Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Shelley E. Taylor wikipedia , lookup
Social loafing wikipedia , lookup
Carolyn Sherif wikipedia , lookup
Self-categorization theory wikipedia , lookup
False consensus effect wikipedia , lookup
Albert Bandura wikipedia , lookup
Social commerce wikipedia , lookup
Social dilemma wikipedia , lookup
Social tuning wikipedia , lookup
TOPIC 1- INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Definition of social psychology Social psychology is about what goes on in the hearts and minds of human beings. It is the scientific study of the way in which, people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (Allport 1985). Social psychology involves understanding individual behaviour in a social context Baron et al (1989). It looks at human behaviour as influenced by other people and the context in which this occurs. To social psychologists, however, social influence is broader than attempts by one person to change another’s behaviour. Firsty, not only our behaviour but also our thoughts and feelings are influenced by others. 2 nd social influence takes on many forms other than deliberate attempts by others to modify n our behaviour - we are often influenced by the implied presence of others e.g. We make decisions that make our parents happy and proud of us -Girl told to get home bat six by father even when married nit still continues. Unlike anthropology and sociology which are interested in how people are influenced by their social environment- Sp is distinct. It is concerned not with social situations in any objective sense but how people are influenced by their interpretation or construal (they way in which people perceive, comprehend and interpret the social world) of the social environment. According to social psychologists it is more important to understand how a person perceives, ,comprehends, or interprets the environment than it is to understand the objective environment (Lewin 1943) E.g. John admires Mary. How do you predict whether John will ask many to go out with him. (A) You can observe Mary’s objective behaviour towards john –does she smile . Such a casual observer may decide that john will ask her out. As a SP, however you have to view Mary’s behaviour through john’s eyes- looking at how John interprets Mary’s behaviour. Construals go as far courtrooms, Jury may be give a lot of evidence but it all depends on the judge’s interpretation. SP bridges the gap between psychology and sociology. The field of SP emerged from the many intersections of sociological and vocal interests. According to Judith Rodin (19850 it is not bad people but----bad situations that create social, problems. There is need to view a situation through people’s eyes in order to understand why people behave the way they do in a particular situation. Applied social psychology Many. If not most societal problems have social psychological aspects , that is they are rooted in behaviour or human cognitions e.g. traffic accidents are to a larger extend caused by unsafe driving styles and the unrealistic perception that one is a better driver than most others, environmental problems result in part from growing consumption levels and a tendency to pay attention to one’s own immediate interests (Steg et al 2008) Consequently, solutions and prevention of such problems require changes in attitudes, values, behaviour and lifestyle. (Zimbardo, 2002). So SPs can play important roles in this respect e.g. Application of behavioural strategies that targets changeof attitudes e.g. HIV, AIDS and attitude towards condom use , childhood disease and attitude of apostolic sects. The above examples demonstrate how SPs may help resolve social problems and highlights the main thrust of applied social psychologists. Applied social psychology refers to the utilisation of social psychological principles and research methods in real world settings in efforts to understand and solve a variety of individual and societal problems. In order to design effective solutions for social problems there is need, to a) Understand which behaviour causes the given problem. Applied SP should focus on these aspects of a social problem where interventions would have the most impact in resolving these problems. e.g. the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS - there may be gender based focus men versus women (that is focusing more on men who usually believe that to be a real man they should have several wives) b) there is need behaviour to examine especially which antecendents factors of the influence behaviour the or particular cause e.g. Cultural norms influence man to indulge. c) It is important to understand which intervention techniques are available to change behaviour interventions should taking therefore into account focus targeted on attitudes and antecedents social norms related to manhood. Applied SP can interventions by also play an important in evaluating the effects of examining to what extend interventions indeed of behaviour and the underlying determinants and resolved. This role will not only reveal whether social problems are indeed whether intervention programmes are successful but also how they can be improved. Evaluation helps to test SP theories min real life settings. Broadly speaking therefore applied social psychology can be defined as the systematic application of social psychology concepts, theories and research (SPCTRs) to understand or ameliorate social problems. (Scamp and Schultz, 1986) Concepts Social psychology concepts encompass constructs and principles. Constructs are the building blocks of psychological principles and theories. A construct refers to a clearly defined individual (psychological) characteristic that is generally latent and therefore not directly observable although it can be assessed though interviews or quesionnaires e.g. attitudes (i.e. whether one evaluates a topic positively or negatively), values (i.e. General believes about desirable behaviour or goals) or social norms (i.e. particular behaviour) Whether ones social group disapproves or approves of a Principles A principle is a statement or how a psychological process works . Principles describes basics processes by which humans think ,feel and act e.g a) the foot in the door technique, which involves making a small initial request, followed by a larger related request within a short period, generally those who agreed to the small request are much more likely to comply with larger request as well as compared to those who were asked and those who did not agree to the small request. b) cognitive dissonance, which refers to the uncomfortable tension that can result from having two conflicting thoughts are the same time, or from engaging in hours that conflicts with one’s beliefs or attitudes. When two cognitions concluding beliefs, emotions, attitudes , behaviourt) are incompatible individuals try to reduce this dissonance by inventing new thoughts or beliefs, or modifying existing beliefs. c) The availability of heuristics, refers to the tendency to judge the likelihood of frequency of an event by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. Theories A theory is an intergrated set of principles that describes, explains and predicts obsessed events (NB-will be covered in topic 2) History of social psychology Understanding something of the history of SP will be crucial in helping you think a SP Early years Aristitole believed that humans were naturally sociable a necessity which allows us to live together (an individual centred approach), whilst Plato felt that the state controlled the individual and encouraged social responsibility though social context (a socio-centred approach) Hegel (1970-1831) introduced the concept that society has inevitable links with the development of social mind. This led to the idea of a group of mind, important in the study of SP. Lazarus and stenthal wrote about Anglo-European influences in 1860. VolkerPsychologie (Germany) emerged which focused on the idea of a collective mind-personality develops because of cultural and community influences especially language which is a social product of the community as well as a means of encouraging social thouthgt in the individual. Tripplett (1898) did on experiment on social facilitation in USA. Wundt (1900-1920) encouraged the methodological study of language and its influence on social being. Between 1908-1924 SP appeared as an independent entity. William McDougal 1908 published an article entitled social psychology stating that social behavior stems from instincts (genetics ) Allport (1924) influenced today’s thinking to a greater extent. He acknowledged that social behavior results from interactions between people. His book dealt with topics such as conformity (Brown 2006) Social psychology’s youth. Murchinson published a handbook in social psychology in 1935. Murphy and Murphy 1931/37 produced a book summarizing the findings of 1, 000 studies in SP 1940s -1950s SPs focused attention on the influence that groups and group membership exert on individual behavior and the link between personalty traits and individual behavior. Festinger (1957) developed a cognitive dissonance 1960-SP come of age in USA-Canadian SP began to expand at the end of the 1960s Social psychology’s maturity Much of the key sp developed following WW2, when people became interested in the behavior of individuals when grouped together and in social situations. In the 1970s Canadian psychologists began to study issues relevant to their society/ New topics were studied e.g attitude formation, obedience (Milgram), Zimbardo’s prison stimulation demonstrated conformity to given roles in the social world. Wider topic s began to emerge, such as social perception, aggression, relationships, decision making, prosocial behaviour and attributes.