Social psychology is about understanding individual behavior in a social context. Baron, Byrne & Suls (1989) define social psychology as ....... “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations”. (p. 6). It therefore looks at human behavior as influenced by other people and the social context in which this occurs. Social psychologists therefore deal with the factors that lead us to behave in a given way in the presence of others, and look at the conditions under which certain behavior/actions and feelings occur. Social psychology is to do with the way these feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions and goals are constructed and how such psychological factors, in turn, influence our interactions with others. Topics examined in social psychology include: the self concept, social cognition, attribution theory, social influence, group processes, prejudice and discrimination, interpersonal processes, aggression, attitudes and stereotypes.
History of Social PsychologyEarly Influences Aristotle believed that humans were naturally sociable, a necessity which allows us to live together (an individual centered approach), whilst Plato felt that the state controlled the individual and encouraged social responsibility through social context (a socio-centered approach). Hegel (1770–1831) introduced the concept that society has inevitable links with the development of the social mind. This led to the idea of a group mind, important in the study of social psychology. Lazarus & Steinthal wrote about Anglo-European influences in 1860. “Volkerpsychologie” emerged, which focused on the idea of a collective mind. It emphasized the notion that personality develops because of cultural and community influences, especially through language, which is both a social product of the community as well as a means of encouraging particular social thought in the individual. Therefore Wundt (1900–1920) encouraged the methodological study of language and its influence on the social being. Early Texts Texts focusing on social psychology first emerged at the start of the 20th century. The first notable book in English was published by McDougall in 1908 (An Introduction to Social Psychology), which included chapters on emotion and sentiment, morality, character and religion, quite different to those incorporated in the field today. He believed that social behavior was innate/instinctive and therefore individual, hence his choice of topics. This belief is not the principle upheld in modern social psychology, however. Allport’s work (1924) underpins current thinking to a greater degree, as he acknowledged that social behavior results from interactions between people. He also took a methodological approach, discussing actual research and emphasizing that the field was one of a “science … which studies the behavior of the individual in so far as his behavior stimulates other individuals, or is itself a reaction to this behavior” (1942: p. 12). His book also dealt with topics still evident today, such as emotion, conformity and the effects of an audience on others. Murchison (1935) published The first handbook on social psychology was published by Murchison in 1935. Murphy & Murphy (1931/37) produced a book summarizing the findings of 1,000 studies in social psychology. A text by Klineberg (1940) looked at the interaction between social context and personality development by the 1950s a number of texts were available on the subject. Journal Development 1950s – Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 1963 – Journal of Personality, British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 1965 – Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1971 – Journal of Applied Social Psychology, European Journal of Social Psychology 1975 – Social Psychology Quarterly, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1982 – Social Cognition 1984 – Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Early Experiments There is some disagreement about the first true experiment, but the following are certainly among some of the most important. Triplett (1898) applied the experimental method to investigate the performance of cyclists and schoolchildren on how the presence of others influences overall performance – thus how individual’s are affected and behave in the social context. By 1935 the study of social norms had developed, looking at how individuals behave according to the rules of society. This was conducted by Sherif (1935). Lewin et al. then began experimental research into leadership and group processes by 1939, looking at effective work ethics under different styles of leadership. Later Developments Much of the key research in social psychology developed following World War II, when people became interested in the behavior of individuals when grouped together and in social situations. Key studies were carried out in several areas. Some studies focused on how attitudes are formed, changed by the social context and measured to ascertain whether change has occurred. Amongst some of the most famous work in social psychology is that on obedience conducted by Milgram in his “electric shock” study, which looked at the role an authority figure plays in shaping behavior. Similarly, Zimbardo’s prison simulation notably demonstrated conformity to given roles in the social world. Wider topics then began to emerge, such as social perception, aggression, relationships, decision making, prosocial behavior and attribution, many of which are central to today’s topics and will be discussed throughout this website. Thus the growth years for social psychology occurred during the decades following the 1940s.
Social Psychology Key FiguresAllport (1920) – Social Facilitation Allport introduced the notion that the presence of others (the social group) can facilitate certain behavior. It was found that an audience would improve an actors’ performance in well learned/easy tasks, but lead to a decrease in performance on newly learned/difficult tasks due to social inhibition. Bandura (1963) – Social Learning Theory Bandura introduced the notion that behavior in the social world could be modeled. Three groups of children watched a video where an adult was aggressive towards a ‘bobo doll’, and the adult was either just seen to be doing this, was rewarded by another adult for their behavior or were punished for it. Children who had seen the adult rewarded were found to be more likely to copy such behavior. Festinger (1950) – Cognitive Dissonance Festinger, Schacter and Black brought the idea that when we hold beliefs, attitudes or cognitions which are different, then we experience dissonance – this is an inconsistency that causes discomfort. We are motivated to reduce this by either changing one of our thoughts, beliefs or attitudes or selectively attending to information which supports one of our beliefs and ignores the other (selective exposure hypothesis). Dissonance occurs when there are difficult choices or decisions, or when people participate in behavior that is contrary to their attitude. Dissonance is thus brought about by effort justification (when aiming to reach a modest goal), induced compliance (when people are forced to comply contrary to their attitude) and free choice (when weighing up decisions). Tajfel (1971) – Social Identity Theory When divided into artificial (minimal) groups, prejudice results simply from the awareness that there is an “out-group” (the other group). When boys were asked to allocate points to others (which might be converted to rewards) who were either part of their own group or the out-group, they displayed a strong in-group preference. That is, they allocated more points on the set task to boys who they believed to be in the same group as themselves. This can be accounted for by Tajfel & Turner’s social identity theory, which states that individuals need to maintain a positive sense of personal and social identity: this is partly achieved by emphasizing the desirability of one’s own group, focusing on distinctions between other “lesser” groups. Weiner (1986) – Attribution theory Weiner was interested in the attributions made for experiences of success and failure and introduced the idea that we look for explanations of behavior in the social world. He believed that these were made based on three areas: locus, which could be internal or external; stability, which is whether the cause is stable or changes over time: and controllability. Milgram (1963) – Shock Experiment Haney, Banks, Zimbardo (1973) – Prison Study Both this and Milgram’s study introduced the notion of social influence, and the ways in which this could be observed/tested.
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