Chapter 1 Flashcards
The father of Modern Social Psychology
Gordon Allport (1954)
What is Social Psychology?
In the book of Myers (2010) it is defined as
“is a science that studies the influences of our situations, with special attention to how we view and affect one another”
What is Social Psychology?
More precisely,
“the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another”
We can learn behaviors from novels and alike but what makes social psych differ from artistic and humanistic endeavor is a ________.
Science
It applies _________ _________ or __________ ___________, description, and measurement to the study of human conditions.
scientific methods or systematic observation
it conducts _________ _________ _________ so that we can understand how a person’s behaviors and decisions are Influenced by the situation and by other people surrounding them.
rigid psychological studies
What is social psychology?
Social psychologists attempt to ___________________________________________. This search of general principles is not limited to the study of attitudes but it extends across the array of human behaviors and experiences.
establish general principles of attitude formation and change that will apply in various situations
What is Social Psychology?
- Science
- Focuses on the thoughts, feelings, & behaviors of individuals
- Focuses on individual
- Influenced by other human beings
- thoughts are the beliefs, expectations and alike (yes, our private thoughts can be social as well, how? I remember the story of one of my advisees in research, this happened during the time that she was so unmotivated to work on her paper. she told me that even in her solitude, when she thought about me, imagining that I’m asking for her output, she immediately had an urge to work on it.)
- feelings are our emotions and moods (have you ever experience to remember the person who hurt you, and suddenly you see yourself crying?)
- behaviors maybe overt and covert (these are the actions that we usually see or manifest. We tend to ask why certain behavior occurs, and so and so.)
FOCUSES ON THE THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, & BEHAVIORS OF
INDIVIDUALS
- Social psychology cares about how the group works or how society works. However, it focuses on the _________ in the group or society. It studies how the group or society influences the __________ as a member of it. How the ____________ grew or changed. What does he/she care about?, How does the group change her/his personal preference?
In short, even if it studies groups of people, they usually
emphasize the behavior of the ___________ in the group context.
FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL
- Try to think of yourself when you are at home, how do you behave? when you are alone? How about with your siblings or parents? when you are with your close friends, what’s your behavior, When you are with your classmates that are not so close with you, how about with strangers, how’s your behavior? Does it change? Is it constant?
- Basically, our behavior change depending on people we are with. Our behavior is shaped by our social environment. Thus, the society has impact on you.
INFLUENCED BY OTHER HUMAN BEINGS
The study of people in groups and society.
Sociology
Social Psychology is the scientific study of (1) _______ _______ (how we perceive ourselves and others, what we believe, judgment we make, and our attitude), (2) ________ _________ (Culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, and groups of people), (3) ________ _________ (prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy and helping)
- Social Thinking
- Social Influences
- Social Relations
The Social Psychology Big Ideas
- These are the fundamental Principles
- Great ideas we ought never to forget in Social Psychology
- We construct our (own) social reality
- Our social intuitions are often powerful but sometimes perilous
- Social influences shape our behavior
- Personal attitudes and dispositions also shape behavior
- Social behavior is biologically rooted
- Social Psychology’s principle are applicable in everyday life
✔ We react differently to similar situations simply because we think differently
✔ There is an objective reality out there, but we always view it through the lens of our beliefs and values.
✔ Our beliefs about ourselves also matter. Do we have an optimistic outlook? Do we see ourselves as in control of things? Do we view ourselves as relatively superior or inferior? Our answers influence our emotions and actions.
✔ How we construe the world, and ourselves, matters.
We construct our (own) social reality