Ali Wendroff Psychology 221 CHAPTER 1 History Defining Social Psychology History and Principles Social psychology is the scientific study of how we feel about think about and behave to ward the other people around us and how our feelings thoughts and behaviors are influ enced by those others Began when scientists first began measuring thoughts and behaviors of humans People Mcdougal and Ross Lewin father of social psychology and Festinger refined experimental ap proach 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 tion Social Situation Dynamic relationship between individual people and the other people around them Everyone is different but our behaviors are profoundly influenced by our social situa 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 characteris tics 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 de pends 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 so cial behavior is determined in large part by evolution Fitness the extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organ ism 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 rel atives 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 funda mental 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 personal ity Social Influence Creates Social Norms can be subtle or very evident Social Norms the ways of thinking feeling or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate Include cus toms 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 de fine our lives CHAPTER 8 Support Liking and Loving the approval assistance advice comfort and other aid that we receive from those with whom we have developed stable positive relationships including our families as well as romantic partners siblings friends and other acquaintances Close relationships The relationships between or among people that are characterized by loving caring commitment and intimacy They involve attachment intimacy interdependence com mitment and the incorporation of other into the self concept also bring us health and happiness when we are able to create successful ones but they may also produce a profound sense of loneliness and sadness when we are not Social Psychology in the Public Interest Social Support and Mental health People who feel they have others to turn to and support tend to be much happier and much healthier On the other hand the opposite consists of being ostracized and excluded which can have long lasting pain on a person Basically what it comes down to is close relationships make people happy and healthy and the lack of them leaves us lonely or hurt With such relationships help us cope with illness and enhance our desires to be with people Interpersonal attraction represents the strength of our liking or loving for another per Initial Attraction son Physical Attractiveness initial encounters heavily rely on looks Facial features and characteristics and youthful large round and widely spaced eyes a small nose and chin prominent cheekbones and a large fore head Symmetry Gender Differences in Perceived Attractiveness Physical Attractiveness both men and women value physical attractiveness as well as other person ality characteristics such as kindness humor dependability intelligence and sociability and this is true across many different cultures Status Age Fertility women from many different cultures have been found to prioritize a man s status over his physical attractiveness whereas men prioritize a woman s at tractiveness over her status Women have been found to be more likely to respond to personal ads placed by relatively older men whereas men tend to respond to ads placed by younger women men have a preference for women with a low waist to hip ratio that is large hips and a small waist a shape that is likely to indicate fertility Social Norms and Expectations women have lower status than men and as a result they may find it impor tant to attempt to raise their status by marrying men who have more of it Why is Physical Attractiveness so Important Rewarding and enjoyable Physical attractiveness stereotype the tendency to perceive attractive people as having positive characteristics such as sociability and competence Attractive people are given better grades on essay exams are more successful on job interviews and receive lighter sentences in court judgments in compari son to their less
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