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Chapter 1 Summary Social Psychology, Global Edition, ISBN: 9781292159102 PYC3701 - Social Psychology (PYC3701)
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
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PYC3701CHAPTER 1 - SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
The branch of psychology that studies all aspects of our social existence
Social psychologists also investigate how groups influence us, how the social
context we find ourselves in affects the way we make decisions, and how we
explain ourselves and the actions of other people
Focus is on explaining influences on the individual’s thought and behaviour
Social Psychology: What It Is and Is Not
Scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual
behaviour, feelings, and thoughts in social situations
Investigates the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actions are
influenced by the social environments in which we find ourselves – by other
people or our thoughts about them
Social psychology is scientific in nature:
o Science refers to a set of values and methods that can by used to
study a wide range of topics
o 4 core values that all fields must adopt to be considered scientific in
nature
Accuracy
Objectivity
Scepticism
Open-mindedness
o Common sense often suggests a confusing and inconsistent picture of
human behaviour
Yet it can offer intriguing hypotheses that can be tested in
controlled research
o Yields more conclusive evidence
Social psychology focuses on the behaviour of individuals:
o Social psychologists examine how groups influence individual
behaviour, how culture becomes internalised and affects individual
preferences, and how emotions and moods affect the decision made
by the individual
o Because “who we are” – our identities – affects our thought and
behaviour, social psychological understanding of the individual is
enriched by close examination of the following links
Social contexts/experiences Self-identities Social behaviour
Social psychology seeks to understand the causes of social behaviour:
o Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many
factors and conditions that shape social thought and behaviour of
individuals – their actions, feelings, beliefs, memories and judgements
o We are affected by other people’s emotions and appearance
o Cognitive processes:
, Cognitive processes play a crucial role in social behaviour
We try to make sense of people in our social world by attributing
their actions to something about them or something about their
circumstances
o Environmental variables: impact of the physical world
Aspects of the physical environment can influence our feelings,
thoughts, and behaviour
o Biological factors:
Environmental factors and social experiences – through what is
called epigenetic processes, where the operation of certain
genes is turned on or off – can influence behaviour
Evolutionary psychology perspective – suggests that our
species, like all others, has been subject to the process of
biological evolution throughout its history and that, as a result,
we now possess a large number of evolved psychological
mechanisms that help (or once helped) us to deal with important
problems relating to survival
3 basic components of the process of evolution
Variation – the fact that organisms belonging to a given
species vary in different ways
Inheritance – some of these variations can be passed on
through complex mechanisms
Selection – the fact that some variations give the
individuals who possess them and “edge” in terms of
reproduction
The evolutionary perspective doesn’t suggest that we inherit
specific patterns of social behaviour; rather, it contends that we
inherit tendencies of predispositions that may be apparent in our
overt actions, depending on the environments in which we live
These tendencies can be overridden by cognitive factors
and the effects of experience
The search for basic principles in a changing social world:
o Key goal of science – the development of basic principles that are
accurate regardless of when or where they are applied or tested
o Recognise that cultures differ greatly and that the social world in which
we live in is constantly changing
Complicates the task of establishing general principles
o Within a culture, how we interact with each other can change across
time
Social Psychology: Advances at the Boundaries
Cognition and behaviour: 2 sides of the same coin
o Behaviour and cognition are seen as linked
Complex interplay
Role of emotion in the social side of life
o Play a key role
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