1.5 Beyond the Individual: Social and Cultural Perspectives Flashcards
What is “Social Psychology”?
The study of the causes and consequences of sociality.
Where do historians trace the earliest origin of Social Psychology back to?
Norman Triplett in the 1890’s; he was a cycling enthusiast who noticed that people seem to cycle faster when they’re accompanied by other cyclists.
He also tested children in reeling in fishing lines; proving that kids reel in their line faster in the presence of other kids
Which events led to the earliest developments of Social Psychology in the 20th century?
The immigration of Nazi scientists to America; many who were influenced by Gestalt Psychology
The holocaust brought up new research and social problems
The civil rights movement / tensions between African Americans and White Americans
Define “Cultural Psychology”
The study of how cultures reflect and shape the psychological processes of their members
Who was the first psychologist to pay attention to the importance of Cultural Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt; who believed that a complete psychology would have to combine a laboratory approach with a broader cultural perspective
When did Cultural Psychology begin to emerge as a strong field?
In the 1980s and 1990s, when psychologists and anthropologists began to collaborate and share their ideas and methods
^This was when Wundt was rediscovered and became appreciated for his past contributions in Cultural Psychology from decades before.
How does Absolutism and Relativism relate to Cultural Psychology?
Most of cultural psychology falls between these two extremes.
The only way to determine whether a phenomenon is variable or constant across cultures is to design research to investigate these possibilities, and cultural psychologists do just that
