social psych test 1 Flashcards
What is social psychology?
the scientific study of the way people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people
social influence
The effect of the words, actions, or mere presence of other people on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors
Social Psychology vs common sense
Common sense = folk wisdom
- Social psychologists predict behavior by forming hypotheses and testing them scientifically
Social Psychology vs philosophy
Address many of the same questions
- Social psychology explores them scientifically
what is the difference between social psychology and other social sciences?
level of analysis.
Personality Psychology
Studies the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from each other
Social Psychology vs Personality Psychology
Focuses on individual differences
- Ignores the powerful role played by social influence
Social Psychology vs Cognitive Psychology
Focus on sequence of basic internal processes that underlie more complex behavior
- Ignores influence of others/society
Sociology
Focuses on society at large
Social psychology
Focuses on the individual in the context of a social situation
Goal of social psychology
To identify universal properties of human nature that make everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture
Goal of sociology
To identify why a particular society or group within a society produces behavior (e.g., aggression) in its members
what is the major difference between the goal of sociology and social psychology?
Sociology looks toward society at large rather than the individual
Max Wertheimer Gestalt theory
The basic thesis of gestalt theory might be formulated thus: there are contexts in which what is happening in the whole cannot be deduced from the characteristics of the separate pieces
who is the founding father of Social Psychology
Kurt Lewin
B = f(P, E); behavior is a function of the person and their environment
Applied Gestalt theory to social perceptions
attributions
How we explain behavior
Person (dispositional) variables
Enduring traits (Personality)
Attitudes- Situational variables
Fundamental Attribution Error
Over-estimation of the extent to which people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors
under-estimation of the role of complex situational factors.
When we underestimate the power of social influence…
we gain a feeling of false security.
- Increases personal vulnerability to possibly destructive social influence
- Lulls us into lowering our guard
By failing to fully appreciate the power of the situation..
we tend to
- Oversimplify complex situations
- Decrease our understanding of the true causes
- Blame the victim when people are overpowered by social forces
social psychology is ___ concerned with the objective nature of social situations and is ___ concerned with subjective
not
more
construal
the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
social cognition
how people think about themselves and the social world. How they make sense of it. The need to be accurate.
Social cognition motive
Takes into account how people think about the world
We try to gain accurate understandings so we can make effective judgments and decisions
But we typically act on the basis of incompletely and inaccurately interpreted information
