CHAPTER 1 Defining Social Psychology History and Principles Social psychology is the scientific study of how we feel about think about and behave toward the other people around us and how our feelings thoughts and behaviors are influenced by those others Began when scientists first began measuring thoughts and behaviors of History humans People Mcdougal and Ross Lewin father of social psychology and Festinger refined experimental approach to studying behavior The latter part of the 20th Century saw an expansion of social psychology into the field of attitudes with a particular emphasis on cognitive processes During this time social psychologists developed the first formal models of persuasion Cognitive processes The Personal and Social Situation Dynamic relationship between individual people and the other people around Everyone is different but our behaviors are profoundly influenced by our social them situation Social Situation Includes our friends family and anything we interact with Social psychologists believe that human behavior is determined by both person characteristics and also by the social situation However they also believe that the social situation is frequently a stronger influence than are person characteristics Social Influence process in which other people change our own behaviors and thoughts Person situation interaction Lewins model Behavior f Person Social situation indicates that the behavior of a given person at any given time is a function of depends upon both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation Similarly shaped through human evolution Evolutionary Adaption The assumption that human nature including much of our social behavior is determined in large part by evolution Fitness the extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the characteristic Fundamental Motivations 1 Self protect and enhance the self and the ingroup 2 Social Situation affiliate with accept and be accepted by others Self Concern the most basic tendency of all living organisms and the focus of the first human motivation is the desire to protect and enhance one s own life and the lives of important others kin selection strategies that favor the reproductive success of their relatives sometimes even at a cost to their own survival Leads us to help others that relate to us in some way or emotionally have ties not sufficient to explain all social behavior Other Concern people also desire to connect to and be accepted by other people more generally Enables opportunities Powerful social situations can create negative behavior due to the fundamental human motivation of other concern hostility and violence are the exception rather than the rule of human behavior The Social Situation Creates Powerful Social Influence The importance of others shows up in every aspect of our lives other people teach us what we should and shouldn t do what we should and shouldn t think and even what we should and shouldn t like and dislike The social situation is often a stronger determinant of behavior than is personality evident Social Influence Creates Social Norms can be subtle or very Social Norms the ways of thinking feeling or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate Include customs traditions etc Have a large influence on our social behavior Cultures Create Social Influence Culture heavily affects our thoughts and behaviors but it does NOT define our lives
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