1. Introduction to Social Psychology

2. Study Smarter: Student Website http://www.wwnorton.com/socialpsych Chapter Reviews Diagnostic Quizzes Vocabulary Flashcards Apply It! Exercises

3. Puzzle of Large Human Brain Why do humans have super large neocortex? Old assumption: the brain evolved to process factual information about objects of ecological relevance The Social Brain Hypothesis (R. Dunbar, 1998)

5. Only reliable predictor of brain size is social group size Human group size for which our brain was adapted for = 150

6. Outline Two How (proximal factors) Power of situations Construal The Why (distal factors) Evolution Culture How we know: Basic research methods Selection versus treatment effects Correlational and experimental studies Avoiding the correlation-causation fallacy

7. Case of New York City Crime Crime rates in NYC plummeted suddenly in the mid 1990s Why?

8. The Power of The Situation o Classic issue in social psychology: to what extent behavior is caused by personality or situational influences? o Batson and Darley’s “Good Samaritan” Study

9. “Good Samaritan” Study o Students at Princeton Theological Seminary o Personality: religion as means to end vs. as end in itself o Situation: plenty of time vs in a hurry o Who helped?

11. The Power of The Situation The Fundamental Attribution Error

12. The Power of Construal People often think about, perceive, or ‘construe’ the same stimulus in different ways. It is their construal which affects behavior in a situation. Social reality is interpreted! Controlled, conscious, slow Automatic, unconscious, rapid

13. The Cooperation Game Personality: cooperators vs. competitors Construal: “Wall Street Game” vs. “Community Game” Who cooperates?

15. Un petit yoghourt, s’il vous plait! Higher obesity rates in France than in North America—why? Portion sizes much smaller in France than in North America Portion size or # of portions determine amount eaten? “Unit bias” Study by Geier, Rozin, & Doros (2006)

17. Distal Explanations o Evolution - explaining human behavior in terms of evolution by natural selection o Culture – explaining human behavior in terms of the cultural context in which humans live o Not mutually exclusive, but complementary

18. Evolution and Human Behavior o Traits that enhance the probability of survival and reproduction are passed on to subsequent generations o This principle is just as important for behavioral propensities as they are for biological characteristics o Core innately given mental propensities that (along with cultural experiences) allow us to learn, achieve goals, and solve problems

19. Example: Kin Selection And Altruism Degree of Relatedness The stronger the genetic relatedness, the more volunteering to help (Cunningham et al, 1995) This pattern holds across many cultures for many helping behaviors

20. Some Misconceptions about Evolutionary Psychology Naturalistic fallacy: Biology is destiny fallacy: Both are false!

21. Culture Socially transmitted beliefs, behaviors, and their material consequences which affect behaviour 1) Cultural learning 2) Cultural variation in psychology

22. Love and Marriage across Cultures (Levine et al, 1995) If a man (woman) had all other qualities you desired, would you marry this person if you were not in love? (% AGREE)

23. HelpfulnessLowHigh Frequency Average Difference Culture is a statistical distribution of beliefs and behaviors, with average differences but individual differences within each culture Culture A Culture B

24. Levels of Explanation in Social Psychology Culture Evolution ConstrualSituations Social Behaviour

25. Doing Research Treatment effects vs. selection effects Treatment: exposure to some cause affects behaviour Selection: people with certain characteristics tend to choose certain environments

26. Correlation is NOT causation! XCorrelationY Self-esteem Academic Achievement X Y X Z Y

27. Doing Research o Correlational Research: examine whether two variables are related (positive or negative) o Experimental Research: examine whether one variable causes another variable, holding other variables constant

28. Doing Research Experimental Research o Independent Variable oEx: o Dependent Variable oEx: o Random Assignment o Control Group

29. Summary Two proximal themes of social psychology 1) Power of situations 2) Construal Small causes have big effects The Fundamental Attribution Error The Why questions--distal explanations Evolution The naturalistic fallacy; the biology is destiny fallacy Culture Culture is not destiny either--statistical distribution of beliefs that influence behaviour

30. Summary How we know: Basic research methods Selection versus treatment effects Correlational and experimental studies Correlation-causation fallacy