Class 2 Flashcards
Who are the two important figures in early social psychology?
- 1875: William James starts the first psychology laboratory
- 1945: Kurt Lewin becomes Director of ‘Center for Group Dynamics’ at MIT (First one to look into group dymanics)
What is Phrenology?
Type of scientific racism
Popular scientific fad in early 19thcentury that believed skull shape was a reliable predictor of psychological traits
What did William McDougall write about?
first textbooks on social psychology (1908)
In a series of lectures, he purported to identify a number of psychological qualities associated with “superior” groups, such as curiosity, introversion, and self-assertion. He argued “Nordic” races were more likely to possess these traits. Also argued that Black people were inherently submissive, which made it appropriate for them to be subjected to a lower status in society
What was the Johnson-Reed Act?
How did it use scientistic racism?
Wanted less immigrants
- Favored those from europe and barred all from Asia (based on scientific racism & eugenics)
Who is Herbert Spencer?
Creator of the term “survival of the fittest”
(Social Darwinism)
What is Social Darwinism?
Existing disparities were then justified as reflecting innate differences between more and less worthy groups.
(those who succeed - white- are more capable)
What can we critique about social Darwinism?
Aside from being wrong from an evolutionary standpoint (evolution selects at the individual level, not the group level),
this is also an example of the naturalistic fallacy. ( informal logical fallacy which argues that if something is ‘natural’ it must be good.)
What is a real example of social Darwinism used?
Social Darwinism influenced the forced sterilization in Virginia on disabled ppl
What did Floyd Allport say about social Darwinism?
Talked about how biological differences do not fully explain group disparities
(start of the move away from scientific racism)
Who is William Graham Sumner?
first Professor of Sociology in North America
- coined the terms ingroup, outgroup, and ethnocentrism. (In Book: folkways)
Who is Walter Lippmann?
Public Opinion (book) he adapted a term from the printing industry to describe the process through which someone takes impressions towards one group member and applies them to all group members: a stereotype
What are Walter Lippmann’s opinions on sterotypes?
modern world is too chaotic and disorderly, so people must (over)simplify (need simple model)
Stereotypes arising from a need to abstract
Cultural influences and expectations shape the way we view the social world (we come into interactions with expectations (define) and then we see) (Self fulfilling prophesy)
What are the The Princeton Trilogy Studies (1933)?
Looked into which sterotypes people have
Ex. (To what extend do you agree that _____ group has _____ trait?)
What did Katz & Braly find in The Princeton Trilogy Studies?
78% of 100 students agreeing that one of the most typical characteristics of Germans is their scientific-mindedness.
Say for example a student were to encounter a german exchange student, any interaction will confirm the original stereotype which he has learned
- Humans show a lot of variety in behaviour, so bound to show a trait that will be taken as scientific
What is LaPiere(1934): Attitudes vs. Actions motivation?
Study on discriminating behavior empirically
(Was annoyed that we rely on surveys for stereotypes: “How much can we trust what people say?”)
Explain LaPiere(1934): Attitudes vs. Actions study with Chinese people?
Why are his results significant?
For two years, La Piere traveled around America with a Chinese immigrant couple.
three of them visited 66 hotels and 184 restaurants (refused service only once)
Six months after these visits, LaPiere contacted each and asked whether they would provide service to a Chinese couple (92% said they would refuse)
Significant:
When people cannot physically see the Chinese couple, they may rely on stereotypes
They are also accompanied by him (white guy)
Who is Gordon Allport?
book The Nature of Prejudice, arguably the first psychological analysis of issues related to prejudice and discrimination
We slip into ethnic prejudice cuz:
erroneous generalization and hostility
–are natural and common capacities of the human mind
What is the social cognitive perspective that is emerging?
Moving away from phrenology
The mind hones basic tools for all kinds of things / it isn’t evenly split into sections
-Our minds only have so much info, we need to simplify (we cannot relearn how to act in each new situation)
- It is natural and useful to simplify
What is Allport’s “Contact Hypothesis”?
Intergroup contact –and a specific type of contact –was one effective means of reducing intergroup hostility and prejudice.
What might intergroup contact depend on? (what determines if positive / negative)
- Quantity (Frequency, duration)
- Status (Are groups of equal status vs. status differences)
- Goals (Is the contact facilitating cooperative or competitive behavior)
- Social (Is the contact formal vs. casual, voluntary vs. involuntary)
- Physical (Is contact happening in an employment, religious, residential context)
What three factors make contact effective?
- Is Based on ‘Acquaintanceship’ (when we feel friendly with each other)
- Is Integrated (ex. housing policies)
- Is Communal (do things together- shared goals)
What was Singer’s (1948) study on Intergroup Contact about?
In a sample of White military officers and enlisted men, 77% reported that their attitudes had become more favorable towards Black people after serving in the same unit as Black soldiers (0% said their attitudes became less favorable)
What was Stouffer (1949) study on Intergroup Contact about?
Compared attitudes of men who did vs. did not fight alongside Black soldiers in World War II. Only White soldiers who fought alongside Black soldiers showed more favorable attitudes towards Black people
What was Deutsch & Collins (1951) study on Intergroup Contact about?
Compared residents assigned to live in more versus less integrated public housing. Residents in more integrated housing developed more positive attitudes towards Black people. These findings led many states to reverse policies about segregated housing.
Who is Muzafer Sherif?
conduct his Robbers Cave Experiment
His work gave rise to Realistic Conflict Theory, which argues that intergroup conflict is a reflection of social structural forces. Specifically, conflict arises due to competition for desired resource
What is the thesis of the robbers cave experiement?
“Intergroup attitudes and behavior are determined primarilyby the nature of functional relations between groups in question… not by the deviate or neurotic behavior of particular individual members.”
So: it’s group attitudes, not individuals that are shaping the relationships between groups
What were the three stages of the robbers cave experiment?
Stage 1: Experimental Ingroup Formation
Stage 2: Friction Between Groups
Stage 3: Integration Between Groups
What is a big takeaway with the robbers cave experiement?
nature of intergroup relations –for good or evil –does not necessarily stem from the existence of tools and techniques: the same tools and techniques can serve harmony and integration as well as deadly competition and conflict
Who is Henri Tajfel?
Founder of Social Identity Theory, which argued that individuals’ sense of identity and self-esteem was primarily determined by their group memberships.
- Also advanced research on the Minimal Groups Paradigm
What are Minimal Groups Effects? (Tajfel)
Mere classification into ingroups and outgroups was sufficient to create intergroup bias
If we group ppl based on irrelevant characteristics it will created group based characteristics (just having the group related identity will alter behavior) (Was trying to find: ’baseline condition’ where group effects were notimportant.)
- DOESN’T have to be longstanding integrated groups
Who is Frantz Fanon?
wrote frequently about how societal structures force marginalized groups to internalize a sense of inferiority
LATER: John Jost and Mahzarin Banaji developed this line of thinking into System Justification Theory, where maintaining existing social structures is prioritized, even at the expense of personal or group interests
What is Brown vs. Board of Education?
Baby doll study
A majority of children preferred the White doll
Helped end segregation cuz ppl realized it wasn’t “separate but equal” and one group was in fact, unequal
What is “Social Cognition”?
the study of how mental processes like perception, memory, and thought shape our understanding of the social world.
A social cognitive perspective argues that in order to better understand processes related to bias, discrimination and prejudice, we must have a better understanding of how the human mind functions (e.g., how it categorizes stimuli, how it groups objects)
What does implicit social cognition look at?
the role of automatic (and often unconscious) processes in social psychological processes
Ex. priming / IAT
