1

SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL pSYCHOLOGY

(FEM 3103)

2

What is your reaction?

Heard your housemate was caught because of drugs ?

A beautiful lady smile at you? Heard your cousin met with an accident? Your parents wants to marry you to

someone that you doesn’t like?

3

What is Psychology? Psychology is the science which seeks to

understand and predict human and animal behavior.

Behavior includes feelings, attitudes, thoughts, and other mental process (internal events which cannot be observed directly but can be measured indirectly)

Social? Society, socialization, community, interaction, relationship etc.

Environment?including physical & social environment

4

What is Social Psychology?

According to Serge Moscovici, “Social Psychology act as a bridge between

other branches of knowledge”

According to Gordon Allport:“Social psychology is a discipline that uses

scientific methods in an attempt to understand and explain how thoughts, feelings and the behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagining or implied presence of others”

5

A broad definition which covers a wide range of phenomenon:-

How people form attitude? How people attempt to persuade and are

persuaded by others? How people form close relationship with

others? Why people help or harm each other? How people understand each other and

themselves?

6

What ever definition one chooses, it is clear that social psychology covers a lot of territory.

A social psychologist may focus on:Social influences on the individualSocial interaction between 2 or more

individualGroup process

7

If the focus is on social influence:

Look into the social influences that have an effect on individual and the way in which they understand the world

8

If the focus is on social interaction:

The focus is on the interaction between and among individual.Aim:- to determine the unique characteristics

of social behavior when 2 or more people are talking, working, bargaining, planning or engaging in any activities that people do together.

Specific Areas:- Communication process, social influence in attitude change, bargaining & negotiating, interpersonal attraction.

9

If the focus is on Group Process: Focus into the unique properties of groups,

such as status, roles, group pressure and norms, and communication pattern.ie. How people act in a group

How group affect their members

Areas:- On a larger scale, social psychologist study organization, social institutions, physical environment in an attempt to determine how people respond to these influences.

10

Conclusion The major focus of social psychology is on:

people’s individual psychological process and their social interactions with others.

Social Psychology is scientific study of social behavior. i.e.:-How we perceived other people & social

situationHow we respond to others, and they to usHow we are affected by social situation

11

What is Environmental Psychology?

The study of human behavior and well-being in relation to the socio-physical environment (Stokols & Altman, 1987)

The branch of psychology concerned with providing a systematic account of the relationship between a person and the environment. (Russell & Snodgrass, 1987)

12

Environmental Psychology focused on:

The study of the relationship between humans and their physical environment.

Traditionally, the emphasis in environmental psychology has been on how human behavior, feelings, and well-being are affected by the physical environment (or environmental variables).

13

Earlier studies focused on how human-made environment such as buildings & cities affected behavior.

But, in the recent years, the focus is on:

how humans are affected by natural environments,

effects of humans on the environment (e.g., studies of littering, motivation for family planning, energy conservation, recycling, use of mass transportation etc.)

the reactions of people to human-made and natural environmental hazards.

14

Environmental psychology : Investigates people's interactions with the

environment - their perceptions, attitudes and actions.

It investigates the psychological processes which enable us to understand the meaning that environmental situations have for people acting individually or in groups, and how people create and use places.

The environment can be the elements in the city,neighborhood, home, office, factory, school, hospital, streets,retail or any recreational environment, and also sounds, weather, etc.

15

Conclusion:

Environmental Psychology is the study of the relationships or transaction between individuals behavior and experience and their physical setting (built and natural environment).

It deals with the reciprocal relationship between human and the built and natural environment.

16

ISSUES IN SOCIAL AND

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

17

Issues in Social Psychology Prejudice, Discrimination and diversity The Psychology of Gender Cultural link Social Influence Interpersonal Relations Self and social identity Group behavior Violence & conflict resolution Prosocial Behavior

18

Issues in Environmental Psychology Human response to built and natural settings Environmental perception and cognition Problems of cities, population density, inner city

decay, effects of apartment house living. Driver stress, reduction of driver stress,

aggressive behavior on roadways Driver vengeance Vandalism The impact of technological &natural hazards Research ethics Housing needs of different groups Effect of pollutions on human behavior Designing and planning issues, etc.

19

THEORIES

20

Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud)

Behaviorism Theory Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura)

Gestalt Theory Wolfgang, Koffka, Lewin)

3 major theoretical perspectives on human behavior:

21

PSYCHOANALYTIC Freud proposed that behavior is motivated

from within by powerful internal drives and impulses, such as sexuality and aggression.

Adult behavior is shaped by unresolved psychological conflict can be traced to childhood experiences in family.

Pschoanalitic theorist seek to understand the inner forces (conscious & unconscious) that energize and direct behavior.

22

BEHAVIORISM Focused on observable behavior of human &

animals proposed that current behavior is the result of past learning.

Not really interested in subjective thoughts and feelings prefer studying what they could directly observe& measure, i.e. overt behavior.

Behaviorist identified a series of principles to explain the specific process through which these learning occurs through experiments.

Experiments were conducted on animals (rats, dogs, pigeons) believe the same principles applied to human.

23

Gestalt

Focused on how individual perceived and understand object, events and people.

People do not perceive situations or events as many discrete elements (separately) but rather as “dynamic whole”.

24

The legacy of these major theories help to explain a variety of difficult problems.

Psychoanalytic can be seen in analysis of motivation & emotion in social life Behavior is influence by personal motives & emotional reaction we have to situations & people.

Behaviorism how learning shape social behavior e.g. How we learn to be helpful/aggrasive experience shape our attitude & behavior.

Gestalt how we perceived and understand our social world (social cognition).

25

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Motivational Learning Cognitive Decision Making Social Exchange Socio-cultural

26

TIME : 2 a.mLOCATION :A Grocery shop in Serdang

A police officer saw a high school dropout, Ameng, coming out of the rear door of a shop, with a bag full of money. The shop has long been closed for the night. The officer shouted at Ameng to stop & put his hands up. Ameng turn, pulls out a pistol & shoot the officer, wounding him in the leg. Ameng is later caught & sent to jail. However, the statistics predicts that Ameng stays in jail will not be productive or happy, it will be costly for society, & the chance that he will commit further crime is fairly high.

27

Motivational Theory

Focus on individual’s own need/ motives. Our needs influences our perception,

attitudes & behavior. Eg. To enhance our self esteem & satisfy a

need to feel good about ourselves we blame others for our failure

Situations & social relationship can create & arouse needs and motivation.

Needs must be met if unmet create dissatisfaction/loneliness.

28

Motivation (Con’t…)

Situations can creates or arouse needs, which in turn lead people to engage in behavior to reduce the needs.

Analyse Ameng’s case:Why Ameng steals? Motivated by money?

Hunger? Support family? Drugs? Why Ameng shoot the Officer?

A social psychologist will analyse & try to identify in detail ways in which Ameng’s social environ. Fostered the particular needs & motives that led to the stealing & shooting.

29

Learning Theory For many years, learning theory was the dominant

approach in Psychology. According to A. Bandura (Social Learning theory), a

person current behavior is determined by prior learning.

3 general learning mechanism by which learning occurs: Association (classical conditioning)

I. Pavlov Reinforcement

B.F. Skinner Observation

A.Bandura.

30

Learning Theory (Con’t….) Association (Classical conditioning)

Stimulus & Response Exp on a dog Dogs learn to salivate at the sound of a

bell because they were presented with food every time the bell was rung.

Later even without food, dog will salivate when he hears the sound of bells ringing.

Reinforcement (Operant Conditioning) Reward & Punishment People learn to perform a particular behavior because it is

followed by something pleasurable and need-satisfying. Or People learn to avoid certain behavior if it is followed by

something unpleasant.

31

Learning Theory (Con’t….)

Observation (Observational learning) Observational learning can occur without any external

reinforcement. People learn social attitudes & behavior by observing the

attitude & behavior of other people (model) an important source of information.

Imitation or modeling occurs when a person observe and copy the behavior of a model.

However, whether a person actually perform a behavior observed depends on the consequences of the action.

32

3 distinct features in Learning Theory: The cause of behavior are due to past learning

history of the individual. The cause of behavior are mainly in the

external environment not in the individual’s subjective interpretation.

Learning approach usually aim to explain overt behavior instead of psychological/subjective states.

Analyse Ameng’s case: Why Ameng steals?

Learn from what he observed from T.V, parents, siblings, etc.

Reinforced? Reward? Why Ameng shoot the Officer?

Unpleasant past encounter with police/ authority?

33

Cognitives Theories A person behavior depends on the way he/she perceives

the social situation. People spontaneously organize their perceptions,

thoughts & beliefs about a situation in simple, meaningful ways (grouping, categorizing)

The organization, perception & interpretation influence how we behave in social situation.

Kurt Lewin applied gestalt ideas to social psychology: Emphasize the importance of social environment as

perceived by the individual “psychological field”. Behavior is affected both by the individual’s characteristics

(ability, personality, genetic dispositions) & by the social environment he/she perceive.

34

Cognitives Theories (Con’t…) In Social Cognition, researchers (Psychologists):-

Study of how people process information. Focus on how we put together social information

about people, social situations & groups, to make inferences about them.

Examine the flow of information from the environment to a person.

2 principles in cognitive approach (i.e. towards our central perception of physical objects & the social world) We spontaneously group/ categorize the things we

perceived. We focus attention particularly on the most prominent

stimuli

35

3 types of social cognition research:

Research on Social Perception Examine how people perceive & encode social

informationWhy we pay attention to some action that

people perform & ignore others. Research on Social Inference

Examine how people integrate/put information together to arrive at a conclusion about the social world.

Research on Social Memory Examine how individuals store & retrieve

information about people and social events.

36

Diff. between Cognitive & Learning approach:-

Cognitive = Focus on current perception, i.e. Emphasize on the importance of individuals perception/ interpretation of a situation.

Learning = Focus on past experience, i.e. Emphasize on the objective reality of the situation, as observed.

*************************Analyse Ameng’s case using Cognitive approach:

How did Ameng perceive his action in taking the money? When the policeman shout at him, how did Ameng interpret the situation?

It was Ameng’s interpretation of the situation that led him to shoot the police officer.

37

Decision-Making Theory Assume that people are motivated to obtain

reward & avoid cost. People calculate the costs & benefits of

various action, and pick the best alternatives The decision that people makes based on

logic & rational procedure.

38

Other Theories Developed From Decision Making Theory:- Incentive theory

Views decision making as a process of weighing the pros (positive incentives) & cons (negative incentives) of various possible alternatives then adopt the best.

Expectancy-value theory Decisions are based on the product or

combination of 2 factors:-The value of each possible outcome/ alternativesThe probability or “expectancy” that each outcome will actually result from the decision

39

Social Exchange Theories Focus on the interaction behavior of 2/more

individuals. Based on the work of both learning and

decision-making theory. Core idea as 2 people interact with each

other, they exchange benefits and costs. The process of interactions creates reward or

benefits & costs for the people involved. Analized interpersonal interaction on the basis

of the costs and benefits to each person on possible ways they can interact.

40

Socio-cultural perspectives How people’s diverse social and cultural

background influences their thoughts, feelings and behavior.

Important aspect of culture:-Social norms rules & expectation about

how group members should behave.Social role set of norms that apply to

people in a particular position.

41

Contemporary Theories In

Environmental Psychology

42

The Arousal Theory The Environmental Load Approach The Adaptation Level Theory The Behavior constraint Approach The Environmental Stress Theory The Ecological Theory

Theories In Environmental Psychology

43

What is Arousal?

Arousal is a heightening of brain activity by the arousal centre of the brain.

Arousal is measured physiologically by heightened autonomic activity, such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate or adrenalin secretion, or behaviorally by increased motor activities.

44

The Arousal Theory Both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli will

heighten arousal.

Example of pleasant stimuli: A date with someone you adoresSniffing your favorite perfume

Examples of unpleasant stimuli: Huge fight /quarrel with your dateFoul smell from the garbage bin

45

The Arousal Theory The environmentcan influence human behavior,

i.e. stimulation from the environment triggered our sensory organ will increased arousal.

Stimulation from the environment (crowd, heat, noise, pollutions, etc.), will either improve or deteriorate one's performance, depending on their level of arousal.

However, too much environmental stimulation would have damaging effects on behavior & emotions.

46

When the arousal level moves, several things occur, such as:

People will try seeking information about their internal states

People tend to seek other people opinion compare their action to those of others around them.

Leads people to perform is a certain way e.g. Yerkes-Dodson Law, where people normally will seek an optimal level of performance.

47

Environmental Load Approach Useful when explaining reactions to unwanted

environmental stimuli. Involves attention & information processing process. What happen when a person is being confronted with

several stimulus at once (overload occur)? According to this theory human being have limited

capacity to process incoming stimuli & can invest only a limited effort in attending to inputs at any one time.

So, when the amount of information from the environment exceed the individual's capacity to process all that is relevant information overload occurs “tunnel vision” occurs (focused on more relevant & important stimulus, and ignore less relevant one)

48

The Adaptation Level Theory Focus on the environmental mechanism that can

help us to satisfy our ‘desired needs’ and privacy.

This theory assume that humans dislike crowds, and at the same time they also dislike total isolation.

The Adaptation Level Theory assumes that normal human being usually prefer an optimal level of stimulation which is based on past experience.

And this experience contributes to their level of adaptation.

49

o Example: o A person from rural moves to the city at first

could not stand the noise & busy city but after a while rural person will build up tolerance against the noise and crowd.

o This shift in optimal stimulation level is known as adaptation i.e. a shift in our judgmental or affective responses to a stimulus following continued exposure to it.

Adaptation level differs from person to person, due to their experiences and exposure to a different level of stimulation.

50

Behavior Constraint Approach (BHC) CONSTRAIN something about the environment

that limit/ interfere with the things we wanted to do.

According to this theory the constraint can be an actual destruction from the environment or simply our belief that the environment is putting a constraint on us.

For example, if we perceive the environmental events are constraining/restricting our behavior we will first feel uncomfortable (negative/unpleasant feelings) REACTANCE occur, i.e. we will try to reassert our control over the situation

51

Therefore, anytime we feel that our freedom of action is being constrained psychological reactance will lead us to try to regain that freedom.

We seem to start to react erecting physical or psychological barriers against others.

However, if our efforts to reassert control is unsuccessful to regain freedom of action then learned helplessness phenomenon develop

Learned helplessness can often leads to depression.

52

The Environmental Stress Theory

This theory view that many element (stressors) in the environment, e.g. noise, crowding, pollutions, weather, job pressures, marital discord, natural disasters, places, occupations, etc. can threaten the well-being of a person.

This elements are seen as impinging (through the senses) on the human causing a stress response to occur when environmental features exceed some optimal level.

The organism then respond in such a way as to alleviate the stress.

53

The Ecological Theory Based on Roger Barker’s idea on organism-

environment fit. It is said that environments are design, or grow

to accommodate certain behavior interdependent between the environmental features and the behaviors that occurs. For example, a school yard, a hospital, an

office, might be considered a behavioral setting which can be evaluated based on their suitability towards a certain behavior/ functions.

54

RESEARCH METHODS

55

Why is Social & Environmental Psychology a Science?

“A science is a body of knowledge based upon objective observation and systematic testing.

Thus, in social& environmental psychology, researcher used a scientific methods to obtain information about social behavior.

A scientific method process involved: Systematic observation The development of theories that attempt to

explain data; The application of theory to test predictions, and Revision of these theories when research

suggest our prediction is inaccurate

56

How Does Social & Environmental Psychologist Gather Information?

3 main approach in data collection:Observational methodCorrelational methodExperimental method

57

Observational Method: Describing Social behavior:

Researcher observe people & record their behavior. Researchers able to observe social behavior directly

in natural setting. Did not change or influence behavior observed. Observed behavior (data) are recorded

Audio Video Manually recorded

Forms of observational methods: Ethnography Participant observation Archival analysis

58

Ethnography Researcher tried to understand subjects (human

behavior) by observing it from the inside, but without imposing or having a preconceived idea about subject.

Participant observation Researchers joint & participate in a particular

group understudied/respondents. Incognito

Archival Research A systematic collation of information that has been

collected for some other purpose by a researcher. Examples : Study of biographies; Public registers of

births, deaths, marriages; Hospital records; Crime statistics; News paper clips; Other data bases

59

Limitation of Observational Method

Some behavior are difficult to observe Too confined (depending on the interest of the

researcher): To a particular group To a particular setting To a particular activity

Data observed/recorded may not reflect actual situation researcher bias.

60

CORRELATIONAL METHOD To predict and understand the relationship

between variables that the researcher want to study.

People behavior and attitude can be measured in a variety of ways.Correlational coefficient

A statistic that assess how well you can predict one variables from another.

Relationship between two variables.

61

Survey Correlational method is often used in

surveys. Survey is a procedure for collecting

information by asking members of some population a set of standard questions, and recording the responses.

Survey is a systematic way of asking people how they think, feel and behave on certain issues.

Examples: predict election, household survey, public opinion information on various social problems self report – attitude, behavior, belief, values, etc.

62

2 basic survey techniques Interview

Guideline questions Structured questions

Face to face interviewTelephone interview

QuestionnairesStructured set of questions

Open endedClose ended

Self administered/ Face-to-face

63

Limitation of correlational method

It only give information about the relationship between variables.

Correlation does not prove causation Not able to capture feelings and behavior

correctly.

64

Experimental Method To determine the causal relationship between

variable, experimental methods can be used. The most common used research design by

Social or Environmental Psychologist. Allow the study of social variables under more

controlled and standardized situations. 3 types of experimental method:

Laboratory experiment Field experiment Natural experiment

65

Types of Experimental Methods Laboratory Experiment

Researcher randomly assign subjects to 2 or more group (experimental & control group)

Manipulate a treatment variable to experimental group, then Measure the effect

Field Experiment Involve hypothesis testing conducted in real-life

settings. Researcher combine the control & standardization

procedure of the lab setting with experiments out in the real world.

Subject are unaware that they are participating in an experiment.

66

Types of Experimental Methods (Con’t)

Natural Experiment Unplanned , post hoc experiment which occur

outside the lab. Researcher compare groups after independent

variables is manipulated by nature or by researcher.

Limitation of Experimental Method Difficult to generalize findings to real-life setting. Not all variables can be manipulated.

67

Summary

Method Focus Question Answered

Observational

Correlational

Experimental

Description

Prediction

Causality

What is the nature of the phenomena

From knowing X, can we predict Y?

Does X cause Y?