Download Introduction and History of Social Psychology

Introduction and History of Social Psychology
ROOTS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally
is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something in nature that precedes the
individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self‑ sufficient as not to
need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god”ARISTOTLE
Politics 328 B.C.
Formulated the basic principles of social influence and persuasion
Social Philosophies
HEDONISM
JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)
Maximize pleasure while minimizing pain

EGOISM OR SELF-INTEREST
THOMAS HOBBES LEVIATHAN (1651)
Egoistic drives for power over others is even more basic than pleasure seeking

IMITATION THEORY - GABRIEL TARDE
THE LAWS OF IMITATION (1903)
Norman Triplett (1898) – first social psychological experiment
Interested in increased ability in the presence of others
Led to the complex body of literature on social facilitation
Other early developments
William McDougall and Edward Ross both publish books titled “Social Psychology” 1908
Floyd
Allport wrote the first real social psychology textbook in 1924
also started the first graduate program at Syracuse Univ.
Key role in bringing about the acceptance of social psychology as a scientific field
He
Gordon Allport
st
Wrote a major part of the 1 handbook on Social Psych in 1935
Developed the trait approach to personality
“Nature of Prejudice” in 1954
Defined the field
Definition of the Field
Social psychology is the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings and
behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (Allport)
Kurt Lewin
Often called the father of experimental social psychology
Came to the U.S. in 1933 from Germany
Trained as a Gestalt psychologist
Conducted early leadership studies in the 1930’s
He stressed the importance of the perception of the social situation or what is called
situationalism
Construal is the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
(Aronson)
1940s - 1960s
Rapid expansion in the field with
Attitudes and persuasion
Attribution theory (Fritz Heider)
a number of new topics and major research interests
1960’s - focused on applying social psychology to many of societal problems (prejudice,
obedience, conformity, helping and aggression)
1970’s
“Crisis of confidence” – Is social psychology a science or only history (Kenneth Gergen)
More women going into the field
1980s -2007
Social cognition becomes the dominant theoretical approach (study of heuristics, schemas,
stereotypes)
Cross-cultural social psychology
Automatic (Implicit) vs Controlled processing of information
Women now are in the majority
Positive Psychology
The influence of emotions
Positive Psychology
Cross-cultural Social Psychology
A growing trend beginning in the late 1980’s has been the addition of a cross-cultural
perspective
90% of published studies at that time were from the U.S. with college students

What is Culture?
A culture is the composite of the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a
large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next (Brislin)
All cultural groups develop there own social norms for expected and accepted behavior
These social or cultural norms vary in 1000’s of different areas of behavior including times in
which you eat, the pace of life, the use of nonverbal gestures, clothes and dress
Cultures also vary in terms of their focus on the individual or the groups
Cultures
also vary in terms of their focus on the individual or the groups
Individualism
A philosophy of life stressing the priority of individual needs over group needs, a
preference for loosely knit social relationships, and a desire to be relatively autonomous of
others’ influence
Collectivism
Collectivism or collective cultures involves giving priority to the goals of the groups and
defining one’s identity based on group identification
Sociology vs. Social Psychology
The two fields study similar topics
•e.g., close relationships, prejudice, aggression.
However, the approaches taken and the unit of measure tend to be different.
•Sociologists tend to study groups and often use demographic data and case studies.
•Social psychologists will more frequently focus on the individual and use experimental
techniques.