SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYWhenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.

-William James

WHAT IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY?• Social Psychology is the scientific

study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context.

• Social psychologists focus on situations, and why the same person will act differently in different situations.

• Social Psychology is interested in the behavior of individuals in social settings.

TOPICS OF STUDY FOR THE SEMESTER

OUR TOPICS FOR THE

SEMESTER

Social Thinking Attribution of Behavior to Persons or Situations

Attitudes and Action

Social Influence Conformity and Obedience

Group Influence

What attributes does this group

share?

How does that influence their

behavior in this photo?

Social Relations Prejudice

Aggression

Conflict

Attraction

Altruism

Peace Making

HAPPY WEDNESDAY JANUARY 30TH

• Welcome. We are going to go around the room and say our names and favorite candy bar. I will start.

• I am going to give you a sheet of paper. Do NOT put your name on it as your answers will be completely anonymous.

• Follow the directions at the top of each side of the paper.

• Count the number of times you circled “depends on the situation” on each side

• Hand all the papers at you table to one person, and I will come by and swoop up the papers.

• Please retrieve your notes from yesterday so we may continue.

AN EXTREMELY BRIEF HISTORY OF PRE-SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Ancient Greek Philosophers • Socrates -> Plato -> Aristotle

• Is the mind connected to the body? Or is it distinct?• Socrates and Plato: separate (Descartes will also say this)

• Aristotle: not separable

• Are ideas in born or is the mind a blank slate filled by experiences?• Socrates and Plato: innate (born with)

• Aristotle: at birth, the mind is blank

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

•One of the central questions in psychology (and philosophy) concerns the mind/body problem: is the mind part of the body, or the body part of the mind? If they are distinct, then how do they interact? And which of the two is in charge?

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

• “Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally, and not accidentally, is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ” ― Aristotle, Politics

• Table Talk: Do you agree with Aristotle’s opinion? Why or Why not?

1880’S – 1920’S

• Norman Triplett: American – noticed that cyclists raced faster in groups than alone against a clock.

• Max Ringelmann: French – noticed people performed worse on simple tasks in the presence of others.

• William McDougall (English,1908), Edward Ross (American, 1908) Floyd Allport (American 1924): - wrote the first 3 textbooks on the subject of Social Psychology as it’s own discipline.

1930’S – 1950’S: THE HITLER EFFECT

• Hitler’s rise to power destruction led to a search for answers

• Questions: What causes violence, prejudice, genocide, obedience to authority, and conformity?

• World War II marked an explosion (no pun intended) in interest in Social Psych

• Emerging Social Psychology theories began to be applied to daily life

1960’S – 1970’S

• Social Psych field expands and gains enthusiasm

• 2 most famous Social Psych experiments

• Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment

• Phillip Zimbardo’ prison experiment

• Research methods come into question and ethical standards are put into place.

CONTEMPORARY USES

• Research became extremely important

• Research topics in Social Psych (included,

but not limited to):

• Integration of Emotion and Motivation,

• Evolutionary psychology

• Cultural Perspectives

• Behavioral Economics

• Social neuroscience

• The Internet Effect

HAPPY THURSDAY, JANUARY 31ST

• Good morning. We are going to go around the room and name our 2 favorite movies. I will start.

• Retrieve from your materials the notes we were taking yesterday.

• Situations examples

• Go over experiment results.

• Take a few notes.

• Finish notes.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

•Open notebooks to blank page please.•Copy down the vocabulary words and skip a couple lines for the definitions•Use the “Social Cognition” Chapter to locate the definitions.•Quiz will be next week sometime.• SHORT PERIODS TODAY IN PREP FOR:

SNOW-MAGEDDGON!!!!!Trader Joe’s yesterday after school.

SOCIAL COGNITION VOCABULARY

• Actor-observer bias

• Attitude accessibility

• Attitude heuristic

• Availability heuristic

• Cognitive miser

• Confirmation bias

• Contrast effect

• Dilution effect

• Framing

• Fundamental attribution error

• Halo effect

• Happiness calculation

• Illusory correlation

• Judgmental heuristics

• Minimum group paradigm

• Priming

• Recovered memory phenomenon

• Representative heuristic

• Self-serving bias

• Self-schemas

• Social cognition

SITUATION #1

The two are having an affair. 0 points

She is his cleaner. 1 point

A married woman goes to a single man's apartment two nights of every week for three hours.

SITUATION #2

The police officers are questioning your

neighbors about some dreadful crime they

have committed.

0 points

The police officers are visiting the house

because the neighbors are their friends.1 point

Two police officers visit your next-door neighbor's house.

SITUATION #3

The driver is an aggressive, rage-filled

road warrior.0 points

The sun was in the driver's eyes so they

didn't see you.1 point

You are driving down the street when a car in a side driveway suddenly cuts in front of you.

SITUATION #4

Your brother just had an accident. 0 points

The car has always been like that for

several days and you never noticed.1 point

When you get home you find your parent's car is dented in on the right side.

SITUATION #5

You are witnessing a case of

domestic violence.0 points

They are running after their dog. 1 point

You see a man chasing a woman down an alley. What is your explanation?

ATTRIBUTION THEORY

•When something occurs, we can attribute the behavior to the person’s character traits (dispositional attribution) or we can attribute it to the situation (situational attribution)

THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

• In explaining the behavior of others, people tend to overestimatethe role of personal factors and underestimate the situation.

• How does this comic strip explain the Fundamental Attribution Error?

FRIDAY!!!!! FEB 1ST

•Greetings. Again, we are going to go around the room and tell everyone our dream vacation spot.

•A few notes.

•An article.

•A video.

• Freedom.

NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION AND BEHAVIORS

• …all intentional and unintentional messages that are not written, spoken, or sounded.

TYPES OF NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

•Facial Expressions •Body Movements & Gestures•Eye contact•Personal Appearance•Personal Space (Proxemics)•Touching (Haptics)•Paralinguistics

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

• Face is responsible for most meaning• Basic expressions (happiness, surprise,

fear) are fairly universal• Subtle expressions difficult to interpret• Expressions differ across cultures

TED TALK

• Amy Cuddy: “Your body language may shape who you are.” 2012

• Things to look for:

BODY MOVEMENTS AND GESTURES

•Consider how your perceptions of people are affected by the way they sit, walk, stand, or hold their head.

• The way you move and carry yourself communicates a wealth of information to the world.

• This type of nonverbal communication includes your posture, bearing, stance, and the subtle movements you make.

EYE CONTACT

In America generally means:

•Shows interest and attentiveness•Signals wish to participate•Controls & persuades others•Negative - Staring

PERSONAL APPEARANCE

• Can clothing help formulate assumptions and stereotypes?

• Appearance may indicate occupation, status, culture, or group membership

• Symbols (objects) a person chooses to have, carry or wear, may nonverbally communicate something about that person

• Symbols include:• Jewelry• Clothing• Tattoos• Sports jerseys (memorabilia)

PERSONAL SPACE (PROXEMICS)

•Have you ever felt uncomfortable during a conversation because the other person was standing too close and invading your space?

•The need differs depending on the culture, the situation, and the closeness of the relationship.

TOUCHING (HAPTICS)• When is touching another person acceptable? (Table Talk)

• Touch can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, sympathy, and other emotions.

• Baby monkeys denied physical touch at birth developed permanent issues in development and social interactions

• Think about different messages sent by different touches, and your reaction to them:• Weak handshake• A touch of your hand during a conversation with someone you

don’t know very well• Hug from a friend• Touch of your shoulder from a teacher/administrator

PARALINGUISTICS

•Paralinguistics refers to vocal communication that is separate from actual language.

•This includes factors such as tone of voice, loudness, inflection, and pitch.