BASIC OVERVIEW Flashcards
How do we interpret other people?
mental states, face, gestures, movements and tone of voice
What is social psychology?
- is the scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence and relate to others
What are cognitive processes?
our memories, perceptions, thoughts and emotions guide our understanding of the world and our actions
What is meant by ‘group in the individual’?
other peoples beliefs, desires and expectations remain in our thoughts affecting us even when we are physically alone
What is meant by ‘individual in the group’?
others people influences, even when they are present, depend on the ways we perceive and interpret them - others arguments or comments in a group depends on how we think about those people and comments
What is meant by implicit and explicit processes?
social influence can be obvious but also subtle
What are the 3 main areas of social psychology?
- social thinking
- social influence
- social behaviour
What is meant by social thinking?
- how we define the self and how we think about people
What is meant by social influence?
- conformity, prejudice and persuasion
What is meant by social behaviour?
- helping, aggression, romantic relationships
When was social psychology first considered?
- domain of philosophy
- late 19th century - researchers in Germany liked lab methods used by physiologists and made similiar experimental methods to understand mental processes
- 1920s- became dominated by behaviourism- behaviour only explained by observable causes
In early social psychology, how was behaviour deemed to be influenced by presence of others?
Ringelmann 1880s- when people worked together to pull on a rope, they put less effort into the task than when they worked alone
How did Nazism influence the development of social psychology?
- motivated the study of roots of prejudice and group hatred
-began to discover importance of social and culture groups - Sheriff 1936 - demands of wartime motivated research that could be applied- persuasion techniques- Kurt Lewin
What did Ringelmann 1880s demonstrate?
- when people worked together to pull on a rope, they put less effort into the task than when they worked alone
- how behaviour is influenced by presence of others
What did Sherif 1936 demonstrate?
- demonstrated that social group can influence a persons perception and interpretation of physical reality
- nazism- in discovering importance of culture and social groups
What did Kurt Lewin demonstrate?
-exemplifies link of basic research and important applications eg conditions post WW2; food shortages
- nazism
What occurred from the 1960s onwards?
Integration
What is cultural psychology?
- how cultures reflect and shape psychological processes of members
What is evolutionary psychology?
- memory, perception or language considered as products of natural selection
What is the embodiment perspective?
- psychological processes influenced by body morphology and sensory systems
What is neuroscience?
- scientific study of nervous system
What is construction of reality?
- the axiom that reality is shaped by cognitive processes and social processes
What is pervasiveness of social influence?
- the axiom that other people influence virtually all our thoughts, feelings and behaviour
What is seeking connectedness?
- motivational principle that people seek support and acceptance from people they care about and value
What does social psychology seek to understand?
- seeks to understand the processes that shape social behaviour
