PSYC1004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dependent And Independent Variables, Social Reality, Optical Illusion
PSYC 1004 – INTRO TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
→ Aspects of social psychology:
o Social influence
• Influence refers to the processes through which people agree/disagree
about what kinds of behaviour are appropriate
• It is the process through which social norms are formed, maintained or
changed, and the conditions under which these norms would arise or apply
o Relationship between self and others
o Individual and the group, between groups (social aspects of society)
Social Psychology Paradox:
→ A lot of social psychology concerns individuals and the impact of living in a society (large
group also made up of different sub-groups/clusters)
→ Concerns the way the social structure and social/group processes
(language/rituals/stereotypes/laws/norms/connectedness) affect psychology but the main
lens to understand this impact remains the “individual”
→ Hard to observe and measure the workings of these group processes and social forces
History of Social Psychology:
→ Early influences – Aristotle, Hegel, “Volkerpsychologie”
→ 1920s and 1930s – Social mind, culture and community influences
o Triplett (1989), McDougall (1908), Allport (1924), Sherif (1935), Lewin (1936,1939)
• Refined experimental approach to studying behaviour
→ Post-WWII (1945) – Attitudes, stereotypes, dissonance, group conflict, helping, aggression,
conformity
o Festinger (1950, 1954)
• Research methods in the behavioural sciences – measure variables, lab
experiments, research hypotheses
o Asch (1951), Lewin (1954), Sherif (1954), Milgram (1963), Darley and Latane (1968),
Zimbardo (1971), Berowitz (1974)
→ 1970s and 1980s – Attitudes and stereotypes (emphasis on cognitive process, knowledge
structures in memory), persuasion, group processes and intergroup relations
o Fiske and Taylor (1984), Petty & Cacioppo (1984), Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher,
Wetherell (1987)
→ 2000s – social neuroscience, evolution, culture (cross-cultural psych) and social
connectedness/capital (networks, groups)
o Markus & Kitayama (1991), Lieberman (2010), Putnam (2000)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Time Period
Core Theme
1920s/30s
Social/Group mind, Crowds
1945-1960s
Conformity, Prejudice, Helping, Aggression
1970s/80s
Attitudes, Stereotypes (cognitive processes)
2000s
Social Neuroscience, Social identity, Culture,
Social Capital
Norm Formation
Sherif’s Autokinetic Studies:
→ Conformity (Asch, Milgram, Zimbardo) – when or why social rules, roles and norms are
followed?
o A tendency for people to change their perceptions, opinions and behaviour in ways
that are consistent with (explicit/implicit) group norms
o The group causes its members to converge and become more similar to one
another
o How do group norms develop?
→ Sherif
o What is a norm?
o How do they develop?
o Why do they have impact?
→ Norms arise from social interactions and relationships
→ The formation of social norms is social influence at work and gives perceptions “meaning”
and “truth”
→ Autokinetic effect is an optical illusion
o People are placed in a completely dark room and asked to observe a pinpoint of
light for some time
o After a while, they will have the illusion that the light starts moving erratically
o People were asked “do you think you were influenced by the judgements of the
other persons in the experiments?” appearing on the sheets at the end of the last
session, few (25%) answered that they were – people do not have to be aware of
the fact that they are being influenced by the group situation
Significance of Sherif’s Studies:
→ Groups established own mean and range and when norms changed affected group as a
whole (conformity)
→ Norms were social products established through interaction of individuals and that
continued to have meaning and influence outside the setting of formation
→ Later replications group norms had impact 12 months later – not short-term conformity
(acceptance as valid norm)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Aspects of social psychology: social influence. Influence refers to the processes through which people agree/disagree about what kinds of behaviour are appropriate. It is the process through which social norms are formed, maintained or changed, and the conditions under which these norms would arise or apply: relationship between self and others. Individual and the group, between groups (social aspects of society) A lot of social psychology concerns individuals and the impact of living in a society (large group also made up of different sub-groups/clusters) Concerns the way the social structure and social/group processes (language/rituals/stereotypes/laws/norms/connectedness) affect psychology but the main lens to understand this impact remains the individual . Hard to observe and measure the workings of these group processes and social forces. 1920s and 1930s social mind, culture and community influences: triplett (1989), mcdougall (1908), allport (1924), sherif (1935), lewin (1936,1939, refined experimental approach to studying behaviour.
