Social Psych Part 1 Flashcards
Define social psychology
Allport 1935: Scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual or implied presence of others
Myers 1990: Scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to each other
What social psychologists study
How to influence others
How to change attitudes
How to tell when person is lying
ETC.
Methods of social psych
Multi method discipline: methodological creativity
- Controlled laboratory experiments
- Descriptive and survey techniques
Field experiments and unobtrusive techniques (participants don’t realise they are in the experiment)
E.g. ‘honking’ study (unobtrusive techniques)
How the sticker on back of car influences how people respond to you in traffic conditions- Australian sticker and german sticker.
- Drove around in Germany, France, Italy and Spain
- Didn’t move at traffic light when light turned green
- Measured the number of secs before someone honked
- Australian sticker delayed the honks compared to German sticker
Thus, our national stereotypes influence behaviour
E.g. finding a place with or without a mobile phone and impact on people’s happiness
People with phone found it faster (googled it)
But those people were less happy compared to the ones without phone as phones provide a kind of social isolation.
People without phones meant they needed to make interactions with others while asking for directions meaning they were happier.
Scientific method alone produces reliable knowledge
Attacks by postmodernism on scientific method- relativism, social and cultural factors are more important than scientific method itself
Underlying post modernism is the belief that its impossible to arrive at any kind of truth and since no one can get the truth anyways, we should forget differentiating between methods of knowing
- Superstition, religion are just as true as science (science does not have a privileged position)
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of science (lack of knowledge on how science works)
- Vs falsification
In actual fact, scientific understanding has a unique status in the world.
History of social psych
Explosive growth since 1960s
Uniquely a western product
Arose out of western individualism, enlightenment and empiricism
Other eastern philosophy and religion also have lots to say about human condition but this has remained speculative.
OR maybe it is only in western cultures that human condition has become an issue
Gullibility vs scepticism (Kahneman)
Kahneman: System 1 vs system 2 thinking
System 1 thinking is everyday thinking –> believing what others tell you
- Humans are lazy so most rely on system 1 thinking
- Exploitation of gullibility in
Advertising
Marketing
Politics
System 2 thinking is rational and systematic thinking (takes more energy)
Social psych vs Common sense
Social psych is all about everyday life so in some sense we are already practising social psychology.
The problem with common sense is that everything, and the opposite of everything is true some of the time (think of proverbs)
Essentially, they are the same subject matter but different methods
- Common sense: general, non-specific, everything and its opposite can be true
- Common sense can’t distinguish between coincidence and causality (can come to the wrong conclusion)
- Much common sense is wrong e.g. naturopathy, miracle cures, homeopathy
Science: specific, causal: when, where why and how events occur
Humans are VERY social, so is it possible to live alone (hermits, shipwrecked people, serial killers)?
When we are deprived of social activity, we suffer immensely
- Effect: hallucinations, Psychotic symptoms, Visions
Schachter’s isolation experiments
- Usually can’t do these experiments bc its unethical
- BUT he asked participants to be alone in a room.
- Some people can’t last more than 20 mins while others can last several days
Human social behaviour is shaped by evolutionary forces
We adapted to live in small groups
Evolution of human brain was mainly due to human behaviour
But our age is very different from our ancestral environment- importance of history
Evolutionary origins of sociability
What did our forebears have that allowed them to survive?All our forebears were able to survive and thus reproduce to produce US
They required adaptation for group living, cooperation and conformity
Steve Pinker: argues that the evolution of the human brain was driven by the need to coordinate social behaviour
Robin Dunbar: found that there is a relationship between people’s brain sizes and the group size they were in. The bigger the group you’re in, the bigger your brain is to manage the group.
What social behaviours today can be described to be evolutionary factors?
Behaviours that are culturally and historically universal
Gender differences hasn’t changed much over the many years
Parental investment theory:
- Men are the seekers (look for sexual opportunities) while women are choosers
- Women are higher investing sex and more selective
- While men are lower investing sex and are less selective/more competitive
- SO, men want to cast far and wide while women look for a dependant male
Different jealousy patterns: men are more jealous of sexual activity while women are more jealous of emotional activity
Different perceptions and judgements: men tend to over-interpret signs of interest in women while women under interpret signs of commitment from men
Over the years, we have condoms and birth control etc. but women are still reluctant to engage in sexual activity despite the fact that the biological imperative no longer applies (falling pregnant). This suggests that this has been built into our brains
Experiment: asked people how long do you need to know the person before you are happy to engage in sexual behaviour.
Results: becomes the same for both genders after 5 year mark BUT before that, men are always more happy to have sex.
Essentially, there is no evidence that gender differences are not universal (Mead said in one place in the world it was different but in fact it was a lie)
In group favouritism
Groups vs other groups as a part of survival has always been part of human nature
How to achieve tolerance?
- 18th century individualism (respect for individuals bc all members of the same group)
- 20th century multi-culturalism (respect for cultures)
- Intergroup conflict
- Dangers of collectivism vs individualism
Need for attachment, identity and status
Before 18th century, humans were characterised as living in close intimate groups. These groups give status, identity, attachment and sense of belonging
Since 18th century- breakdown of primary groups
More freedom, mobility, productivity and wealth
But: impoverished social relationships. There is a lot more loneliness.
Zimbardo: loneliness, shyness
Does social needs drive consumption?
Ultimately futile
Evidence –> life satisfaction static
There is evidence that life satisfaction has not improved over the years even though amount of materials has quadrupled.
Role of advertising
The idiot consumer: shopping for identity
E.g. buying bottled water (instead of tap). Mercedes Benz perfume, nike shoes, apple computers etc.
Social Influence processes
See this everyday E.g: Asking friends for fashion advice Buy clothes that doesn’t suit you but everyone else is wearing them Laughing at something that wasn’t funny
Minimal social influence:
mere presence and audience effects
Social facilitation-Triplett (1898)
first empirical social psychology experiments
Illustration of minimal social influence
How long it takes for someone to reel up a fishing line
People doing it with others at the same time performed better than people doing the task alone
Dynamogenic factor theory
the presence of another person is a stimulus to arousing the competitive instinct
Social facilitation in the real world
Tower (1986): drivers take 15% less time to travel first 100 yards at an intersection when there is another driver beside them, than when they are alone
Social facilitation in animal kingdom
Bayer (1929): looked at eating behaviour of chickens alone and in company
- The full chicken then ate 2/3 as much as it had already eaten.
Chen (1927): ants
- Day 1: ants digs alone excavates 232 mg
- Day 2: ant digs with another ant and their performance triples to 765mg
