Lecture 01: Introducing Social Psychology Flashcards
(22 cards)
Social Psychology
The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
- Social Thinking
- Social Influence
- Social Relation
Social Thinking
- How we perceive ourselves and others
- What we believe
- Judgments we make
- Our attitudes
Social Influence
- Culture
- Pressures to conform
- Persuasion
- Groups of people
Social Relation
- Prejudice
- Aggression
- Attraction
- Helping
Social Psychology Vs. Philosophy
- Address many of the same questions
- But social psychology explores them scientifically
Social Psychology Vs. Common Sense
- Common sense = folk wisdom
- Social psychologists predict behavior by forming hypotheses and testing them scientifically
Personality Psychology
The set of psychological TRAITS and mechanisms within the individual
- Organized
- ENDURING
- Influences his or her INTERACTIONS with, and adaptations to, the ENVIRONMENT
- Including the intrapsychic, physical, and social environment
- Focus on individual differences
- Ignores social influence
Social Psychology Vs.
Other Social Sciences
Difference in level of analysis
- Other social sciences: BROAD social, economic, political, and historical factors influence events in a given society
- Social psychology: INDIVIDUAL in a social situation
Social Psychology Vs. Sociology
Level of analysis
- Sociology focus on SOCIETY at large, identify why a PARTICULAR SOCIETY or group within a society produces behavior (e.g., aggression) in its members- Social psychology: the INDIVIDUAL in a social situation, identify UNIVERSAL PROPERTIES of human nature
Fundamental Attribution Error
- The tendency to explain other people’s behavior entirely in terms of PERSONALITY TRAITS
- Underestimating the power of social influence
Consequence of Underestimating Social Influence
- False security: increases PERSONAL VULNERABILITY to possibly destructive social influence (lowering our guard)
- Oversimplify complex situations
- Decrease our understanding of the true causes
- Blame the victim
Construal
- Perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
- Influence human actions
Gestalt Psychology
- Subjective appearance of an object appears in people’s minds
- Rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object
How does construal affect socio-political issues?
Each side thinks that it sees the issues clearly but that the other side is “biased.”
Two Central Motives: How construals are shaped
- The need to be ACCURATE
- The need to (SELF-ESTEEM)
What will happen when the two central motives conflict?
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Distort the world in order to feel good about themselves instead of representing the world accurately.
Self-Esteem
People’s evaluation of their own self worth, good, competent, or decent
Social Cognition
- How people THINK about themselves and the SOCIAL WORLD
- How people select, remember, interpret, remember, and use SOCIAL INFORMATION to make judgments and decisions
Social cognition perspective
views people as…
“Amateur sleuths”
- Doing their best to understand and predict their social world.
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
Teacher who expects certain students to do well may cause those students to do better
Social psychology in contemporary problems includes…
- Prejudice
- Energy consumption
- AIDS
- Unhealthy habits
- Violence in schools
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out.
