Extensive summary of all lectures (lecture 1-13) of social psychology. Includes additional comments regarding the quizzes put on Canvas by the lecturer, and definitions of all discussed concepts/theories and explanations of experiments!
Social Psychology
500214-B-5
2023-2024
Extensive summary of all lecutures
,Lecture 1 – Part 2
What is Social Psychology?
Why do we behave in ways that are damaging us in the long run? → climate change
for example
People are short-minded
There are strategies we can impact people’s behaviour.
Why are people treated differently based on their appearance?
Why is it so hard for people to follow rules that are essential for human health?
Changing habits is hard for people.
Why do we fall in love?
How do relationships impact us?
Definitions
Psychology = scientific study of the mind (thoughts and feelings) and behavior of
people
Social psychology = scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings,
and behaviours are influenced by the presence of others
People in near presence, as well as people in your mind, impact your behaviour
Social influence
The way that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our
thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behaviours
Clinical & personality → individual differences
Social → individual in social situation
Construel = the way in which people receive, comprehend and interpret the social
world
Part 3
Perspectives in Social Psychology
1. Evolutionary
2. Social cultural
3. Social learning
Evolutionary perspective
Social psychology explained in terms of genetic factors that are adapted over
centuries to improve chance of survival and reproduction.
Natural selection, Charles Darwin → process in which important features that are
beneficial for survival are passed on to offspring
Guppy experiment
Spread out small fishes over different ponds with different soils
How did the guppies change? Appearance changed in different ponds
,Camouflage created in pond with carps
In ponds without carp, they didn’t adjust appearance based on soil but male guppies
made themselves attractive to female.
Survival vs other side, love
Evolution to help explain human behaviour:
- People have a lot in common with other animals
- Some habits are universal among humans
o Forming relationships, essential for reproduction and to stay alive
Socio-cultural Perspective
Social behaviour explained in terms of influence of larger social group
Cultural perspective
Some habits, traditions and behaviours different depending on cultural context
- What we eat
- Behaviour, greeting for example
Appropriateness in groups
Cross-cultural research → members of different cultures. Are variables different?
Influence of environment.
Perspective of Socio-learning
Learning experiences in past predict future behaviour
Higher likelihood if been part of upbringing
People are prone to show behavior they have earlier seen in role models
Interaction between perspectives
Language → evolution can help to say learning language is universal
Cultural understanding for why we learn a certain language
No perspective is superior to another
Part 4
What determines Human Behaviour?
Why do people do what they do?
- Kurt Lewin
- B = f(PxE)
Behaviour = person * environment
Situation x Environment
Where did you grow up?
Person x Situation
- Presence of others
Causes better moral behaviour
- Norms
Aspects of personality depend on situation
Situation can also be impacted by 1 person
, Person, or situation?
Consider environment
Putting people in situations that trigger extreme behaviours
What is the power of the situation?
Gestalt Psychology
Depends on own interpretation of situation
Social situations can be interpreted completely different by people.
Subjective way of interpretation
Naïve Realism
The way we perceive environment, is the reality
People believe that they perceive things as they really are
Basic Human Motives
- Self-enhancement motive
o People want to feel good about themselves
- Accuracy motive
o People want to be accurate
People are optimistic about own behaviour
Illusions
Better-than-average effect → people estimate themselves above average
Unrealistic optimism → underestimate negative things, overestimate winning the
lottery. Optimistic how world/life is going to treat us
False consensus effect → overestimate how common a treat is (lazy for example,
every one is lazy so no big deal)
False uniqueness effect → not a lot of people are as sporty as I am. Tendency to
regard your strong characteristics as relatively unusual
Protect self-esteem
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