L1 - Social Psychology Advanced

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

The attempt to understand how the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others

Question 2

What was the focus of early social psychology?

Answer 2

Was focused around the individual

It was thought that social psychology should be humanistic and action orientated (should be aimed at making society better)

Question 3

When did the crisis in social psychology occur?

Answer 3

1960s

Question 4

What were the criticisms laid on the experimental nature of social psychology during the crisis?

Answer 4

Highly controlled experiments don’t simulate real-world social conditions or experiences.

• This leads to demand characteristics, socially desirable responding, researcher bias

Question 5

What criticisms did the crisis in social psychology lay on the epistemology of early social science?

Answer 5

1. It has an overly individualised epistemology
2. The joint forces of experimentation and positivism lead to inaccurate results in the real world.
3. It ignores the social context of human behaviour.

Question 6

According to Doise, what are the 6 levels of understanding in Social psychology?

Answer 6

1. Intra-individual
2. Inter-individual
3. Positional
4. Ideological
5. Intra-social
6. Neurological

Question 7

What does ‘intra-individual’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 7

Inside the individuals mind

Question 8

What does ‘inter-individual’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 8

The mindset between groups

Question 9

What does ‘positional’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 9

Status and power influences society has on people.

Question 10

What does ‘ideological’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 10

Beliefs, values and shared knowledge we have with one another

Question 11

What does ‘intra-social’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 11

How people act within a society

Question 12

What does ‘neurological’ refer to in social psychology?

Answer 12

The neurology behind social interaction

Question 13

What are the 4 main levels of analysis in social psychology?

Answer 13

Social Cognition

Social Identity Theory

Social Representations Theory

Discursive Psychology

Question 14

What levels of understanding does Social Cognition analysis use?

Answer 14

intra-individual and inter-individual

Question 15

What is Social Cognition analysis concerned with?

Answer 15

The study of how people perceive, interpret and make sense of the world and their place within it.

(the most dominant perspective in social psychology)

Question 16

What psychological ‘revolution’ occurred in the 1960’s following the disillusion with behaviourism?

Answer 16

Cognitive Revolution

Question 17

What metaphor do cognitive psychologists use to describe the brain?

Answer 17

As a mind-machine/computer metaphor

Question 18

What are the core principles of social cognition?

Answer 18

1. Experimentation

2. Information processing metaphor of the person (each person is a ‘naive scientist’)

3. Perceptual-cognitive meta-theory (we perceive reality through senses and then use our internal cognition to process)

4. Mental representations (we use schemas, attitudes etc. to organize knowledge, expectations, objects in the world)

Question 19

What are the individualistic criticisms of social cognitivism?

Answer 19

1. It is not ‘social’ as it focuses on the individual and ignores that the contents of the mind originate in social life, social interaction, communication etc.
2. It focuses on the internal mental processes at the expense of content and context

Question 20

What is the Fiske and Taylor criticism of social cognitivism?

Answer 20

“people are not things”

1. People intentionally influence their environment (not passive participants to be studied)
2. People perceive back and joint perception is negotiated
3. Social cognition implies the self as subject as well as objects

Therefore the accuracy of observations about people is harder or impossible when compared to non-social objects

Question 21

What Doise level of understanding does social identity theory (SIT) explore?

Answer 21

Intergroup level

(level 3, positional)

Question 22

What level of understanding does social representations theory explore?

Answer 22

Collective and Cultural Level

(level 1 - intra-individual and level 4 - ideological)

Question 23

What level of understanding does discursive psychology explore?

Answer 23

Dialogic and rhetorical level

(level 4 - ideological)

Question 24

What does Social Identity Theory believe society is comprised of?

Answer 24

A complex web of intergroup relations based on status and power.

Question 25

What do Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-Categorisation Theory (SCT) include which they believe social cognition theorists didn’t include?

Answer 25

The social (group) within the individual.

(focuses on group-based behaviour)

Question 26

What is the base idea behind Social Representations Theory (SRT)?

Answer 26

How common sense theories and shared knowledge which comes from social interaction and communication shape both individual and collective perception.

(How social reality is shared)

Question 27

What is the main focus of Discursive Psychology (DP)

Answer 27

The centrality of discourse and rhetoric in everyday social life and interaction.

Talk and conversation are basic and fundamental to social life.

Question 28

Why is Discursive Psychology considered a social constructionist approach?

Answer 28

It believes we construct our realities through the meanings we attribute in talk as it plays a role in constructing the realities we have to engage with.