Social Psychology: Understanding Individual Behavior in Social Situations - Prof. Samuel S, Study notes of Psychology

Download Social Psychology: Understanding Individual Behavior in Social Situations - Prof. Samuel S and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 1: Social Psychology What is Social Psychology?  Key concept: not mere action but interaction  Social psychology – studies how we are influenced by others; scientific field that seeks to comprehend the nature & causes of individual behavior in social situations Scientific Method  Observation  Questions  Hypothesis  Testing  Theory Types?  Psychological social psychology  Sociological social psychology History of Social Psychology  Norman Triplett – conducted 1st social psychological experiment (1895); “bicycle rider”: with/without competitor  William McDougall & Ross – first to use term “social psychology” (1908) “social behavior” – innate tendency or instinct  Floyd Allport – social behavior was affected by different factors such as presence of others Cross Cultural Psychology: Individualism & Collectivism  Individualism o Privacy o Self identity o Inner attribute of self o Independent o Individual decision  Collectivism o Social system o Social identity o Socialization o Interdependent o Loyalty & harmony *Social Influence Factors Self ∆ Other Environment/Social Context Chapter 2: Research Method in Social Psychology  Where & what  Where: location  What: design Research: Basic or Applied in nature  Basic research: increase knowledge about social behavior  Applied research: increase understanding of solutions to real world problems Scientific Research  Conduct systematical research  Not just common sense o Investigate common sense assumptions about human behavior o Avoid errors in perception/ thinking process Hypothesis  Specific propositions/expectations about the nature of things derived from a theory Types of Research Methods I. Observational research method II. Cross-cultural research method III. Quasi-experiment research method IV. Experimental research method V. Correlation research method  The knowledge of the kind of person you are Contents of self-concepts  Physical attributes  Traits & disposition  Gender identity  Role identity  Racial identity Self-esteem  A person’s evaluation of his/her self-concept  Evaluative component of the self-concept in either positive or negative way  Positive evaluation: high self-esteem  Negative evaluation: low self-esteem Self-esteem & risks taking behavior  People w/low self-esteem, are more concerned about protecting themselves from threat & are less inclined to take risks than people with high self-esteem Dark side of high self-esteem  High self-esteem: more aggressive & defensive than other when someone challenges their favorable self-assessments Self-enhancement  The process of seeking out & interpreting situations so as to attain a positive view of yourself Self-monitoring  Tendency to use cues from other people’s self-presentation in controlling one’s own self- presentation Self-schema  Schemas: organized, repeatedly exercised patterns of thought about some stimulus, which are built up from experience & which selectively guide the processing of new info  Cognitive generalization about the self  Derives from the past experience  Organize & guide the processing of self-related info contained in the individual’s social experience Gender schema  Mental framework for processing into based on its perceived female or male qualities  Sex: biological status/emphasis  Gender: social status/emphasis Chapter 4: Social cognition & person perception Social perception  Person perception  Process through which we seek to know & understand others around us  Social perception: attribution, communication, nonverbal communication, impression formation  First impression o Physical characteristics o Nonverbal behavior/communication  Accuracy of direct judgment o Judging personality o Judging emotions: facial expressions  Detecting deception Communication I. Verbal  Language  Paralanguage: sound II. Nonverbal  Facial expression  Eye contact  Body language  Language o 1-5 levels o Fifth: cliché conversation o Fourth: reporting o Third: self-center/judgment o Second: “gut” o First: peak communication  Paralanguage: sound o Laughing o Crying o Yawning o Groaning o Sneezing o Snoring Impression formation  Our impressions of others are shaped by their nonverbal behavior o Facial expression Facial expressions  Happy  Surprise  Sadness  Anger  Disgust  Fear Problems in understanding/detecting facial expressions  Particular vocation o Actor/actress  Cultural norms Eye contact  Eyes don’t lie, do they?  Eye contact & social interacting o Friendliness, liking, etc  Staring Body language  Emblems: nonverbal acts w/direct verbal translation o Sign language  Illustrators: nonverbal acts company speech  Regulator: helping flow of conversation  Adaptor: sitting or leaning to show how you are reacting Attribution  Infer the causes of behavior