SOCP311 - LECTURE

LESSON 1 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY’S BIG IDEAS

1. WE CONSTRUCT OUR SOCIAL REALITY
Learning Outcomes: • We react differently because we think differently.
1. Define and differentiate social influence, social cognition and attitudes o Objective reality
2. Determine the influences of social environment to a person o Beliefs about others
3. Study the influences of social psychology throughout history o Beliefs about ourselves
4. To understand the big ideas of social psychology 2. SOCIAL INFLUENCES SHAPE OUR BEHAVIOR
o We adapt to our social context
WHAT IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY? o Our attitudes and behavior are shaped by external social forces.
3. PERSONAL ATTITUDES AND DISPOSITIONS SHAPE OUR BEHAVIOR
• The scientific study of how a person's behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced
• Internal forces
by the real, imagined or implied presence of others.
o Inner attitudes about specific situations
DIFFERENCES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY FROM OTHER DISCIPLINES
• Personality dispositions
- Focus on social nature of the individual person. o Different people may react differently while facing the same situation
Two Assertions:
4. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IS BIOLOGICALLY ROOTED
1. Person is influenced by social environment.
• Evolutionary psychology
2. Individual actively construes social situations - We do not respond to
• Natural selection predisposes our actions and reactions
environments as they are but as we interpret them to be.
• Social neuroscience examines how the brain mediates social processes and behavior.
THREE MAJOR DOMAINS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY • We are bio-psycho-social organisms.
1. SOCIAL THINKING/COGNITIVE – ways in which people think about other people. 5. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY’S PRINCIPLES ARE APPLICABLE IN EVERYDAY LIFE
a. Perception -- nothing follows --
b. Beliefs
c. Attitudes RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
2. SOCIAL INFLUENCE – ways in which a person’s behavior is affected by the presence of FORMING AND TESTING HYPOTHESIS
others.
• Theory
a. Culture
o Integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events.
b. Pressure
• Hypothesis
c. Persuasion
o Testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events
d. People
3. SOCIAL RELATIONS CORRELATION RESEARCH
a. Prejudice • Detecting Natural Association
b. Aggression o Location
c. Attraction & Intimacy  Laboratory (Controlled situation)
d. Helping  Field (Everyday situations)
EVIDENCES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY THROUGHOUT HISTORY • Naturally occurring relationships among variables
NORTH AMERICAN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY • **** Allows us to predict but not tell whether changing one variable will cause changes
• Social Comparison Theory in another.
o We learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves with • Survey Research
o Written questionnaire, personal interviews or focus group
other people.
 Upward social comparison (mas magaling sila) o Random sample
 Downward social comparison (mas magaling ikaw sa kanila) • *Disadvantage - Social desirability
• Cognitive Dissonance EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
o A feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, • Experimental Research - searching for cause and effect
beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance. • Control: Manipulating variables
• Psychology of Attitudes o Independent variable
o A relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies o Experimental factor that a researcher manipulates
towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols. • Dependent variable
EUROPEAN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY o Variable being measured; depends on manipulations of the independent variable
• “People in Groups”, “Group Performance and leadership” ETHICS OF EXPERIMENTATION
• Sociological Social Psychology
 Social Identity Theory - To understand intergroup discrimination
 Social Representations - social shared ideas about the world
 Minority Influence
ASIAN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
• "Cultural"
• focus on:
 Indigenous research
 Culture
 Social behavior
SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO
• Elizabeth is an employee of XYZ company. She did not reach her sales quota and she was
scolded in front of her co-workers. In which Filipino cultural value does Elizabeth
manifest?
a. Utang na loob
b. Bahala na
c. Hiya LESSON 2 - THE SELF IN A SOCIAL WORLD
• Rita’s daughter was very sick and did not have any money to go to the hospital. She
reached out to her friend to ask for help. Then, Rita said to her friend that she will not SELF-ESTEEM
forget the help she received. Although Rita cannot repay it back with money, she rather
• SELF-ESTEEM - Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth.
pay it back through service. Which Filipino cultural value does Rita shows?
• What are your “domains” of SE (Crocker & Wolfe)
a. Utang na loob
o (Attractive / smart / athletic / rich / loved?)
b. Bahala na
• Or is it “bottom up”? (Brown & Dutton?)
c. Hiya
o [GENERAL WAY]
• Sikolohiyang Pilipino - an indigenous Asian Psychology that emphasize identity and
national consciousness, social awareness and involvement, psychology of language and • Feedback is best when it is true and specific
culture, and applications and bases of Filipino psychology in health practices, agriculture o Leads to high “self-efficacy”
area, and mass media. o General praise...”you can do anything you want”
o -Can lead to unrealistic optimism?
o Competence feedback -> High Self-efficacy
SELF ESTEEM MOTIVATION
• Self-esteem maintenance
o Self-esteem feelings are radars for social rejection
o Self-esteem threats occur among friends whose successes can be more
Shame, Shyness, Smooth Shared identity, sensitivity or heightened threatening than that of strangers
timidity, Interpersonal outsider (ibang tao) , or awareness, empathy
embarrassment, “Debt of Gratitude” , Relationship (SIR) , one-of-us (hindi ibang o We want to avoid social rejection; consequently, it motivates us to act with
reciprocity
sensitivity to conformity, tao). greater sensitivity to others’ expectations.
others being/going along
with o Social acceptance= Increase Self-Esteem; Social reject Decrease Self-Esteem.
o Self-Esteem is bound by the standards of the society.
 SOCP311 - LECTURE

o In times of failures, self-esteem people sustain their self- worth by perceiving THE COSTS OF EXCESS CHOICE
other people as failing, too, and by exaggerating their superiority over others. • Too many choices can lead to dissatisfaction with our final choice
THE “DARK SIDE” OF SELF ESTEEM • People tend to be generally happier with decisions when they can’t undo them
• Hitler had very high self-esteem,” note Baumeister and co-authors (2003). SELF-SERVING BIAS
• Teen males who engage in sexual activity at an “inappropriately young age” tend to • Tendency to perceive oneself favorably
have higher than average self-esteem. • Explaining positive and negative events
• So do teen gang leaders, extreme ethnocentrists, terrorists, and men in prison for • Self-serving attributions
committing violent crimes. • Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to
• Narcissist other factors.
o Narcissists usually have high self- esteem, but they are missing the piece about o Contribute to marital discord, worker dissatisfaction, and bargaining
caring for others (Campbell & others, 2002). impasses How so?
o Although narcissists are often outgoing and charming early on, their self- o I got an “A” in social ψ
centeredness often leads to relationship problems in the long run ( Campbell, o Dr. Mitchell gave me a “C” in social ψ
2005). o “only others fall prey to the self- serving bias!”
• Can We All Be Better than Average?
• Most people see themselves as better than the average person on the following
dimensions
• Subjective, (e.g., “disciplined”) vs. Observable (“punctual)
o Socially desirable,
o Common dimensions
• Unrealistic Optimism
• Is on the rise
• Illusory optimism increases our vulnerability
o Remember the tendency to underestimate the strength of situational cues on
our ability to self-control?
• Defensive Pessimism (Julie Norem, ‘2000)
o Adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate
effective action.
• False Consensus Effect
o Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s
undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors.
o Why do you think integrity tests for employment work?
• False Uniqueness Effect
o Tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s
PERCEIVED SELF-CONTROL desirable or successful behaviors.
• Explaining Self-Serving Bias
o Self-serving bias is a by-product of how we process and remember information
about ourselves.
• Self-Serving Bias may be:
 Adaptive
o Protects people from depression
 Depressed people may be more in tune with reality!
 Maladaptive
o Group-serving bias

SELF-EFFICACY (ALBERT BANDURA)

• What’s the difference between self- esteem and self-efficacy?
• How competent we feel on a task
o Leads us to set challenging goals and to persist
o Competency + persistence = accomplishment / self confidence
o ...if you have control over the outcome!
LOCUS OF CONTROL (JULIAN ROTTER)

SELF-PRESENTATION (BARRY SCHLENKER)

• Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and to
an internal audience (ourselves)
• Self-Handicapping (fear of failure)
 Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy
excuse for later failure
• Self-Monitoring
• Who would you rather dance with?  Tendency to act like social chameleons
• Extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts
and actions or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces.
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS VS. SELF-DETERMINATION

Hopelessness and resignation learned when Development of self-discipline in one area

a human or animal perceives no control of your life may cause self-control in other
over repeated bad events areas as well
Martin Seligman Edward Deci