Social psychology
Book
THEMES
Week 1: ostracism
- Chapter 8 (and 1)
Week 2: narcissism, self-control and self-esteem
- Chapter 2 and 3
Week 3: attitudes and cognitive dissonance
- Chapter 4 and 7
Week 4: conformity and aggression
- Chapter 6 and 10
Week 5: evolutionary psychology and human cooperation
- Chapter 5 and 11
Week 6: groups, stereotypes and conflict
- Chapter 9 and 13
Week 7: helping and the bystander effect
- Chapter 12
, Lecture 1: introduction
Introduction
Social psychology = the scientific study of how people think about, relate
to, and influence one another, whether interpersonally or within (and
between) groups
- We already know a lot about this from experience
Social psychology tries to determine scientifically…
- If a proposition about human behavior is true or false
- In what situations and what circumstances?
- Among what people?
- And why?
Experimental method
Objective, empirical and reliable research
There are 4 different processes:
- Intrapersonal: yourself, your thoughts and stereotypes
- Interpersonal: love and hate
- Intragroup: within group processes
- Intergroup: between group processes
There are several big assumptions in social psychology
- Human cognition, emotion and behavior is a function of the situation
x the person
- People construct their own social reality
, - People are social animals
Human cognition, emotion and behavior is a function of the
situation x the person
Different people react differently to the same situation and the same
person responds differently to different situations
- Different situations activate different roles of a person
You behave differently when you are around your mom than your
friends
The power of the situation depends a bit how you act
- People change situations
There is a big difference between 2-people group and 3-people
group (2-people group is preferred)
- Situation influence people
This happens automatically
Can be predicable (priming)
The role of the person
- Personality psychology
Focus on stable psychology traits that shape behavior
OCEAN
Those traits can be reinforced throughout your life, by the
decisions you make, based on your personality
- Social neuroscience
All our thoughts, emotions and behavior are rooted in the
psychological matter of the brain
It is a matter of probabilities
A bigger amygdala can mean that you are more conservative
- Evolutionary psychology
Heritability of behavior
Many psychological tendencies evolved because they helped our
ancestors survive a challenging environment
Automatic fear response to snakes than to flowers
The role of the situation
- Marketing
Influence of consumer choice
, Persuasion via implicit or explicit processes
o Implicit = you don’t think differently but you do act
differently
o Explicit = you are going to think differently about
something
- Group psychology
Crowds make people do things they wouldn’t do otherwise
Conformity
- Cultural psychology
How does culture shape our feelings and behaviors?
Differences between the death penalty in the Netherlands vs
Texas
People construct their own social reality
Human cognitive, emotion and behavior is strongly influenced by the
situation, or rather, by peoples interpretation of the situation
- People act based on their own subjective information
People construct their own reality
- Consequence:
Self-serving interpretations (like fundamental attribution error)
Motivated reasoning = people selectively interpret evidence that
supports their worldview (and neglect evidence that doesn’t
support it)
Ideological conflict
People are social animals
Others influence most of what people think, feel and do
- Differs between cultures
- The need to belong = one of the most important psychological
needs of human beings
Evolutionary adaptive: cooperation and group life is essential for
survival and offspring
Book
THEMES
Week 1: ostracism
- Chapter 8 (and 1)
Week 2: narcissism, self-control and self-esteem
- Chapter 2 and 3
Week 3: attitudes and cognitive dissonance
- Chapter 4 and 7
Week 4: conformity and aggression
- Chapter 6 and 10
Week 5: evolutionary psychology and human cooperation
- Chapter 5 and 11
Week 6: groups, stereotypes and conflict
- Chapter 9 and 13
Week 7: helping and the bystander effect
- Chapter 12
, Lecture 1: introduction
Introduction
Social psychology = the scientific study of how people think about, relate
to, and influence one another, whether interpersonally or within (and
between) groups
- We already know a lot about this from experience
Social psychology tries to determine scientifically…
- If a proposition about human behavior is true or false
- In what situations and what circumstances?
- Among what people?
- And why?
Experimental method
Objective, empirical and reliable research
There are 4 different processes:
- Intrapersonal: yourself, your thoughts and stereotypes
- Interpersonal: love and hate
- Intragroup: within group processes
- Intergroup: between group processes
There are several big assumptions in social psychology
- Human cognition, emotion and behavior is a function of the situation
x the person
- People construct their own social reality
, - People are social animals
Human cognition, emotion and behavior is a function of the
situation x the person
Different people react differently to the same situation and the same
person responds differently to different situations
- Different situations activate different roles of a person
You behave differently when you are around your mom than your
friends
The power of the situation depends a bit how you act
- People change situations
There is a big difference between 2-people group and 3-people
group (2-people group is preferred)
- Situation influence people
This happens automatically
Can be predicable (priming)
The role of the person
- Personality psychology
Focus on stable psychology traits that shape behavior
OCEAN
Those traits can be reinforced throughout your life, by the
decisions you make, based on your personality
- Social neuroscience
All our thoughts, emotions and behavior are rooted in the
psychological matter of the brain
It is a matter of probabilities
A bigger amygdala can mean that you are more conservative
- Evolutionary psychology
Heritability of behavior
Many psychological tendencies evolved because they helped our
ancestors survive a challenging environment
Automatic fear response to snakes than to flowers
The role of the situation
- Marketing
Influence of consumer choice
, Persuasion via implicit or explicit processes
o Implicit = you don’t think differently but you do act
differently
o Explicit = you are going to think differently about
something
- Group psychology
Crowds make people do things they wouldn’t do otherwise
Conformity
- Cultural psychology
How does culture shape our feelings and behaviors?
Differences between the death penalty in the Netherlands vs
Texas
People construct their own social reality
Human cognitive, emotion and behavior is strongly influenced by the
situation, or rather, by peoples interpretation of the situation
- People act based on their own subjective information
People construct their own reality
- Consequence:
Self-serving interpretations (like fundamental attribution error)
Motivated reasoning = people selectively interpret evidence that
supports their worldview (and neglect evidence that doesn’t
support it)
Ideological conflict
People are social animals
Others influence most of what people think, feel and do
- Differs between cultures
- The need to belong = one of the most important psychological
needs of human beings
Evolutionary adaptive: cooperation and group life is essential for
survival and offspring
