Thus, there seems to be two kinds of social psychology: - Psychological social psychology - Sociological social psychology Both contribute to an understanding of social behavior. Historically, European social psychologists have consistently given greater emphasis to the social contextual dimensions of behavior than have their North American counterparts. In recent decades, this has led to the formulation of distinct theories. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY (TAJFEL & TURNER, 1979) - Was developed to understand intergroup discrimination - They proposed that the groups to which people belonged were an important source of pride and gave us a sense of social identity or belongingness. - To enhance our self-esteem we boost the status of our group - Is used to explain why people are biased in favor of their own groups and may discriminate against other groups. - Example: BSAT and BolHigh may have positive views about themselves but have negative views about each other SOCIAL REPRESENTATION (MOSCOVICI, 1961) - Are socially shared ideas about the world around us. - For people to understand each other, they need a common or socially shared meaning about objects and ideas. - These shared meanings are produced through talk and guide action. - For example: a disaster may be socially represented as a weather-related phenomenon. Another example: another representation of a disaster is that it is God’s punishment to sinful people. These two different social representations of the same phenomenon may produce different actions among groups of people. MINORITY INFLUENCE - Moscovici and colleagues pointed out that many major social movements have been started by individuals and small groups - So, without an outspoken minority there would be no social change at all.  - For the minority to be effective in persuading the majority, the smaller group must remain consistent with its position. - This position consistency evokes perception of confidence and courage and may lead to defections from the majority. - This minority influence theorizing is different from American social psychology that focuses on conformity and the influence of the majority. ASIAN HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - The Asian social psychology has been branded as cultural in the sense that European social psychology is seen as “societal” and American social psychology as “individual” - Contribution of Asian social psychologists are generally three areas: a. Indigenous research b. Culture c. Social behavior With most studies addressing cultural idiosyncrasies - Chinese social psychologist Ho(1993), proposed a framework for Asian social psychology that he called relational orientation - Relational orientation contrasts with the individual orientation of Western social psychology. - According to Ho, Asian social psychology started with relational conceptions of human existence. - An appreciation of this relational orientation explains why attempts to predict social behavior by personality variables alone are, in principle, doomed to fail. - No longer at the center, the individual is not the measure of all psychological phenomena. - Asian social psychology is seen as the new voice and emerging perspective in social psychology (Chiu, 2007) - Asian social psychology should not let arbitrary geographical or intellectual boundaries restrict the creative expansion of research ideas. - Instead, strive to construct a “global identity” with an Asian character by developing theories that describe and explain important Asian social psychological phenomena for the benefits of Asia and beyond.