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Summary Social Psychology Chapter 1
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Social Psychology – Chapter 1 – the science of the social side of lifeSocial Psychology: An Overview
Defniton:
the scientfc feld that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual
behavior, feelings, and thought in social situatons
it investgates the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actons are infuenced
by the social environments in which we live – by other people or our thoughts about
them
Social Psychology is Scientfc in Nature, because it adopts the values and methods used in
other felds of science
Social psychologists adopt the scientfc method because “common sense” provides an
unreliable guide to social behavior, and because our personal thought is infuenced by many
potental sources of bias
Science refers to
1. a set of values
2. several methods that can be used to study a wide range of topics
Four core values are important to be considered scientfc nature:
Accuracy: a commitment to gathering and evaluatng informaton about the world
(incl. social behavior and thought) in as careful, precise, and error-free manner as
possible
Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluatng such informaton in a manner
that is as free from bias as humanly possible
Skeptciim: A commitment to acceptng fndings as accurate only to the extent they
have been verifed over and over again
Open-mindedneii: A commitment to changing one´s views – even views that are
strongly held – if existng evidence suggests that these views are inaccurate
Social Psychology Focuses on the Behavior of Individuals and seek to understand the causes
of social behavior and thought, which can involve the behavior and appearance of others,
social cognitons, environmental factors, cultural values, and even biological and genetc
factors
because the actons are performed by, and the thoughts occur in, the minds of
individuals, although they may, of course, be strongly infuenced by other people
The Actoni and Characteriitci oof Other eeople
Other people´s behavior has a great impact on us
Research: we cannot ignore others´ appearance even when we consciously try to do
so and (relying on other´s appearance is ofen right)
Cognitive eroceiiei
Reactons in situatons strongly depend on memories
, Enivironmental Variablei: Impact oof the ehyiical World
The physical environment infuences our feelings, thoughts, and behavior
Biological Factori
Evolutonary psycholoyy – a new branch of psychology that seeks to investgate the
potental role of genetc factors in various aspects of human behavior
Evoluton involves three basic components
o Variaton – organisms vary in many diferent ways
o Inheritance – some of these variatons are heritable
o Selecton – variatons that are adaptve become increasingly common in the
populaton
Social psychologists adoptng the evolutonary perspectve suggest that this process
applies to at least some aspects of social behavior (e.g. mate preference good
genes = good mates; sense of humor)
We inherit tendencies/predispositons that may be apparent in our overt behavior
, depending on the environments in which we live in
The Search for Basic Principles in a Changing Social World
Social psychology seeks to establish basic principles of social life that are accurate across
huge cultural diferences and despite rapid and major changes in social life
Important causes of social behavior and thought include the behavior and characteristcs of
other people, cognitve processes, emotons, cultures, and genetc factors
Cogniton and Behavior: Two Sides of the Same Social Coin
In the past social psychologists divided into two distnct groups
1. Those interested in social behavior – how people act in situatons
2. Those interested in social cogniton – how people atempt to make sense out of the
social world and to understand themselves and others
In modern social psychology behavior & cogniton are intmately and contnuously linked/
complex interplay
The Role of Emoton in the Social Side of Life
Social psychologists interest in emotons & moods (play a key role in social life)
Relatonships: How They Develop, Change, and Strengthen – or End
Relatonships – our social tes with other persons, ranging from casual acuuaintance or
passing friendships, to intense, long-term relatonships such as marriage or lifetme
friendships
Positvity bias - Tendency to see only good in partners research: this tendency is in
general good but only restrained to a healthy degree of reality
Similarity bias – extent to which each partner perceived his/her spouse as more
similar to themselves than actually true
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