Lecture 2 - What is Social Psychology and the social animal? Flashcards
Give a definition of Social Psychology.
2 on the back of this card
“The scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.”
(Allport, 1954)
“The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others.”
(Smith & Mackie, 2015)
What are the three levels of analysis?
THOUGHTS
BEHAVIOUR
FEELINGS
e.g.
Stereotypes
Discrimination
Prejudice
Describe a study that implied the presence of others increases pro-social behaviour.
Bateson, Nettle, & Roberts (2006)
PROCEDURE
Study conducted in a psychology department coffee room
Option to pay for tea and coffee (notice)
Banner: Eyes or flowers
Recorded the amount of money collected (DVC)
The notice featured a 150!35 mm banner that alternated each week betweenan image of a pair of eyes and an image of flowers printed above the prices for tea, coffee and milk (30, 50 and 10 pence, respectively)
RESULTS
In weeks where a pair of eyes was displayed, people paid almost 3 times more.
REFERENCE
Bateson, M., Nettle, D., & Roberts, G. (2006). Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting. Biology letters, 2(3), 412-414.
Describe a study that concluded that competition increases effort and motivation.
Triplett (1898)
PROCEDURE
- Graduate student at Indiana University
- Observed that (amongst others) cyclists race faster when competing than when alone
- Reviewed various theories that may explain this:
In particular “dynamogenic factors:” Presence arouses competitive instincts that release nervous energy. - Constructed an elaborate competition machine and measurement device to test this hypothesis.
- Observed that children indeed reeled in a fishing line faster when in the presence of others.
- Concluded competition increases effort and motivation
Define Social Facilitation
Social facilitation -
The tendency to perform better in the presence of others than when alone.
- Occurs when tasks simple, or behaviour is well-learned.
Define Social Inhibition
Social Inhibition -
The tendency to perform worse in the presence of others than when alone.
- Occurs when task is complex, or behaviour is not well-learned.
Describe a study that supports ‘practise makes perfect’.
Michaels et al. (1982).
PROCEDURE
They watched pool players in a student billiards hall and classified the players as being either high or low in ability.
Next, groups of four confederates approached the players and watched them closely during several rounds of play.
RESULTS
As predicted, they found that this close observation caused the shot accuracy to increase markedly for the good players (71% to 80%), while dropping precipitously for the poor players (36% to 25%).
These findings suggest that the key to whether the presence of others enhances or deteriorates performance is how well-learned the behaviour is.
When behaviour is learned to such a degree that it becomes basic and instinctive performance improves.
Describe Milgrams studies (1963, 1974) briefly.
Milgramd remonstrated the power of social situations:
Normal people can be led to perform destructive acts when exposed to pressure from a legitimate authority
Milgram was interested in learning more about WHY so many German people were able to follow and obey Hitler’s orders to murder and massacre millions of people. His ORIGINAL hypothesis was that German people were more OBEDIENT and authoritarian than North Americans.
Overall, this level of obedience was indeed remarkable. The level was so high that Milgram felt no need to go to Germany to study obedience. There was a lot of obedience right here.
In fact, this level of obedience was clearly not the result of the personality of those involved. It is quite clear that MOST people would respond the SAME way, under similar circumstances.
(you know the study, look it up if you need help, procedure is not on slides but probs in textbook)
List a few brief applications of Social Psychology.
- Health
- Education
- Law
- Environment
- Business
- Advertising / Behaviour change campaigns
- Intergroup relations
Briefly described the study of Loftus & Palmer (1974).
Loftus & Palmer, 1974:
contacted: 31.8 m/hr
hit: 34.0 m/hr
bumped: 38.1 m/hr
collided: 39.3 m/hr
smashed: 40.8 m/hr
READ PAGE 632
make notes if you feel like it or just teach yourself with whiteboard.
READ PAGES 643-644 IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT A LOT OF DIFFERENT THEORIES AND DEFINITIONS.
make notes if you feel like it or just teach yourself with whiteboard.
READ PAGES 668-672
INFO ON:
- OBEDIENCE
make notes if you feel like it or just teach yourself with whiteboard.
READ PAGES 679-680
INFO ON:
- SOCIAL FACILIATATION
make notes if you feel like it or just teach yourself with whiteboard.
READ PAGES 705-706 INFO ON: - RECIPROCITY - SIMILARITY AND NEED COMPLEMENTARITY - LOVE
make notes if you feel like it or just teach yourself with whiteboard.
