Social Psychology

1. Social Psychology “an attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (Allport, 1954)

2. Journals • Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JPSP) • Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB) • Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (JESP) • Psych Bull, Psych Review, PSPR, AESP

3. Societies • Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) • Society of Experimental Social Psychologists (SESP) • www.socialpsychology.org

4. Brief history of Social Psychology Greek philosophers Psychology begins in 1800s 1864 Cattaneo uses “social psych” for group emergence 1871 mentioned in Linder’s textbook 1876 Ringlemann study 1898 Triplett study

5. First textbooks—1908 (McDougall, Ross) Floyd Allport’s text in 1924 Experiments are king—The psychology of groups is the psychology of the individuals Journal of Abnormal Psych becomes J of Ab Psych and Social Psych in 1921

6. More history • vs. behaviorism and psychoanalysis • WW2 and Nazis • Gestalt psych • Practical applications • Kurt Lewin • GI Bill, boom time for social psychologists • First handbook 1954 • Leon Festinger—experimental revolution

7. 1947 SPSP starts, 1965—JPSP and JESP • 70’s cognitive revolution • Paper and pencil are king! • 70’s crisis of confidence • Gergen, social psych as history • McGuire—need more diverse methods • IRBs, better data analysis techniques • 80’s new topics like love and relationships, evolutionary psychology • 90’s decade of the brain

8. 80’s new topics like love and relationships, evolutionary psychology • 90’s decade of the brain • Evolutionary psych • Social neuroscience • 00’s influence of culture • Multidisciplinary • Nonconscious approaches • internet

9. 00’s and beyond • Broadening 5 ways • “You can never have too many social psychologists.”

10. Broadening topics Positive psychology Evil, terrorism Motivated social cognition Emotion Unconscious, automaticity Construals, socially shared cognition Religion Intergroup relations, prejudice Funding issues

11. Broadening the discipline Social neuroscience Emphasis on culture and how it evolves Spatial analyses Links to other areas (business, law, health…) More multidisciplinary research

12. Broadening perspectives Evolutionary psychology Social identity theory Terror management theory Dynamical systems

13. Broadening methods Advanced statistics, going beyond ANOVA Computer simulation Internet data collection

14. Broadening globally Influencing and being influenced by other social psychologies (European = more sociological) Growth! 2800 to >7000 members of SPSP in less than 20 yrs from all over world

15. Controversies and resolutions Social psych continues to respond to zeitgeist Construal vs. behaviorism Basic vs. applied Person vs. situation Evolution vs. culture Still going on: IAT, free will, how to give psych away

16. McGuire’s (1973) koan • We put too much emphasis on testing hypos, not enough on generating them • We need to get away from simple, linear models • We need to remember that data come from people • We need to put together more data archives and do more longitudinal studies • We should use ANOVAs less and other techniques that let us deal with messier data more. • See the advantages of decreased funding (get more personal with your research, think about it more) • It’s okay that some of these recommendations conflict with each other.

17. Analysis from leaders in the field • Don’t build enough • Shouldn’t only build • Need more activism • Too narrow • Need more links to other fields/ cultures • Blame it on social cognition • Need bigger theories (cog, evo, soc ident) • Too negative and problem-focused • Not enough emphasis on time

18. Other criticisms • Ellsworth • Henrich et al. • Sears • Why are things this way?

19. Theories • What makes a good theory? • What do theories do for us? • At what level should we theorize? • Theory-driven research vs. HARKing

20. Public Skepticism • Is it a problem? If so, why is it? • 6 myths • Psych is common sense • Psych doesn’t use scientific methods • Can’t generalize b/c everyone is unique • Psych doesn’t yield replicable results • Psych can’t make precise predictions • Psych not useful to society

21. Why are people skeptical? • We do some bad stuff. • Our public face isn’t necessarily scientific • See psych as another helping profession • Hindsight bias in findings • Think they are experts too • Look for biological explanations • Explain results they don’t like as nonscientific • Don’t see value in basic research

22. What should we do differently? • Communicate better w/ the public • Don’t look down on “popularizers” • Explain why it’s not just obvious • Use evidence-based practice • Organizations should promote more, show what against

23. Climate change • How can (social) psych contribute to this area? • Do we have an ethical obligation to do so? • What are some particular problems with getting into applied areas such as this?

24. B/F “persons” • Consistency seeker • Self-esteem maximizer • Terror manager • Info seeker • Foolish mistake maker • Nondifferent individual • Impression manager • Naturally selected animal • Cultural animal • Group member • Benighted layperson