PS1014: Approaches to Psychology

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PS1014 Approaches to Psychology

• Dr Gug Calvini
• Social Perspective

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Essential readings

• Glassman, W.E. Hadad, M. (2004). Approaches to
  psychology (4th Ed.). Buckingham Open University
  Press. (Chapter 8).
• Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M. (2002).
  Social psychology (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River
  Prentice Hall. (Chapter 1, 2).

 Recommended readings

• Aronson, E. (2004). The Social Animal (9th
  ed.). New York Worth Publishers. (Chapter 1).

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Psychology in Context

• Social Psychology
• concerned with how people influence individuals
  thinking, feeling and behaviour
• social dimensions on individual behaviour
• social context
• real presence vs. abstract representation
• small groups

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Psychology in Context

• Not a theoretical framework
• different perspectives explain social influence
• defined by its subject matter (social dimensions
  of individual behaviour)
• Theoretical perspectives interested in social
  influence
• Personality psychodynamic, humanistic
• Intelligence cognitive
• Biological evolutionary

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Psychology in Context

• Other disciplines interested in social influence
• Folk Wisdom practical interpretation
• Philosophy
• Sociology general laws of society
• Anthropology different societies
• Personality Psychology individual differences

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Domains of Social Psychology

• Social Cognition
• understanding ourselves and others
• social perception
• cognitive dissonance
• causal attribution
• Social interaction
• behaviour with others
• social influence
• obedience
• prosocial behaviour
• scripts

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Domains of Social Psychology
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Social Psychology Methods

• Social Psychology an empirical science
• no idle speculation
• Testing Hypotheses
• Theory-driven hypotheses
• Observation-driven hypotheses

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Social Psychology Methods

• Methods of hypothesis testing
• Observational method
• Description What is the nature of the
  phenomenon?
• Correlational method
• Prediction From knowing X, can we expect Y?
• Experimental method
• Causality Is variable Y caused by variable X?

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Observational Method

• Observing behaviour in certain people and/or
  condition and recording it
• Ethnography
• Observation from within a group or culture
• Participant observation
• Observer interacts with people observed
• Archival analysis
• Observation of recorded material

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Observational Method

• Shortcomings of the observational method
• Some behaviours are more frequent than others
• Limited to specific groups, settings, behaviours
• Not generalisable
• Messy
• we observe what is available, how it is available

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Correlational Method

• Measuring (two) variables and analysing whether
  they are related (i.e. how much one predict the
  other)
• Survey
• Measurement of variables in a representative
  (large) sample

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Correlational Method

• Issues with the correlational method
• Sampling
• Random is not always representative
• Response accuracy
• Telling more than you can know Nisbett
  Wilson, 1977
• Correlation is not causation
• It doesnt tell us why the variables are related
• alternative explanations
• Intervening variable(s)

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Experimental Method

• Recording behaviour controlling and manipulating
  variables
• Causal inference
• Dependent Independent variables
• Internal validity
• Isolating the IV - random assignment to
  experimental conditions
• External validity
• generalisability importance of replications
• across situations
• across people

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Basic Dilemma

• Identifying causality vs. preserve
  generalisability
• Field experiment
• experiment in natural setting
• Cross-Cultural research
• identify what is universal (common across
  cultures)
• identify what is cultural (effect of culture on
  psychology)

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Social Research Issues

• Reactivity
• Social behaviour is particularly affected by
  observers
• Social setting
• Natural settings are particularly difficult to
  recreate for social behaviour
• Experimental Realism
• Deception

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Social Research Issues

• Person vs. situation
• The extent of individual influence vs. social
  influence on behaviour
• Behaviourism
• Psychodynamic theories
• Biological approach
• Humanistic approach
• Empiricism
• Proximal vs. distal causes
• The extent of the influence of immediate vs.
  indirect variables on social psychology
• Social variables have often indirect effects
  (social values, family structure, etc.)