Social Psychology: Introduction: Lecture1

Social Psychology
Lecture 1, Week 1
Introduction
Semester 2, 2008
Lecturer: James Neill

Overview
Unit outline
Introduction
What is social psychology?
History
Research
Culture & nature

Unit outline

Contact info
Before/after lectures
[email_address]
6201 2536
Drop-in tuts : Wed 13.30-14.30 (after lecture) in 3C18 (computer lab).
Or by appointment

Description
Theory
Research
Applications

Learning outcomes
Key concepts
Apply theories
Communicate

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)

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)

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

Essays
3000 word max:
Theory (33.3%)
Research (33.3%)
Written expression (33.3%)

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

Extensions
are
unlikely
(see Outline)

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

Exam
During exam-period
Open book
Multiple-choice
Lectures
Tutorials
Readings
ThomsonNOW quizzes

Textbook
Social Psychology and Human Nature
Baumeister & Bushman (2008)

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

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

What is Social Psychology?

Human behaviour
in social context.

How the
thoughts
feelings
behaviours
of individuals
are influenced by the...

actual
imagined or
implied
presence of others (based on Allport, 1935)

a joint function of
personal and
situational
influences (based on Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p. 11)

feelings ( A ffect)
behaviours ( B ehaviour)
thoughts ( C ognition)
ABC

Person to Person

Group to Person Person to Group

Group to Group

Sociometrics
A family of 4 involves:
6 dyads
3 triads
1 quadad

Sociology vs. Social Psychology Sociology (group) Social Psychology Psychology (individual)

3 broad domains
Social perception
Social influence
Social interaction

Social perception
How we interpret social objects.

Social influence
Attitudes & behaviour brought about by others.

Social interaction
How we interact with others in the social world.

Person vs. situation Person Situation

Applications
Business
Health
Education
Law
Environment

Social Psychology & Some Close Scientific Neighbors Developmental Psycho- pathology Health Organizational

History & Research in Social Psychology

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

Volkerpsychologie (folk psych) mid-late 1800s

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

History
First social psychological experiment
- Triplett (1898)
- Social facilitation

History
Influences in Early 20th Century
– Gordon Allport (Attitudes)
Post WW1 - rise of behaviourism & experimentation

History
Attitude scaling (Thurstone, 1930s)
Social psychology splits from behaviorism and psychoanalysis

Gestalt theorists - Asch, Sherif, Lewin (1930s-50s)
Studied group processes & dynamics
History

Post WW2 - motivated to explain atrocities committed e.g.,
Authoritarian personality (Allport),
Obedience (Milgram),
Roles (Zimbardo).
History

1960s - rise of attribution theory, cognitive dissonance (Festinger)
Developments in European social psychology
Tajfel (social identity theory)
Moscovici (minority influence)
History

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

Theory <-> Research Theory Research

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 20 th century.
Experimental method flourished within social psychology 1930’s-1970’s.
Caused a debate/crisis that over-reliance on experimental research was limiting understanding.

Research methods
Experimental vs. non-experimental methods
Quantitative vs. qualitative methods

Experimental method
Manipulate one or more variables (IV) & look at effect on other variable(s) (DVs)
Laboratory vs. Field Experiments.

Laboratory experiments
Advantages
Controlled environment so that causality can be inferred.
Internal validity

Potential problems
Construct validity
External validity / mundane realism
Experimental realism
Reactivity

Potential problems
Subject effects
Demand characteristics
Experimenter effects
Ethics?

Field experiments
Naturalistic settings
+ mundane realism (- reactive)
control over potentially confounding variables
Measurement difficulties
Informed consent?

Non-experimental methods
Archival research
Case study
Survey research - usually correlational
Observational field studies - observe behaviour in natural setting

Advantages
more naturalistic
may be more ethical
potentially large amounts of data
better construct validity

Disadvantages
lack of control - less internal validity
may not show causality
researcher bias
demand characteristics
subject effects.

Developed by Kurt Lewin (1940’s)
Systematic, dynamic experiments with real groups
Pioneered “action research”
Action research

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

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.

Reductionism
Reducing behaviour to the individual, ignoring social context
Levels of explanation
intrapersonal
interpersonal or situational
positional
ideological

Positivism
Non-critical acceptance of science and its methods
Is the scientific method & especially the experiment suitable for social psychology?

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.

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 world is product of socially & historically situated practices.
Research findings do not have meaning until ‘interpreted’.
No knowledge is transhistorical & transcultural.

Importance of reflexivity - researcher’s 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?

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

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

Evolution
Theory of evolution
Natural selectio n
Survival
Mutation
Reproduction

Z o o m Once upon a time ....

Big Bang 14 billion years ago

30 billion trillion stars 14 billion light years

250 000 trillion stars 250 000 trillion stars 1 billion light years

200 trillion stars 100 million light years

1 billion 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

4.57 billion years ago...

Uni of Canberra

~4 million years ago homo sapiens (a bipedal hominid) evolved Human evolution

Social nature Communicate Form groups Social norms (culture) Humans

100 billion ever 6.6 billion now ~10 billion by 2050 Humans on earth

5 born /sec 2 die /sec Humans on earth

Population bottleneck

Population density

21 million (.3%)

Human evolution survey

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

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
Nature’s 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

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Social Psychology: Introduction: Lecture1

by James Neill on Jul 17, 2007

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