Welcome to SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY!

(SOC 213)Dr. John Bradford

I. WHAT IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY?

What is Social Psychology?

• Social Psychology is the scientific study of social influence (p. 16)– We are influenced not only directly, but also

indirectly;– The mere presence of someone else, and even the

imaginary presence of someone else, can also influence us!

• Below are some possible questions we might investigate…

What explains the rise of Nazism?

"Resistance would have been another form of suicide.”

What causes violence and competition? Cooperation?

• Why did the British and Germans stop shooting at each other during WWI? More importantly, why would they start fighting in the first place?!

• The Christmas Truce of 1914 was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914, during the First World War.

• British and German mingled, held meetings, joint burial ceremonies, sang carols, and even played games of soccer.

II. THE ‘POWER OF THE SITUATION’

How do we define a ‘situation?’

• There are two basic approaches to defining a social situation scientifically:1. Behaviorism- defines the situation in terms of

the objectively observable rewards and punishments that occur.

How do we define a ‘situation?’

2. Gestalt Psychologists- stresses the importance of how people perceive their environment; takes into account their subjective beliefs and expectations. (see the Thomas Theorem)

What is Social REALITY?

• Thomas theorem: "If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences“

• To understand human inter-actions and relations, sociologists have to understand both reality, and perceived reality.

W. I. Thomas1863 - 1947

The power of the situation

• A definition of the situation consists of our expectations of the relevant roles that ‘make sense’ in a given context , and the corresponding behaviors associated with these roles

• Role = “social scripts that are attached to the statuses people occupy”.

• Different situations can elicit different behaviors!

SituationBehavior

The power of the situation

• We normally think an individual’s behavior is a consequence or effect of his/her personality, the type of person s/he is, or some other internal characteristic.

• The textbook calls this the fundamental attribution error.

CAUSE = Inside Personality

EFFECT = Outside Behavior

Common-sense view of human behavior

The power of the situation

• This view is incomplete! Behaviors are often influenced more by social context, i.e. the expectations we have of relevant or appropriate behaviors defining a perceived situation.

Relevant Behavior

Labeling of Personality

CAUSE = Perceived situation

Sociological view of human behavior

The power of the situation

• Quote: “Individual behavior is largely under the control of social forces … rather than personality traits, character, will power or other empirically unvalidated constructs. Thus we create the illusion of freedom, by attributing more internal control to ourselves, to the individual, than actually exists. We thus underestimate the power and pervasiveness of situational controls over behavior….” (Zimbardo, pg. 142)

Relevant Behavior

Labeling of Personality

CAUSE = Perceived situation

Sociological view of human behavior

III. SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

The influence of social context

• Individuals are often influenced by circumstances over which s/he has little control

• Examples: your native language, your religious and political beliefs, your parent’s income, etc.

Starvation in East Africa, 2011

The influence of social context

• Sometimes, interacting individuals create collective circumstances that everyone is subjected to, but no one intends!

• Example: traffic jams Intended actions

Unintended Consequences

of Actions

Traffic jam

The influence of social context• Some attributes are valued more highly

in some contexts or societies than in others. Individuals can adapt to these realities, but cannot control them.

• Example: standards of beauty.

Social context and decision-making

• Most human behaviors are not ‘decisions’; rather we have varying degrees of susceptibility to influence from others.

• People are responsible for their own actions and decisions in life, but sociologists will still examine those factors that make some decisions and actions more likely than others.

• Example: Smoking Crack

Social context and decision-making

Example: Standing Ovations. • We are socialized to pay attention to how

others respond to situations.• Our decision to stand is often not based on

how we personally feel, but what other people are doing.

IV. THE POWER OF EXPECTATIONS

The Power of Expectations

• Pygmalion Effect (aka Rosenthal effect): the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform.– According to legend, Pygmalion

was the king of Cyprus who fell in love with a beautiful woman (Galatea) he sculpted out of ivory.

The Power of Expectations• In the 1960s Robert Rosenthal and

Lenore Jacobson hypothesized that teacher expectations influenced children’s performance.

• Study: they randomly assigned 1 out of 5 children to the ‘spurter/bloomer’ group, but told teachers these students were selected to the group based on test performances that indicated future success.

• Findings: the kids who were expected to ‘spurt’ made larger improvements than nonspurters.

Self-fulfilling and Self-negating prophecies

• A self-fulfilling prophecy is something that comes true because you believe it will come true. – Example: bank run, placebos, psychic

predictions, etc…• A self-negating prophecy is something that,

once believed to be true or expected to happen, cannot happen (or becomes less likely to happen).