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Study Notes PSYC 379 Chapter One

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave in social situations. It examines questions like how dressing for an interview or social groups can influence perceptions. Social psychology differs from fields like clinical psychology which treats disorders, and personality psychology which focuses on internal traits. It became an established field in the early 1900s and was influenced by founders like Triplett and Lewin. In the mid-20th century, it aimed to explain phenomena like obedience and discrimination during WWII. It now incorporates perspectives from cognitive, biological, evolutionary, and sociocultural approaches.

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181 views

Study Notes PSYC 379 Chapter One

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave in social situations. It examines questions like how dressing for an interview or social groups can influence perceptions. Social psychology differs from fields like clinical psychology which treats disorders, and personality psychology which focuses on internal traits. It became an established field in the early 1900s and was influenced by founders like Triplett and Lewin. In the mid-20th century, it aimed to explain phenomena like obedience and discrimination during WWII. It now incorporates perspectives from cognitive, biological, evolutionary, and sociocultural approaches.

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danielleshinbine
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PSYC 379 STUDY GUIDE - CHAPTER QUESTIONS & GENERAL NOTES 1

Chapter One: Introduction


Define and describe social psychology. Describe how social psychology differs from other fields
of psychology and from related disciplines, such as sociology. Explain why social psychology is
not just common sense. Briefly describe the history of social psychology. Outline the current
themes and perspectives in social psychology.

1. Define social psychology.


a. The scientific study of how people think, feel, and behave in a social setting
2. Provide two questions from your daily life that social psychologists are trying to
answer.
a. Does the way I dress for an interview affect my chances of getting a job? If I
associate with different groups at school, will that affect my teacher’s
perception of me?
3. How is social psychology different from other fields of psychology?
a. Clinical Psychology: Social psychology does not treat individuals, nor does it
deal with mental disorders like clinical psychology does. Social psychology
examines the way people think, feel, and behave in a social context.
b. Personality Psychology: Personality psychology places an emphasis on
personality – difference in people’s traits, and how this affects their
behaviour. They emphasize internal factors. In contrast, social psychologists
are looking at situational factors and how they influence one’s behaviour.
They emphasize external factors.
c. Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive psychology examines mental processes --
how one thinks and feels. Social psychology examines these but applies them
to social contexts.
4. How is social psychology different from other social sciences, such as sociology?
a. Sociology: Focuses on groups, while social psychology examines individual
people as units of analysis in a social context. Further, sociology doesn’t
favour lab experiments, where social psychology utilizes experimentation
frequency
5. Provide several examples of common sense sayings about human behaviours in
social situations.
a. Birds of a feather stick together, the squeaky wheel gets the grease,
opposites attract
6. Describe how social psychological findings may be distinguished from common
sense or traditional folk wisdom.
PSYC 379 STUDY GUIDE - CHAPTER QUESTIONS & GENERAL NOTES 2

a. Social psychology differs from common sense in the fact that they utilize the
scientific method to verify their theories. Common sense or folk wisdom
does not apply this methodology, and often contains contradictory phrases
7. List the major periods in the history of social psychology.
a. 1900s – Beginnings, 1930-1950s – Call to action, 1960s-1970s, mid 1970s-
2000s (Pluralism)
8. Describe briefly the birth and infancy of social psychology. Who are considered
the founders of social psychology? When did the field of social psychology
become a distinct field of psychology?
a. Birth of social psychology: Norm Triplett (1897) examined the impact of the
observation of others on individuals biking, found that people watching them
participate in a race made them do better. First published study.
b. The field was established in the early 1900s when three textbooks about
social psychology were published (McDougal, Ross and Allport), which helped
legitimize the field.
9. What was the major focus of social psychological research from the 1930s to the
1950s?
a. Researchers emphasized the “call to action” as the impact of WW2 and Hitler
to explain why things like blind obedience, discrimination, mass murder, and
conformity occurred during the war. The world wanted to know how to
understand this. Social psychology was there to provide the answers.
10.Describe Kurt Lewin’s contributions to social psychology.
a. One of the first people to push the interactionalist perspective, combining
social and personality psychology. He also emphasized that people see the
world in their own views and biases. Pushed for research to have a practical
application.
11.Explain why the 1960s to the mid-1970s was a period of confidence and crisis for
social psychology.
a. Social psychology was becoming popularized. However, the research that
was produced in this time was controversial (obedience study, prison
experiment). People were wondering if we were doing enough with lab
experiments – are we learning about the real world through this? And the
ethical implications of these studies.
12.How was the crisis for social psychology resolved in the mid-70s to the 1990s?
a. Embraced pluralism: Methodology was changed to include correlational and
field studies with traditional lab studies. Research was diversified to examine
different cultures (multicultural, cross cultural). Ethical standards were
established to help protect research participants.
PSYC 379 STUDY GUIDE - CHAPTER QUESTIONS & GENERAL NOTES 3

13.Describe how social psychology incorporates cognitive, biological, evolutionary,


and sociocultural perspectives of human behaviour in the new century.
a. Cognitive Psychology: Social Cognition -- How people think feel and behave
in social context
b. Biological Psychology: Behavioural genetics - how genes influence our social
behaviour. Is aggression a genetic trait that can be inherited?
c. Evolutionary Psychology: Looks at the principles of evolution to explain
one’s social behaviour
d. Sociocultural Psychology: Social psychology is looking to examine how
cultures are the same and different. Cross cultural research. Multi-cultural
research.

Interactionalist perspective: How a person’s behaviour is an interaction of their personality and


their environment
Social cognition: How people think, feel and behave within a social context
Multicultural research: Examining racial and ethnic groups within cultures
Cross Cultural Research: Evaluates how cultures are different or similar to one another

1.

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