Social Psychology

Credits: Dr. HANSIKA SINGHAL

 “The thing that we are
trying to do at facebook is
just help
people connect and
communicate more
efficiently.”
Meaning
1. The scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings
and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the
actual, imagined or implied presence of others’
2. Social: how people are affected by other people who are
physically present
or who are imagined to be present (anticipation)
or even whose presence is implied (littering- X)
3. Human behaviour
4. Do not study animals.
5. Study behaviour because behaviour can be observed
and measured.
5.1 motor activities (running)
5.2 Subtle actions (raised eyebrow)
6. Feelings, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, intentions and
goals: inferred from behavior
7. science- Theory, data, verifiable,
Sociology and Social Anthropology
• Sociology focuses on how • Social anthropology:
groups, organisations, focused on ‘exotic’ societies
social categories and (non-industrial tribal
societies are organized, societies)
function & change • Sociology and social
• Group as a whole rather anthropology are social
than the individuals sciences whereas social
psychology is a behavioural
science –
Applied Social Psychology
• Uses theories, principles, methods, researches to:
Understand practical and social problems
Develop intervention strategies- improve functioning of individuals,
society, groups
Social and practical problems (emotional & social adjustment, physical
health, school performance, athletics)

Reference : Schneider, Coutts and Gruman

https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Applied_Social_Psychology/t4e
PDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
History of ASP
• Social Psychologist, Kurt Lewin (1936)
• Conducted researches on social issues and practical problems (how to get people to eat
healthier diets, interpersonal relations)
• Main aim was to link psychological theory to application
• Integration of theory, research & practice
• Later Lewin’s colleagues Lippitt and White (1939) conducted experiments on types of
leadership styles: autocratic, democratic and Laissez faire
• Nazism , WWII (1939-45) (Adolf Hitler): Question on genocide, violence, conformity,
prejudice
• Sherif’s work on conflict resolution (1966)
• Again focus shifted from applied-> theoretical aspects (experiments, theory dev)
• With assassination of JFK, MLK, Women’s liberation movement, civil rights) brought
attention back
• Field research, non experimental research methods
Levels of Analysis
Social situational determinants of behaviour:
1. Interpersonal (individual)
2. Group
3. Organizational
4. Community
5. Societal/ Cultural

Riksheim and Chermak (1993) did a review of 40 studies predicting

police officer use of force
Theoretical Perspectives
1. Behaviourism
Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner
Radical behaviourists:
Behaviour can be explained and predicted in terms of
reinforcement schedules. Behaviour associated with
positive outcomes or circumstances grows in strength
and frequency.
Neo-behaviourism:
Unobservable intervening constructs to make sense of
behaviour.
• Reinforcement–affect model of interpersonal attraction
People- association- Positive experiences- more attraction
• Social exchange theory (Kelley, 1978)
Social Interaction- rewards and Costs
• Social modelling
• Drive theory (Zajonc, 1965)
Strength of learned response- better or worse in front of
audience
2. Cognitive
1. Origins in Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler’s Gestalt
psychology (1930s)
2. Cognitive processes and cognitive representations actively
interpret and change their environment
3. Kurt Lewin’s (1951) field theory
Environmental factors- Cognition- motivation- socially
acceptable ways
4. Cognitive consistency theories (attitude change)
5. Attribution theories
6. Social Cognition
1. Role Theory
• People participate as members of group
• Conformity
• Societal norms- expectations
• Evaluate individual’s performance

Limitations- cannot explain deviant behaviour

2. Reinforcement Theory
• Social behaviour governed by external events
• Use of reinforcements, Stimulus discrimination (learning of exact
conditions under which a R will be reinforced)
• Directly observable events and behaviours
• S-R, Role of Conditioning
• Study by Verplanck (1955)
• Pavlov, Thorndike, Allport, Hull, Skinner
• Social Learning (Bandura)- learning without external reinforcement but
performance will depend on reinforcement
 3. Social Exchange Theory
• Reinforcement explains stability and change in relationships
• Rshp is the exchange of G&S between people
• Freedom of choice between alternatives actions- maximize rewards
(money, prestige) and minimize costs
• People are hedonistic by nature, prefer good than poor profits
• Eg promotion in current job vs higher salary in new job
 Contd…..
• True for work AWA personal relations (eg. seeking physically and
emotionally attractive partners)
• Equity: rewards received= costs borne
• Equitable rshp= stable rshps
• Inequitable rshp= unstable rshps (reallocation of costs & rewards,
restructuring of rshps)
Limitations:
1. External stimuli than on imaginative or creative thought
2. Social behv- hedonistic; Altruism, martyrdom, selfless acts?
4. Cognitive theory
1. Mental activities= determinants of social behv
2. P, M, J, DM, PS = Cognitive processes intervene between S and R
3. Role of external events is not the only explanation
4. Look at the whole of which it is a part (Ex. Chess player while
playing- strategic location of 1 piece vis-a-vis other pieces)
5. Modern Cogn theorists
1. Pople select (imp/ relevant/ useful) &
2. Actively control interpret of SS from envt (diff ppl may have diff
interpretations of the same SS)
Cognitive Structure & Schemas
1. C.S- Any form of organization among Cognitions
2. Schemas- specific C.S. to make sense of other people, situations or
objects
• Basic sketch (our own experiences too)
• Ex. Schema of a ‘law student’
• Social Relations- help interpret info efficiently
• Fill gaps in our K
• Which personal charac. are more imp in a conversation
• Not perfect as predictive devices
• Become inefficient when they surface in stereotypes
5. Symbolic Interactionism
1. American sociologist and pragmatist philosopher George
Herbert Mead (1863-1931): founder
2. Individuals define their social reality and understand
themselves by interacting with others
3. How living things make practical adjustments to their
surroundings (Pragmatism)
4. Interaction b/w indiv. & society
5. Behv emerges thru continuous interaction with others
6. Importance of self in social interactions
Methodological approaches
1. PRA (participatory Rural Analysis)
 2. Systematic Observation
• Carefully observing behavior as it occurs

• Observation accompanied by careful, accurate measurement of a particular behavior across

people

Naturalistic observation

Observation of people’s behavior in natural settings. no attempt to change the behavior of the
people being observed

Survey method

Researchers ask large numbers of people to respond to questions about their attitudes or
behavior
Examples
• to measure attitudes toward specific issues such as smoking, to find
out how voters
• feel about various political candidates, to determine how people feel
about members of
• different social groups, and even to assess student reactions to
professors (your college
• or university probably uses a form on which you rate your professors
each semester).
3. Correlation Method
Correlation refers to a tendency for one event to be associated with
changes in the other.

Variables- 1. Changeable aspects of the natural world

2. They can take different values.

Prediction- When a correlation exists, it is possible to predict one

variable from information about one or more other variables

1. Important goal of all branches of science

Accuracy of Predictions

• Correlations can range from 0 to –1.00 or +1.00; the greater the departure
from 0, the stronger the correlation.

• Positive numbers mean that as one variable increases, the other increases too.

• Negative numbers indicate that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
For instance, there is a negative correlation between age and the amount of
hair on the heads of males: the older they are, the less hair they have.
1. Test whether, and to what extent, different variables are related to each other

2. Hypotheses (tentatively)

• + It can be used in natural settings where experiments might be very difficult to

conduct, and it is often highly efficient:

• + A large amount of information can be obtained in a relatively short period of

time.

• --The fact that itis generally not conclusive with respect to cause-and-effect
relationships
4. Experimental Method:
• A method of research in which one or more factors (the IVs) are
systematically changed to determine whether such variations affect one or
more other factors (DVs)

Independent variable

• The variable that is systematically changed (i.e., varied) in an experiment.

Dependent variable

• The variable that is measured in an experiment.

• Does exposure to violent video games increase the likelihood that
people will aggress against others in various ways
 1.1. Random assignment

• A basic requirement for conducting valid experiments. According to

this principle, research participants must have an equal chance of
being exposed to each level of the independent variable.

• If Not---later be impossible to determine if differences in their

behavior stem from differences they brought with them to the study,
from the impact of the independent variable, or both.
1.2. Constant
1. All factors other than the independent variable that might also
affect participants’ behavior must be held constant

2. Role of confounding variables

• -- external validity To what extent can the findings of experiments be

generalized to real-life social situations and perhaps people different
from those who participated in the research
Mediating Variables
Factors that are influenced by the independent variable and then,
in turn, affect the dependent measures

Ones that intervene between an independent variable and

changes in social behavior or thought.
 4.2. The Field Experiment
• Experiments can be conducted in more naturalistic settings outside the laboratory

• High external validity

• Participants are usually completely unaware that an experiment is taking place, are
not reactive (no demand characteristics)

• Less control over extraneous variables,

• Random assignment is difficult,

• Can be difficult to obtain accurate measurements or measurements of subjective

feelings
 Non Experimental Methods

• Where experimentation is not possible or appropriate

• do not involve the manipulation of independent variables
Archival research

• Non-experimental method involving the assembly of data, or

reports of data, collected by others.
• Fogelson’s (1970) archival analysis of the 1960s urban riots in the
United States and Simonton’s (1980) archival and secondary data
analyses of battles
• used to make comparisons between different cultures or nations
regarding things such as suicide, mental health or child-rearing
strategies.
• Not reactive, but it can be unreliable because the researcher
usually has no control over the primary data collection, which
might be biased or unreliable in other ways
Case study

• In-depth analysis of a single case (or individual)

• Case studies often employ an array of data collection and analysis

techniques involving structured, open-ended interviews and
questionnaires and the observation of behaviour.

• Case studies are well suited to the examination of unusual or rare

phenomena that could not be created in the laboratory
• bizarre cults, mass murderers or disasters.
Qualitative research and discourse analysis
• Discourse- Entire communicative event or episode located in a
situational and socio historical context.

• Discourse analysis- A set of methods used to analyse text – in

particular, naturally occurring language in order to understand it
meaning and significance.
• Survey research (from the book)
• Field studies (from the book)