Enlightenment, western conceptualisation of self Rapid industrialization in 19th century

1. “People have probably been asking social psychological questions for as long as humans could think about each other. Certainly, Plato offered keen insights into many social psychological issues. But no systematic and scientific study of social psychological issues developed until the end of the nineteenth century.” - Brehm, Kassin, & Fein (2005)

2. Enlightenment, western conceptualisation of self • Rapid industrialization in 19th century • Two World Wars

3. Herbert Spencer: “survival of the fittest” • Social Darwinian, in 1874 extended Darwin's notions from the biological realm into the social. • Studied evolution in groups, societies & cultures • Laid important academic foundations for psychology, sociology, economics • Influenced William McDougall, author of 1st soc psych textbook, 1908.

4. Group Mind Europe & North America late 19th - early 20thc e.g.,Wundt’s Volkerpsychologie: ‘Folk’ or ‘cultural’psychology - language, myth, religion, culture, "higher" mental functions. • comparative & historical analysis, not experimental • political movement towards German reunification, national character.

5. The Crowd • Pathology of crowd behavior (based on social upheaval in Europe) (Le Bon, 1895) • Why do people sometimes lose their rationality when in groups? • Lack of intelligence in group action and the organic, powerful nature of a ‘group mind’ • Influenced Göbbels, Mussolini, Hitler

6. 1st social psychology experiment Triplett (1898)Classically attributed as the first experimental social psychology study - illustration of social facilitation - Ringelmann on social loafing) • Good candidate for an “origin myth” (Danziger, 2000)

7. Post WW1 & Attitude Scaling • Rise of behaviourism & experimentation • Social psychology splits off to study mental constructs, e.g., attitudes (Thurstone, 1930s, Likert) • Development of technology: Statistics imported into psychology

8. National character issue not so important in US • Central features of US political & economic culture demand for feedback regarding aspects of behaviour • Attitude assessment (voting behaviour)

9. Migration & the Humanitarian crisis • The most important single influence on the development of social psychology? WWII • The person who had the greatest impact on the field? Hitler • Social psychologists as outsiders (Harré 2005).

10. Hitler and WWII • The Exodus of European Psychologists fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe - brings a Gestalt Perspective to American Psychology (Kurt Lewin, Fritz Heider, Bob Zajonc, Solomon Asche, Sherif) - gives rise to Social, Cognitive, and Social Cognitive Perspectives; experimental method taken for granted; focus on individual.

11. The Nazi phenomenon & Holocaust b. begged explanation, motivation to explain atrocities – Authoritarian personality (Allport) – Obedience (Milgram, shock expt) – Roles (Zimbardo, prison expt.) - Conformity (Asche) - Prejudice reduction (Sherif, boys camps & model worlds) - Aggression (Bandura, Buss, Taylor)

12. War and the Art of Persuasion c. Nazi Propaganda sparked interest in persuasion research U.S. military Persuasion Research Unit. – persuading soldiers to continue the war – changing soldiers attitudes about integrating the troops. –Kurt Lewin- The Self Persuasion Effect - getting house wives to serve tripe. - persuading Americans to eat underused meat products (sweetmeats) and reducing bigotry. Yale University Persuasion Research Group • made up of the ex-military researchers • studied attitude formation, attitude change and persuasion, and how attitudes affect behavior.

13. Post-WWII: Applied social research 1950’s Cognitive Revolution • rise of attribution theory (Fritz Heider) negative behaviour towards outgroups • Cognitive dissonance (Leon Festinger) no longer straightforward to predict behaviour from attitudes, concept declined in popularity

14. Mid-1960’s on: 3 main developments • Information Processing metaphor – US based primarily • Crisis in social psychology (British social psychology emerged as distinct subdivision) • Rise of European social psychology

15. IP metaphor: Social Cognition Humans = information processing devices like computers Novelty: humans = FAULTY information processors Fiske, Taylor

16. European social psychology Identification of meanings and rules of everyday life: intergroup perspective, strong cultural element • Social identity theory (Tajfel ) • Social representations theory (Moscovici) • Discursive psychology (Billig, Potter, Wetherall)

17. 1970’s "Crisis of Confidence" Methodological concerns: limits of scientific method Have we discovered "artifacts" only? • Rosenthal (1969) experimenter bias • Orne (1962) demand characteristics Ethical (APA 1972); Socially Relevant?

18. Epistemological crisis • Social psychology is historical rather than scientific (Gergen) • Problem with individualistic mechanistic orientation • Insufficient account of context • Joint forces of experimentation & positivism have led to demise of interest in collective phenomena

19. Rise of alternative approaches New paradigms outside the lab • Critical social psychology, Social Constructionism • Psychological knowledge as socially constructed, deconstructed to reveal cultural and political foundations

20. Field polarised Cognitivists: Universal laws of social interaction vs. Constructionists: Patterns of social life as local cultural convention & custom

21. References • Danziger, K. (2000). Making social psychology experimental: A conceptual history, 1930 - 1970. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 36, 329 - 347. • Haslam, S. A., & McGarty, C. (2001). 100 years of certitude? Social psychology, the experimental method and the management of scientific uncertainty. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 1-21. • Jones, D. & Elcock, J. (2001) History and Theories of Psychology: A Critical Perspective. London: Arnold. Chapter 7. • Manstead, A. S. R., & Hewstone, M. (1995). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. (a qualitative summary) • Moghaddam, F.M. (2005) Great Ideas in Psychology: A Cultural & Historical Introduction. Oxford: One World press. • McGuire, W.J. (1999) Constructing Social Psychology: Creative and Critical Processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 10. Psychology and history. • Richard, F. D., Bond, C. F., Jr., & Stokes-Zoota, J. J. (2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology, 7, 331-336. (a quantitative summary) • Richards, G. (2002) (2nd ed.). Putting Psychology in its Place: A Critical Historical Overview. London: Routledge. Chapter 12.