PSYCO 241: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

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PSYCO 241 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

• Introduction

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Outline

• Introduction to the Course
• What is Social Psychology?
• Some Themes in Modern Social Psychology
• Levels of Analysis in Social Psychology
• Social Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology and
  Personality Psychology
• History of Social Psychology
• Three Worlds of Social Psychology

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What is Social Psychology?

• The study of how the thoughts, feelings and
  behaviour of individuals are influenced by the
  actual, imagined or implied presence of others
  (Allport, 1968, p. 3).

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Some Themes in Modern Social Psychology

• Social Influence
• Situations
• Constructions and construals
• Basic Human Needs
• Accuracy
• Esteem

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Levels of Analysis in Social Psychology (adapted
from Doise, 1976)
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Intragroup (positional)
Intergroup (ideological)
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Social Psychology and Related Disciplines
(adapted from Aronson et al., 2001)
Sociology Social Psychology Personality Psychology
Provides general laws and theories about societies, not individuals Studies the psychological processes people have in common with one another that explains their social behaviour. Studies the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from one another.
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History of Social Psychology

• Classical Foundations
• Social Psychology and Empirical Science
• Triplett (1898)
• Ringelmann (1913)
• McDougall (1908)
• Ross (1908)

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History of Social Psychology

• Social Psychology Splits from General Psychology
• Behaviourism
• Gestalt psychology

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History of Social Psychology

• Social Psychology and the Second World War
• European researchers
• Group behaviour
• Social problems and applied social psychology

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History of Social Psychology

• Growth and integration (1950 and 1960)
• Cognitive and social processes
• Basic science and social problems
• Health
• Education
• Law
• Business
• Environment

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History of Social Psychology

• The Crisis of Confidence in Social Psychology
• Ethical concerns
• Artifacts and experimenter effects
• Positivism vs. constructionism
• Cultural context

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Three Worlds of Social Psychology (Moghaddam,
1987)

• First World
• United States
• Second World
• Europe, Canada, Australia, Russia
• Third World
• South-East Asia, Africa, South America