Chapter 1: Introduction to Social

Psychology
Energizer

 4 Drinks
 Group yourselves into groups of five!
 Milktea, one step to the left
 Water, one step to the right
 Iced tea, one step forward
 Pineapple juice, one step backward
 Iced coffee, jump
Thoughts to Ponder

Why is it important to study society, societal

rules, human behavior and other concepts in
social psychology.
What is your thought about the work ethics of
Filipinos?
Activity:

 Form yourselves into groups of four

 Remember your 1st playmate, your 1st
playmate outside your home,...
 Are you involved in fights? How do you feel?
 Back in your 1st day in college, who was the
first person you talked with? What was your
first conversation and how do you feel about
it?
 From the topic add 10 insights regarding the
people around you. (Personal and group
insights, do not use the famous quotes)

 EG.
 We need people in our lives.
 No man is an island.
Characterizing Social Psychology
Social Psychology - The scientific study of the feelings,
thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations

1. Explaining Behavior
• What social psychologists study:
- how people are influenced by others
- how people make decisions
- inferences we make about others’ attitudes and personalities
- influence of situational variables on behavior
- how we make sense of our world
Characterizing Social Psychology

2. Comparing Social Psychology to Related

Disciplines
a. Personality psychology - stresses individual differences
in behavior
b. Cognitive psychology - study of how people think about,
perceive, and remember aspects of the world
c. Sociology - study of behavior of people in the aggregate
(population level issues)
Characterizing Social Psychology

3. Proximal and Distal Influences in Social

Psychology
Proximal - factors that exist in the here-and-now or that immediately
precede what the individual does
Distal - factors that are more removed in time from a given context or
episode

In recent years, two distal factors have greatly influenced the

field of social psychology:
Characterizing Social Psychology

a. Evolution - explaining commonalities in

human behavior as due to adaptation /
natural selection
b. Culture - attempt to understand the deep
cultural differences that exist between
societies, and how those differences
influence behavior
Themes in Social Psychology

The Power of The Situation

Classic issue in social psychology: is behavior

due to individual differences (personality) or
situational influences?

1. Early Research and Theory:

a. Lewin’s Field Theory
Themes in Social Psychology

The Role of Construal

A truism in psychology, based on much

research, is that people often think about,
perceive, or ‘construe’ the same stimulus in
different ways. If we are to predict behavior in
a given situation, we need to understand how
an individual construes the situation.
Themes in Social Psychology

The Role of Construal

1. Interpreting Reality

Gestalt Psychology - based on the German word, Gestalt,

meaning “form”, this approach stresses the fact that
objects are perceived not by means of some automatic
registering device but by active, usually unconscious,
interpretation of what the object represents as a whole
Figure 1.2
Themes in Social Psychology

Automatic and Controlled Processing

The mind processes information in two ways in a social

situation. One is an automatic, unconscious, often
emotional reaction. The other is conscious,
systematic, and likely to be governed by careful
thought.

e.g. Devine’s (1989a, 1989b) research on prejudice.

Themes in Social Psychology

Automatic and Controlled Processing

1. Types of Unconscious Processing

a. James’ - “skill acquisition”
b. Freud - formation of beliefs & behaviors without
conscious awareness
2. Functions of Unconscious Processing
Evolution and Human Behavior:
How We Are The Same
Darwin assumed that Natural Selection (an
evolutionary process that operates to mold
animals and plants such that traits that enhance
the probability of survival and reproduction are
passed on to subsequent generations) is just as
important for behavioral propensities as they are
for biological characteristics.
Evolution and Human Behavior: How
We Are The Same

1. Human Universals
2. Group Living, Language, and
Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind - the understanding that other people

have beliefs and desires.
e.g. studies of children with autism demonstrate the
lack of theory of mind in these persons.
Evolution and Human Behavior:
How We Are The Same
3. Parental Investment
In virtually all mammalian species, males
expend far less energy devoted to raising
their offspring compared to females. This
may help to understand universal
tendencies related to child rearing, sex, and
gender.
Evolution and Human Behavior:
How We Are The Same
4. Avoiding the Naturalistic Fallacy
Definition: The way things are, are the way
they should be.
• It should be noted that some people mistake
evolutionary accounts for behavior as
suggesting that ‘biology is destiny.’ This is
not true. We are predisposed for plenty of
various behaviors, but those may often
never arise.
Culture and Human Behavior: How
We Are Different
1. Cultural Differences in Self-Definition
• Independent (individualistic) vs.
Interdependent (collectivist) cultures
Table 1.3
Culture and Human Behavior: How We
Are Different

2. Qualifications to these distinctions

● regionalism, subcultures
3. Culture and Evolution as Tools for
Understanding Situations
● Nature proposes – culture disposes
Research Methods

 Experiments - Do changes in one variable (X)

cause changes in another variable (Y)?
– Independent Variable (X)
 condition or event that is manipulated by experimenter
– Dependent Variable (Y)
 condition or event that is manipulated by experimenter
– Extraneous Variable(s)
 any variable other than independent variable that may
influence dependent variable
Example

A study was conducted to examine the effects of

temperature on aggression. Subjects were randomly
assigned to one of three conditions (low [70o-72o],
moderate [80o-82o], or a high [90o-92o] temperature
room).
While in the room an assistant irritates the subjects.
Subjects were later given a chance to “evaluate” the
assistant and told that low ratings would cause the
assistant to be fired.
Graphic Results

Effects of Temperature on Aggression

14 12
12
Subject Ratings of

10
7
8
Helper

6
3
4
2
0
Low Moderate High
Temperature
Research Methods

 Advantages of Experimental Research

– Allows conclusions about cause & effect
relationships between variables
 Disadvantages of Experimental Research
– Experimental conditions are artificial
 do results “generalize” to the real world?
– Some questions can’t be tested in an experiment
Correlation/Descriptive Research

 Surveys
– investigators use questionnaires or interviews to
gather data about subject’s behavior
 Naturalistic Observation
– investigators observe subject behavior without
direct intervention
 Case Studies
– in-depth probe of individual subject(s)
Correlation/Descriptive Research

 Advantages
– Study phenomena that can’t be studied in a lab
 riots
 effects of supervisor behavior on employees
 effects of job loss on couples’ relationship quality
 effects of smoking on physical health
– Very realistic
 results can be generalized to other settings
Correlation/Descriptive Research

 Disadvantages
– less control over extraneous variables
– difficult to measure behavior as precisely
(compared to lab experiments)
– cannot demonstrate cause and effect
relationships
Ethical Considerations

 Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

– Potential benefits must outweigh potential harm
 APA ethical guidelines
– Voluntary participation
– Informed consent
– Privacy
 Middlemist personal space experiments
– Debriefing
Correlation
– The extent to which one variable can be
understood on the basis of another

 Two properties of correlation coefficient

– direction (positive or negative)

– magnitude (strength of the relationship)

Correlation:

350
300 r = .95
Final Grade Points

250
200
150
100
50
0
0 50 100 150
Exam Points
Correlation:

350
300 r = .00
Final Grade Points

250
200
150
100
50
0
0 50 100 150
Exam Points
Correlation:
High

r = -.95
Turnover Intentions

Low
Low Job Satisfaction High
Assessment

Quiz, 10 items

Form yourselves into groups of four

In a whole sheet of paper, summarize the
things that you've learned today and choose a
representative and share them in our class
Home Readings and Work.

 Formulate 10-15 Self Awareness Activities

(Physical, Mental, Social or Emotional
Aspects)