Social Psychology class notes – Flashcards
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Social psychology
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Attempts to explain how society influences: cognition motivation development behavior of individuals and, in turn, is influenced by them
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The 3 faces of social psych
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1. psychological social psych 2. symbolic interactionism 3. social structure and personality
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Psychological social psych (face 1)
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Experimental: stimulus followed by response Focus on group processes perspectives, learning, and attitudes
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Symbolic interactionism (face 2)
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Qualitative and ethnographic Focus on face to face interactions
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Social structure and personality (face 3)
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Survey research Focus on how macro elements effect a person (gender, class, ect)
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What are some of the other "new" faces (3)
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1. Language and discourse: conversation analysis 2. Gender 3. Life-course: social change in the context of historical events
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Does not having a clear definition of social psych make the field weak?
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No, diversity makes the field stronger.
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Why do we distinguish between "us" and "them"?
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We are tribal at heart and it helps us figure out who is in our in-group and our out-group. This is decided based off of our culture and history. Ex: Asians and Westerners think differently.
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Social science is a perspective. This means it is susceptible to (3)
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1. Bais 2. Overlooked elements 3. The study is susceptible to its own surroundings/social influences
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Father of psychology
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Wilhelm Wundt
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Social science focuses on three things
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1. Patterns in human behavior as a whole 2. Visible externalities 3. Various aspects of an individual
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3 questions we investigate when we practice social psych?
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1. What is the experimental situation? 2. What are the rules for research? 3. How do actors interperate these rules?
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What does it mean when we say the origins of social psych are synthetic?
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The way it came about was a combination of practices, experiments, and studies.
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What was Wundt interested in?
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The individuals response to stimulus. IE: Why does the moon look larger when its closer to the horizon.
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How did Wundt and his students do experiments
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Observers acted as the subjects. A democratic relationship between experimenter and subject.
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Charucot and Freud (France) focused on
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The clinical experiment. Doctors/physicians performed experiments in front of students. French introduced the term "subject"
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Galton (England) was interested in
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Larger groups and statistical analysis of larger groups, not just individuals.
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How did Galton do experiments
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Compared individual performances against the norm of performance
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William James and the reflexive concept
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Interested in response variations given the same stimulus. Stimulus creates an idea which creates a response (Baby and the candle, he learns not to touch the candle)
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Survey research uses what method?
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Random sampling
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Experimental research uses what method?
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Random assignment
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Methodology
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A set of systematic procedures that guide the collection and analysis of data
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3 steps to gathering data
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1. Develop a research design 2. Go into the lab or field and collect data 3. Code and analyse the data to test the hypothesis
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Social science disadvantages (3)
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1. Makes assumptions 2. Sensitizes or desensitizes the investigator 3. Is only partial (incomplete)
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Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK)
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The study of how science is done and how technology influences science.
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4 Criticisms of survey research
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1. Ubiquity: broad topics and use 2. Abstract results: shows us a pattern but not how the pattern came to be 3. Questions are not standardized 4. Responses are not standardized (laughing)
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4 ways to increase standardization
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1. Read questions exactly how they are written 2. Probe inadequate answers non-directly (ask again in the exact same way) 3. Record exactly what the interviewee says 4. Be nonjudgemental regarding their answers.
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Mechanical objectivity
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How we measure the standardization of research (Rules that check stability)
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How to be mechanically objective and why its hard to do so
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Be: concrete, particular, detailed, and practice Interviewers are often caught off guard by responses
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Examples of how survey centers vary (5)
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1. Professional demeanor: being warm or serious 2. Probing non-directly or not 3. Supervisor and monitoring 4. Pacing 5. Feedback
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3 types of responses to interviewer laughing
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1. Reciprocation 2. Non-reciprocation 3. Pseudo Reciprocation/ smile voice
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Gestalt perception
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Theories that attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. (An object is larger than the sum of its parts)
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How is Gestalt theory similar to the reflex arc concept? (2)
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1. Humans are seen as information processers that processes info in the same way in both theories 2. Mental operations occur in sequential order IE: Stimulus -> perception -> response
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Constancy hypothesis
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idea is that lines stay same across oscillations in perception of a object
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Distinction between appearance and reality
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The idea that reality exists in the original stimulus item and not in our different perceptions of them
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Field theory (Kurt Lewin)
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Social behavior is due to perceptions rather than objective stimuli in the environment. The perception of the field and not the field itself. Field: an area of social life
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Person perception (Fritz Heider)
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Our behavior stems from our perceptions specifically first impressions
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How did Heider test the person perception theory?
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Showed 3 shapes going around a space and had people associate these images with real life experiences
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How did people see the big triangle?
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Aggressive, war-like, looking for a fight, dominant, male
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How did people see the little triangle?
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Heroic, brave, tricky, weak, timid, male
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How did people see the circle?
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Helpless, dependent, female
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Refined reflex arc
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Distal stimuli -> mediation (meaning, social cognition) -> Proximal perception Mediation is just what influences the end perception. IE: length of line -> group responses -> reports of line length
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Correspondent inference theory
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predicts that people try to infer from an action whether the act itself corresponds to an enduring personal characteristic of the actor Ex.is the person who commits an act of aggression a beast?
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Fundamental attribution error
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We attribute other people's faults to their personality but our faults to the situation
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Theory of emotional lability
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Emotions and ideas can change according to different situations. Accounts for cognitive dissonance.
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Self perception theory
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Theory that we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviors and the consequences of them.
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Attribution theory
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The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition
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Co-variation principle
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As observers we see events/behaviors and infer their cause by what co-varies with them. Part of mediation after stimuli.
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Dimensions of co-variation
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1. Distinctiveness 2. Consistency 3. Consensus
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Page 10 of Social cognition, person perception, gestalt theory
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2/10/12
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Cognitive dissonance
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If a person is induced (by group experience) to do or say something that is contrary to his or her private opinion, the tendency is to change their opinion/attitude to match their behavior. More behavior pressure= more dissonance
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Proof cognitive dissonance is an innate feature and not only because of experiences
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Monkeys and children experience CD
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Cognitive dissonance and cults
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Mrs. Keech hears an alien named Sananda. He tells her there will be a flood and the world will end. Anyone that joins her cult will be saved from the flood. When the world doesn't end, the group experiences CD. -Decided it was just a test of loyalty.
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Groupthink
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The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives
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8 symptoms of groupthink
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1. Invulnerability 2. Belief in inherent morality 3. Rationalization 4. Stereotyped views of opposition 5. Self-censorship 6. Illusion of unanimity 7. Peer pressure 8. Mind-guards (withholding information)
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Major study of conformity
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Asch study of line lengths Only 25% did not conform
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How does the size of the majority opinion effect conformity?
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The larger the majority, the larger influence to conform
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2 Major compliance studies
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1. Milgram's shock experiments 65% shock even at an extreme level 2. Zimbardo's prison experiments
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What influenced compliance in the Milgram study? (4)
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1. Salience (closeness) of victim 2. Physical relations 3. Larger institutional context (did the area the study was done in seem professional) 4. Group forces
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What did Zimbardo wish to focus on during his studies?
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Situational forces and how they transform individuals
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The shock and prison experiments critiques (3)
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1. Dramatization (realistically?) 2. Limited external validity 3. Design: reduced complexity of situations, no hypothesis
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What does Alex Haslam argue about the Milgrim experiment?
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Its not about obeying authority but about the lengths people are willing to go for a cause they believe in: IE science, nazi germany, a nobel cause
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What does Haslam's program highlight?
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The 4 prods the instructor was required to give
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What was the 4th prod and how did people react
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4. "You have no other choice, you must continue". Every person stops at this point. Shows us it wasn't about obeying.
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What does Matt Hollander research?
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How obedience or disobedience is produced by looking at language and social interaction. Looks at sequential prodding and convo analysis.
