PSYC 320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Samoan Culture, Margaret Mead, Juvenile Delinquency
22 May 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Michael Le
ARC
Psyc 320
Social Psych
Social Psychology
● Social psychology: study of the nature & causes of interpersonal behaviour
● Key features:
○ Individuals (not groups) are the unit of analysis
○ Commitment to scientific method
○ Includes mental & behavioural phenomena
● Disciplines that inform social psychology:
○ Philosophy – ideas about human nature
○ History – information about social life in previous ages
○ Evolutionary Theory – humans are shaped by evolutionary pressures
○ Anthropology – social behaviour in other cultures
● Social psychology informs other disciplines:
○ Understanding psychology of social behaviour informs economics, politics,
sociology, anthropology, legal studies, etc.
● Social variables (external) tend to influence individual social behaviour more than
○ individual variables (internal) (i.e. personality)
○ But individuals can also influence social variables
● Nature/Nurture
● To what extent are social characteristics predetermined by biology, & to what
extent can they be influenced by environment?
● Margaret Mead & Samoa Study
○ Proved cultural determinism (culture [environment] determines social
characteristics)
○ She found Samoan women = no sexual taboos & were sexually liberated
■ Contrasted to Western culture re: sexuality
○ BUT – findings were fabricated (Derek Freeman investigation):
■ Samoan culture placed greater emphasis on female virginity than
Western culture & had higher indices of juvenile delinquency, sexual
violence & suicide
■ Women who were interviewed in Mead’s study were too
embarrassed to tell truths & also had language barrier
■ Thus human beings in all societies show some of these gender-based
differences
○ Implications: human behaviour is influenced by universal biological &
psychological foundations
● Social Psychology vs. Common Sense
○ Common sense cannot distinguish btw coincidence, correlation & causality
○ Only the scientific method can distinguish btw these
Document Summary
Social psychology: study of the nature & causes of interpersonal behaviour. Individuals (not groups) are the unit of analysis. History information about social life in previous ages. Evolutionary theory humans are shaped by evolutionary pressures. Anthropology social behaviour in other cultures. Understanding psychology of social behaviour informs economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, legal studies, etc. Social variables (external) tend to influence individual social behaviour more than individual variables (internal) (i. e. personality) But individuals can also influence social variables. Proved cultural determinism (culture [environment] determines social characteristics) She found samoan women = no sexual taboos & were sexually liberated. But findings were fabricated (derek freeman investigation): Samoan culture placed greater emphasis on female virginity than. Western culture & had higher indices of juvenile delinquency, sexual violence & suicide. Women who were interviewed in mead"s study were too embarrassed to tell truths & also had language barrier. Thus human beings in all societies show some of these gender-based differences.
