Kassin chapter 1 summary

#### What is Social Psychology?

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social
context.

- Scientific Study: Applies the scientific method of systematic observation, description, and
measurement to understand human behavior.

- How Individuals Think, Feel, and Behave: Concerns a diverse set of topics like private
beliefs/attitudes, emotions, behaviors both heroic and mundane. Focuses on the individual
level rather than societal level.

- Social Context: Emphasizes the social nature of humans and how we are influenced by real
or implied presence of others. Examines behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in relation to other
people.

#### A Brief History of Social Psychology

- Late 1800s: Early studies of social influence on behavior but no distinct field yet.

- Early 1900s: First textbooks defined social psychology as a new approach.

- 1930s-1950s: Interest exploded due to WWII. Researchers studied prejudice, aggression,

- 1960s-Mid 1970s: Period of expansion but also methodological debates around ethics and
validity of lab experiments.

- Mid 1970s-2000s: Emergence of pluralism. Growth of social cognition, cross-cultural

#### Social Psychology Today: What is Trending Now?

- Integration of emotion, motivation, and cognition in explanations of behavior.

- Genetic and evolutionary perspectives on behavior.

- Growth of cultural perspectives through cross-cultural and multicultural research.

- Interdisciplinary approaches in behavioral economics, political/moral issues, neuroscience,

- Impact of new technologies on research methods and topics like online interaction. (Chapter
1)

#### Social Perception

- Factors that influence social perception like stereotypes, biases, self-serving attributions

#### Social Influence

- Ways people influence each other through obedience, conformity, persuasion, marketing

- Majority influence, social roles, norms, attitudes versus behavior

#### Social Interaction

- Formation of relationships, attraction, helping/hurting others, aggression, prejudice

- Group processes like cooperation, competition, social loafing, groupthink

#### Applications of Social Psychology

- Practical uses in law, health, business, environment, education, sports, politics, media

- Understanding social issues and improving lives through rigorous scientific research

(Chapter 1)

#### Putting Common Sense to the Test

- Statements to predict as true/false and check against evidence in chapter

- Critical thinking exercise to not rely on intuition alone

(Chapter 1)

#### The Scientific Method in Social Psychology

- Rigorous procedures used like hypothesis testing, operational definitions, control groups

- Importance of reliability, validity, ethics in research design and interpretation

- Role of theory to organize research and generate new hypotheses

(Chapter 2)

#### The Self: Perceptions and Presentations

- Components of self-concept like self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-serving biases

- Cultural differences in independent vs. interdependent self-views

- Self-presentation through self-monitoring and impression management

(Chapter 3)

#### Explaining Behavior: The Power of Situations

- Fundamental attribution error overemphasizing personality, underestimating situations

- Correspondence bias assuming behavior reflects internal dispositions

- Actor-observer bias seeing self in terms of situations, others in terms of dispositions

- Cultural differences in explanations that are independent vs. interdependent

(Chapter 4)

#### Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

- Components of stereotypes like content and structure

- Functions of stereotypes like justification of inequality

- Development and change of stereotypes

- Forms of prejudice like old-fashioned, modern, aversive

- Consequences of discrimination on mental and physical health

(Chapter 5)

#### The Need to Belong: Social Motivation

- Drive to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships

- Effects of social rejection/exclusion on behavior, cognition, emotion

- Strategies to restore belongingness like ingratiation, self-affirmation

- Cultural differences in independent vs. interdependent self-construal

(Chapter 6)

#### Social Influence: Conformity and Compliance

- Asch conformity experiments and variables that increase/decrease conformity

- Milgram obedience experiments and dispositional vs. situational explanations

- Compliance techniques used in persuasion like foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face

(Chapter 7)

#### Group Influence and Decision Making

- Social facilitation and social inhibition effects on individual performance in groups

- Group polarization and risky shift phenomena in group decision making

- Social loafing, free riding, sucker effect problems in group productivity

- Groupthink symptoms like illusion of invulnerability, self-censorship

(Chapter 8)

#### Attraction and Close Relationships

- Factors in interpersonal attraction like proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity

- Stages of relationships like liking, loving, commitment

- Equity, social exchange, and investment models of commitment in relationships

- Cultural differences in mate preferences and relationship norms

(Chapter 9)

#### Helping Others: Altruism and Prosocial Behavior

- Determinants of helping like cost of helping, group size, diffusion of responsibility

- Emotional and cognitive mediators of helping like empathy, perspective taking

- Cultural differences in independent vs. interdependent helping orientations

- Bystander intervention models explaining failure to help in emergencies

(Chapter 10)

#### Aggression: Instigation and Inhibition

- Physiological and cognitive bases of aggression in humans and other species

- Effects of situational factors like frustration, heat, crowding on aggression

- Deindividuation and disinhibition of aggression in anonymous crowds

- Effects of media violence on thoughts, emotions, actual behavior over time

#### Applying Social Psychology to Social Issues

- Interrogation techniques and false confessions resulting from pressure/manipulation

- Motivation theories applied to workplaces to improve productivity and job satisfaction

- Health applications like social support's impact on recovery from illness, stress reduction

- Improving environmental sustainability through community-based social marketing

(Chapters 12-14)

#### Social Psychology and the Real World: Putting It All Together

- Integrative case examples applying concepts from multiple chapters

- Reflection on personal experiences in relationships, groups, work in light of research

- Consideration of social responsibility of psychologists to apply research for social good

(Chapter 15)