Social Psychology: Introduction: Lecture1

7125/6666 Social Psychology - Lecture 1: Introduction, Sem 2, 2007

Social Psychology

Lecture 1, Week 1

Introduction

Semester 2, 2008

Lecturer: James Neill

Image source: Unknown

21 July, 2008, 11:30-13:30, 2B11

7125-6666 Social Psychology / G

Centre for Applied Psyhology

Faculty of Health

University of Canberra

Bruce, ACT 2601, Australia

ph: +61 2 6201 2536

[email protected]

http://wilderdom.com/7125

http://wilderdom.com/6666

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Unit+Outline

Overview

Unit outline

Introduction

What is social psychology?

History

Research

Culture & nature

Unit outline

Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Drukstation_Social_psychology.jpg

Contact info

Before/after lectures

[email protected]

6201 2536

Drop-in tuts: Wed 13.30-14.30 (after lecture) in 3C18 (computer lab).

Or by appointment

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Contactshttp://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Drop-in+Tutorials

Description

Theory

Research

Applications

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Lectures

Learning outcomes

Key concepts

Apply theories

Communicate

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Learning+Outcomes

Lectures (10 x 2 hr)

9 by James Neill
(W 1, 2, 3, 4 10, 11,
12, 13, 15)

1 by Melisah Feeney
(W 5)

http://www.canberra.edu.au/directory/index.cfm?action=staffdetail&staffid=613374http://www.canberra.edu.au/directory/index.cfm?action=staffdetail&staffid=422823

Lectures

Streamed live

Video & audio downloadable

Notes ~24 hours prior

Readings mostly from textbook


Lecture themes

Foundations

Problems

Strategies/Solutions


Lecture themes

What?

What can go wrong?

What can go right?


Lecture topics

01. Introduction

02. The Social Self

03. Social Thinking

04. Aggression (DVD)

05. Prejudice

06. Relationships

07. Groups

08. Prosocial

09. Environmental

10. Review


Tutorials

6 x 2 hr

Alternate tuesdays after lecture (check timetable)

Tutor:

James Neill (all)

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Tutorials

Tutorial topics

01. Introduction

02. Communication

03. Prejudice and aggression

04. Cross-cultural training

01. Australian zeitgeist

06. Assessment workshop


Tutorial themes

Experiential exercises

Audio / video

Discussion


Drop-in

After lectures

3B32 / 3C18


Assessment

35% Essay

35% Exam

25% E-portfolio

05% Research participation

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Assessment

Essays

3000 word max:

Theory (33.3%)

Research (33.3%)

Written expression (33.3%)

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Blogs

Essay topics

Choice of topics discussed in the first tutorial

Each student adopts a unique/topic question

By the beginning of W3, all topics will be posted

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Blog+1

Extensions

are

unlikely

(see Outline)

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Blog+2

E-portfolio

Set up a Wikiversity account

Submit name of account to convener

Create some initial reflections for W1 and 2

Look at and comment on other user-pages

These are examples only. For more info, seehttp://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Online+engagement

Exam

During exam-period

Open book

Multiple-choice

Lectures

Tutorials

Readings

ThomsonNOW quizzes

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Contactshttp://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Drop-in+Tutorials

Textbook

Social Psychology and Human Nature

Baumeister & Bushman (2008)

Image source: Publisher

Textbook access

Bundle (~AU$130)

iChapters (~US$60)

ThomsonNOW (~AU$40)

Library

Companion site

Textbook foci

Self

Evolutionary

Cultural

Textbook themes

Food

Sex

Tradeoffs

Bad vs. Good

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125/Textbook

Unit themes

Cross-cultural

Australia

Social technology

Experiential


e-Reserve

Alt. chapters

Classic articles

Cross-cultural readings


Websites

ucspace

http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125

Wikiversity

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/SPP

Click to add notes

What is Social Psychology?

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Ideology_Icon.png

Human behaviour

in social context.

Many more definitions can be found at http://www.wilderdom.com/psychology/social/definitions.html

How the

thoughts

feelings

behaviours

of individuals

are influenced by the...

Thoughts (cognition)Feelings (affect)Behaviours


actual

imagined or

implied

presence of others
(based on Allport, 1935)



If you visited the Australian War Memorial at night, and you were alone

How would you feel?

What would you think?

What would you do?

Why would you have these reactions?

In this example, there is no real presence of others, but there is an implied presence. This is a place where others (defence forces and civilians both alive and dead) are remembered and actively imagined. It is a place where people gather and learn about the history of Australia in armed conflict and peacekeeping. The AWM is visited by thousands of people a day, from Australia and overseas. Although one may visit alone, ones thoughts, feelings, and behaviour are very likely to reflect the implied presence of others and normative expectations. Note, people with different cultural orientations may react differently e.g., consider possible reactions by a German, an Iraqi, an Australian Vietnam veteran, and an Aboriginal person.

Photo credit: http://www.awm.gov.au/virtualtour/building.htm

a joint function of

personal and

situational

influences
(based on Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p. 11)


feelings
(Affect)

behaviours (Behaviour)

thoughts
(Cognition)

ABC

Person to Person


e.g., love (thoughts, feelings, and behavior)

Group to Person
Person to Group


e.g., conformity; leadership

Group to Group


e.g., racism

e.g., sociometrics

Sociometrics

A family of 4 involves:

6 dyads

3 triads

1 quadad


These 3 domains interact and overlap with each other.

Social perception is interpretation of the social world.

Social influence is the ways in which the social world influences our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Social interaction is the dynamic way in which individuals and groups communicate and interact.

Sociology vs.
Social Psychology

Sociology
(group)

SocialPsychology

Psychology
(individual)

The boundary between sociology and social psychology is indistinct

Social psychology is more often focused on the individual as the unit of analysis, whereas Sociology is more often focused on groups as the unit of analysis.

Social psychology has become more popular in recent decades, whereas Sociology has become less popular.

3 broad domains

Social perception

Social influence

Social interaction





Social perception

How we interpret social objects.


Social influence

Attitudes & behaviour brought about by others.


Change in attitudes and behaviour is brought about by (actual, implied, or imagined) others.

e.g.,

authority

seduction

negotiation

Social interaction

How we interact with others in the social world.


How we interact with others in the social world e.g.,

Aggression

co-operation

Helping

Relationships etc.

Person vs. situation

PersonSituatione.g., racism person or situation?e.g., Consider the actions of Lynndie England at the Abu Ghraib prison. Do her actions reflect something about her? Something about the situation she was in? Some combination of the two? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynndie_EnglandImage: Self-drawn, public domain

Applications

Business

Health

Education

Law

Environment





Social Psychology & Some Close Scientific Neighbors

DevelopmentalPsycho-
pathology

Health

Organizational

History & Research
in
Social Psychology

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Bandeau_portail_psychologie.jpg

Origins

Origins in Europe & North America in the late 19th -
early 20th
century.

Volkerpsychologie
(folk psych)
mid-late 1800s

Image source: UnknownVolkerpsychologie study of collective mind in Germany in mid- to late 1800s.Predecessor to cultural psychology.A forgotten approach to studying people bound by common language, myth and customs.http://cap.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/1/85

Crowd Psychology (Group Mind)
(Le Bon, 1895)

Image source: UnknownVolkerpsychologie led to concept of group mind which influenced study in the early 20th century on crowd behaviour (e.g. Le Bon crowd becomes subject to control of group mind & therefore often behaves badly).Le Bon's 1895 The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind influenced many 20th century figures, including Adolf Hitler, whose Mein Kampf insisted on Le Bon's work.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_psychology

History

First social psychological experiment

- Triplett (1898)

- Social facilitation

Triplett observed that cyclists go faster when racing against others or in front of a crowd.

Triplett's competition machine, with fishing reels A and B.His experiment children wound twine onto reels, either alone or in the company of another child performing the same task. Times were faster in the presence of another -> social facilitation.Images are in the public domain (from The Psychology Wiki).

History

Influences in Early 20th Century

Gordon Allport (Attitudes)

Post WW1 - rise of behaviourism & experimentation

Post WW1 social psychology splits from general psychology.Attitude scaling (1930s) social psychologists were interested in studying mental constructs, like attitudes, and not simply behaviour.Gordon Allports influence was in the observations regarding attitude (Chapter 7)

History

Attitude scaling (Thurstone, 1930s)

Social psychology splits from behaviorism and psychoanalysis

Post WW1 social psychology splits from general psychology.Attitude scaling (1930s) social psychologists were interested in studying mental constructs, like attitudes, and not simply behaviour.Behaviorism theoretical approach that seeks to explain behavior in terms of learning principles, without reference to inner states, thoughts, or feelings.Freudian psychoanalysis theoretical approach that seeks to explain behavior by looking at the deep unconscious forces inside the person.

Gestalt theorists - Asch, Sherif, Lewin (1930s-50s)

Studied group processes & dynamics

History

Gestalt theorists (30s, 40s, 50s) interested in studying individuals in groups, believed that the group was more than/great than the sum of its parts. e.g., Sherifs studies on norm formation, Aschs studies on conformity.Kurt Lewins influence was on the function of the person and the situation.

Post WW2 - motivated to explain atrocities committed e.g.,

Authoritarian personality (Allport),

Obedience (Milgram),

Roles (Zimbardo).

History

Much of social psychology was developed to explain war, especially the attempted genocide of WW2 social psychology is a product of social context e.g., studies by Milgram (obedience) and Zimbardo (roles).

1960s - rise of attribution theory, cognitive dissonance (Festinger)

Developments in European social psychology

Tajfel (social identity theory)

Moscovici (minority influence)

History

Attribution theory explaining our own behaviour & that of others increasing emphasis on cognitions.European social psychology more focussed on the role of the group social identity & social influence (minorities).

Late 1960s - early 1970s - crisis in social psychology

1970s to now - rise of social cognition & information processing

Alternatives - social constructionism, discourse analysis

Australian social psychology? Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP)

History

Crisis questioned the methods of social psychology (more on this to come).1970s experimental methods, study of schemas, categorization, biases, heuristics etc.Non-experimental alternatives e.g., discourse analysis.Australia:SASP 250+ members, annual conference.Research draws on influences from both North America & Europe.Topics studied prejudice. stereotyping, culture, attitudes, groups, applied topics health, organisations, sport etc

Theory Research

TheoryResearch

Image source: Self-created, public domain

Scientific research method

State problem

Formulate testable hypothesis

Design study and collect data

Test the hypothesis with data

Communicate study results

Research method

Scientific methods distinguished psychology during the 20th century.

Experimental method flourished within social psychology 1930s-1970s.

Caused a debate/crisis that over-reliance on experimental research was limiting understanding.

Research methods

Experimental vs. non-experimental methods

Quantitative vs. qualitative methods

Scientific Method start with observations -> theory -> hypothesis -> research -> feeds back into theory.

Methods used in social psychology often depend on the research question.

Experimental method

Manipulate one or more variables (IV) & look at effect on other variable(s) (DVs)

Laboratory vs.
Field Experiments.

Manipulate IV(s), measure DV while controlling for extraneous variables.Still the most popular method used in social psychology.

Laboratory experiments

Advantages

Controlled environment so that causality can be inferred.

Internal validity

Internal validity - results obtained due to manipulation of IV.

Potential problems

Construct validity

External validity / mundane realism

Experimental realism

Reactivity


Construct validity - do IV & DV correspond to theoretical constructs being investigated? e.g., does measure of aggression used in lab really measure true aggression?

External validity / mundane realism - generalisable to real world, similarity between experiment & real world. External validity is often low in lab experiments.

Experimental realism - the extent to which study participants get so caught up in the procedures that they forget they are in an experiment.

Reactivity - behaviour changes because part of experiment. e.g., Hawthorne effect workers who knew they were being observed improved/changed in terms of motivation & productivity.

Experiments are in themselves a particular social context which elicit particular types of responses from participants.

Good experiments (well-designed) should be high on internal validity & experimental realism.

Potential problems

Subject effects

Demand characteristics

Experimenter effects

Ethics?


Subject effects - participants act in ways to please experimenter e.g., social desirability.Demand characteristics - experiment demands a certain response can be lessened by the use of deception in experiments.Experimenter effects - experimenter gives clues to hypothesis -> use double-blind design Subject effects, demand characteristics & experimenter effects can all be a threat to construct validity (i.e., not measuring what it intended to be measured).Ethics experiments tend to be less ethical than other types of research methods e.g., often involve deception.

Field experiments

Naturalistic settings

+ mundane realism
(- reactive)

control over potentially confounding variables

Measurement difficulties

Informed consent?

Field experiments can still manipulate an IV and measure its effect on a DV.

e.g., Sherifs summer camp studies.

Internal validity can be threatened because of the lack of experimental control.

Measurement cant give people self-report measures, mainly restricted to observational measures. How do we measure concepts like emotions in this type of experiment?

Ethical issues participants dont know they are in an experiment therefore cant get their informed consent.

e.g., field experiment looking at helping behaviour people of varying attractiveness or of different races approach people to ask for help.

Non-experimental methods

Archival research

Case study

Survey research - usually correlational

Observational field studies - observe behaviour in natural setting

Often use these methods when it is impossible to perform an experiment.

Archival research e.g., look at media reports & how they change over time this type of data may be biased.

Survey research e.g., look at the relationship between attitudes & intentions to behave a certain way.

Observational field studies e.g., observe aggression in childrens play this type of research tends to be less reactive.

Advantages

more naturalistic

may be more ethical

potentially large amounts of data

better construct validity


Advantages:

more mundane realism/external validity

better construct validity because often less artificial plus the use of multiple measures.

Disadvantages

lack of control - less internal validity

may not show causality

researcher bias

demand characteristics

subject effects.


Disadvantages:

cant infer causality because of lack of control.

demand characteristics e.g., wording effects in surveys.

subject effects may guess the purpose of a survey, may have social desirability effects.

Non-experimental methods tend to be used more when doing applied research.

Experimental methods are used more when doing pure or basic research.

Developed by Kurt Lewin (1940s)

Systematic, dynamic experiments with real groups

Pioneered action research

Action research

Developed by Kurt Lewin (1940s), who is known as the father of social psychology

Lewin conducted systematic, dynamic experiments with real groups

Pioneered action research, in which what is learnt is applied again, within the experiment, in a cyclical, dynamic fashion

Advantages

Relatively natural

Ethical

Empowering

Research is combined with education

Action research

Disadvantages

Lack of scientific control

Researcher-dependent?

Action research

Research ethics

Informed consent

Protect participants from harm & discomfort

Avoid excessive use of deception

Confidentiality

Fully debrief participants

Use of deception common in social psychology experiments because of the need to decrease reactivity & demand characteristics.

e.g.s of ethically dubious experiments:

Milgrams studies of obedience

Zimbardos prison study.

Why are ethics often a problem for social psychology experiments?

often controversial subject matter e.g., aggression, prejudice, conflict etc.

Often need for use of deception to reduce reactivity & social desirability effects.

The crisis

2 major criticism of social psychology (late 1960s):

Overly reductionist

Overly positivistic

Experimental method criticisms:

demand characteristics,

experimenter effects,

lack of social context.

1960s/70s social psychology was dominated by experimental methods.

Reductionism

Reducing behaviour to the individual, ignoring social context

Levels of explanation

intrapersonal

interpersonal or situational

positional

ideological

Reductionism e.g. studying stereotyping in the lab by looking at individual cognitive processes.

Levels of explanation (Doise)

intrapersonal individual

interpersonal between individuals within a given society

positional takes a/c of some factors outside the situation e.g., status, identity

ideological consider social relations between groups.

Level of explanation must match the question being asked.

Positivism

Non-critical acceptance of science and its methods

Is the scientific method & especially the experiment suitable for social psychology?

Positivism is a philosophy that states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method......positivism was first systematically theorized by Comte, who saw the scientific method as replacing metaphysics in the history of thought, and who observed the circular dependence of theory and observation in science.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism

But, is science just another religion (belief system) with limited avenues of inquiry.

And is objectivity possible?

Kenneth Gergen (1978, 1997)

Are experiments an appropriate research method for social psychology?

Social constructionism

Social events are:

Culturally embedded

Sequentially embedded

Openly competitive

Final common pathways

Complexly determined

Social psychology as history.


Social psychology experiments dis-embed events from the cultural context e.g., body language, spitting.

Experiments only consider very short sequences of events so are they appropriate for explaining phenomena like attraction?

In the real world, a no. of stimuli compete isolated in the lab.

Multiply determined naturally confound each other.

Difficult to manipulate greater than 3 IVs in the lab.

Meanings change over time e.g., racism/language change from negroes/coloured to Black to African Americans (back to Black?)

Interpretation of the meaning of events & behaviour change across cultural history.

-> no general laws of behaviour.

-> all reasonable hypotheses are likely to be valid.


Social psychology as history.

All hypotheses contain some truth for some persons at some time.

A major focus of social constructionism is to uncover the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the creation of their perceived social reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, and made into tradition by humans. Socially constructed reality is seen as an ongoing, dynamic process; reality is re-produced by people acting on their interpretations and their knowledge of it.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism

Social world is product of socially & historically situated practices.

Research findings do not have meaning until interpreted.

No knowledge is transhistorical & transcultural.


Importance of reflexivity - researchers awareness of own biases, assumptions etc.

Critical social psychology - value-laden & political.


Research methods - focus on language & use of rhetoric.

Observations, interviews, records of naturally occurring events

Analysis of discourse


Conclusions

Which research method is best?

Is the experiment still useful?

Methodological pluralism?

Both methods have advantages and disadvantages.The experiment is still the most popular & widely used method but with greater attempts to improve external validity & mundane realism.

Summary

A central subject in psychology which evolved as a unique field during the 20th century.

Summary

Large, dynamic, diverse field of inquiry, with many:

Theoretical & research approaches

Topics & applications

Debates & dilemmas

Summary

Social psychology studies the individual within the group (or society)

Culture & nature

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Paget_Holmes_Yellow_Face_child.jpg

Overview

Psyche

Evolution

Culture

Social brain theory

Individual vs. culture

Psyche

Broad term for mind, influenced by:

Nature Genes, hormones, brain structure and other innate processes dictate how you will choose and act

Culture Learned experiences; from parents, society and any experiences

Psyche - Broad term for mind, encompassing emotions, desires, perceptions, and all other psychological processes.

Evolution

Theory of evolution

Natural selection

Survival

Mutation

Reproduction

Theory of evolution

Focus on how change occurs in nature

Natural selection

Process of selection of traits that will endure; while others disappear

Survival until reproduction

Reproduction

Survival living longer

Survival of the fittest

Competition within species

Mutation

a new gene or combination of genes

Reproduction

producing babies that survive long enough to also reproduce

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Human_evolution_scheme.png

Z o o m

Once upon a time ....

Big Bang

14 billion years ago

30 billion trillion stars

14 billion light years

(3x10) stars within 14 billion light yearsStar maps from http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com

250 000 trillion stars

250 000 trillion stars


200 trillion stars

100 million light years


700 billion stars

500 000 light years

225 billion stars

200 billion stars

500 000 light years

600 million stars

5 000 light years

260 000 stars

250 light years

33 stars

12.5 light years

This series of pictures is from:http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

4.57 billion years ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth

Uni of Canberra

http://www.solarviews.com/raw/earth/bluemarblewest.jpg

~4 million years agohomo sapiens
(a bipedal hominid)evolved

Human evolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Human.svg

Social nature CommunicateForm groupsSocial norms
(culture)

Humans

Humans

Social by natureUtilising systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organizationCreate complex social structures- cooperating and competing groups- from small families and partnerships to species-wide political, scientific and economic unionsWide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics, values, social norms, and laws which form the basis of human society. Humans also have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which, combined with the human desire for self-expression, has led to cultural innovations such as art, literature and music.

Desire to understand and influence the world around themSeeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion.This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skillsOnly known species to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use numerous other technologies.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

100 billion ever6.6 billion now~10 billion by 2050

Humans on earth

5 born /sec
2 die /sec

Humans on earth

Source unknown

Population bottleneck

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Views_on_Evolution.svg

Population density

World population density c. 2005Source unknown

21 million (.3%)

http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rp/1999-2000/2000RP09-01.GIFFewer than 15% of Australians live in rural areas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia) 17/07/2007

Human evolution survey

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Views_on_Evolution.svg

Culture

Info-based system

Shared ideas

Common ways of doing things

Ideas

Mental (abstract) representations

Can be expressed in language

Consider cultural differences and underlying similarities

Social animal

Seek connections to others

Work together

Learn from one another

Help kin

Resolve conflict with aggression

Social Animal seek connections to others

Includes humans, but also many other animals

Cultural Animal evolution shaped human psyche to enable humans to create and take part in culture

Defining trait of what makes us human

Cultural animal

Evolution shaped psyche to enable creating and taking part in culture

Division of labor

Deliberately share knowledge

Help strangers

Resolve conflict with many alternatives

Social brain theory

Why is the human brain so evolved?

Larger brain is linked to complex social systems (Dunbar, 1993, 1996)

Advantages of culture

Human brain evolved to capitalise on culture

Language

Progress - to build on experience of others

Division of Labor

Exchange of Goods and Services

Humans have evolved to participate in culture

The duplex mind

Automatic system

Outside of consciousness

Simple operations

Conscious system

Complex operations

Changing role of consciousness

Increased focus on role of automatic system

Can learn, think, choose and respond

Has idea and emotions

Knows self and other people

Consciousness focus on complex thinking and logic

Living in a culture

Working to gain social acceptance

Inner states help humans connect to others

Intelligent brain evolved to improve interpersonal relations

Nature says go,
Culture says no

Nature impulses, wishes, automatic responses

Culture teaches self-control and restraint

Exceptions

Natures disgust reactions (No)

Cultural timetable for meals (Go)

Selfish impulse vs. social conscience

Nature makes us selfish

Preservation of self

Culture helps us resist selfish impulses

Consideration of what is best for society

Moral Code

Laws

Putting people first

People get most of what they need from other people

Culture as a general store of information

People look to each other first

What makes us human?

Behavior results from mix of nature and culture

Human life is enmeshed in culture

Humans think with language and meaning

Human life is enmeshed in culture

Diverse but share common themes

Creates unique problems

Is shared from generation to generation

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Social Psychology: Introduction: Lecture1

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