Lesson 01

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Introduction to Social

Psychology:
Lecture 1
Dr Kausar Suhail
 Introduction to Social Psychology
 Social psychology is the scientific study
of how people think, influence, and relate
to one another.

 Social Psychology is a surprisingly broad field that


overlaps with:

i) The sub disciplines of psychology like personality and cognition

ii) The fields of anthropology, sociology, and communication.


Learning Objectives
 To acquaint the students with the field of social psychology.

 To provide many insights into our own and others’ behavior.

 Benefiting one’s own relationships and services as a friend,


relative, roommate, neighbor, and co-worker etc.
 Students should learn the relevance of social psychology to their
own life.
 Students should benefit their own relationships.
 Learning techniques will include different readings, quizzes,
assignments journals and applied social psychology lab.
 Through journal writing and Applied social psychology Lab
students will be able to experience the personal relevance of
social psychology.
 Journal: One means of enhancing the course’s
personal relevance is an assignment called a
"Journal“.

 Applied Social Psychology Lab, to give


students a practical overview and knowledge
about the application of Social Psychology by
case reports, small activities, and current
research
By the end of this course students will be able to:
 Demonstrate foundational knowledge in social
psychology.

 Apply social psychological phenomena to one's


own thinking, behavior, and relationships

 Recognize the extent to which social behaviors are


influenced by situational factors and interpretive
factors.
i) Situational Factors
ii) Interpretive Factors
This suggest a cause and effect equation.
Readings
Text Book
 Franzoi, S.L. (2006). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw

Hill.

 David G. Myers, D. G. (2003). Social Psychology (7th ed.).


New York: McGraw-Hill.

Other Readings
 Lord, C.G. (1997). Social Psychology. Orlando: Harcourt

Brace and Company.

 Lippa, R.A. (1994). Introduction to Social Psychology.


Belmont: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Overview of the lecture:
Introduction to Social Psychology

1. What is social psychology?

2. What are the Questions of interest in social


Psychology?
What is Social Psychology
 A discipline that uses scientific methods in an attempt
to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings
and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the
actual, imagined or implied presence of
others(Gordon Allport, 1985, p. 3).

 The scientific study of how individuals think,


Feel, and behave toward other people and
how individuals thoughts, feelings, &
behaviours are affected by other people
(Brehm, Kassin, & Fein 2002 p. 5).
Main Elements of Definitions
 Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors of
individuals

 Influence of other people

 Using Scientific Methods

Suggests a cause - effect equation


Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
(Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors)

1. Thinking about the self and others (It is related


to thought element)

2. Evaluating persons and relationships (It is


related to feelings part)

3. Interacting with others (It is related to


behaviors)
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
1 - Thinking about the self & others:
 Social cognition

 Attitude change

 Attribution

 The self
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
1 - Thinking about the self & others:
 Social cognition: How do jury decide guilt or innocence?

 Person perception: How do we know when someone is lying


or telling truth?

 Attribution: Thought process that occur when we decide what


caused another person’s behavior.

 The self: When does a thin body image promotes eating


disorders?
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
2 - Evaluating people & relationships:
i. Attitude
ii. Attitude change
iii. Prejudice
iv. Interpersonal attractions
v. Close relationships
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
2 - Evaluating people & relationships:
 Attitude: Feelings lie at the core of. attitudes; how feelings, thoughts and
behaviour relate to each other: why people feel one way and yet behave in
exactly the opposite way?

 Attitude change: How can we instill positive attitude in children toward


school?

 Prejudice: How can society reduce stereotyping and discrimination?

 Interpersonal attractions: Why do people desire to make friends with one


and not the others?

 Close relationships: How our feelings toward significant others change


over time? e.g. marriages & divorces.
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
3 - Interacting with Others:
i. Social Influence
ii. Helping
iii. Aggression
iv. Interpersonal Power
v. Groups
Main Questions of Interest in Social
Psychology
3 - Interacting with Others:
 Social Influence: Studies how one person’s behavior/ presence influences
another person’s behavior.

 Helping: How can we convince more people to help disabled?

 Aggression: Does media violence promotes violence in real life? Why


people assault, hit, and kill each other?

 Interpersonal Power: Why ordinary citizens sometime engage in torture,


ethnic cleansing, or genocide?

 Groups: Why can’t one religious group agree with the other? Whether
people behave differently while in group?
How Presence of others Affect?
1 -Actual Presence:

 Response of cricket players; opposing team


fans shout, make loud noises to divert attention
of players.

 When you discover that someone is watching.


How Presence of others Affect?
2 - Imagined Presence:
“Imagined figures can guide our actions by shaping our
interpretation of events just as surely as do those who
are physically present” (Shaw, 2003)

Examples: in anxiety “Emotional security blanket”


(McGowan, 2002); real ones or even fictional, e.g.,
two young wizards, Harmione & Harry in Harry
Potter
How Presence of others Affect?
3 - Implied Presence:
 In shopping stores “You are being watched”

 Motor way: going beyond speed limit


Other Explanations of Social
Behavior
(Social factors affecting people’s behavior, attitude and thinking)
1 - Group level explanations, i.e.,
evolutionary and cultural factors.

2 – Individual level explanations: such as


childhood experiences, and family history.

3 - Mediating variables: internal factors such


as personality traits, and attitudes.
Other Explanations of Social Behavior
(Social factors affecting people’s behavior, attitude and thinking)

1 – Group level Explanations ( Evolutionary and


Cultural Factors):
 Tension and resulting aggression in Yugoslavia and other
countries; People have evolved with a tendency to become
more aggressive to outsiders than to their own kind?

 Cultural: Margaret Mead (1935) reported that some societies


are peaceful (Arapesh of New Guinea) while others
dominating and aggressive (Mundugumor of new Guinea)

 Different world-wide Violence rates: In 1980s, 8.5%/100,1000


in USA, 1.9% in Canada, and 0.6% in UK.
Other Explanations of Social Behavior
(Social factors affecting people’s behavior, attitude and thinking)

2 - Individual-level Explanations:
 Heredity and physiology: males are more
aggressive than women due to testosterone (Eagly
& Steffan, 1986); men with higher level more
aggressive (Dabbs & Morris, 1990)

 Past experiences:
a. Early learning and child rearing practices: girls are
taught not to be aggressive

b. Past experiences of Kashmiris and Palestinians


shaped their aggression while growing up
Current situation
 Frustration & aggression; classic study of Hoveland
and Sears (1940): sig. correlation between
economic frustration and lynching of black by
white people in Old South; Pakistan?

 Media violence: every-day situational factor; Ever-


present influence.

 Conformity research, how group pressure can


induce people shift their beliefs.
Other Explanations of Social Behavior
(Social factors affecting people’s behavior, attitude and thinking)
3 - Mediating Variables:
 Slip inside the skin of the individual; cannot be directly
observed; must be inferred from a person’s behavior.

 Beliefs: Compromise the cognitive information, while


attitudes are evaluative responses.

 Schemas: A kind of mental model that people hold.

 Emotions: Transient states of arousal that direct our behavior

 Personality traits are stable dispositions influencing broad


domains of behavior
Current Responses
 Social thought

 Social feeling

 Social behavior
Next Lecture: Introduction to Social
Psychology

1. Is Social Psychology just common sense?

2. Social Psychology and related fields

3. The profession of Social Psychology

4. Applying Social Psychology

5. History of social psychology

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