Social Psychology: What Is It?
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Chapter 1: Social Psychology. What is it? Definition and History.
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Definition of Social Psychology
- The term "socialis" or "sacati" is a Latin or Sanskrit word for association.
- The word "logos" means the study of.
- Social psychology is the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations, as defined by Gilovich, Keltner, and Nisbett in 2006.
- It is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Image summary: An illustration shows a group of five diverse people interacting with each other, with small speech bubbles containing symbols like exclamation points, representing social interaction and communication.
Social Psychology versus Sociology
Research Questions in Social Psychology
- Fundamental questions include:
- How can we interpret situations versus objective reality?
- What makes people comply with authority?
- When do people help others versus help themselves?
- How do social beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies?
- Real world examples include:
- Marriage attribution patterns in happy versus unhappy couples.
- Obedience studies.
Social psychology is the scientific study of . . .
Image summary: An illustration shows a diverse group of people standing together. Three arrows point from this group down to three separate categories: social thinking, social influence, and social relations.
Social thinking includes how we perceive ourselves and others, what we believe, the judgments we make, and our attitudes.
Social influence covers culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, and groups of people.
Social relations involves prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy, and helping.
Major themes in social psychology
Image summary: A conceptual diagram illustrates six core themes of social psychology organized into three categories, all feeding into a final seventh theme. Social thinking includes the construction of social reality and the power of social intuitions. Social influences cover how social influences and dispositions shape behavior. Social relations note that social behavior is biological and that relating to others is a basic need. All three of these categories point via arrows to a bottom circle titled Applying social psychology, which states that social psychology's principles are applicable to everyday life.
History of Social Psychology
Image summary: An illustration of three classical Greek philosophers, possibly including Aristotle and Plato, depicted in traditional robes.
- Aristotle believed that humans were naturally sociable, which is a necessity that allows us to live together, representing an individual centered approach.
- Plato felt that the state controlled the individual and encouraged social responsibility through social context, representing a socio-centered approach.
Birth of Social Psychology
- From the 1880s to the 1920s, psychology is young, and social psychology is even younger.
Image summary: An illustration showing a diverse group of people huddled together in a supportive circle, symbolizing the social and interpersonal focus of social psychology.
History of Social Psychology
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- Lazarus and Steinthal wrote about Anglo-European influences in 1860.
- Volkerpsychologie emerged, which focused on the idea of a collective mind.
- Wundt, from 1900 to 1920, encouraged the methodological study of language and its influence on the social being.
History of Social Psychology
- Norman Triplett, active from 1897 through the 1900s, is known as the Father of Social Psychology.
- He ran the first social psychology experiment on competition.
- In a famous 1898 study, he found that cyclists rode faster when racing together than when riding alone.
- This proved the idea of social facilitation, showing that the presence of other people helps boost performance.
Image summary: A black and white portrait photograph of Norman Triplett, showing a man with a white beard.
History of Social Psychology
Image summary: An image of the book cover for 'An Introduction to Social Psychology' by William McDougall, depicting a crowd of people.
McDougall (1908)
- He published a book entitled "An Introduction to Social Psychology" which included chapters on emotion and sentiment, morality, character and religion, which are quite different from those incorporated in the field today.
Image summary: A black and white portrait of William McDougall, accompanied by text identifying him as the man who pioneered social psychology and the study of instincts.
History of Social Psychology
- Allport, in 1924, acknowledged that social behavior results from interactions between people.
- He took a methodological approach, discussing actual research and emphasizing that the field was a science.
- This science studies the behavior of the individual in so far as his behavior stimulates other individuals, or is itself a reaction to this behavior.
Image summary: A black and white portrait photograph of Allport, showing a bald man wearing glasses and a bowtie.
W.W.2 and Hitler Impact
A Call to Action from the 1930s to the 1950s.
- Hitler and World War Two had the greatest impact.
- Society witnessed blind obedience, conformity, prejudice, discrimination, aggression, and mass murder.
- Sherif's Conformity studies were significant.
- Lewin's insights gave the field direction.
- Behavior is a function of the person and the environment.
- We see the world through our hopes, motives, and biases.
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Kurt Lewin
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Father of Modern Social Psychology
- He created field theory, expressed as B equals f of P and E, and pioneered the study of group dynamics.
- He proposed that behavior is a result of both the person and their environment.
- He studied how groups behave, how social processes work, and how leadership styles, such as democratic or autocratic leadership, affect group productivity and mood.
History of Social Psychology
- Amongst some of the most famous work in social psychology is that on obedience conducted by Milgram in his electric shock study.
- It looked at the role an authority figure plays in shaping behavior.
Image summary: A black and white photograph showing three men in a laboratory setting. Two men stand over a seated man who is strapped into a device, illustrating the setup of the Milgram obedience experiment.
History of Social Psychology
Zimbardos Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971.
- This experiment demonstrated conformity to given roles in the social world.
- Undergraduate students randomly assigned as guards or prisoners in a simulated prison developed extreme behaviors, with guards becoming abusive and prisoners experiencing distress.
Image summary: A black and white photograph showing two men in a scene from the prison experiment; one man wearing sunglasses acts as a guard, and another man is blindfolded and restrained by another person.
A Brief History of Social Psychology:
Image summary: A diagram titled History of Social Psychology in Context organizes key milestones chronologically. It shows a timeline transitioning from the past to the future, featuring influential figures like Lewin, Sherif, Asch, Festinger, Milgram, Zajonc, Zimbardo, and Taffel, as well as key events like the publication of Triplet's dissertation in 1898, the first social psychology textbook in 1908, and the impact of World War One and World War Two.
Image summary: An illustration shows a diverse group of stylized people standing in a circle holding hands, symbolizing social connection and unity.
Image summary: An illustration depicts a small group of people sitting in a circle on the ground, engaging in a social discussion or therapy session.