Reviewer for Social Psychology Finals Flashcards
(263 cards)
Social Psychology
The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context
Cross Cultural Research
Research Designed to compare and contrast people of different cultures
Interactionist Perspective
An emphasis on how both an individual’s personality and environmental characteristics influence behavior
Behavioral Genetics
A subflield of psychology that examines the role of genetic factors on behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
A subfield of psychology that uses the principles of evolution to understand human social behavior
Social Cognition
The study of how people perceive, remember, and interpret information about themselves and others
Multicultural Research
Research designed to examine racial and ethnic groups within cultures
Social Neuroscience
The study of the relationship between neural and social processes
Difference between social psychologists and sociologists
Social psychologists focus on the individual level while sociologists focus on the group level
Social psychology started to become established as a distinct field of study
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century
What ideas are consistent with the ideas of Kurt Lewin?
Behavior is a function of the person and the environment
Social psychologists should integrate research from personality psychology into their own theories and research
The behavior of different people may vary even if they are placed in the exact same social situation
Personality psychologists are more interested in
differences between individuals that are across situations
Kurt Lewin
German immigrant who made a major contribution to the development to establish principles like “behavior is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment.”
Both internal and external factors affect behavior
What marked the 1960’s and 1970’s in social behavior?
Expansion and debate
Leon Festinger
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Social Comparison Theory
Fritz Heider
Balance Theory
How do Social Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists differ?
Social psychologists are interested in situational determinants of behavior while Clinical psychologists develop therapeutic techniques to control people’s aggression
What was the dominant research method in social psychology up to the period of Confidence and Crisis?
Laboratory Experiment
Norman Triplett
Published first research article in social psychology at the end of the 19th century; Observed that bicyclists tended to race faster when racing in the presence of others than when simply racing against a clock. He did this in a scientific way
Gergen
Theories being tested in the social psychology laboratory were historically and culturally limited
What are characteristics of social psychology?
Broad perspective
Focus on the individual
Frequent use of experiment methodology
The difference between common sense ideas and social psychology
Social Psychology tests are put to the test because it is a scientific study
Who wrote the first three textbooks of Social Psychology?
William McDougall (1908) Edward Ross (1908) Floyd Allport (1924)
Gergen
Theories being tested in the social psychology laboratory were historically and culturally limited