Roots of Social Psychology

PSY454
Devpriya Kumar
Classical Conditioning

If Unconditioned Stimulus  Unconditioned Response

(meat powder) (salivation)

then pair

Conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus

(bell) (meat powder)

then eventually

Conditioned stimulus  conditioned response

(bell) (~salivation)
Reinforcement or Instrumental learning.

• Instrumental behavior = behavior that occurs because it was previously

instrumental in producing certain consequences
Early work in this area done by Thorndike (late 1800s)

 put cats in puzzle boxes

 the cats had to manipulate a latch to open the door,
escape and get food Latency

 initially the cats would thrash about randomly until

they accidentally opened the door
Trials

 then the latency to escape and get food would decrease

over successive trials
Implications for Social Psychology
• How learning shapes behaviour?

• Learn to be helpful, obedient, attitudes and opinions, group identity.

Roots of Social Psychology – Gestalt
Psychology
• 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
• Whole is more than some of parts
Implications for Social Psychology
• How we form impression of individuals, groups.

• Stereotyping

• In-group /out-group effect

 Landmarks in Social Psychology
Triplett, N. (1898). THE DYNAMOGENIC FACTORS IN PACEMAKING AND COMPETITION. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507-533.

• 1898 The First Social Psychology Experiment

• Norm Triplet’s Social Facilitation Studies

• Cyclists ride faster in presence of other cyclists.

• 40 children to reel a fishing rod

• Alone
• Competition
• who played the game in pairs turned the reel faster than those
who were alone
Landmarks in Social Psychology
• First text book on Social Psychology published in 1908
• Ross – Social Psychology
• McDougal – Social Psychology
Landmarks in Social Psychology

• Hitler & World War II (1930-1970)

• Obedience (Milgram).

• Authoritarian Personality.

• Prejudice reduction (Sherif)

• Learned Aggression (Bandura)

• Power changes behaviour of individuals in a role-playing scenario when identified with (Zimbardo).
Landmarks in Social Psychology (1950-1960)

• Attitude formation & change

• Persuasion
• Effective Advertisement
• Cognitive dissonance
Landmarks in Social Psychology
• Social cognition (1970-1980)

• How knowledge about our social world is influenced by processes such as

memory, information processing, attitudes and judgments.

• Decision biases - Heuristics

• Social Neuroscience (2000-)

• How social experience is influenced by and influences activities in the brain