Introduction

Question 1

What is an academic discipline?

Answer 1

A field of knowledge with its own…
*Body of well-defined subject matter that is
*Related to a professional or social activity
*Methods of study
*Unique system of values

A discipline has a what, how, and why

Question 2

Social Science, definition?

Answer 2

A group of academic disciplines dedicated to examining human behavior and specifically how people interact with each other, behave, develop as a culture, and influence the world.

Question 3

(Social) Psychology’s Philosophical Roots?

Answer 3

Greek Philosophers
- Plato (428–347, BCE)
- Aristotle (384–322, BCE)
Nature v. nurture debates Free-will

Rene DesCartes
Dualism (mind distinct from body)

Question 4

Founder of Social Psychology?

Answer 4

Floyd Allport (1924)

Question 5

Social Psychology focuses on…

Answer 5

Individuals’ behaviors
and mental processes in
a social context

Question 6

What does it mean that Social psychology assumes that behaviors and experiences are purposeful?

Answer 6

• Goal oriented rather
  than completely
  random
• Baseline assumption
  for understanding why
  we do what we do

Question 7

Psychology has historically presumed that behaviors
and experiences are caused by… (2 factors?)

Answer 7

• Internal factors (like Freud)
• External factors (like B.F Skinner)

Social Psychology moved towards integrating both perspectives

Question 8

What does this mean? B= f(P, E)

Answer 8

Social behaviors and
experiences are caused by
both dispositional and
situational factors

States that an individual’s behavior (B) is a function (f) of the the person (P), including their history, personality and motivation, and their environment (E)

Question 9

Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, evolutionary?

Answer 9

• Psychological characteristics are universal and evolved
  
  • Applying Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
  • E.g Moral disgust, fundamental universal disgust over incest bc it genetic issues

Question 10

Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, individual?

Answer 10

• Factors related to a particular person’s experiences and leaning history
  
  • Cognitive Revolution (1950s) Internal mental representations guide behaviour
  • Sensory information -> Sequence of Mental Options -> Perceptions, memories behaviours etc.

Question 11

Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, cultural?

Answer 11

• Our social/cultural context shapes how we think or behave
  
  • Culture: Systems of enduring meanings, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and practices shared by a large group of people
  • Individualism/Collectivism

Question 12

Are the levels of analysis mutually exclusive?

Answer 12

No, although social psychologists may lean towards
one more than others (also dependent on topic)

Question 13

Social psychology as a science is…?

Answer 13

*Focused on description, explanation,
and prediction
*Theory driven, emphasizing
empirical evidence
*Empirical: Claims based on
observation (data) rather than
logical reasoning
*Using the scientific method

Question 14

Findings you learn about might sound like common sense but.. Hindsight bias?

Answer 14

When people believe they
could have accurately predicted the
occurrence of an actual event if they had
been asked to predict it before it occurred

Question 15

Considering why we study social psychology?

Answer 15

• 1940s-1960s Understanding the horrors of WWII
  
  • E.g., Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience to authority

Question 16

Definition of Social psychology, highlighted aspects?

Answer 16

The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts and behaviours or individuals in social situations.”

• Scientific study
• Feelings, thoughts and behaviours
• Individuals
• Social situations

Question 17

Interactionism?

Answer 17

• Modern perspective: Dispositions and situations interact to influence behavior
  
  • People with different dispositions self-select into different situations
  • Over time, exposure to situations can influence someone’s disposition

Question 18

Good evolutionary research?

Answer 18

• Explains how this phenomenon would have been adaptive in our evolutionary past
• Demonstrates it is unlikely to be culturally learned, e.g.,
  
  • Exists in very dissimilar cultures
  • Exists in young children
  • Exists in people who would have difficulty learning it
  • Exists in similar species to us (e.g., chimpanzees)

Question 19

Issues with evolutionary approach?

Answer 19

• Very hard to convincingly demonstrate it is unlikely to be culturally learned
• So, lots of research comes up with explanations for why behaviour would have been adaptive and just stops there
• Has been used to justify hierarchy between genders, ethnicities, cultural groups, etc.
• Naturalistic fallacy: The way things are is the way they should be

Question 20

Sociocultural approaches?

Answer 20

• Cultures develop norms, preferences, values, perspectives knowledges, art, moral, laws, traditions, beliefs, etc.
• People both shape and are ahead bt their culture
• Social constructionism: people construct ideas or concepts out of consensus, not simply out of observing public reality.