What Is Social Psychology

What is Social Psychology?

1. Two Definitions of Social Psychology a. Social Psychology is “an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (Gordon Allport, 1954). b. Social psychology is the study of the effect of the situation on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

2. Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors: The Stuff of Psychology a. Psychology versus Biology (and other sciences) b. Social Psychology: Psychology versus Sociology i. What is a Social Structure? 3. The Power of the Situation (Theme I) a. What makes a situation? b. Why are the 2 definitions of social psychology really the same? i. Are all situations social? c. Social Roles: A set of norms, rules, or expectations about how a person is supposed to act. d. Social psychology versus Personality Psychology 4. The “actual presence” of others. 5. The Importance of Construal (Theme II) a. The imagined presence of others. b. The implied presence of others i. Social roles when no one’s there. 1. Knowledge structures associated with others. ii. The Generalized Other: The internalization of a general set of attitudes or expectations from a group or the community as a whole.

Created on 8/26/2005 12:30 AM; 8/21/07; 8/26/08 c. The Mantra: “A Situation Defined as Real is Real in its Consequences”

i. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions depend on the world as we perceive or define it to be rather than on some ‘reality’ that is out there.

ii. Our perception of the world is the result of an active construal of meaning, rather than a passive perception of reality.

1. We put our own understandings and ideas into what we think is ‘real’.

iii. Different people construe things differently

iv. The psychological consequences of our construal are real.

6. Some examples of the things social psychologists study:

 How groups make decisions, and how that is different from how individuals make decisions.  How does the presence of others affect whether or not someone will help another person.  How are our attitudes formed? How are our attitudes affected by our previous behavior?  Who do we like? Who do we love?  How do people form their impressions of others? How do we react to the actions of others?  Self-knowledge and self-esteem.  Anger and aggression. 7. Is this stuff all just common sense? Can’t we just tell the answers to these questions from our own experience? a. Cognitive Biases i. Overconfidence ii. The Hindsight Bias iii. Confirmation Bias b. Empiricism – Using the five senses to gather knowledge. i. Empiricism and science

Created on 8/26/2005 12:30 AM; 8/21/07; 8/26/08