WEEK7: History of social psychology

Question 1

What is social psychology?
Scientific investigation of? (3)
By what types of presences? (3)

Answer 1

Social psychology is the scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of a person are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.

Question 2

Volkerpsychologie
Defintion?

Answer 2

folk psychology

Question 3

Who was Volkerpschologie?
Dealt with the study of?

Answer 3

Influential precursor of social psychology- dealt with the study of ‘the group mind’

Question 4

LeBon
What controls group behavior?
Produced? name of book

Answer 4

The behaviour of individuals is controlled by the group mind
Produced: The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

Question 5

Asch
What type of task?
Aim? (to determine how)
what behaviour was group pressure

Answer 5

To understand the complexities of an individual’s behaviour, the person needs to be viewed in the context of group relations

Conducted an experiment to see how social pressure from a majority group would impact an individual’s decision to conform

Line judgment task

Incorrect answer = group pressure

Question 6

Allport
Criticizes?

Answer 6

Group fallacy

Question 7

How does Allport criticize group fallacy?
What does group fallacy do?
What kind of mechanism is present in everyone?

Answer 7

Group fallacy takes away the importance of the behaviour mechanism, present in every individual

Question 8

How do people form attitudes and behaviors? (2)
Why is this view of behaviourism criticised?

Answer 8

reinforcement
Observe the attitudes and behaviours being reinforced in others
Criticised for being simplistic

Question 9

Gestalt psychology
-Highlights the importance of? (what should we evaluate, instead of?)
-What is important in determining attitudes and behaviours?

Answer 9

Highlights the importance of evaluating the whole object rather than focusing on specific aspects

The importance of perception in determining attitudes and behaviours

Question 10

Lewin
Theory?
Equation? definition?( what is behaviour)
What type of environment is the most important?

Answer 10

Field theory
B = f( P, E)
Definition: Behaviour is a function of a person in an environment
A person’s perception of an environment is the most important environment

Question 11

Classic social psychological experiments (2)
Definitions?

Answer 11

Triplett’s study of ‘social facilitation’ (improvement in performance in the presence of others)
Ringelamann’s study of ‘social loafing’ (Team members do less in a group setting)

Question 12

The first social psychological experiment- Triplett’s study of social facilitation
Sample?
Procedure?
Conditions?
What effects were demonstrated? definition?

Answer 12

Triplett’s study of social facilitation

Sample: Schoolchildren
Procedure: simple mechanical task (turning a fishing reel)
conditions: Individual or in competition

Demonstrated the effects of social facilitation (improvement in performance in the presence of others)

Question 13

The first social psychological experiment- Ringlemanns social loafing
Social loafing?
conditions?
Findings? term?

Answer 13

Ringelmanns study of ‘social loafing’

Conditions: Individual VS group performance
Results: Participants put in less effort when doing tasks in a group compared to individually
First evidence of productivity loss in groups (social loafing)

Question 14

Lewin, Lippitt and Whites: leadership study
Groups?
Participants?
How did the conditions impact the likeability of the leader from the team members?
How was the group’s productivity impacted in the presence and absence of the leader?

Answer 14

Autocratic VS democratic VS laissez-faire leadership styles
Participants: 10-11-year-old boys
conditions:
Autocratic leader group- leader gives orders
Democratic leader group-Both the leader and team members work together
Laissez-faire (let it be) leader group-team members are free to do anything with little guidance from the leader.

How did the conditions impact the likeability of the leader from the team members?
Autocratic leadership style
less liked
Democratic leadership style
more liked
laissez-faire leadership style

How was the group’s productivity impacted in the presence and absence of the leader?
Autocratic leadership style
High when leader was present and low when absent
Democratic leadership style
High when leader was present and absent
Laissez-faire leadership style
Low when leader was present and increased when absent
less liked

Question 15

Sherifs research on the autokinetic effect
Research question?
Conditions?
task? (what did they have to do?)
Finding? What was followed?

Answer 15

How do the opinions of others influence our judgments?

Group VS individual estimates
Procedure: Participants were split into 2 groups, one group made their estimates in one session alone and then in groups for three other sessions. This procedure was reversed for the other half of the participants

Results: Judgments made by the majority were followed

Question 16

Asch’s conformity experiments

Answer 16

Lines on screen
Which line is different from the rest?

Question 17

Why do people conform?
Deutsch and Gerrard
2 types of influences? when do they occur? examples?
What mean?

Answer 17

Normative influence- social approval
Giving in to group pressure in order to fit n eg Aschs line study
Informational influence- reduce uncertainty
A lack of knowledge or when the situation is unclear a person will look to the group for guidance

Question 18

Can a minority exert influence?

Answer 18

Less informational and normative influence

Question 19

What is minority influence?
change? (3) to?

Answer 19

When a minority changes their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to that of the majority, this is known as minority influence

Question 20

Moscovici: genetic model of social influence
What can the factors help to do? which group?
which style is most important?
Which aspect is most important of this style?
why?- more likely to?

Answer 20

Factors that have been identified as important in order for the minority to have influence over a majority. but the behavioral style is seen to hold the most significant aspect.
Behaviour style (4 components)
consistency: consistent opinion to the same issue
confidence in the accuracy of the viwes
unbiased
resistence to social pressure
The most important aspect of behavioural style is consistency as having the same view over time is more likely to influence the majority compared to inconsistent viwes

Question 21

Example of minority influence
Moscovici, Lage, and Naffrechoux
Blue-green study
Investigates effects of? (what kind of minority? on what group? similar to whose experiment? difference>’
the number of participants in majority and minority?
Procedure? slides? the first part of the experiment (what type of response?), and the second part of the experiment (what type of response?)
Finding? How is the minority able to influence the majority? (style)

Answer 21

Aim: investigate the effects of an inconsistent minority on a majority (similar to Asch’s experiment but had 2 confederates among the majority instead of just one)
4 participants = majority
2 confederate = minority
Procedure: shown 36 slides with different shades of blue and asked to state the color of each slide out loud
In the first part of the experiment, the 2 Confederates answered green for all 36 slides (consistent response)
2nd part of the experiment they answered 24 times as green and blue 12 times (inconsistent response)

Results
A consistent minority had an effect on the majority compared to an inconsistent minority
Minorities can influence the majority through a consistent behaviour style

Question 22

Triplett conducted an experiment on?
Known in psychology as?

Answer 22

Social facilitation
The first social psychology experiment

Question 23

What did LeBon argue about individuals’ behaviour in crowds?

Answer 23

The behaviour of individuals in a crowd is controlled by the group mind

Question 24

Which behavioural style was identified as most important for a minority to adopt in order to have influence over the majority in Moscovivi et al’s experiment?

Answer 24

Consistency

Question 25

What behaviour did Tajfel’s experiment identify?

Answer 25

Ingroup favoritism

Question 26

which experiment showed that competition between groups for valued resources created intergroup hostility and prejudice?

Answer 26

Sherif et al- ‘Robbers cave’ experiment

Question 27

Group-level explanations for prejudice and discrimination
Sherif et al ‘Robbers cave’ experiment
Participant’s age? a part of?
Procedure?
What happened after a week? Names?
Competition for? created?

Answer 27

11-12-year-old boys in summer camp
divided into 2 groups
Group identities were formed after a week (the ‘Rattlers’ and the ‘Eagles’)
The competition to gain valued resources between the groups created intergroup hostility and predjudice

Question 28

Sherif’s autokinetic effect experiment
Aim? (to show) (conform to what?
What type of experiment? to study?
What is the auto-kinetic effect?
Test conditions?
Findings? What do people usually do? adopt?

Answer 28

Aim: show that people conform to group norms when the situation is unclear
Procedure: Lab experiment to study conformity
Auto-kinetic effect- a small spot of light is projected onto a screen in a dark room. the spot will appear to move eventhough it is still (its a visual illusion)
Tested individually then in groups
Findings- in an unclear situation (like the auto-kinetic effect) people look towards others for guidance (adopt group norm)