Brief historical introduction

Question 1

Allport (1954) definition

Answer 1

“With few exceptions, social psychologists define their discipline as an attempt to understand and explain how thoughts, feelings and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (p. 5).

Interested in/concerned with what makes social psychology psychology

Question 2

Which definition are we more?

Answer 2

Cartwright

Question 2

Cartwright (1979) definition

Answer 2

“Social psychology is that branch of the social sciences, which attempts to explain how society influences the cognition, motivation, development, and behavior of individuals, and in turn, is influenced by them” (p. 91).

Allows for reciprocal influence

Question 3

Allport’s View of Progress (1954)
3 main parts

Answer 3

Irrationalist (human behaviour is explained by emotion/ instinct, moving towards more cognitive processes)
|
Rationalist

Simple (one sole motivator for human behaviour and social behaviour)
|
Pluralistic (multiple influences on social behaviour)

Observational methods
|
Experimental methods

No method of testing facts/ observations. Goes from looking at things and coming up with theories to being able to experimentally test.

Question 4

Critical views of Allport’s History
3 views

Answer 4

Samuelson (1974) – accuses Allport of creating an “origin myth” through excessive focus on Comte

Haines & Vaughan (1979) – challenge Allport’s identification of “the first social psychology experiment” (Triplett, 1898)

Danziger (2000) – Suggests that Allport trivialised a historically important question about the origins of social psychology (for partly personal reasons…)

Question 5

The other Allport:
- who were offended of Allport’s discussion of progress

Answer 5

The observationalists were a bit offended by Allport’s discussion of progress (Danziger, 2000)

Social Psychology existed in universities and in textbooks before the turn to experimentalism

20th century experimentalism initially viewed as inappropriate for exploring social phenomena, which were viewed as the result of macrosocial influences (e.g., capitalism)

Question 6

The other Allport:
What were the 2 ways Danziger (2000) noted that Floyd Allport change people’s conception of social?

Answer 6

1. Only individuals are real – all institutions only exist in the habits and attitudes of individuals
2. Distinguished between real social and non-social behaviour – the former involved individuals responding to social stimuli (e.g., concrete physical presence of other people)

(This reframing of social is not about macro social systems any more its about other people being here right now that gives us the ability to use experiments because we can manipulate other people being here right now.)

Question 7

European Influences
- What did Allport (1954) argue?
- How did Cartwright (1979) challenge this view?

Answer 7

Allport (1954) argued social psychology was ‘born’ in America

Cartwright (1979) challenges this view:
- Emphasised the impact of WW2 in transforming the field of American social psychology – increasing output, legitimacy, and altering the composition of the field
- Rapid expansion means that most theories, methods and assumptions are the product of a single group of (homogenous) teachers – the American White Middle-Class man.
- Notes that Nazism resulted in European intellectuals immigrating to America (e.g., Lewin, Heider) who brought different perspectives and influenced the development of the field

Question 8

Conflicting Social Psychologies:
Draw difference between Indigenous-American (US) tradition and Euro-American tradition

(Moscovici & Marková, 2006)

Answer 8

The “Indigenous-American” Tradition
Influence:
WW1

Relation to other subjects:
General psychology

Conception of social:
Fictive groups

The Euro-American Tradition
Influence:
WW2

Relation to other subjects:
Social science

Conception of science:
Real groups