Chapter 1- Intro Flashcards
How do other people can influence us without being physically present?
As long as someone is being influenced in any way by another individual, including their imagined presence/actions, the situation is relevant to social psychology.
Someone is wondering what their mom, romantic partner, or close friend would think of their behavior. What concept is this an example of?
The less obvious ways people can influence our behavior.
A bystander is wondering whether to help at the scene of a car accident. Other cars are just driving by and they decide to do the same. What concept is an example of?
How we use other people to interpret our world.
Define: social contruals
How individuals’ personally interpret or perceive a social situation.
Why do social psychologists to focus on the individual?
Because people respond to their subjective perceptions of the world around them rather than the perhaps more accurate reality.
What are the 3 flaws in common sense understandings of social psychology shown by the sayings ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ and ‘Opposites attract’?
Common sense often allows competing predictions, is very vague/simplistic and is not always correct.
When did social psychology emerge as its own field?
Social psychology emerged as its own distinct field in psychology in the 1950s.
Which facet of social psychology is based upon a concept from the philosopher Plato?
The idea that people experience the world in three distinct ways: in thought, emotions and in actions.
How does philosophy’s concept of the social contract help inform social psychology?
Modern social psychologists use the concept to show that we have norms in society and explain various social behaviours.
Define: social contract
The idea that every society has a basic set of social and moral rules which all members have implicitly agreed to follow, an absence of which leads to societal breakdown.
In which year did the earliest social psychological publication appear?
The earliest social psychological publication appeared in 1898.
Define/explain: Gestalt theory
Says that people’s overall, subjective interpretations of objects are more important than the objects’ physical features.
Who is Kurt Lewin?
He is considered the father of modern social psychology.
Define/explain: behaviourism
A psychological approach that assumes that behaviour can be explained purely in terms of stimulus, responses established through experience and reinforcement. They see children as blank slates.