SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY READINGS

DAVID MYERS - McGRAW-HILLTEXTBOOK CHAPTER 1

>>1 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY is the scientific study of how peopl think about, influence and relate to one another- Social Thinking - how we perceive others, what we believe, judgements we make, attitudes- Social Influence - cluture, pressure to confirm, persuasion, groups of people- Social Relations - prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy, helping

>>2 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY'S BIG IDEAS>SOCIAL THINKING- we construct our social reality- our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous- attitudes shape and are shaped by behavior>SOCIAL INFLUENCES- social influences shape behavior- dispositions shape behavior>SOCIAL RELATIONS- social behavior is also biological behavior- feelings and actions towards people are sometime negative and sometimes positive

>>3 HOW DO HUMAN VALUES INFLUENCE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY>OBVIOUS INFLUENCES ON PSYCHOLOGY- choice of research topics- object of analysis>SUBTLE INFLUENCES ON PSYCHOLOGY- science is subjective- personal values come to the fore - definition of the good life, professional advice, forming concepts, labelling- hidden assumptions

>>4 COMMON SENSE?- not simply common sense even though seems obvious- called Hindsight Bias

>>5 RESEARCH METHODS>FORMING AND TESTING HYPOTHESES- a theory is an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events - "scientific shorthand" - ideas that summarize and explain facts - guess --> theory --> fact - a theory implies a testable prediction called a hypotheses- allow us to test a theory by trying to falsify it- give direction to research- predictive feature makes them practical- a good theory summarizes many observations and makes a clear prediction>CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH- laboratory research controlled) vs field research (everyday situations)- correlational (2 or more factors that are naturally associated) vs experimental (manipulating a factor to see its effect on another)- correlational research deals with important variables but causes correlation errors - cause and effect- correlations indicate a relationship but not a cause and effect - allow us to predict a result but not a cause and effect of changing a variable- correlation causation- correlation ranges from -1 to +1>SURVEY RESEARCH- aims to describe the whole population by taking a random, representative sample- random means every person in the population has a chance of being selected- 4 bias influences - unrepresentative samples, order of questions, response options, wording of questions>EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH- looks for cause and effect by controlling independent variables- 2 important ingredients - control and random assignment- random assignment allows to conclude on cause and effect - it eliminates extraneous factors>ETHICS- mundane realism (like everyday behavior) vs experimental realism (must engage participants)- deception a key element experimentation- try to reduce demand characteristics

>>1 SPOTLIGHTS AND ILLUSIONS- spotlight effect - belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and behavior than they really are- illusion of transparency - we think our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others- our social surroundings affect our self awareness- self-interest colors our social judgement- self-concern motivates our social behavior- social relationships held define our sense of self

>>4 SELF-CONTROL- self-control depletes our limited willpower reserves and leaves us tired and weak- like muscles - weaker after exertion, replenished with rest and strengthened by exercise- self-efficacy - a sense that one is competent and effective - distinguished from self-esteem- locus of control - extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces - internal or external locus of control- learned helplessness - the sense of hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events- excess choice causes decreased life satisfaction and increased rates of clinical depression

>>2 SELF-CONCEPT- self concept is what we know and believe about ourselves- self-schema - beliefs about self that organise and guide the processing of self-relevant information (e.g. overweight, smart etc)- social comparisons is the act of comparing one's abilities and opinions with others - we always compare upward and hence are prone to unhappiness- individualism - concept of giving priority to your own goals over the group's goals; defining one's identity in terms of personal rather than group identifications- collectivism - opposite of individualism- independent self versus interdependent self - strongly influenced by culture- self knowledge - we don't know ourselves like we think we do, and don't really know what makes us happy. We are poor at predicting our feelings.- planning fallacy - underestimating how long it will take to do something- dual attitude system - implicit (automatic) vs explicit (consciously controlled). Explicit can change quickly but implicit takes a long time and practice

>>3 SELF ESTEEM- self-esteem - a person's overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth- most people very motivated to maintain their self-esteem, can be easily threatened and more so by people we know- self-esteem acts as a gauge and corrects our behavior when it has been dented/hurt- terror management theory - self-protective emotional and cognitive responses in response to a fear of death/mortality- narcissism - the love of oneself

>>5 SELF-SERVING BIAS- the tendency to perceive oneself favorably- self-serving attributions - a form of self-serving bias, the tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors- people are all naturally optimistic and believe they are better than average- defensive pessimism - the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one's anxiety to motivate effective action- false consensus effect - the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one's opinions and undesirable or unsuccessful behavior's.- false uniqueness effect - the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behavior's.

>>6 SELF-PRESENTATION- self-handicapping - protecting one's self image with behavior's that create a handy excuse for later failure- self-presentation - the act of expressing oneself and behaving in ways designed to create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds with one's ideals.- self-monitoring - being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression

MYERS CHP1

MYERS CHP2