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Chapter 1 Introduction

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Page 1: Chapter 1 Introduction. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.1 | 2 Defining Social Psychology? The scientific study of how individuals

Chapter 1Introduction

Page 2: Chapter 1 Introduction. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.1 | 2 Defining Social Psychology? The scientific study of how individuals

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 1 | 2

Defining Social Psychology?

• The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in social context.

• What does this mean???– Let’s look at each part of this definition:

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Scientific Study

• Social psychology relies on the scientific method.• Scientific method involves:

– Systematic observation– Description– Measurement

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How Individuals Think, Feel, and Behave

• Social psychology concerns a diverse setof topics.

• Focus is on the psychology of the individual.

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Other People

• Emphasis is on the social nature of individuals.– But, the “socialness” of social psychology varies.

• “Other people” do not have to be real or present.– Even the implied or imagined presence of others can

have important effects on individuals.

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Table 1.1: Examples ofSocial Psychological Questions

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Figure 1.1: Influenceof Others Reactions

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Table 1.2: Distinctions BetweenSocial Psychology and Related Fields

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Social Psychology and Sociology

• How are they different?– Sociology tends to focus on the group level.– Social psychology tends to focus on the

individual level.

• How do the fields intersect?– Often share the same training and publish in

the same journals.– Both can help in understanding societal and

immediate factors that influence behavior.

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Social Psychology and Clinical Psychology

• How are they different?– Clinical psychologists seek to understand and treat

people with psychological difficulties or disorders.– Social psychologists focus on the more typical ways

in which individuals think, feel, behave, and influence each other.

• How do the fields intersect?

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Social Psychologyand Personality Psychology

• How are they different?– Personality psychologists are interested in

differences between individuals.– Social psychologists are interested in how social

factors affect most individuals.

• How do the fields intersect?– They complement each other.– Do situational factors interact with individual

differences?

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Social Psychologyand Cognitive Psychology

• How are they different?– Cognitive psychologists study mental

processes overall.– Social psychologists are interested in mental

processes with respect to social information and how these processes influence social behavior.

• How do the fields intersect?– Social cognition has become an important area

within social psychology.

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Social Psychology and Common Sense

• The “knew-it-all-along” phenomenon.• Common sense seems to explain many social

psychological findings after the fact.– But how does one distinguish common sense facts

from common sense myths?

• Unlike common sense, social psychology uses the scientific method to put its theories to the test.

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From Past to Present

A Brief History of Social Psychology

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Birth and Infancyof Social Psychology: 1880s-1920s

• Who was the founder of social psychology?• First textbooks were by McDougall (1908), Ross

(1908), and F. Allport (1924).– These books established social psychology as a

distinct field of study.

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A Call to Action: 1930s-1950s

• Who had the most dramatic impact on social psychology?

– Quite possibly Adolf Hitler!

• Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues formed in 1936.

• Sherif’s (1936) groundbreaking experimental research on social influence.

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Kurt Lewin’s FundamentalPrinciples of Social Psychology

• What we do depends to a large extent on how we perceive and interpret the world around us.

• Behavior is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment.

• Social psychological theories should be applied to important, practical issues.

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Confidence and Crisis:1960s-mid 1970s

• Milgram’s famous obedience experiments• Period of expansion and enthusiasm• Also a time of crisis and heated debate

– Strong reactions against the laboratory experiment as the dominant research method

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An Era of Pluralism:Mid 1970s-1990s

• “Crisis” led to a stronger discipline.• Adoption of pluralism

– Acceptance of many methods of investigation in addition to the laboratory experiment

– Integration of both “hot” and “cold” perspectivesin the study of the determinants of our thoughtsand actions

– Development of international and multicultural perspectives

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Social Psychology in a New Century

• Integration of emotion, motivation, and cognition• Biological and evolutionary perspectives• Cultural perspectives• New technologies