PSY 223 1st edition Lecture 18/20 Outline of Last Lecture I. SyllabusOutline of Current Lecture II. Introduction to Social PsychologyA. Definition of social psychologyB. Use of scientific methodIII. Social ContextIV. Social Psychology vs. Common SenseV. Social Psychology and other disciplinesCurrent LectureIntro to Social PsychologyWe are all amateur social psychologists (think we all like to people watch)Social psychology: attempts to explain how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of othersSocial psychologists use scientific method- include systematic observation, description, and measurement- hallmark of social psychology is the experimental study--considered best method, but only used for some experiments because not everything can be manipulatedSocial ContextCentral phenomenon of social psychology=social contextSocial context: social psychologists study how people are influenced by the situations in which they are in and how they exert influence on each otherThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Walton and Cohen study to illustrate social context--about stress of freshman year in minority groups (in textbook ch. 1)- "Wall Street Game" vs. "Community Game" another study on social context--used participants who were either labeled especially cooperative or especially competitive. Told them to play a game either called the wall street game or the community game. Researchers found those who played wall street game played competitively and those who played community game played cooperatively, regardless of previous personality characteristics. Found the power of social influenceSocial psych is different from common sense- Unlike common sense, social psych uses scientific method- Although some research confirms common sense, social psych also reveals that an answer may depend on a variety of factorsSocial psych and related disciplines:- Personality Psych—personality psych seeks to understand differences between individuals but social psych looks at how social factors influence people regardless of different personalities- Cognitive Psych—social psych wants to look and how people think, learn, remember, and reason with respect to social information and how processes are relevant to social behavior - Clinical Psych—social psych not interested in disorders instead how individuals think, feel, behave, and influence each other- Sociology—interested in similar issues (violence, prejudice, marriage) but sociology focuses on group level whereas social psych focuses on individual ex. Sociology tracks racial attitudes of middle class. Social psych examine specific factors that make individuals behave in racist way. Social psych also more likely to conduct experiments with manipulated
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