CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 28 830 672 Spring 2019 Kent

CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 28 830 672 Spring 2019 Kent Harber DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY RUTGERS UNIVERSITY AT NEWARK

Define These Fields Wrigley Field W.C. Fields Strawberry Field Sally Field Developmental Psychology Cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal changes, over lifespan Cognitive Psychology Learning, memory, and reasoning Physiological Psychology Molecular, neurological, hormonal, and cortical bases of psychology Social Psychology ?

Domains of Social Psychology Theoretical Cog. Dissonance Attribution Self Affirmation Terror Management Sub-Domains Social Cognition Emotions Social Develop. Social Neuroscience Group Processes Intergroup Relations Applied Education Health Environmental Occupational NOTES: 1.This is NOT an exhaustive list of all domains and all domain-related topics. 2.Areas intersect: Emotion & Health, Dissonance & the Self & Prejudice, e.g. Phenomena and Interesting Problems Classic The Self Obedience Bystander Behavior Prejudice Contemporary Social Support Ostracism Embodiment Autonomy Stereotype Threat

How are Humans Like Other Mammals? Emotional Beings * Have core set of emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust * Emotions closely tied to behavior Social Beings * Depend on others, and others depend on us: No se vive sin amore * Exploit and are exploited by others

What Are Core and Unique Human Qualities? Time Perspective Self Consciousness Theory of Mind * Other people are self conscious * Other people have selves Social Psychology: The internal experience and interpersonal behavior of self-aware social beings.

Whitey Herzog’s “Theory of Mind” A slick way to out-figure someone is to get them to figure you’ve figured how they figured. Then when they’ve figured you’ve figured how they figured they’ve figured, you can figure a way to out figure how they figured you figured.

Class Agenda Dynamic Bases of Social Psychology Motives, Drives, Emotions Unconscious processes Drive Toward Meaning Social Perception Freud Lewin The Self Is there a self? What is the self? What does the self do? Wllm. James G.H. Mead

Class Topics PART 1: The Dynamics of Mental Lives 1. Gestalt Psychology & Kurt Lewin 2. Psychodynamic Theory 3. Social Development 4. Emotion, Vision, and Judgment 5. Emotion and Judgment 6. Emotion and Cognition 7. Emotion Management 8. Attribution Theory

Class Topics PART 2: The Self 9. The Self—Classic and Philosophical Approaches 10. The Self and the Collective 11. Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Affirmation 12. Self Theory: Contemporary Issues 13. Culture and the Self 14. Existential Social Psychology

Class Structure Seminar Format My Role: Introduce topics, overview Discussants: Prepare set of discussion topics, lead discussion expected to join in discussion Grading Discussion Summaries and Questions: Quizzes Attendance/Participation Take-home Final 30% 30% 05% 35% All are

Class Assignments & Materials Assignments Discussion Questions: 6 ques. per reading (3-4 for short reads), plus brief (1 page) outline. Bring copies for all participants. Quizzes: Mainly multiple choice, about 15 questions each. Attendance/Participation: Be prepared to answer presenters’ questions. Final Exam: Essay questions, take home. Materials Reader: Master available at front office. Charge printing costs. Powerpoint Slides: Available on my Web page http://psychology.rutgers.edu/ kharber

What Do You See? What Would Wundt See? Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

What Do You See? What Would Wundt See?

Historical Roots of Positivism Devine Right of Kings Sectarian violence, 30 Years War Religious oppression, Inquisition Stifling of intellectual freedom, e.g., Galileo Galileo Galilei 1564-1642

Gestalt Psychology 1. Revolt from then-dominant empirical psychology: Behaviorism, Associationism, Structuralism 2. Alternative to Psychoanalytic Theory 3. Early psychology suffers theoretical psoriasis: too dry or too flakey. Lewin: “What could be observed reliably is socially meaningless, and what is socially meaningful could not be observed reliably.” 4. Gestalt insight on apparent motion makes mental lives empirically accessible. Telephone lines from train Phi Phenomenon

The Phi Phenomena: An Insight Leading to Gestalt Leading to Insight http://www.yorku.ca/eye/balls.htm

Gestalt's "Cheerful" Revolution Mental events are legitimate objects of study Whole range of human experience open for scientific investigation Example: Insight 1. Behaviorists say all learning is trial and error 2. Gestaltists say it can be instantaneous--reorganizing of field 3. Sultan the ape, a stick, and a bananna 4. Learning is hypothesis driven

What Dominates Perception: Prior Learning or Novel Structure?

Gestalt Demonstrations on Vision Influence Social Psychology Theory Hering Illusion: Context Affects Perception

What’s The Story? Point: Perception driven by context, i.e., the entire field.

Social Perception Governed By Same Laws As Physical Perception How do these visual phenomena relate to social judgment? X X X X X X Similarity Similarity Proximity OO OO OO OO OO OO O O O O O O Objective Set (Once a pattern is detected, it persists.)

Vision (and Problem-Solving) Is Constructive: Organize the Field, and All the Pieces Make Sense

1. Once you “see the dog” you can even see the missing piece. 2. Insight and learning: Learning locating a missing piece Learning “reorganizing the field” 3. Once you “see the dog” it is very hard to NOT see the dog. Why? What does that say about human consciousness?

Insight and Problem Solving 1. 2. 3. 4. Sudden transition from helplessness to mastery Quick, smooth performance once insight grasped Retention of insight-gained knowledge Transfer of insight to new situations Lesson for teachers: Present the whole field, not just a stream of facts.

The Drive Toward Meaning Kuleshov Effect (Lev Kuleshov, 1899-1970) http://www.youtube.com/watch? v grCPqoFwp5k&feature related Heider & Simmel, 1944 https://www.youtube.com/watch? v wp8ebj yRI4

To see or not to see, that is the question OO OO OO OO OO OO OOOOOO Charlie Chaplin, City Lights, 1931 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v qAuhIyE93Mg

Gestalt Psychology Discussion Questions 1. Gestaltists say that rat in maze looks random, but it's b/c rat can't see entire maze. The Gestaltists therefore saw problem from rat's point of view. How might this relate to social judgment? That is, how we judge the “odd” behaviors of others? 2. Our ability to organize things into meaningful wholes is clearly helpful. Is it ever unhelpful? How? 3. People see animals and faces in cloud formations, and religious figures in tortillas. Do Gestalt principles help explain this? 4. How might the Kuleshov effect relate to psychological problems, like paranoia? 5. Is the “self” a gestalt? Can’t people define themselves in terms of their “parts” (i.e., interests, family, skills, etc.)? 6. Does the Gestalt notion that people see things purposefully rather than randomly relate to problems of social perception, like stereotypes or prejudice? 7. Gestalt provides appealing metaphors for social psychology—but are these really anything more than metaphors? What scientific use do that have, if any?