social psychology

7/18/2019 Social Psychology

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Unit Structure:1.0 Objectives

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Social Psychology: A working deinition

1.2.1 Social Psychology : Scientiic !ature1.2.2 "ocus on Individual #ehaviour1.2.$ %nderstand &auses o Social #ehaviour and 'hought1.2.( #rie )istory o Social Psychology : what we learn

ro* it+1.$ Social Psychology on &utting ,dge

1.$.1 &ognition and #ehaviour1.$.2 Social !euroscience1.$.$ -ole o I*licit Process1.$.( Social /iversity

1.( et us su* u

1. -eerences

1.0 OBJECTIVES :

#y the end o this unit you should be able to understand :

'he scientiic nature o Social Psychology.

&auses o social behaviour and thought.

%nderstand current trends in the study o Social Psychology

such as role o cognition social neuroscience socialdiversity etc.

1.1 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY : AN INTROUCTION :

)u*an beings are essentially social beings. 3e stay withother and our actions thoughts and eelings are aected by theresence o others. At the sa*e ti*e we inluence the behaviour oother individuals. 'his consists o large a*ount o hu*anbehaviour. Social sychology is a disciline that tries to understandthe hu*an social behaviour. As is the case with sychology evensocial sychology has a ast which is less than 100 years. 'hiscourse will hel you to learn and answer *any 4uestions. 5ou will

learn theoretical ersectives in various areas o social sychology.5ou will understand that the scoe o social sychology is wide andit is ever widening. Social cognition social ercetions attitudes


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sel stereotye rejudice and discri*ination interersonal


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attraction close relations social inluence ro6social behaviouraggression grou and individuals alications o socialsychology and *any *ore are the toics o social sychology.7ost o the i*ortant toics are covered in this course. 'his coursewill e4ui you to understand social behaviour and will also *otivateyou to work in the area o social sychology and to beco*e social

sychologist.

1.! SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY : A E"INITION :

/eining any ield is a very diicult task. So is the case with

social sychology. )ere are so*e e8a*les:

According to G#r$#n A%%rt 91(; social sychology is

best deined as the disciline that uses scientiic *ethods in


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1.!.! S#ci*% P)(c+#%#,(: "#cu) #n in$ii$u*% Be+*i#ur :

'he social thoughts and actions are taken by individuals.'hey *ight be inluenced by the society. #ut the thought andactions are o the individuals and not grous. 'he socialsychology has a very strong ocus on individuals and tries to

understand the behaviour o individuals. It also tries to understandvarious environ*ental inluences on social thought and actionsviB. &ulture social nor*s etc. Still the ocus o the socialsychology en4uiry is individual.

1.!./ Un$er)t*n$ C*u)e) # S#ci*% Be+*i#ur *n$ T+#u,+t :

)u*an social behaviour and thoughts are caused by *any

things. Social sychology would try to understand the*. ets seeso*e o the i*ortant ones:

Acti#n) *n$ C+*r*cteri)tic) # Ot+er Per)#n) :

3e are aected by various actions o others. "or e8a*leyou are standing in the 4ueue or a local train ticket and so*ebodytries to break the 4ueue. In no ti*e you would get uset with theerson and shout at hi*. 'his and *any other instances would helyou to understand that your behaviour is aected by the actions oother individuals. Si*ilarly certain characteristics o eole alsochange your behaviour. "or e8a*le you are waiting at bus6stoand you realiBe that a blind *an wants to cross a road. 5ou would4uickly *ove ahead and hel hi*. 'hese and *any other hysical

sychological and social characteristics o eole are resonsibleor our actions.

C#,nitie Pr#ce)) :Our thinking deter*ines what we do in social circu*stances.'his is studied in the area o social cognitions. &ognition is ourthinking rocess. Our behaviour is deter*ined by what we think.'hat is one reason why two eole do not resond to the sa*esituation identically. Since two dierent eole think dierentlyabout the situations and social realities they resond dierently.

En0ir#n2ent :'he hysical world around us to a great e8tend deter*ines ourbehaviour. -esearchers have shown that the te*erature isnegatively related with individual aggression and irritability.Si*ilar tyes o 4uestions are also asked in social sychology.

Cu%tur*% C#nte3t :'he culture in which we stay or are born and brought udeter*ines our behaviour. &ulture is su* o values belies

ractices art language etc. ,very culture has a dierent belie


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and value syste*. "or e8a*le our decisions would deend onwhether we belong to individualistic culture or collectivisticculture. "or instance *arriage would be decided by individual inindividualistic cultures and they are decided by a rocess o*utual agree*ent a*ong the a*ily *e*bers in collectivisticcultures.

Bi#%#,ic*% "*ct#r) :'he biological actors inluence our social behaviour. 'hey can beunderstood as hysiological actors and neurological actors geneticactors and evolutionary actors.

'he hysiological actors contain hor*ones unctions o variousglands i**une syste* *otor syste* etc. 'he neurologicalactors include the brain structures the neural cells 9neurons; theneurotrans*itters etc. 'he genetic actor would contain the studyo inluence o genes on hu*an behaviour. 'he

evolutionary sychology ocuses on e8laining the socialbehaviour as a unction o rocess o evolution.

P+()i#%#,ic*% *n$ Neur#%#,ic*% "*ct#r) :'hese actors ocus on the hysiological and neural substrateso social sychological rocesses o *ind. 'yically it studies

the i*act o brain and biology on social behaviour. #rainwaves 9electroencehalograhy ,,C; 7-I 9unctional*agnetic resonance i*aging; *easures o skin conductance9galvanic skin resonse CS-; cardiovascular *easures 9heartrate )-@ #P7@ )-D@ vaso*otor activity; *uscle activity

9electo*yograhy ,7C; changes in uil dia*eter withthought and e*otion 9uillo*etry; and eye *ove*ents etc.are co**only used *ethods o *easure*ent in this area. 'hedetails o neuroscience are rovided in the ne8t section.

Be+*i#ur Genetic) :#ehaviour genetics aroach is used in social sychology tounderstand variation in social behaviour o hu*an beings as aunction o two co*onents: genetic and environ*ental. 'heresearch *ethods used are a*ily studies twin studies andadotion studies. "*2i%( )tu$ie)are based on the idea that

children share 0 ercent o their genes with each arent. Igenes have to inluence social behaviour the trait in 4uestion*ust run in a*ilies.T5in Stu$ie) :7onoBygotic twins share100E genetic inor*ation whereas diBygotic share 0E 9si*ilarto non6twin siblings;. Si*ilarities and dierences between the*indicate the genetic and environ*ental inluence. A$#&ti#nStu$ie) :'he sibling reared in the sa*e a*ily should showsi*ilar social behaviour si*ilar to the behaviour o siblingsreared aart 9because o adotions *ost o the ti*es; such abehaviour indicates the inluence o environ*ent.


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E#%uti#n*r( S#ci*% P)(c+#%#,( :3hen we think o evolution we tend to think o biologicalevolution. 'he sa*e rocess would hold true or sychologicalrocesses. In last one decade the evolutionary sychology hasgrown u as a disciline. /avid #uss is one o the ioneersychologists in this ield. ,volutionary sychology tries to

e8lain the traits and social behaviours as a unction oevolutionary rocess. 'he evolutionary rocess is based on keyrocess known as natural selection 9se8ual selection;. Inaddition to natural selection kin selection and arentalinvolve*ent are i*ortant co*onents o evolutionary socialsychology. I certain trait has evolutionary beneits then thatsocial trait will beco*e art o hu*an syche. #uss has statedthree i*ortant conditions o evolution o social behaviour. 'heyare variation inheritance and selection. V*ri*ti#nreers to theact that *e*bers o seciic secies vary 9are dierent; onvarious traits. "or e8a*le Intelligence everybody has dierent

intelligence. At least art o this variation in the seciic trait isinherited i.e. in+erit*nce. "or e8a*le so*e art o intelligenceis contributed by genes. I this trait gives an advantage inreroductive success then this trait is )e%ecte$and it develosas a rocess o evolution. "or e8a*le intelligent eole are*ore likely to be resourceul@ hence the reroductive successwould be high or intelligent eole.

Our ancestors so*e thousand years back have gonethrough the sa*e rocess and so we have the set o traits andsocial behaviours and reerences. "or e8a*le evolutionary

sychology has a rincile o se8ual selection. One o therediction is the se8 that invests *ore in arenting is *ore choosyin *ate selection. Several studies all over the world have rovidedevidence to this hyothesis. 'hese studies have shown that *alesreer *ore artners than wo*en over any eriod o ti*e 9"ore8a*le Sch*itt 200(;.

In this section we have learned that the social sychology isthe science. It 4ualiies or the deinition o science. It ocuses onindividual behaviour. 'he social sychology seeks to understandthe causes o hu*an social behaviour. 'hese causes are

characteristics and actions o others cognitive rocessesenviron*ental variables culture and biological causes.

1.!.4 Brie Hi)t#r( # S#ci*% P)(c+#%#,( :

Social sychology has an interesting history. It can be tracedback to 1F when e #on theoriBed crowd behaviour. 'riletts91F?; e8eri*ent on Gsocial acilitationG eects -oss and7c/ougalls 910F; irst te8tbook o social sychology were theearly events. Social sychology started as G,8eri*entalG science.


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Sheri 91$>; studies on develo*ent o nor*s ewinHs ield theory91$; and ewin iitt and 3hites 91$; three leadershistyles test were early i*ortant studies. ewin trained *anya*ous social sychologists like "estinger Schachter /eutschelley 'hibault etc. 'hree Inluential Cestalt Psychologists areurt ewin Solo*on Asch "ritB )eider.

'he 3orld 3ar II was a *ajor event in the history o socialsychology. 7any social sychologists led ,uroe and went to%SA. 'hey have started working in the ausicious undingat*oshere. 'he toics they chose were related to A*ericanroble*s e.g. to co*bat *oral warare strategies during the ti*eo war. 'hen studies by 7ilgra* on obedience "estinger studieson cognitive dissonance and social co*arisons )eiders work onbalance theory and attribution theory do*inated 1(0s and late10s. In the decade o 1>0s Stereotying and Prejudice School/esegregation Aggression Altrusi* #ystander Intervention

Interersonal -elations Attraction beca*e toics o *odernresearch. 'he decade o 1?0s saw the e*ergence o ahne*an6'versky *odel o heuristics *odels o sche*as and increasingcognitive trends.

'here are *any other discilines that have e*erged in thesocial sychology. ,volutionary social sychology neuroscienceersective in social sychology studies on i*licit rocessescross6cultural research are the new *ethods that lead to thedevelo*ent o *odern social sychology.

'he history o social sychology also teaches us interestinglessons. #ecause o the 3orld 3ar II *ost o the socialsychology initially develoed in %SA. 7ost o the socialsychologists at the ti*e were white *en uer6*iddle classA*ericans dealing with the roble*s o A*erica. So the ieldinitially was subservient to A*erican social roble*s. In last threedecades the icture is changing. Social constructivis* ande*inis* have also *ade a *ark in changing this icture. Si*ilarlyin Pakistan social sychologist artly have studied heno*enon that

cannot be considered as science because o their olitical religious

reerences. Indeed science and religion are two dierenteiste*ological views and both cant be done together. On theositive note Pakistani sychologist have also studied issues ooverty discri*ination derivation religious tensions gender

issues etc.

1./ SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ON CUTTING EGE :

Social sychology is ever develoing science. Darious


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journals o social sychology ublish research done in this area:so*e o the* are Journal o Personality and Social Psychology


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Personality and Social Psychology #ulletin Journal o ,8eri*entalSocial Psychology Journal o Alied Social Psychology are so*ee8a*les. In this section we would discuss current trends the

cutting edge o Social Psychology.

1./.1 C#,niti#n *n$ Be+*i#ur :

&oule o decades back cognition and behaviouris* wereconsidered as two dierent kinds o things in sychology. #ut it nolonger e8ists. &ognition and behaviour are currently considered asinti*ately linked and related aroaches. Present research indings areclearly indicating that the cognition and behaviour need to beconsidered as strongly linked with each other.

1./.! S#ci*% Neur#)cience :

Social neuroscience is *erging o two dierent ields: social

sychology and neuroscience. In act now secialist journals arebeing ublished in this area eg Social !euroscience. 'hisinterdiscilinary ield is devoted to understanding how biologicalsyste*s e8ecute social rocesses and behaviour. It uses concetsand *ethods ro* biological sciences to understand and uriytheories o social thought behaviour and rocesses. 'he 7-I97agnetic -esonance I*agery; 7-I 9"unctional 7-I; P,'9Positron ,*ission 'e*ograhy; are co**only used techni4ues in thisscience. 'yically when eole engage in social activities theirbiological ara*eters are *easured.

"or e8a*le Ito and %rland 9200$; asked white students toindicate ethnicity 9black K white; and gender 97ale K "e*ale; o thehotograh shown while *easuring their e0ent re%*te$ 9r*intenti*%. -esults shown that initially attention was aid to ethnicityand then to gender. Other social actors 9resence o other*e*bers; activated brain later. 'his indicates that eole considerethnicity and gender as i*ortant actors and aid attention irst.

1././ R#%e # I2&%icit Pr#ce)) :

'he i*licit rocesses are nonconscious rocesses. 'he

rocess that occur in the *ind but we are not aware o the*. 3eare not aware o *any actors that inluence our behaviour.Pelha* 7irenberg and Jones 92002; have shown that iso*ething is closer to our sel concet then we tend to like it *ore."or e8a*le they ound that signiicantly *ore nu*ber o eolestay in the city that rese*bles their own na*e 9*ore than chancenu*ber o eole with the na*e ouse stay in the city St. ouse;.'hey have called it i2&%icit e,#ti)2.


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1./.4 S#ci*% ier)it( :

I you look at Pakistan you will realiBe that it is a *ulti6lingual

*ulti6ethnic *ulti6religious country. It has 1F languages and *orethan $000 dialects. ,very art o the world shows the diversity that

e8ists. &ross6cultural research ocuses on this diversity. -ecently*ulticulturalis* has been ro*oted as a osition to understand thisdiversity. 7ulticulturalis* *eans the accetance or ro*otion o*ultile ethnic cultures or ractical reasons and or the sake oacceting and celebrating diversity. It is useul in *anyde*ograhic setus. e.g. schools businesses neighborhoodscities etc. It ro*ote the idea o e4uitable status to all religiousethnic grous without encouraging any seciic values as central.'his has been used in various sychological ractices or e8a*le*ulticultural counselling.

1.4 LET US SU' UP :

'his unit has rovided an introduction to various asects osocial sychology. 3e studied the deinition o Social Psychology.3hile doing so we have understood the scientiic nature o socialsychology. 3e know that ocus o social sychology is onindividual behaviour. 3e have also learned the various causes osocial behaviour and thought. 3hile discussing the current trends in

social sychology we have discussed issues like cognition andbehaviour social neuroscience role o i*licit rocess and social

diversity. 'his will hel you understand the rest o the chaters insocial sychology.

1.6 RE"ERENCES :

1. #aron -. A. #yrne /. and #ransco*be !. -. 9200>;. S#ci*%P)(c+#%#,(. Prentice6)all.

2. "eld*an -. S. 92001;. S#ci*% P)(c+#%#,(. Prentice )all.

$. #uss /. 7. 91;. ,volutionary Psychology: A new aradig*or sychological science. Psychological In4uiry > 16$0.

(. #uss /avid 7. 9,d.; 9200;.T+e H*n$9##; #E0#%uti#n*r(

P)(c+#%#,(. )oboken !J.


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social psychology

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