2026 new update exam notes for PSYC 104 University of
California, San Diego
Psychology 104: Social Psychology
Lecture 1: Intro
Social Psychology: scientific attempt to understand how people’s thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other people
(Gordon Allport)
- Other people affect us not only when they are physically there, but also when we are
thinking about them, or when social rules/norms remind us of them
- Social psychology studies individuals, but always in a social context
Actual, imagined, and implied Presence
- Actual presence: people influence you when they are really there. (their actual
presence)
- You may act differently if your professor is in the room
- Imagined presence: people can affect you even when they are not physically
there/present because you carry mental representations about them (their imaginary
presence)
- You might wonder what your parents would think about a choice you make even
if they are not there
- Implied presence: social forces like rules, norms, and surveillance (or institutions) can
influence you -> institutions make you feel like others are watching or judging you, even
if no one is there (implied rules)
- Institutions: organized systems or structures in society that guide behavior
- Schools: rules about attendance, grades, behavior
- Government/law: laws, police, courts
- Religion: moral rules, traditions
- Cameras may make you behave better because they remind you that people
could be watching
- School rules (an institution) + fear of consequences + social expectations
-> social influence is not just face-to-face; it can happen through your thoughts and through
institutions too
Social Psychology: the scientific study of the way individuals think, feel, and behave in social
contexts
- Social psychology is a science, not just guessing based on life experience
- Personal intuition can give you ideas, but psychologists want scientific evidence
- Objectivity: trying to avoid bias (having a clear objective)
- Generality: wanting finds to apply beyond one single case (generalizable)
- Validity and reliability: making sure the study measures what it should, and that
results are dependable
- Theory-based and ruled by evidence and logic
- Goal is explanation, not just description
- This means psychologists not want to only know what people do, but why they do
,it
,Themes
1. The human mind was shaped by natural selection to solve social problems
2. Many mental processes (like attention, perception, memory, emotion, and
decision-making) may exist partly because they helped humans survive and deal with
other people (due to natural selection)
3. We are constantly trying to predict other people and understand ourselves in relation to
them; we build models of BOTH others AND self
a. We try to guess what others will do, think, or feel
b. We create mental shortcuts/frameworks about:
i. How people act
ii. What situations mean
iii. Social rules
c. We also build a model of who we are
i. Our personality
ii. How we act in situations
iii. How others see us
4. We care deeply about what others think of us, which connects to topics like
self-esteem, reputation, and conformity
5. Humans have two-track minds, meaning behavior comes from both
a. Automatic processes/System 1 thinking: fast, unconscious, unintentional
b. Controlled processes/System 2 thinking: slower, conscious, deliberate
—> Sometimes, people react automatically based on habits, stereotypes, emotions, or learned
associations. Other times they stop and think more deliberately
6. We learn how to be social in different ways
a. Reinforcement learning: learning from rewards and punishments
b. Social learning: learning by watching others
c. Cultural learning: learnings from the larger beliefs and practices of a group
- This shows that social behavior is not caused by just one thing. Some of it is automatic, and
some of it is learned over time
Lecture 2: History, Unity of Knowledge, Evolution
Post-War Originals of Social Psychology
- Social psychology is presented as a problem-solving discipline that grew strongly after
World War II
Events and Social Problems connected to WWII:
- Nazi Anti-Jewish Propaganda: the Nazi government in Germany spread false and
hateful messages about Jewish people to the public
- Powerful persuasion and media can shape people’s beliefs
- Book Burnings: Nazis burned books (including Jewish books) that didn’t match their
beliefs; a way to control information and ideas
- Social pressure and authority can influence what people are allowed to think
- Conformity: changing your behavior or beliefs to match a group
, - People often go along with others even if they think the group is wrong
- Explains how ordinary people can go along with harmful group behavior
- Obedience to Authority: people follow orders from someone in power, even if the
others are wrong
- People giving shocks in experiences because a scientist told them to (milgram
experiment)
- In WWII, many people followed orders without questioning them
- Authority can make people do things they normally wouldn’t
- Prejudice: negative attitude toward a group of people
- Based on stereotypes, not actual knowledge
- Judging someone just because of their race or religion
- Prejudice was a major cause of discrimination and violence in WWII
- War and Intergroup Violence: conflict between different groups (like countries, races,
or religions)
- WWII showed how extreme group conflict can become
- “Us” vs “them”
- Social psychologists want to understand why groups fight and how it escalates
- Persuasion and Cooperation:
- Persuasion: how people change others’ beliefs (like propaganda)
- Cooperation: how people work together
- During WWII:
- Governments used persuasion to influence citizens
- Cooperation was needed within groups to survive and win
- Psychologists study how to influence people ethically and how to get groups
to work together.
- Reducing Prejudice and Improving Intergroup Relations (After WWII):
- How can we reduce hate between groups?
- Teaching empathy
- Changing social norms
- How can we improve relationships between different kinds of people?
- Increasing contact between groups
- One of the biggest goals of social psychology: preventing conflict and
improving society
Connection to WWII and Lessons:
- Social psychology did not just grow out of curiosity; it developed partly because people
wanted scientific answers to urgent social questions like:
- How can propaganda influence people?
- Why do ordinary people obey terrible authority figures?
- Why does prejudice happen?
- Why do groups dehumanize and attack each other?
- How can we reduce discrimination and improve cooperation?
- WWII made these questions impossible to ignore, and social psychology became a field
that tried to study them scientifically
California, San Diego
Psychology 104: Social Psychology
Lecture 1: Intro
Social Psychology: scientific attempt to understand how people’s thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other people
(Gordon Allport)
- Other people affect us not only when they are physically there, but also when we are
thinking about them, or when social rules/norms remind us of them
- Social psychology studies individuals, but always in a social context
Actual, imagined, and implied Presence
- Actual presence: people influence you when they are really there. (their actual
presence)
- You may act differently if your professor is in the room
- Imagined presence: people can affect you even when they are not physically
there/present because you carry mental representations about them (their imaginary
presence)
- You might wonder what your parents would think about a choice you make even
if they are not there
- Implied presence: social forces like rules, norms, and surveillance (or institutions) can
influence you -> institutions make you feel like others are watching or judging you, even
if no one is there (implied rules)
- Institutions: organized systems or structures in society that guide behavior
- Schools: rules about attendance, grades, behavior
- Government/law: laws, police, courts
- Religion: moral rules, traditions
- Cameras may make you behave better because they remind you that people
could be watching
- School rules (an institution) + fear of consequences + social expectations
-> social influence is not just face-to-face; it can happen through your thoughts and through
institutions too
Social Psychology: the scientific study of the way individuals think, feel, and behave in social
contexts
- Social psychology is a science, not just guessing based on life experience
- Personal intuition can give you ideas, but psychologists want scientific evidence
- Objectivity: trying to avoid bias (having a clear objective)
- Generality: wanting finds to apply beyond one single case (generalizable)
- Validity and reliability: making sure the study measures what it should, and that
results are dependable
- Theory-based and ruled by evidence and logic
- Goal is explanation, not just description
- This means psychologists not want to only know what people do, but why they do
,it
,Themes
1. The human mind was shaped by natural selection to solve social problems
2. Many mental processes (like attention, perception, memory, emotion, and
decision-making) may exist partly because they helped humans survive and deal with
other people (due to natural selection)
3. We are constantly trying to predict other people and understand ourselves in relation to
them; we build models of BOTH others AND self
a. We try to guess what others will do, think, or feel
b. We create mental shortcuts/frameworks about:
i. How people act
ii. What situations mean
iii. Social rules
c. We also build a model of who we are
i. Our personality
ii. How we act in situations
iii. How others see us
4. We care deeply about what others think of us, which connects to topics like
self-esteem, reputation, and conformity
5. Humans have two-track minds, meaning behavior comes from both
a. Automatic processes/System 1 thinking: fast, unconscious, unintentional
b. Controlled processes/System 2 thinking: slower, conscious, deliberate
—> Sometimes, people react automatically based on habits, stereotypes, emotions, or learned
associations. Other times they stop and think more deliberately
6. We learn how to be social in different ways
a. Reinforcement learning: learning from rewards and punishments
b. Social learning: learning by watching others
c. Cultural learning: learnings from the larger beliefs and practices of a group
- This shows that social behavior is not caused by just one thing. Some of it is automatic, and
some of it is learned over time
Lecture 2: History, Unity of Knowledge, Evolution
Post-War Originals of Social Psychology
- Social psychology is presented as a problem-solving discipline that grew strongly after
World War II
Events and Social Problems connected to WWII:
- Nazi Anti-Jewish Propaganda: the Nazi government in Germany spread false and
hateful messages about Jewish people to the public
- Powerful persuasion and media can shape people’s beliefs
- Book Burnings: Nazis burned books (including Jewish books) that didn’t match their
beliefs; a way to control information and ideas
- Social pressure and authority can influence what people are allowed to think
- Conformity: changing your behavior or beliefs to match a group
, - People often go along with others even if they think the group is wrong
- Explains how ordinary people can go along with harmful group behavior
- Obedience to Authority: people follow orders from someone in power, even if the
others are wrong
- People giving shocks in experiences because a scientist told them to (milgram
experiment)
- In WWII, many people followed orders without questioning them
- Authority can make people do things they normally wouldn’t
- Prejudice: negative attitude toward a group of people
- Based on stereotypes, not actual knowledge
- Judging someone just because of their race or religion
- Prejudice was a major cause of discrimination and violence in WWII
- War and Intergroup Violence: conflict between different groups (like countries, races,
or religions)
- WWII showed how extreme group conflict can become
- “Us” vs “them”
- Social psychologists want to understand why groups fight and how it escalates
- Persuasion and Cooperation:
- Persuasion: how people change others’ beliefs (like propaganda)
- Cooperation: how people work together
- During WWII:
- Governments used persuasion to influence citizens
- Cooperation was needed within groups to survive and win
- Psychologists study how to influence people ethically and how to get groups
to work together.
- Reducing Prejudice and Improving Intergroup Relations (After WWII):
- How can we reduce hate between groups?
- Teaching empathy
- Changing social norms
- How can we improve relationships between different kinds of people?
- Increasing contact between groups
- One of the biggest goals of social psychology: preventing conflict and
improving society
Connection to WWII and Lessons:
- Social psychology did not just grow out of curiosity; it developed partly because people
wanted scientific answers to urgent social questions like:
- How can propaganda influence people?
- Why do ordinary people obey terrible authority figures?
- Why does prejudice happen?
- Why do groups dehumanize and attack each other?
- How can we reduce discrimination and improve cooperation?
- WWII made these questions impossible to ignore, and social psychology became a field
that tried to study them scientifically
