Introducing Social Psychology CHAPTER 1 Copyright 2016 2013

Introducing Social Psychology CHAPTER 1 Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

What Is Social Psychology? At the heart of social psychology is social influence. Social influence: � effect that words, actions, & mere presence of others have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, & behavior Scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology, Philosophy, Science, and Common Sense Social psychology versus philosophy � Address � But many of the same questions social psych explores scientifically Social psychology versus common sense � Common sense = folk wisdom � Social psychologists predict behavior by forming hypotheses and testing them scientifically Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology versus Personality Psychology � Focus on individual differences Aspects of people’s personalities that make them different from others � Ignores the powerful role played by social influence Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Influence on Behavior Personality psychologists study qualities of the individual that might make a person shy, conventional, rebellious, and willing to wear a turquoise wig in public or a yellow shirt in a sea of blue. Social psychologists study the powerful role of social influence on how all of us behave. Source: Glow Images Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology versus Other Social Sciences Difference in level of analysis � Other concerned with how broad social, economic, political, and historical factors influence events in a given society � Social social sciences psychology the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology versus Sociology Level of analysis � Sociology Focus � Social on society at large psychology Focus on the individual in the context of a social situation Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Influence of Groups on Individuals The people in this photo can be studied from a variety of perspectives: as individuals or as members of a family, a social class, an occupation, a culture, or a region. Sociologists study the group or institution; social psychologists study the influence of those groups and institutions on individual behavior. Source: Paul Chesley/National Geographic Creative Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Goal of Social Psychology (1 of 2) Goal of social psychology � Identify universal properties of human nature that make everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Goal of Social Psychology (2 of 2) Goal of sociology � Identify why a particular society or group within a society produces behavior (e. g. , aggression) in its members Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Table 1. 1 Social Psychology Compared to Related Disciplines Sociology Social Psychology Personality Psychology The study of groups, organizations, and societies, rather than individuals. The study of the psychological processes people have in common that make them susceptible to social influence. The study of the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from one another. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Power of the Situation 1. 2 Why does it matter how people explain and interpret events—and their own and others’ behavior?

The Importance of Explanation Fundamental attribution error (FAE) � The tendency to explain other people’s behavior entirely in terms of personality traits � Underestimating the power of social influence Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Underestimating the Power of Social Influence (1 of 2) 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 Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Underestimating the Power of Social Influence (2 of 2) By failing to fully appreciate the power of the situation, we tend to � Oversimplify � Decrease complex situations our understanding of the true causes � Blame the victim when people are overpowered by social forces Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Figure 1. 1 Why the Name of the Game Matters In this experiment, when the name of the game was the “Community Game, ” players were far more likely to behave cooperatively than when it was called the “Wall Street Game”—regardless of their own cooperative or competitive personality traits. The game’s title conveyed social norms that trumped personality and shaped the players’ behavior. (Adapted from Liberman, Samuels, & Ross, 2004) Source: Vacclav/Shutterstock Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Importance of Interpretation (1 of 2) We are constantly interpreting things � How humans will behave in a given situation is not determined by the objective conditions of a situation but rather how they perceive it (construal). Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Importance of Interpretation (2 of 2) Behaviorism: A school of psychology maintaining that to understand human behavior, one need consider only reinforcing effects of environment � Chooses not to deal with cognition, thinking, & feeling � ignores construals of the situation Inadequate for understanding the social world! Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Subjectivity of the Social Situation Emphasis on construal, the way people interpret the social situation, has its roots in Gestalt psychology Gestalt Psychology Stresses importance of studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people’s minds (the gestalt or “whole”) Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Gestalt Psychology (1 of 2) Founded in Germany � Formulated by German psychologists in the early 20 th century � Late 1930 s, several of these psychologists emigrated to the U. S. to escape Nazi regime Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Gestalt Psychology (2 of 2) Among the émigrés was Kurt Lewin � Founding father of modern experimental social psychology � Applied Gestalt principles to social perception � Stressed the importance of taking perspective of the people in any social situation to see how they construe social environment Kurt Lewin (1890 -1947) Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Construal of “Naive Realism” Research by social psychologists on construal shows why negotiation between nations can be so difficult: Each side thinks that it sees the issues clearly but that the other side is “biased. ” Source: Shawn Thew/EPA/Newscom Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Where Construals Come From: Basic Human Motives 1. 3 What happens when people’s need to feel good about themselves conflicts with their need to be accurate?

Two Central Motives Construals shaped by two basic human motives: 1. The need to be accepted 2. The need to feel good about ourselves Motives may tug in opposite directions Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Edward Snowden: Traitor or Patriot? This is Edward Snowden, a former computing contractor for the National Security Agency. Snowden’s release in 2013 of thousands of classified documents related to the U. S. government’s surveillance programs led the Department of Justice to charge him with espionage. Some have argued that Snowden is a spy, a traitor, and a criminal who should be brought back to the United States from his asylum in Russia to face trial. Others view him as a whistleblower, a patriot, and a hero fighting to protect privacy rights and inform the American public of what its government is up to (in fact, here you see him pictured receiving a German peace prize, a prize he was only able to accept via Skype). Each side is sure that they are right. Where do differing construals come from, and what are their consequences? Source: Thomas Kienzle/EPA/Newscom Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Self-Esteem Motive: The Need to Feel Good About Ourselves Self-Esteem People’s evaluations of their own self-worth; the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent Most people have a strong need to maintain reasonably high self-esteem. People will often distort the world in order to feel good about themselves instead of representing the world accurately. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Suffering and Self-Justification (1 of 2) The more unpleasant the procedure the participants underwent to get into a group, the better they liked the group 1. Human beings are motivated to maintain a positive picture of themselves, in part by justifying their past behavior 2. Under certain conditions, this leads them to do things that at first glance might seem surprising or paradoxical Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Suffering and Self-Justification (2 of 2) The more unpleasant the procedure the participants underwent to get into a group, the better they liked the group � For example, they might prefer people and things for whom they have suffered to people and things they associate with ease and pleasure Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Hazing: Hazardous but Cohesive These first-year students are being “welcomed” to their university by seniors who subject them to hazing. Doing silly or dangerous things as part of a hazing ritual may be, well, silly or dangerous. At the same time, it does build cohesiveness. Source: Newscom Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Social Cognition Motive: 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 Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Cognition = How people think about themselves and the social world; how people select, interpret, remember, & use social information to make judgments and decisions � views people as “amateur sleuths” doing their best to understand predict their social world. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Cereal Box Short-Cuts We rely on a series of expectations and other mental short-cuts in making judgments about the world around us, from important life decisions to which cereal to buy at the store, a conclusion with which advertisers and marketers are very well aware. Source: Felix Choo/Alamy Lenscap/Alamy Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Expectations About the Social World Our expectations can even change the nature of the social world Self-fulfilling prophecy � Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968/2003) found that a teacher who expects certain students to do well may cause those students to do better Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Expectations About the Social World How does such a self-fulfilling prophecy come about? � Teachers often expecting specific students to perform will pay more attention to them. listen to them with more respect. call on them more frequently. encourage them. try to teach them more challenging material. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology and Social Problems (1 of 2) Why study social influence? 1. We are curious. 2. Some social psychologists contribute to the solution of social problems. Today, social psychologists’ interest in how people think, feel, and act in social environments leads to research designed to study behavioral tendencies on Facebook, Twitter, and across other platforms, sites, and apps. Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Social Psychology and Social Problems (2 of 2) Social psychological theories about human behavior have been applied to a range of contemporary problems, including: � Prejudice � Energy shortages � AIDS � Unhealthy � Violence habits in schools Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Is TV Violence Tied to Aggression? Social psychology can help us study social problems and find ways to solve them. Social psychologists might study whether children who watch violence on television become more aggressive themselves—and, if so, what kind of intervention might be beneficial. Source: Villerot/Age Fotostock Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Importance of Being Scientifically Grounded When recommending interventions, it is imperative to act on the basis of scientifically grounded theories Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved