Lesson 1: History of Social Psychology PDF

History of social psychology. Lesson 1^ - 01.10.2024 What is social psychology? The scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to one another. Study of: Social thinking: the self, social belief and judgements, attitudes and behaviors Social influence:...

History of social psychology. Lesson 1^ - 01.10.2024 What is social psychology? The scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to one another. Study of: Social thinking: the self, social belief and judgements, attitudes and behaviors Social influence: persuasion, conformity and obedience Social relations: aggression, attraction and intimacy, helping Groups and identities: small group processes, social categorization and social identity, prejudice, intergroup relations and conflict A brief history of social psychology First social psychology experiments were reported in 1898 but an interest in social psychology issues has a much longer history. Eighteenth century -> contributions to social psychological theorising were given by European and North American scholars from different disciplines (philosophy, psychology and economics) Some prominent figures and their contributions to social psychology: David Hume (1711-1776) - British philosopher Treatise on Humane Nature (trattato) which dealt with passions or strong emotions, sympathy and the relation between self and others (1973) Essay about the cause and content of national characters, stating that there are differences of national traits (there are differences in how people behave in France, Germany…) => He said that if you stay with a certain group of people you will develop a certain behave and this comes from national traits (culture traits) He thought sympathy contributed to social conformity and is the basis of our attachment to society (I feel sympathy for others so I conform to others) -> social identity (in s.p. Term) Adam smith (1723-1790) - British thinker and economist Considered the formation of the “self” In The theory of moral sentiments (1759) he reasoned that the person we become (the identity we have) is largely shaped by interactions with other people. He used metaphors like “mirror” and “the looking glass self” => (the friends you have, the school you go, the people you interact with… influence your self) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) Rejected the idea that the human mind merely reflects external reality He argued that the mind actively constructs (build) external reality, including our perception of time and space He laid the foundations for Gestalt psychology (conceptually) We cannot escape the mind, and as such (therefore/consequently), we can never truly have an objective view of the wold around us (it’s some how constructive our self) -> culture is what we call social representations (we share/agree - we share our thought, our prospective…) -> we don’t want to be excluded by a group, that’s why we negotiate Gestalt psychology - you can see different things (in a photo) according to the prospection. It exist a different reality according to our prospection because we shaped different. A holistic theory of mind and brain that focuses on how these actively structure our perceptions and impressions. It emphasises that one needs to look at the comprehensive situation to fully understand the human conscious experience, asserting that 'the whole is more than the sum of its parts' Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) Took a gestaltic approach to the analysis of social interaction and group behaviour, which implied an examination of the whole situation (you observe the context, the situation…) rather than some isolated elements of it (1930s) => You can’t focus only on the tiny things -> ‘the whole is more than the sum of its parts' Lewin’s “action research” tried to understand and tackle (deal with) prejudice and foster positive intergroup relation Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) Stressed the (there is a link) inextricable link between individual and society, by contending that the “human being is nothing outside society” He considered a society a “all”/a new entity that have rules, characteristics… Herbart inspired German scholars who first formulated VOLKERPSYCHOLOGIE -> Volkerpsychologie Sometimes called mass psychology, folk psychology or ‘the psychology of the people’. It claims that people who belong to the same social group(s) tend to think in the same way, holding collective beliefs, norms and values -> there are mental concepts that can not exist in individual person, but there are in a lot of individuals (a group). It is typically associated with the work of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), who saw it as concerning «those mental products which are created by a community of human life and are, therefore inexplicable in terms merely of individual consciousness since they presuppose the reciprocal action of many» (Wundt 1916, p. 3) However, Wundt did not dismiss (reject) individual and mental functions as irrelevant, and advocated the use of laboratories to investigate perception, mental disorders and abnormal behaviour -> As a consequence he is often referred to as the FATHER OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) Influential French social scientist Contributions to s.p. Noting/highlighting a distinction between individual thought and collective thought Collective thought was social ideas and values which exist independently of individuals but at the same time have great influence on individuals way of thinking. He shapes the Moscovici “Social representation theory”. Example 1: Video of wold cup in Argentina: https://youtu.be/70Jl2rMuYtw?si=Gp2DFWE4qhaotK_i -> sense of belonging - they share social identity and they feel like a family even though they don’t know each other -> the success of the group becomes the success of the individual Example 2: Video of a “negative crowd” during American election: https://youtu.be/xeI4lzNv8ks? si=PXYoWewn730_R6c4 -> they share the same goal and feel part of the group - they are angry, they’re pushing other to do the same, it’s about contagious Crowd: people who are already there, protesting, celebrate… those who don’t want to be there/identify are home Example 3: negative crowd in Paris: https://youtu.be/WKmMhExy6ts?si=xOGFMSjMUJWfm5c3 Example 4: https://youtu.be/9W_njKnR6Q0?si=672f2VOzmFhr1rR0 Lesson 02.10.2024 Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931) one of the most influential writers on crowd behaviour He tought that when individuals become immersed in a crowd they lose their conscious rationality and more primitive instincts take over, causing barbaric behaviour. Individuals lose control of their minds in a crowd. As the "unconscious" take over, crowds behave aggressively. Losing individual responsibility for their actions, crowd members feel invisible. He believed that aggressive impulses were transmitted to members of the crowd by contagion (contagio/epidemia = contamination). In this almost hypnotic state (suggestion) individuals follow others in acts that they would never usually do. Auguste Compte (1798-1857) and Positivism Comte is best known for his claim that social phenomena can be studied by the same methods as those used in natural science since there are general laws existing in all sciences, and the aim for the researchers is to reveal them by “positivistic methods” (positivism). This claim has gained increasing popularity over the years. William James (1842-1910) Regarded (considered) as the founder of North American psychology Principle of psychology (1890)-> he deal with what he calls the ‘social self’ = it’s the image of me that you have in your mind (= the recognition (a man) gets from his mates) ◦Example: me and my colleagues have a “collective representation” of the professor instead for James every of us have an idea, a social self. He went on to say that 'a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry an Image of him in their mind". (Positivism) - something that you’ve in your mind 1908: a crucial year -> The year 1908 has been said to be crucial since two main textbooks/manuals with social psychology in the title were published: An introduction to social psychology (McDougall) ◦It was heavily influenced by the evolutionary theory. Instinctive dispositions were part of our evolutionary heritage and this instincts made human social life possible. Social psychology (Ross) ◦He focused on the relationship between individuals and their group, discussing topics like social influence, crowds and control. Social psychology became well establish as an empirical and experimental science in the USA. Social psychology in the USA A social psychology that was dominated by the USA reflected the history and ideological values of individualism which characterised the USA. (Were studying social psychology with our mind of an individual) “There is no psychology of group which is not essentially and entirely a psychology of individuals” (Floyd Alort - 1924). The crisis in social psychology 1960s and 70s questions about direction of discipline and how well it reflected and acknowledge the social, historical, cultural and political concerns and values of the people it sought to study. Two main criticisms: 1. Social psychology’s over reliance on experimental methods at the expense (a spese/scapito) of more naturalistic approaches such as observation and interviewing (How you’re feeling…?) 2. Excessive emphasis on individuals as individuals rather than as parts of more complex social, historical, cultural and political contexts Co-constructive (process) -> use of fork for hair and in another part for eating (people share opinion on that) Henri Tajfel and Serge Moscovici Putting the “social” back into social psychology -> European social psychology In social identity theory, Tajfel used experiments to investigate how identity and behaviour are influenced by the social groups to which one belongs Moscovici examined the role of everyday language in constructing and communicating human beings’ collective ways of understating the social world - social representations theory -> why went back? Because there were only individualistic experiments Experiments more likely to be - USA Do-constructive/ cultur /social - europe Critical social psychology Movement promoting a social psychology that recognizes its own political, social and historical situatedness (collocazione) and that of its researchers and participants and that pursues social change and reform Critical social psychology influenced by and related to: Social Constructionism: everything is all constructive An approach to how our understanding of reality is formed and structured, which argues that all cognitive functions originate in social interaction, and must therefore be explained as products of social interactions Discursive psychology: interaction Proposes a view of language as 'social action', as speakers construct the social world and their position within it through talk and text. It examines how cognitive entities and psychological phenomena are constructed in discourse Phenomenological psychology: being awareness of being in the context Is influenced by phenomenological philosophy and argues (sostiene) that subjective conscious experience and a sense of 'being-in-the-world" are fundamental in understanding human social behaviour Social psychology and human values We live in eurocentre wold, you’re aware you are part of a certain context, be aware of where you’re. Social psychologists’ values penetrate their work in ways both obvious and subtle: Obvious ways in which values enter: ◦choice of research topic ◦as the object of social psychological analysis Not so obvious ways in which values enter ◦The subjective aspects of science ◦Psychological concepts contain hidden values Systematic observation and experimentation are needed to check our ideas against reality Social psychology’s key ideas Critical questions: Social psychology is to some extent driven by current social concerns and problems. What modern-day examples can you think of that have received recent social psychological attention? What role do you think social psychology should play in wider society?