History of Social Psychology

Some milestones in the field of Social Psychology The Early Years 1897 – Norman Triplett publishes the first scientific study of social behavior, on a topic that was later called facilitation. 1908 – Psychologist William McDougall and sociologist Edward Ross separately publish social psychology textbooks.

1920 – Willy Helpach founds the 1st institute for Social Psychology in Germany. Hitler’s rise to power leads to the institute’s demise in 1933. 1924 – Floyd Allport publishes the 3rd Social psychology text, clearly identifying the focus for the psychological branch of the discipline covering many topics that are still studied today.

Interactionism An important perspective in social psychology that emphasizes the combined effects of both the person and the situation on human behavior.

Social Cognition The way in which we interpret, analyze, remember, and use information about our social world.

Culture The total lifestyle of a people including all the ideas, symbols, preferences and material objects that they share.

Ideology A set of beliefs and values held by the members of a social group which explains its culture both to itself and to other groups.

Individualism A philosophy of life stressing the priority of individual needs over group needs, a preference for loosely knit social relationships, and desire to be relatively autonomous of other’s influence.

Collectivism A philosophy of life stressing the priority of group needs over individual needs, a preference for tightly knit social relationships, and a willingness to submit to the influence of one’s group.

Conducting Social Psychology Research Basic Research – Designed to increase knowledge about social behavior. Applied Research – Designed to increase the understanding of and solutions to real-world problems by using current social psychological knowledge.

Important Research Terms Theory – An organized system of ideas that seeks to explain how two or more events are related. Hypotheses – specific propositions or expectations about the nature of things derived from a theory.

Observational research – A scientific method involving systematic qualitative and/or quantitative description of behavior. Naturalistic observation – a descriptive scientific method that investigates behavior in its usual natural environment.

Participant Observation – A descriptive scientific method where a group is studied from within by the researcher who records behavior as it occurs in its usual natural environment. Observer Bias – Occurs when preconceived ideas held by the researcher affect the nature of the observations made.

Archival Research – a descriptive scientific method in which already existing records are examined. Correlational Research – designed to examine the nature of the relationship between two or more naturally occurring variables.

Surveys – structured sets of questions or statements given to a group of people to measure their attitudes, beliefs, values or behavioral tendencies. Random Selection – A procedure for selecting a sample of people to study in which everyone in the population has an equal chance of being chosen.

Experimental Methods – Research designed to examine cause-effect relationships between variables. Independent Variable – that which is manipulated Dependent Variable – that which is measured

Confederate – an accomplice of the experimenter whom research participants assume is a fellow participants or bystander. Random assignment – Placement of research participants into experimental condition in a manner that guarantees that all have an equal chance of being exposed to each level if the independent variable

Replication – Repeating a study using different participants in an attempt to duplicate previous findings. Meta-analysis – S statistical technique for combining information from many studies to objectively determine whether specific variables have important effects across these studies.

Deception – A research technique that provides false information to persons participating in a study. Informed consent – A procedure by which people freely choose to participate in a study only after they are told about the activities they will perform. Debriefing – A procedure at the conclusion of a research session in which participants are given full information about the nature of the study

Self A symbol using social being on his or her own behavior

Self-Concept The sum total of a person’s thoughts and feelings that defines the self as an object.

Self-esteem A person’s evaluation of his or her self-concept.

Self-awareness A psychological state in which you take your self as an object of attention.

The habitual tendency to engage in self-awareness. Self-consciousness The habitual tendency to engage in self-awareness.

Self-regulation The ways in which people control and direct their own actions

Self-discrepancies Discrepancies between our self concept and how we would ideally like to be (ideal self) or believe others think we should be (ought self).

Self-fulfilling Prophesy The case whereby people have an expectation about what another person is like, which Influences how they act toward the person, which Causes that person to behave in a way consistent with people’s original expectations.

Schema Organized, repeatedly exercised patterns of thought about some stimulus, which are built up from experience and which are built up from experience and which selectively guide the processing of new information.

Self-schema The many beliefs people have about themselves that constitute the ingredient of the self-concept

Gender Identity The knowledge that one is a male or a female and the internalization of this fact into one’s self-concept. Gender schema – A mental framework for processing information based on its perceived male or female qualities

Self-enhancement The process of seeking out and interpreting situations so as to attain a positive view of oneself. Self-verification is the process of seeking out and interpreting situations so as to confirm one’s self-concept