This document provides an overview and introduction to a social psychology course being offered. It includes: 1. An outline of the course structure including 10 weekly lectures, 6 tutorials, assessment breakdown and textbook information. 2. A definition of social psychology as the study of how individual behaviors and cognitions are influenced by actual, imagined or implied presence of others. 3. A brief history of the field including its origins in Europe/North America in the late 19th century and key influential researchers and theories over time. 4. An overview of different research methods used in social psychology including experiments, surveys, observations and the debates around reliance on experimental methods.

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

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

3. Unit outline

4. 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

5. Description Theory Research Applications

6. Learning outcomes Key concepts Apply theories Communicate

7. 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)

8. Lectures Streamed live Video & audio downloadable Notes ~24 hours prior Readings mostly from textbook

9. Lecture themes Foundations Problems Strategies/Solutions

10. Lecture themes What? What can go wrong? What can go right?

11. 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

12. Tutorials 6 x 2 hr Alternate tuesdays after lecture (check timetable) Tutor: James Neill (all)

13. Tutorial topics 01. Introduction 02. Communication 03. Prejudice and aggression 04. Cross-cultural training 01. Australian zeitgeist 06. Assessment workshop

14. Tutorial themes Experiential exercises Audio / video Discussion

15. Drop-in After lectures 3B32 / 3C18

16. Assessment 35% Essay 35% Exam 25% E-portfolio 05% Research participation

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

18. 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

19. Extensions are unlikely (see Outline)

20. 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

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

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

23. Textbook access Bundle (~AU$130) iChapters (~US$60) ThomsonNOW (~AU$40) Library Companion site

24. Textbook foci Self Evolutionary Cultural

25. Textbook themes Food Sex Tradeoffs Bad vs. Good

26. Unit themes Cross-cultural Australia Social technology Experiential

27. e-Reserve Alt. chapters Classic articles Cross-cultural readings

28. Websites ucspace http://ucspace.canberra.edu.au/display/7125 Wikiversity http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/SPP

29. What is Social Psychology?

30. Human behaviour in social context.

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

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

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

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

36. Person to Person

37. Group to Person Person to Group

38. Group to Group

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

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

42. 3 broad domains Social perception Social influence Social interaction

43. Social perception How we interpret social objects.

44. Social influence Attitudes & behaviour brought about by others.

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

46. Person vs. situation Person Situation

47. Applications Business Health Education Law Environment

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

49. History & Research in Social Psychology

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

51. Volkerpsychologie (folk psych) mid-late 1800s

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

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

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

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

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

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

59. 1960s - rise of attribution theory, cognitive dissonance (Festinger) Developments in European social psychology Tajfel (social identity theory) Moscovici (minority influence) History

60. 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

61. Theory <-> Research Theory Research

62. Scientific research method State problem Formulate testable hypothesis Design study and collect data Test the hypothesis with data Communicate study results

63. 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.

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

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

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

67. Potential problems Construct validity External validity / mundane realism Experimental realism Reactivity Laboratory experiments

68. Potential problems Subject effects Demand characteristics Experimenter effects Ethics? Laboratory experiments

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

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

71. Advantages more naturalistic may be more ethical potentially large amounts of data better construct validity Non-experimental methods

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

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

74. Advantages Relatively natural Ethical Empowering Research is combined with education Action research

75. Disadvantages Lack of scientific control Researcher-dependent? Action research

76. Research ethics Informed consent Protect participants from harm & discomfort Avoid excessive use of deception Confidentiality Fully debrief participants

77. 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.

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

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

80. Kenneth Gergen (1978, 1997) Are experiments an appropriate research method for social psychology? Social constructionism

81. Social events are: Culturally embedded Sequentially embedded Openly competitive Final common pathways Complexly determined Social psychology as history. Social constructionism

82. 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 constructionism

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

84. Importance of reflexivity - researcher’s awareness of own biases, assumptions etc. Critical social psychology - value-laden & political. Social constructionism

85. Research methods - focus on language & use of rhetoric. Observations, interviews, records of naturally occurring events Analysis of discourse Social constructionism

86. Conclusions Which research method is best? Is the experiment still useful? Methodological pluralism?

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

88. Summary Large, dynamic, diverse field of inquiry, with many: Theoretical & research approaches Topics & applications Debates & dilemmas

89. Summary Social psychology studies the individual within the group (or society)

90. Culture & nature

91. Overview Psyche Evolution Culture Social brain theory Individual vs. culture

92. 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

93. Evolution Theory of evolution Natural selectio n Survival Mutation Reproduction

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

95. Big Bang 14 billion years ago

96. 30 billion trillion stars 14 billion light years

97. 250 000 trillion stars 250 000 trillion stars 1 billion light years

98. 200 trillion stars 100 million light years

99. 1 billion light years 700 billion stars

100. 500 000 light years 225 billion stars

101. 200 billion stars 500 000 light years

102. 600 million stars 5 000 light years

103. 260 000 stars 250 light years

104. 33 stars 12.5 light years

110. 4.57 billion years ago...

111. Uni of Canberra

112. ~4 million years ago homo sapiens (a bipedal hominid) evolved Human evolution

114. Social nature Communicate Form groups Social norms (culture) Humans

115. 100 billion ever 6.6 billion now ~10 billion by 2050 Humans on earth

116. 5 born /sec 2 die /sec Humans on earth

118. Population bottleneck

119. Population density

120. 21 million (.3%)

121. Human evolution survey

122. 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

123. Social animal Seek connections to others Work together Learn from one another Help kin Resolve conflict with aggression

124. 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

125. Social brain theory Why is the human brain so evolved? Larger brain is linked to complex social systems (Dunbar, 1993, 1996)

126. 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

127. The duplex mind Automatic system Outside of consciousness Simple operations Conscious system Complex operations

128. 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

129. Living in a culture Working to gain social acceptance Inner states help humans connect to others Intelligent brain evolved to improve interpersonal relations

130. 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)

131. 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

132. 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

133. 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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