PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Jordan Peterson, Richard Dawkins, Karl Popper
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
COURSE OVERVIEW
Definition
•
The scientific investigation of how the thought, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual
or implied presence of others
○
Allport, 1935
•
The scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to each other
○
Myers, 1990
•
How can we influence others?
○
How can attitudes be changed?
○
What influences conformity?
○
How do we form impressions
○
Social Psychologists study:
•
SCIENTIFIC METHODS
Controlled lab experiments
○
Descriptive and survey techniques
○
How does the sticker on the back of your car influence how other people see you
□
One sticker - Australian, one sticker is German
□
Car comes up to intersection with light
□
Position car before the light changes
□
Red - changes, green - waited
□
Measure the number of seconds before someone honks
□
Honking = aggression
□
Australian = honks more than Germans
□
Indicate how our national stereotypes respond
□
E.g. the honking study
▪
Require one person to move from one campus point to another
□
One condition: student hand in mobile phones, other condition didn’t
□
Measure how long it takes one point to campus to library with/without mobile phone
□
Without mobile phone = get there faster --> decreased welfare
□
With mobile phone = slower --> happier (on the way, they need to ask for directions --> social interaction)
□
E.g. Mobile phones and welfare of people
▪
Field experiments and unobtrusive techniques
○
Multi-method discipline: methodological creativity
•
Attacks by postmodernism - relativism, social and cultural factors
○
Impossibility of achieving truth
○
Superstition, religion = science?
○
Fundamental misunderstanding of science
○
Versus falsification: Karl Popper
○
Richard Dawkins on postmodernism
▪
Jordan Peterson on postmodernism
▪
Unique status of scientific understanding:
○
Scientific method alone produces reliable knowledge:
•
Explosive growth since 1960’s
○
A western product
○
Arose out of western individualism, enlightenment and empiricism
○
Eastern philosophy and religion have much to say about the human condition, but has remained speculative
History of Social Psychology
•
Course Overview
Scientific Methods
Social Influence Processes
4A - Social Psychology (Forgas)
Monday, March 19, 2018
9:00 PM
PSYCH 1001 Page 1
Document Summary
The scientific investigation of how the thought, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual or implied presence of others. The scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to each other. How does the sticker on the back of your car influence how other people see you. One sticker - australian, one sticker is german. Measure the number of seconds before someone honks. Require one person to move from one campus point to another. O(cid:374)e (cid:272)o(cid:374)ditio(cid:374): stude(cid:374)t ha(cid:374)d i(cid:374) (cid:373)o(cid:271)ile pho(cid:374)es, other (cid:272)o(cid:374)ditio(cid:374) did(cid:374)(cid:859)t. Measure how long it takes one point to campus to library with/without mobile phone. Without mobile phone = get there faster --> decreased welfare. With mobile phone = slower --> happier (on the way, they need to ask for directions --> social interaction) Attacks by postmodernism - relativism, social and cultural factors. Arose out of western individualism, enlightenment and empiricism.
