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Summary Exam 1 Social Psychology UvA Year 1
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Summary of Social Psychology Exam 1 as part of the course Work and Organizational & Social Psychology
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W1.1CHAPTER 1 (SMITH, MACKIE & CLAYPOOL) – WHAT IS SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY?
Social psychology: The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the
way individuals perceive, influence and relate to others
- Scientific: Scientific claims are sounder and more resistant to challenge than common-
sense knowledge – Based on systematic methods of gathering information and are
constructed with an awareness of the possibility of error
- Social processes: The ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced
by the people around us
- Cognitive processes: The ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts,
emotions and motives guide our understanding of the world and our actions – Intrinsic
‘Social processes’ and ‘cognitive processes’ are intertwined:
1. Social processes affect us even when others are not physically present – We are social
creatures even when alone
2. The social processes that affect us when others are physically present depend on how
we interpret those others, and thus on the operation of cognitive processes
Vanderbilt study: Students who merely had an academic interest in the probation issue
focussed on the response of the audience; students who were led to believe that the probation
issue affected their community focussed on the strengths of the arguments
HISTORICAL TRENDS AND CURRENT THEMES
Plato: Speculated about the existence of the crowd mind (= the argument that even the wisest
individuals, if assembled into a crowd, might be transformed into an irrational mob)
↓
Late 19th century → Researchers in Germany began to employ experimental techniques to
understand mental processes like sensation, memory and judgment
↓
The development of social psychology:
- Researchers in North America, Britain and France began to measure systematically
how behaviour is influenced by the presence of others
- Triplett: Wondered whether the presence of other people has a generally beneficial
effect on performance – Sometimes cited as the first research study in social
psychology
- Ringelmann: Found that when people worked together to pull on a rope or push on a
cart, they put less effort into the task than when they worked alone
- McDougal: All social behaviour stems from innate tendencies or instincts
- Ross: People are heavily influenced by others, whether those others are physically
present or not
,Social psychology rejected the behaviouristic view of most psychologists in the 20th century
and argued that behaviour could not be explained without considering people’s thoughts and
feelings – The effect of stimuli depends on how individuals and groups interpret it
↓
During WWII, many European researchers fled to the US – Gestalt theory (= a school of
thought that looks at the human mind and behaviour as a whole) became more prominent in
the field of social psychology + Researchers became increasingly impressed by
anthropologists’ accounts of the extensiveness of cultural influences on people’s thoughts and
behaviours
- Lewin: All behaviour depends on the individual’s life space (= a subjective map of the
individual’s current goals and his or her social environment) – Summed up two of
social psychology’s enduring themes: that people’s subjective interpretation of reality
is the key determinant of their beliefs and behaviours, and that social influences
structure those interpretations and behaviours
Basic and social psychology flourished in the US during the 1950s and 1960s due to
expanding university enrolments and generous government grants + Social psychology
thrived in Europe after WWII
↓
Movement towards integration:
- Internal: The merging of various specific topic areas into broader explanations of
behaviour
- External: Increasing attention to neighbouring scientific fields and to significant social
concerns
EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Two fundamental axioms (= a statement or proposition which is regarded as being
established, accepted or self-evidently true)
1. Construction of reality: The axiom that each person’s view of reality is a construction,
shaped both by cognitive processes and by social processes – Explains how there are
differences in the way individuals view the world
2. Pervasiveness of social influence: The axiom that other people influence virtually all
of our thoughts, feelings and behaviour, whether those others are physically present or
not
Three motivational principles:
1. Striving for mastery: The motivational principle that people strive to understand
themselves and the world around them and apply that understanding to help them
control outcomes and gain rewards in their lives
2. Seeking connectedness: The motivational principle that people seek support, liking
and acceptance from the people and groups they care about and value
3. Valuing ‘me and mine’: The motivational principle that people desire to see
themselves and other people connected to themselves in a positive light
,Three processing principles:
1. Conservatism principle: The processing principle that individuals’ and groups’
established views of the world are slow to change
2. Accessibility principle: The processing principle that the information that is most
readily available generally has the most impact on thoughts, feelings and behaviour –
What comes to mind easily is what we are already thinking
3. ‘Superficiality versus depth’ principle: The processing principle that people ordinarily
put little effort into dealing with information, but at times are motivated to consider
information in more depth – Threats to any of our important goals may motivate us to
consider information in more depth
CHAPTER 3 (SMITH, MACKIE & CLAYPOOL) – PERCEIVING INDIVIDUALS
FORMING FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Mental representation: A body of knowledge that an individual has stored in memory –
Influences all of our beliefs and behaviours
The raw materials of first impressions:
- Impressions from physical appearance
- Attractiveness bias: The belief that attractive people are more competent,
intelligent and socially skilled – People from different cultures generally agree
about what is perceived as attractive
- Baby-face bias: A tendency to see people and things with baby-faced features
as more naïve, helpless and honest
- Impressions from nonverbal communication – Quite accurate (Ambady)
- Impressions from familiarity
- Mere exposure (= exposure to a stimulus without any external reward) to
another person increases liking – Even when no of little interaction takes place
– Familiarity alone can be a basis for developing a positive impression
- Impressions from environments – College dorm-experiment (Gosling)
- Impressions from behaviour
Salience: The ability of a cue to attract attention in its context – What makes characteristics
stand out is their rarity or uniqueness
AUTOMATIC INTERPRETATION OF CUES
Automatic: Refers to processes that operate spontaneously (without the perceiver’s deliberate
intent), often efficiently and without awareness
The kinds of stored knowledge that help us make decisions about interpreting cues:
1. Associations: Links between two or more mental representations that we have already
learned – Even unrelated ideas can become associated if they are repeatedly thought
about together
2. Accessibility: The ease and speed with which information comes to mind – The
thoughts that are currently in our minds
, 1. Concurrent activation: Whatever thoughts are in our mind when interpreting cues
affects our interpretations (E.g.: people that are in a cheerful mood, may be more
tempted to see behaviour through rose-coloured glasses)
- Kelley: Background information about a person strongly influence the way we
perceive them to be
- Trope: Our expectations about situations also activate related information
2. Recent activation:
- Priming: The activation of a mental representation increases its accessibility
and thus the likelihood that it will be used – A mental representation that has
recently been brought to mind remains accessible for a time
- Subliminal: Presentation of stimuli in such a way that perceivers are not
consciously aware of them – Priming does not have to depend on
people’s awareness of the activation!
3. Frequent activation: The frequent use of a mental representation over days, months
or years can make it chronically accessible – People can more easily recognise
information relevant to their ‘favourite’ traits
Characterising the behaving person:
- Correspondent inference: A judgment that a person’s personality matches or
corresponds to their behaviour
↓
Jones & Davis: When is correspondent inference justified?
- The individual freely chooses to perform the behaviour
- The behaviour has unique effects that other behaviours do not
- The behaviour is unexpected rather than expected or typical
- Correspondence bias: The tendency to infer an actor’s personal characteristics from
observed behaviours, even when the inference is unjustified because other possible
causes of the behaviour exist
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