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Social Psychology

Definitions. AronsonThe influences that people have upon the beliefs or behavior of othersGordon AllportThe thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals as shaped by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. In the beginning

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Social Psychology

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    1. Social Psychology Historical and Scientific Underpinnings

    2. Definitions Aronson The influences that people have upon the beliefs or behavior of others Gordon Allport The thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals as shaped by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others

    3. In the beginning….. Norman Triplett (1897) – first social psychological experiment [18 years after the birth of psychology as a science] Interested in increased ability in the presence of others Led to the complex body of literature on social facilitation

    4. History framed in a human lifespan Gleam in the Eye and the Fetus (dawn of time to 1908). Simple and sovereign principles – a single theory could explain virtually all social behavior Jeremy Bentham: hedonism Thomas Hobbes: egoism (everyone is seeking power, conflict is inevitable) Ends in 1908 with publication of Ross & McDougall’s Social Psychology text

    5. Lifespan, continued Child – Development of Theories (1908-1935) Major areas of research involve public opinion polling and test construction Thurstone (1928) and Likert (1932) develop their measurement scales

    6. Lifespan Adolescent (1936-1947) An overall framework for social psychology begins to develop. Inspired by the father of modern social psychology – Kurt Lewin Lewin proposed the “formula”: behavior is a function of the person in the environment Quote “Nothing is as practical as a good theory” Sherif describes norm formation in a classic experiment

    7. Lifespan Young Adult (1948-1968) Time of immense productivity Hovland and colleagues on persuasion Asch on conformity Festinger on cognitive dissonance Heider on attribution Milgram on obedience Darley and Latane on the Bystander Effect

    8. Lifespan Mid-Life Crisis (1968-late 80’s) “Nothing left to discover” “Field was drifting aimlessly” New Productivity (Currently) Social Cognition Self and Identity Health Psychology

    9. Key Idea – Power of the Situation Personality psychologists looks for consistencies in human behavior. Explain behavior through internal dispositions Social Psychologists emphasize the influences and constraints of the situation Explanations for behavior are known as attributions. Internal explanations are referred to as dispositional, external as situational

    10. Fundamental Attribution Error When looking at other people’s behavior, we tend to explain it dispositionally. We tend to ignore the impact of the situation. Yet, think about how we explain our own failures – do we tend to blame our selves or something about the situation?

    11. Social Psychology and Science To succeed in this class you will need to read and understand scientific literature Thoughts to have while doing this: Maintain skepticism: although the works assigned are classics and well done, they are not infallible. Question, doubt, and wonder. View yourself not just as a consumer of knowledge, but as a producer

    12. Scientific Method There are numerous ways to seek out knowledge (e.g., logic, intuition), but our technique involves the Scientific Method The steps are: Observation Formation of a theory Formation of a testable hypothesis Creation of an experiment to test the hypothesis Replication

    13. Complexity of working with Humans Due to the “humanity” of humans, we can’t always perform experiments. Therefore, some knowledge is gained through correlational and descriptive methods. Also, humans are inquisitive and active. Rarely do they act as passive participants in an experiment (unlike a fruit fly)

    14. Control versus Realism Desired state in an experiment is isolation and manipulation of one variable. Does this lead to a contrived and unrealistic situation? If so, how does that impact the validity of your findings? Are your findings generalizable to the real world? Often a delicate tradeoff between realism and control

    15. Realism Experimental Realism: impact of an experiment on a subject. Does the participant take the experiment seriously Mundane Realism: similarity of the experimental environment to the real world Experimental realism can occur in the absence of mundane realism

    16. Ethics Often necessary to deceive participant during experiment: although this deception is often minor (disguising the hypothesis of interest) Reasons for this need: Self Presentation Biases Good Subject Bias Question arises – is this right?

    17. Ethics, continued Decision on experiment and deception is based upon a cost/benefits analysis Are the potential costs to the participant worth the benefits of the knowledge gained? Increasing the difficulty of answering this question is that you can’t be sure what results the experiment will produce!! Problem of deception can be reduced with a thorough debriefing

    18. Other Important Terms Independent Variable Variable manipulated by the experimenter Dependent Variable Outcome measure Random Assignment Placement of subjects into experimental groups so that each subject has an equal chance of being in any group Minimizes impact of pre-existing individual differences

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