8 25 2015 Social Psychology is the scientific study of how people think about influence and relate to one another Broadly defined as the study of how people think feel and act People can help you or make you doubt yourself or insert their opinion into your situation Issues can be evaluated in each field of psychology Sociology Neuroscience Clinical Cognitive Developmental Personality you are and how you act Stanford Prison Experiment Milgram Experiment Cinderella 8 27 2015 WW2 Behaviorism Psychoanalysis Common Themes Power of situation The Power of the Situation changes in situation have an influence on who Social Psychology usually includes the interaction between the person and the situation which leads to observable behaviors Before social psychology these fields were common developed after Our situations determine our possibilities Advantages and disadvantages It also determines limitations Biological Roots We are evolved and cultural the environment we evolved to thrive in a different environment Before civilization ie fear of spiders snakes cravings for calorie dense food aggression We construct our reality We view it through our own lens with our own beliefs We have duplex minds that enable intuitions Unconscious and conscious behaviors Automatic and nonconscious vs controlled and conscious We are unaware of these but they can dictate our behavior We are not able to consciously concentrate on everything We unconsciously listen to the conversations around us and we will respond to certain ques ie someone at a party says your name and you heard even though you didn t hear the rest of the conversation Selfish impulse VS Social conscience Nature says Go Culture says Stop We want to maximize gain We may want to do something but do not because of social norms Competing internal and external drives Prevents us from maximizing our own gain because we pay attention to cultural social norms Self esteem Do we believe we have value Self control Do we have will power becomes harder throughout the day some things drain it Self awareness Knowledge of your own character feelings motives and desires Self presentation How we present ourselves to others in different situations Affected by who we are around and why Focus on Conflict Social interaction Contemporary Themes Focus on Self Prejudice and stereotyping Gender issues Racial issues after 9 11 anti arab feelings became stronger Group Dynamics social loafing Sometimes the presence of others will make you do better or worse What do Social Psychologists do The goal is to have a broad understanding of how human beings think act and feel Focus on the normal day to day behavior ABC Triad Affect how people feel ie angry Behavior what people do ie drive aggressively Cognition what people think ie think others are out to get you Use the Scientific Method Empirical questions can be answered through systematic observation and experimentation This is the best way to access reality Hindsight bias it s easier to justify something after you ve heard it Social psych commonly talked about on average behaviors results Common sense doesn t always work Scientists should aim to be objective seekers of knowledge No bias It s important to understand research methods If your bias you could stack the odds in the favor of your expected outcome Study Social psych with Correlational Research Understand how variables are associated with one another Ask participants how often they have done a specific thing and how they feel Compare relationships Correlation coefficients 1 to 1 Strength is strongest when closest to 1 or 1 As you approach 0 it s weaker Correlation does not prove causation Experimental Research 2 Key features Control Manipulation of independent variable everything else must be held constant Random Assignment Equal chance of any participant being in any group Must be a representative sample of participants Operational definitions are important What does it mean how do we measure the variable Validity How close it measures what we are trying to test Reliability Consistency in results Across items Across time Reliability is necessary for validity it can t be valid if it s not reliable Something can be reliable and not valid though Interpreting results Main effect When an IV has an effect of similar magnitude and direction across other levels of the independent variable Interaction When the effect of one IV on the DV depended on the value or level of the other IV 9 1 2015 The Self Concept Who are you A Lot of who we are has to do with other people Group membership Our culture has a lot to do with who we are as well Independent Interdependent We spend a lot of time thinking about ourselves Spotlight effect We think that others are paying a lot of attention to us Illusion of transparency we think that others can read us Self Awareness Attention directed at self private and public Helps motivate us if goals are possible If there are large discrepancies between who we are and who we want to be it feels bad and we try to escape it Are we ever fully self aware Recency effect we tend to prefer the last thing they ve seen Different Types of Self Guides Actual self the person you are right now Self Guides Possible selves Ideal self The self it is your goal to be Ought self The self it is your duty to be Feared self The self you fear becoming Self Discrepancy Theory our view of ourselves includes how well our actual self matches our self guide Discrepancy a mismatch between our actual self and a self guide Discrepancies motivates change and results in emotion Self discrepancy theory people s specific emotional reaction to a discrepancy depends which self guide they do not meet Actual Ideal Sad Actual Ought Anxious Actual feared Relief How do we know ourselves Looking through others looking glass how do I think others see me Imagining how they appear to others and trying to get feedback about what others think Responses from other Important others are particularly influential Looking inside who are you Great for describing what we are thinking feeling but not why Looking at others comparing yourself to others Looking at yourself look at how your behavior is has been Looking at close others Thinking that if all the people around you have a trait than you do too Self Concept Social comparison Examining the differences between you and others Upward Downward comparisons Downward I m better than they are Self perception People observe their own behavior to determine
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