David Myers 11e Chapter 1 Introducing Social Psychology

David Myers 11e Chapter 1 Introducing Social Psychology 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 1

Chapter One Introducing Social Psychology What’s the point about Cinder Ella? Does her self-perception matter? A sub-discipline of psychology ψ What is psychology? What are some other sub-disciplines? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 2

What Is Social Psychology? Scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another B f (p*e) Social thinking Social influence Social relations 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 3

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY IS . . . 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 4

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas We Construct Our Social Reality We react differently because we think differently 1951 Princeton-Dartmouth football game demonstration Objective reality Beliefs about others Beliefs about ourselves What really happened in Ferguson MO? Did the grand jury make the right decision? Perspectives from M. Brown? D. Wilson? Bystanders? Public? What’s the point here? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 5

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas Our Social Intuitions Are Often Powerful but Sometimes Perilous Dual processing (Kahneman “Thinking fast & slow”) Conscious and deliberate – system II Unconscious and automatic – system I 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 6

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas Social Influences Shape Our Behavior Locality – give an example Educational level -give an example Subscribed media give an example Culture –same sex marriage ok with you? Ethnicity 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 7

Personal Attitudes and Dispositions Internal forces Inner attitudes about specific situations Personality dispositions (individual differences) Different people may react differently while facing the same situation B f ( p*e) 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 8

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas Social Behavior Is Biologically Rooted Evolutionary psychology Natural selection predisposes our actions and reactions Prejudice happens early at the brain level We prefer the familiar things – why? Hint: evolution Social neuroscience We are bio-psycho-social organisms 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 9

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas Social Psychology’s Principles Are Applicable in Everyday Life How to know ourselves better Implications for human health Implications for judicial procedures Influencing behaviors 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 10

Social Psychology and Human Values Obvious Ways Values Enter Psychology “personal convictions” give an example of one for a social psychologist and how it can influence her work. Research topics Types of people Do business students differ from ψ students? Object of social-psychological analysis How values form Why they change How they influence attitudes and actions 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 11

Social Psychology and Human Values Not-S0-Obvious Ways Values Enter Psychology Subjective aspects of Science Culture –which is better, competition or cooperation? Social representations – shared beliefs taken for granted Are there any real group differences for race/gender? Psychological concepts contain hidden values Defining the good life Professional advice Forming concepts How could high self-esteem be the same as “defensive”? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 12

Labeling – some examples “terrorist” or a “freedom fighter” “welfare” or “aid to the needy” nationalism v. patriotism. open marriage” or “adultery” “Brainwashing” “Perversions” Can you think of others? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 13

Is Social Psychology Simply Common Sense? What did Cullen Murphy and Arthur Schlesinger have in common? Paul Lazarsfeld “Better-educated soldiers suffered more adjustment problems than did less educated soldiers.” Problem with Common Sense Invoked after we know the facts (post hoc) Hindsight bias (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon) Missed or misinterpreted clues of 9/11 2008 world financial crisis Caveat: STUDY THE MATERIAL 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies Why? 14

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Forming and Testing Hypotheses Theory (falsifiable) Integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events: see Kerlinger: h ttp://home.ubalt.edu/tmitch/632/kerlinder%20definit ions.htm Hypotheses Testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events What’s the difference between a “fact” and a “theory? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 15

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Correlation Research: Detecting Natural Associations Location Laboratory Controlled situation Field Everyday situations 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 16

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Correlation Research: Detecting Natural Associations Method Correlational Naturally occurring relationships among variables Experimental Seeks clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more variables while controlling others 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 17

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Correlation Research: Detecting Natural Associations Correlation and causation Allows us to predict but not tell whether changing one variable will cause changes in another Self esteem - high achievement (which causes which?) Does IQ and family status play a role? Bachman & O’Malley, (1977) What happened in the study with 715 Minnesota kids? 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 18

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Correlation Research: Detecting Natural Associations Survey research Random sample (from a population) Unrepresentative samples Order of questions Response options What % of energy from nuclear power? One v. three options – “what happened” Wording of questions “Welfare” v. “assistance to the poor” Framing – e.g. “forbid” v. “not allow” 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 19

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Experimental Research: Searching for Cause and Effect Control: Manipulating variables Independent variable Experimental factor that a researcher manipulates Corr or causation Prejudice to obese persons (Snyder & Haugen, ‘94) TV violence (Boyatzis et al. ‘95) Dependent variable Variable being measured; depends on manipulations of the independent variable Can you manipulate or just measure? See: Table 1.1 p 25 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 20

Random Assignment 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 21

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Experimental Research: Searching for Cause and Effect Random assignment: The great equalizer Process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition Eliminates extraneous factors 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 22

Research Methods: How We Do Social Psychology Ethics of Experimentation Mundane realism Experimental realism Deception Demand characteristics Informed consent Debriefing 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 23

Generalizing from Laboratory to Life We can distinguish between the content of people’s thinking and acting and the process by which they think and act 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies 24