Introduction to Social Psychology

What is Social Psychology?

Social Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
Other people can influence us either through direct attempts at persuasion or, more indirectly, through their presence and the transmission of cultural values.
Social psychology is distinct from other social sciences because of its emphasis on construal, or personal interpretations.

A working definition of social psychology consists of these elements.

Scientific field (we may not think of the topic as "scientific," but the method is)
Seeks to understand the nature and courses of individual behavior
In social situations
An attitude of skepticism required of the scientific method implies that all assertions about the natural world be repeatedly tested before being accepted as accurate.
This comes directly from the Protestant Reformation and a belief in an orderly world created by God, who is big enough to be questioned.
Social Psychology Network
The Social Psychology Network is the largest social psychology database on the Internet. Social Psychology subject areas, journals, textbooks, courses, and much more information can be found here.

Why has common sense often been confused with social psychology?

Because both common sense and social psychology refer to collective knowledge about social interactions.
The hindsight bias is also called "I-knew-it-all-along."
An example of how common sense knowledge can be confusing comes from contradictory proverbs
"Opposites attract" and "Birds of a feather flock together" are examples of common sense explanations of social behavior in that both explain the same behavior.
Social psychology is distinct from folk wisdom because it is empirical.

Identify similarities and differences between social psychology and the other disciplines that study human nature.

Sociology studies trends in marriage and divorce, while social psychology studies the attraction that brings couples together.
Personality psychology focuses on differences in people, social psychology studies how social situations influence people.
Biology focuses on inherited genes, while evolutionary social psychology focuses on how social behavior is affected by natural selection, but can be altered by other influences.

What might a social psychologist study?

The five major categories of factors affecting social interaction:

Actions and characteristics of others
Ex., your response to a person in a grocery line when their cart hits you in line.  Were they being rude or did they just stumble?
Basic cognitive processes  such as memory and reasoning - processes that underlie our thoughts, beliefs, ideas, and judgments about others
Ex., the memory of a past interaction
Ecological variables - direct and indirect influences of the physical environment
The cultural context in which social behavior and thought occur
Biological factors of our nature and genetic inheritance that are relevant to social behavior

The power of social influence:

People are prone to the fundamental attribution error, the tendency to overestimate the role of traits and underestimate the role of the situation in determining people’s behavior.
This is particularly true in regards to other people.
"He failed the test because he didn't study.  I failed the test because it was too hard and my roommate bothered me."       
This tendency can make people resistant to social psychological explanations.

The contributions of Sherif and Kurt Lewin in the 1930s.

Sherif studied social norms (rules concerning behavior) which led to studies on leadership done by Lewin.
The research that Lewin and his colleagues conducted on leadership indicated that
the work of the boys in the authoritarian and democratic group was basically the same when the leader was in the room;
the work of the boys in the authoritarian group dropped when the leader left the room; and
overall, a democratic style of leadership is best.

Trends of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Authoritarian personality emerged from W.W.II and Nazism.
The trait cluster that predisposes people to accept extreme political ideologies along the line of Nazism.
Remember the Milgram study from the video!
Basic Human Motives: Cognitive Dissonance
Social psychologists have found that two motives are of primary importance: the need to be accurate and the need to feel good about ourselves.
Leon Festinger realized that it is when these two motives pull us in opposite directions that we can learn the most about the human heart and mind.
Cognitive dissonance (Festinger) proposed that human beings dislike inconsistency and will strive to reduce it, particularly between their attitudes or inconsistency between their attitudes and behavior.
Ex. Margaret knows that stealing is wrong, but she just cannot stop herself from raiding the cookie jar. Her mental discomfort can be explained through cognitive dissonance.

What new topics became important in the 1970s and 1980s?
Attribution or how do we infer the causes behind someone’s behavior
Gender differences or how the behavior of men and women really differs
Sex discrimination or what are the effects of negative stereotypes on women
Environmental psychology such as temperature and overcrowding

What larger-scale trends began in the late 1970s and continue to expand?

Application and interest in cognition
how memory operates, how reasoning occurs, and how new information is integrated into existing mental frameworks
the tendencies to remember only certain information
In order to remember information, it helps to make it personal.
One of the best ways to study for an exam is to relate the material to your own life.
Throughout this course, think of people and situations you know that illustrate these principles.
One of the best ways to tell a friend about Christ is to share what He is doing in your life and how Christ will change the life of your friend.
Emphasis on application or social knowledge
personal health
legal process
work settings
Multicultural perspective (the effect of cultural factors and forces on behavior)
An example of a social process that is different across cultures would be finding that romantic love is more important in North America than in Africa

The experimental method:

The main goal of experimentation in social psychology is to find out if a factor influences social behavior.
The two basic steps to the experimental method in sequence are:
vary the strength of one factor
measure the impact of this factor on behavior
An experimenter varies the strength of one factor to determine whether this variation has an impact on the behavior being studied.
The systematically varied factor is the independent variable, while the behavior being studied is the dependent variable.
Dependent variable is measured by the experimenter.
Be sure to understand the distinction between independent and dependent variables.
The amount of time studying (independent variable) increased the student's GPA (dependent variable).

The steps followed in an experiment:
Hypotheses may be based on theories or common sense observations or past research.
Experimental Strategy:
Randomly assign experimental group
Randomly assign control group
Measure results through appropriate test
Test for differences between the two groups
Observed relationship is the only possible explanation - therefore a causal conclusion is supported.
Jane is conducting an experiment where she is trying to determine the influence of staring at a speechmaker upon how much such people stutter. Jane sends in people to a speech class with instructions to stare for varied amounts of time at the speechmakers.
The independent variable is the amount of time that the people stare. 
The dependent variable is the amount that people stutter.
Albert conducts an experiment in which he measures aggression in schoolchildren at different levels of temperature during recess.
The independent variable is the levels of temperature.
The level of aggression is the dependent variable.
A control condition is an experimental condition in which the variable expected to influence behavior is absent.

What is an interaction?

When an investigator includes several independent variables in an experiment to determine whether the impact of one independent variable is affected by one or more other independent variables, the investigator is testing for interactions.
The difference between an interaction and a confound is that an interaction provides useful information.
Confounding variables are variables that operate in a way such that it is impossible to tell the source of any effects.

Random assignment
We would like to evenly distribute subject characteristics over all levels of the independent variable.
If not, it would be impossible to determine if differences in behavior were due to the independent variable or other factors.
An experiment in which boys were asked to watch Barney or Power Rangers to study the effects of violence on aggression might simply show that some boys who are more violent prefer more violent shows, not that violent shows cause violence.
In order to prevent this, you must randomly assign the boys to different groups.
Research Randomizer
This web site provides information on how to complete random assignment of participants.

What two general reasons sometimes make it impossible to use the experimental approach?

Systematic variation in some factor of interest may be beyond an experimenter’s control.
Ethical constraints may prevent a researcher from conducting what might otherwise be a feasible experiment.

Correlational studies

When two variables are found to be correlated, one could cause the other, or a third variable could be causing them both.
Correlations range from -1.0 to +1.0
Suppose smoking and drinking alcohol are found to be correlated at .65. We can say that smoking is probably related to drinking.
A positive correlation means that as both variables "go in the same direction."

Positive

 Negative
Increase in eating Increase in weight Increase in exercise Decrease in weight
Decrease in eating Decrease in weight Decrease in exercise Increase in weight
What are the advantages and disadvantages of correlational studies?
efficiency
readily used to study behavior in real-life situations
can be used to study topics that would be impractical or unethical to study experimentally
can be used to study ongoing behavior without disrupting the behavior
do not provide conclusive cause and effect relationships
If we systematically vary the physical beauty of a defendant through appropriate photos to determine its effect on length of sentence by a simulated jury, we are using the experimental method; if we simply observe the relationship between the physical beauty of defendants and the length of sentence, we are using the correlational method.

Deception

Deceiving research participants or withholding information from them, no matter how justified, raises important ethical issues.
resentment
deception may result in some type of harm to the persons exposed to it
should scientists committed to the search for knowledge place themselves in the position of deceiving persons who assist them
The type of deception most commonly used by social psychologists in their research is temporary deception.
A social psychologist must make certain that every possible precaution is taken to protect the rights, safety, and welfare of participants.

Informed consent and debriefing safeguards

The potential negative effects of deception can be lessened when subjects give informed consent and are debriefed.
Informed consent involves providing research participants with as full as possible a description of the procedures to be followed prior to their decision to take part in a study.
Debriefing provides participants with a full explanation of the major aspects of the study, including its true goals and an explanation of the need for temporary deception.

Social psychology and social problems

Whereas social psychologists are often motivated by curiosity to study social behavior, they are also motivated by the desire to help resolve social problems.
Example: Social psychologists have contributed important insights to AIDS education and prevention, as well as terror management.

Career Information

The American Psychological Association (APA) provides career information on this web page. You will find information about social psychologists as well as other types of psychologists.