Chapter 1: Intro to Social Psychology

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Chapter 1 Intro to Social Psychology

• Part 1 Wed. Jan. 15
• (Basic Outline only)

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What is Social Psychology?

• The scientific study of how individuals think
  about, influence relate to one another
• in a social context
• 4 emphases this semester what are they?
• Big picture focused on social thinking, social
  influence, social relations
• ? and Context!

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Social Psych and Other Fields

• Little overlap with clinical psych
• Differences?
• Overlaps more with Cognitive Psych and
  Personality Psych
• Sociology differs from social psychology in
  level of analysis research methods used
• Group vs. individual level of analysis

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Importance of Context

• Influence of context on behavior
• 1984 Presidential Debate results
• How did perceptions differ based on what was
  heard on the audio tape?

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• 2. Discussion of shoes vs. travel
• what do you hear given the context?
• 3. Pearls before breakfast experiment -
• Violinist playing in the subway station
• How did context impact peoples reactions to the
  violinist?

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Benefits of Social Psych research

• Differs from hindsight
• Use of theories predictions (hypotheses)
• What are theories?
• Some results appear counterintuitive
• How to increase voter turnout?