Summary

Summary of Social Psychology - PSY504 (Chapters 1-11 + Appendix A)

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Course
PSY504 (PSY504)

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Ryerson University (Ru )

This document contains a comprehensive set of detailed notes taken from the textbook for PSY 504 (Social Psychology; Chapters 1-11 + Appendix A). The notes summarize key concepts, theories, and findings discussed in the chapters required for the course, providing a structured and accessible resourc...

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Lecture 1
December-24-12 12:12 PM

• We focus on social situations because we are social beings
• We forge our individual identities in the context of other people
• Social relationships define our lives
• Hurting from a physical pain or emotional pain, the same area of the brain is activated (romantic
breakup can be experienced as physical pain
• Multicultural experiences keep us open minded and enable us to be more flexible thinkers
• Close friends = increased health benefits
• The social contexts we find ourselves in can influence us profoundly

What is Social Psychology?

• Defining Social Psychology
○ Social psychology: the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social
context
▪ It is scientific, which means that: (a) it takes a systematic approach to addressing
relevant questions; and (b) it is based on theories to help explain social psychological
phenomenon and to drive the research
▪ It is about thoughts, feelings, and behavior-- yours and mine--and how these interact
with, intersect with, and influence each other
▪ Concerned with the social forces that influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors,
of which we are (for the most part) not aware, that are affecting you
▪ We swim around oblivious to the factors that are influencing our behavior until we
stop and think about them
○ Scientific Study
▪ Social psychology is a science
▪ It applies the scientific method of systematic observation, description, and
measurement to the study of the human condition
○ How individuals Think, Feel, and Behave
▪ Social psychology differs than other social sciences as this offers a good illustration
and investigates a wide variety of attitudes and contexts- it strives to establish general
principles of attitude formation and change that apply in a variety of situations rather
than particular domains
▪ Social psychology focuses on individuals behaviour in a group context
○ A Social Context
▪ Social psychology emphasises on the social nature of individuals
▪ Social psychologists may examine non-social factors that affect peoples thoughts,
emotions, motives and actions- they study peoples thoughts or feelings about non-
social things
▪ Social psychology focuses on things that either a) concern other people or b) are
influenced by other people
▪ Social Context referred to in the definition of social psychology does not have to be
real or present; implied or imagined presence of others can have an effect on people

Social Psychological Questions and Applications

• Learning about social psychology is learning about ourselves and our social worlds
• Social psychology is scientific rather than anecdotal, systematic rather than haphazard

Social Psychology Page 1

, • Social psychology is scientific rather than anecdotal, systematic rather than haphazard

The Power of the Social Context: An Example of a Social Psychology Experiment

• The social nature of human beings can be influenced by just being reminded about what is
considered normative when it comes to judging our own appearance
• Erin Strahan and her colleagues explored the impact of media images on body satisfaction ratings
by female undergraduate students to see if they could change whether a participant was feeling
bad or good about their body by manipulating how aware she was of the cultural norms (i.e. "thin
is in")
○ Unrealistic images can lead women to feel worse about their own bodies
○ They proposed that by viewing these images women are reminded that other people are
judging them based on their appearance and their own sense of self worth suffers when
they cant live up to the expectations
○ To test this they asked half the women to watch commercials with thin good looking models
while others watched neural images
○ After a short break, they asked they ladies to rate themselves on a variety of measures and
to indicate how concerned they were with the opinions of others
○ Those viewing the skinny models reported being less satisfied with their bodies and more
concerned with what other people thought
○ By watching the thin models, women were reminded of what was considered attractive
based on norms
○ Simply being reminded about what is expected can impact ones feelings of self-worth
○ Remember no one judged these women- they reacted to how they imagined others would
judge them
○ Making changes to a social context can have a positive effect
▪ Boys and girls given "toolbox" of techniques for countering unrealistic norms- girls
who saw skinny models and experienced the "intervention" were less likely to base
self-worth on appearance
▪
Social Psychology and Related Fields: Distinctions and Intersections

• Social Psychology and Sociology
○ Sociology focuses on the group level, and social psychology focuses on the individual level
○ Social psychologists are more likely to conduct experiments in which they manipulate a
variable and determine the effects of this manipulation using precise quantifiable measures
○ Sociology and social psychology are related
▪ Some share same training and publish same journals
• Social Psychology and Clinical Psychology
○ Clinical psychology seeks to understand and treat people with psychological difficulties or
disorders
○ Social psychology does not focus on disorders, but they focus on the ways in which
individuals think, feel, behave and influence each other
○ However, these two do intersect
▪ Both would address how people cope with pressure, how people differ in depression,
or how individuals being bullied can be affected
• Social Psychology and Personality Psychology
○ Both social psychology and personality psychology are concerned with individuals thoughts,
feelings and behaviour
○ Personality psychology seeks to understand differences between individuals that remain
stable across situations whereas social psychology seeks to understand how social factors
affect most individuals regardless of their different personalities
○ Personality psychology is interested in cross-situational consistency
They also are closely linked

Social Psychology Page 2

, ○ They also are closely linked
▪ They share the same divisions
▪ The two areas complement each other
• Social Psychology and Cognitive Psychology
○ cognitive psycology studies mental processes such as thinking, learning, remembering, and
reasoning
○ Social psychology is interested in how people think, learn, remember and reason with
respect to social information and in how these processes are relevant to social behaviour
• Social Psychology and Common Sense
○ The "knew it all along" phenomenon causes people to question how social psychology is
different from common sense
▪ The problem is distinguishing common sense from common sense myths
○ Social psychology uses scientific method to put its theories to a test
○ Beauty and brains don’t mix- physically attractive people tend to be seen as less smart than
physically unattractive people- FALSE
○ People will like an activity more if you offer them a large reward for doing it causing them to
associate the activity with the positive reinforcement- FALSE
○ People think that they're more distinctive than they really are- they tend to underestimate
the extent to which others share the same opinions or interests- FALSE
○ Playing contact sports or violent games releases aggression and makes people less likely to
vent their anger in violent ways- FALSE

From Past to Present: A Brief History of Social Psychology

• The Birth and Infancy of Social Psychology: 1880s-1920s
○ Related topics to social psychology were being discussed prior to the twentieth century
○ Norman Triplett- first person to publish a research article in social psychology at the end of
the nineteenth century
▪ He marked the birth of modern day social psychology with one experiment
▪ He observed that bicyclists tended to race faster when racing in the presence of
others than when simply racing against a clock
○ Max Ringelmann- also studied the effects of the presence of others on the performance of
individuals
▪ He noted individuals performed worse on simple tasks such as pulling rope when they
performed the ask with other people
○ Norman and Max didn’t established social psychology as a field, however they did: William
Douglas, Edward Ross and Floyd Allport
▪ Allport's book on interaction of individuals and their social context helped establish
social psychology
○ McGill University was the first to offer a course in Social Psychology in 1913
• A Call to Action: 1930s-1950s
○ Adolf Hitler has had the strongest influence on the field of social psychology
▪ People had questions about what causes violence, prejudice, genocide, conformity
and obedience and much more
▪ The years before, during and soon after WW2 marked interest in social psychology
○ Gorden Allport and others formed the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
(SPSSI)
○ Muzafer Sherif witnessed groups of Greek soldiers killing his friends and than decided to
conduct research on powerful influences groups can exert on their individual members
▪ This was crucial as it demonstrated that it is possible to study complex social
processes in a scientific manner
▪ This laid the foundation for research and theory on social influence
○ Kurt Lewin helped establish the following:
1) Behaviour is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment;

Social Psychology Page 3

, 1) Behaviour is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment;
known as the internationalist perspective- an emphasis on how both an individuals
personality and environmental characteristics influence behaviour (emphasised the
interplay between internal and external factors)
□ Lewin marked psychoanalysis- internal motives, fantasies, behaviourism
(rewards and punishments)
2) Social psychological theories should be applied to important, practical issues; Lewin
researched lots of practical issues- taught people to conserve materials during the war
and promote good eating habits
□ Showed how social psychology could enlarge our understanding of social
problems and contribute to their solution
○ Landmarks during the 1950's
1) Allport published a book on prejudice
2) Asch's demonstration on how willing people are to conform to an obviously wrong
majority amazes people today
3) Festinger introduced two theories- 1) people try to learn about themselves by
comparing themselves to others and 2) peoples attitudes can be changed by their own
behaviour
○ There were rarely any women scholars in the ranks as they were excluded from academic
appointments
• Confidence and Crisis: 1960s-Mid 1970s
○ Stanley Milgram was inspired by the destructive obedience demonstrated by Nazi officers
and ordinary citizens in WW2 and the civil disobedience- he made experiments that
demonstrated individuals vulnerability to the destructive commands of authority
○ It was a time of crisis; critics said this method asserted certain practises that were unethical
and that experimenters expectations influenced participants behaviour and that the
theories were limited
▪ Those who favored lab experimentation, said their procedures were ethical, results
valid and principles applicable
○ For a while, social psychology seemed split in two
• An Era of Pluralism: Mid-1970s-1990's
○ Both sides won
○ A pluralised approach recognized that because no one research method is perfect and
because different topics require different kinds of investigations, a range of research
techniques is needed
○ Integrating different perspectives is a characteristic of the pluralism that the field is now
○ Another source of pluralism: development of international and multicultural perspectives
○ Social psychology achieved its recognition in Canada and the U.S.
○ Some called social psychology "culture-bound" and "largely monocultural"

Social Psychology in a New Century

• Integration of Emotion, Motivation, and Cognition
○ If one perspective dominated the final quarter of social psychology's first century, it would
be social cognition: the study of how we perceive, remember and interpret information
about ourselves and others
▪ These social-cognitive processes are important to every field
▪ One of the most exciting developments in the field is the re-emergence of interest in
how individuals emotions and motivations influence their thoughts and actions
□ New perspective- how do peoples motivations influence non-conscious
cognitive processes and vice versa
• Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives
○ Our brain and body is influenced by our social experiences
One recent development is the emergence of the subfield social neuroscience: the study of

Social Psychology Page 4

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