Psychology 171A

Introduction to Social Psychology

Course Instructor:
Dr. Lorne Campbell

TA: Etienne Lebel

Textbook

 Breckler,
S. J., Olson, J. M., &
Wiggins, E. C. (2006). Social
psychology alive. Belmont, CA:
Thomson/Wadsworth.
 Class Website
 http://vista.uwo.ca/webct
Course Objectives
 At the end of the course, students
should have an understanding of
the basic theories, findings, and
methods in various areas of social
psychology. The topics include the
self, attitudes, social cognition,
social relations, social influence,
social motivation, personality,
attraction, romantic relationships.
 Evaluation
 3 tests
 2 tests during the course covering 3
chapters each
 Final exam: covers the entire semester,
with a special focus on the 4 most recently
covered chapters
 All test will be multiple choice
 Will first cover chapters 1, 3, 4 and 9
 First test will be on October 5
 Will then cover chapters 6, 7, and 8
 Second test will be on November 2
 We will then cover chapters 12, 11,
10 and 14
 Final exam will be held during the fall
examination period (date/time TBA)
 Course Content
 Lectures will cover some material from
the textbook, and some material NOT in
the textbook
 You are required to view the video for
each chapter, and some exam questions
will be based on these videos
 Material from the workbook is not
required, but is very helpful
 Online quizzes and experiments are also
NOT required, but are very interesting
and helpful
 Make-up Exams
 Tests must be written on the scheduled dates
unless you have a legitimate excuse
recognized by the university administration.
Valid reasons include medical or
compassionate reasons, and must be
substantiated by proper documentation (e.g.,
a medical certificate). A student who misses
a regularly scheduled exam for any other
reason, or who is unable to justify a claim,
will be assigned a zero for that exam.
Office Hours
 Dr. Campbell: Wednesdays 1-3pm,
or by appointment
 Feel free to approach me before class,
during the class break, or after class

 Etienne LeBel: Thursdays 1-2pm, or

by appointment
 Why Study Social Psychology?
People are Social Beings

 “We are by all odds the most

persistently and obsessively social
of all species, more dependent on
each other than the famous social
insects, and really, when you look
at us, infinitely more imaginative
and deft at social living.” -- Lewis
Thomas
How can you tell if another person is
attracted to you?
In most mammalian species, a female
raises offspring with no help from the
male.

 Why are homo sapiens one of the

rare exceptions?
What is Social Psychology
 Social psychology –
the scientific study of how people’s
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
are influenced by other people
Scientific Description and Explanation
 Social Psychology, like any science,
involves:
 Description –
careful and reliable observation
 Explanation –
development of theories that connect
and organize observations
Scientific Description and Explanation
 Theories are scientific explanations
that:
 Connect and organize existing
observations
 Suggest fruitful paths for future
research.
Major Theoretical Perspectives
 Sociocultural
 Evolutionary

 Social Learning

 Social Cognitive
Sociocultural
 Sociocultural perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that
searches for the causes of social
behavior in influences from larger
social groups
 E.g., norms within cultural groups,
social class differences,
nationality/ethnicity, fads
Evolutionary
 Evolutionary perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that
searches for the causes of social
behavior in the physical and
psychological predispositions that
helped our ancestors survive and
reproduce
Evolutionary
 What drives social behavior?
 Genetic predispositions inherited from
our ancestors that promoted their
survival and reproduction, such as:
 The tendency to automatically recognize
an angry face
 The tendency for mothers to feel

protective of their children

Social Learning
 Social learning perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that focuses
on past learning experiences as
determinants of a person’s social
behaviors
Social Learning
 What drives social behavior?
 Classically conditioned preferences
 For example, the feeling of fear at sight of
person who hit you.
 Habits rewarded by other people
 For example, a boy who fights frequently
after his father praised him for winning
fight with neighborhood bully.
Social Learning
 What drives social behavior?
 Imitating the rewarded behavior of
others
 For example, buying a gun after seeing a
movie in which the hero wins true love
after shooting half the people in his
girlfriend’s neighborhood.
Social Cognitive
 Social cognitive perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that focuses
on the mental processes involved in
paying attention to, interpreting,
and remembering social experiences
 E.g., self-enhancing biases
The study of social behavior
 Hypothesis –
a researcher’s prediction about what
he or she will find
The study of social behavior
 Descriptive methods involve
attempts to measure or record
behaviors, thoughts or feelings in
their natural state.
 Experimental methods involve
attempts to manipulate social
processes by varying some aspect
of the situation.
Descriptive Methods
 Social psychologists use five major
types of descriptive methods
 Naturalistic Observation
 Case Studies
 Archives
 Surveys
 Psychological Tests
Experiments
 An experiment is a research method
in which the researcher sets out to
systematically manipulate one
source of influence while holding
others constant.
Experiments
 Independent variable –
the variable manipulated by the
experimenter
 Dependent variable –
the variable measured by the
experimenter
Experiments
 Social psychologists use two major
types of experimental methods:
 Laboratory experiments
 Field experiments
Experiments
 Advantages:
 Allows cause-effect conclusions
 Allows control of extraneous variables
 Disadvantages:
 Artificial situations may not represent
relevant events as they naturally unfold
(subjects’ responses may not be
natural, since they know they are being
observed).
Enjoy the Class!