Social Psychology Personality Psychology • focus on the person• individual differences in people cause them to behave differently • personality tests • construal of the environment is more influential on behavior than the actual reality of the environment • Cross cultural psychology• influence of ones culture • different cultures have different rules and value systems, norms • what may be true in our culture may not be true in another• Cognitive psychology• how we reason, how memory works, how we organize our view of the world • Biology and evolutionary psychology • not nature vs. nurture, nature and nurture • influences of the environment • nature: our genes, what is on our nature that causes us to act a certain way• certain behaviors may have been selected for in the past and may lead to predis-positions • Sociology vs. social psychology• sociology look at groups• social psychologists look at the average individual in the group• psychologist use far more experimental methodology • Is psychology a science?• psychology only proves things that we already know• hindsight bias: the tendency to exaggerate one’s ability to have foreseen an out-come, after learning about it • proverbial and anecdotal knowledge can support almost any claim • everyday observations and inferences are not always right • Answering why with social psychology• social psychology uses the scientific method to answer questions about human na-ture• through carefully designed experiments, social psychologists are able to distin-guish between common sense and the truth • Theories vs. Hypotheses • theories are integrated principles that explain and predict observed events • hypothesis is a testable prediction, allow theories to be tested • Testing theory:Social Psychology • theory: clothing color influences people’s aggressive tendencies • hypothesis: people who wear black are more aggressive than people who don’t wear black• correlational approach: • natural relationships• strength of relationship between two variables • ask people how often they wear black and determine if it associated with how aggressive they are • correlation does not equal causation! • Field study• observations in a natural setting- nothing is manipulated • no control over variables • example: examine whether football teams that have black uniforms make more ag-gressive plays than ones wearing non black uniforms • Experimental approach• conduct a lab study where participants are randomly assigned to wear either a black or white shirt and then measure their aggression • experimental and control conditions • measuring aggression • independent variables are often controlled of manipulated (color of the shirt)• dependent variables are measured (aggression) • benefit of random assignment: the participants who wore black shirts and white shirts were equal on all other factors except the color they were wearing• people who are naturally aggressive have an equal chance of being in each group• Experimental research:• mundane realism: is the behavior studied in the experiment applicable to everyday life • experimental measures functionally stimulate real life behavior • if findings are applicable to real life, experiment has high external validity • experimental realism: is the experiment engaging?• ethics of experimental research:• Institutional Review Boards• informed consent • use deception only if essential • protect people from hard • confidentiality importantSocial Psychology • debrief participants at the end • People and experiments:• Remember James! ---> James represents the typical case• he is an average, represents our best estimate under experimental conditions• he is NOT an individual, he is the average • distinct from anecdotes or individual experience read chapter 1The Self • The triad:• social psychologists are interested in three main aspects of human experience• Affect: feelings, emotions, mood• Behavior: actions taken• Cognition: thoughts or mental processes • example: a researcher might be interested in aggression and measure A: measure heart rate while people watch a violent movie• example: researcher in aggression might measure B: how many times someone hits a punching bag after being insulted • example: a researcher in aggression might be interested in measuring C: ask someone to report their thoughts after performing an aggressive activity• The Self Concept/Self knowledge: introspection, the looking glass, self percep-tion, vicarious self perception • Study 1: Maier (1931)- 2 strings, behavior affected by environmental cues• Study 2: Nisbett and Wilson- stocking preference • People have limited introspective access! • Introspection: we usually what he think or feel but not often whySocial Psychology • Self concept construction is a multifaceted active process • The Looking Glass Self: • learning about ourselves through other’s feedback or by imagining how others see us • positive reaction: increase that performance, negative reaction: decrease that performance• discrepancies: • people’s opinions of themselves do not perfectly match those of others• people don’t always accept the opinion of others• others don’t always have complete insight-- not the entire picture • Self Perception: observing our behavior and actions as we would observe others then interpreting actions • participants performed a boring knob turning task• asked to lie and were either paid: $1 or $20, then filled out questionnaire evaluating the task• 1 dollar p’s enjoyed the task more• p’s remembered they convinced someone to do the task (dollar is insignifi-cant justification)• need some justification for convincing other person• in novel situations we look to our behavior to make up our minds• Vicarious Self Perception: people have a merged identity with similar others• sense of connection with others based on important self relevant trait or feature• learn about ourselves by watching “merged” others • incorporate new info into self from merged • Goldstein and Cialdini (2007)-• measured participants brainwaves, also measures another student• half told them they had a close match• heard student interview • participants rated themselves as nicer, more caring (v controls)• only if they were a close match to the interviewee • Four
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