What is an academic discipline?
A field of knowledge with its own…
*Body of well-defined subject matter that is
*Related to a professional or social activity
*Methods of study
*Unique system of values
A discipline has a what, how, and why
Social Science, definition?
A group of academic disciplines dedicated to examining human behavior and specifically how people interact with each other, behave, develop as a culture, and influence the world.
(Social) Psychology’s Philosophical Roots?
Greek Philosophers
- Plato (428–347, BCE)
- Aristotle (384–322, BCE)
Nature v. nurture debates Free-will
Rene DesCartes
Dualism (mind distinct from body)
Founder of Social Psychology?
Floyd Allport (1924)
Social Psychology focuses on…
Individuals’ behaviors
and mental processes in
a social context
What does it mean that Social psychology assumes that behaviors and experiences are purposeful?
- Goal oriented rather
than completely
random - Baseline assumption
for understanding why
we do what we do
Psychology has historically presumed that behaviors
and experiences are caused by… (2 factors?)
- Internal factors (like Freud)
- External factors (like B.F Skinner)
Social Psychology moved towards integrating both perspectives
What does this mean? B= f(P, E)
Social behaviors and
experiences are caused by
both dispositional and
situational factors
States that an individual’s behavior (B) is a function (f) of the the person (P), including their history, personality and motivation, and their environment (E)
Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, evolutionary?
- Psychological characteristics are universal and evolved
- Applying Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
- E.g Moral disgust, fundamental universal disgust over incest bc it genetic issues
Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, individual?
- Factors related to a particular person’s experiences and leaning history
- Cognitive Revolution (1950s) Internal mental representations guide behaviour
- Sensory information -> Sequence of Mental Options -> Perceptions, memories behaviours etc.
Three levels of analysis for explaining social behaviors or experiences, cultural?
- Our social/cultural context shapes how we think or behave
- Culture: Systems of enduring meanings, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and practices shared by a large group of people
- Individualism/Collectivism
Are the levels of analysis mutually exclusive?
No, although social psychologists may lean towards
one more than others (also dependent on topic)
Social psychology as a science is…?
*Focused on description, explanation,
and prediction
*Theory driven, emphasizing
empirical evidence
*Empirical: Claims based on
observation (data) rather than
logical reasoning
*Using the scientific method
Findings you learn about might sound like common sense but.. Hindsight bias?
When people believe they
could have accurately predicted the
occurrence of an actual event if they had
been asked to predict it before it occurred
Considering why we study social psychology?
- 1940s-1960s Understanding the horrors of WWII
- E.g., Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience to authority
Definition of Social psychology, highlighted aspects?
The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts and behaviours or individuals in social situations.”
- Scientific study
- Feelings, thoughts and behaviours
- Individuals
- Social situations
Interactionism?
- Modern perspective: Dispositions and situations interact to influence behavior
- People with different dispositions self-select into different situations
- Over time, exposure to situations can influence someone’s disposition
Good evolutionary research?
- Explains how this phenomenon would have been adaptive in our evolutionary past
- Demonstrates it is unlikely to be culturally learned, e.g.,
- Exists in very dissimilar cultures
- Exists in young children
- Exists in people who would have difficulty learning it
- Exists in similar species to us (e.g., chimpanzees)
Issues with evolutionary approach?
- Very hard to convincingly demonstrate it is unlikely to be culturally learned
- So, lots of research comes up with explanations for why behaviour would have been adaptive and just stops there
- Has been used to justify hierarchy between genders, ethnicities, cultural groups, etc.
- Naturalistic fallacy: The way things are is the way they should be
Sociocultural approaches?
- Cultures develop norms, preferences, values, perspectives knowledges, art, moral, laws, traditions, beliefs, etc.
- People both shape and are ahead bt their culture
- Social constructionism: people construct ideas or concepts out of consensus, not simply out of observing public reality.
