CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 28 830 672 Fall 2012 Kent Harber DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

1. CONTEMPORARY TOPICS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 28 830 672 Fall 2012 Kent Harber DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY RUTGERS UNIVERSITY AT NEWARK

2. Define These Fields Strawberry Field Sally Field W.C. Fields Wrigley Field Cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal changes, over lifespan Developmental Psychology Cognitive Psychology Physiological Psychology Social Psychology Learning, memory, and reasoning Molecular, neurological, hormonal, and cortical bases of psychology ???????

3. Domains of Social Psychology Phenomena and Interesting Problems Theoretical Sub-Domains Applied Classic The Self Obedience Bystander Behavior Prejudice Contemporary Social Support Ostracism Embodiment Autonomy Stereotype Threat Cog. Dissonance Attribution Self Affirmation Terror Management Social Cognition Emotions Social Develop. Social Neuroscience Group Processes Intergroup Relations Education Health Environmental Occupational • NOTES: • This is NOT an exhaustive list of all domains and all domain-related topics. • Areas intersect: Emotion & Health, Dissonance & the Self & Prejudice, e.g.

4. How are Humans Like Other Mammals? Social Beings * Depend on others, and others depend on us: No se vive sin amore * Exploit and are exploited by others Emotional Beings * Have core set of emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust * Emotions closely tied to behavior

5. What Are Core and Unique Human Qualities? Self Consciousness Theory of Mind * Other people are self conscious * Other people have selves Time Perspective Social Psychology The internal experience and interpersonal behavior of self-aware social beings.

6. Whitey Herzog’s “Theory of Mind” "A slick way to out-figure someone is to get them to figure you’ve figured how they figured. Then when they’ve figured you’ve figured how they figured they’ve figured, you can figure a way to out figure how they figured you figured."

7. Class Agenda Dynamic Bases of Social Psychology Motives, Drives, Emotions Unconscious processes Drive Toward Meaning Social Perception Freud Lewin The Self Is there a self? What is the self? What does the self do? Wllm. James G.H. Mead

8. Class Topics PART 1: The Dynamics of Mental Lives 1. Gestalt Psychology & Kurt Lewin 2. Psychodynamic Theory 3. Social Development 4. Emotion, Vision, and Judgment 5. Emotion and Judgment 6. Emotion and Cognition 7. Emotion Management 8. Attribution Theory

9. Class Topics PART 2: The Self 9. The Self—Classic and Philosophical Approaches 10. The Self and the Collective 11. Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Affirmation 12. Self Theory: Contemporary Issues 13. Culture and the Self 14. Existential Social Psychology

10. Class Structure Seminar Format My Role: Introduce topics, overview Discussants: Prepare set of discussion topics, lead discussion All are expected to join in discussion Grading Position papers: 30% Discussion Questions: 30% Attendance/Participation 05% Take-home Final 35%

11. Class Assignments & Materials Assignments Position Papers: 6 total, 3 before spring break, 3 after break. Two pages, 2 parags summary, remainder analysis. “Large” reads only. Discussion Questions: 6 ques. per reading (or set of readings), plus brief intro/summary. Attendance/Participation: Boys Scout criteria—be prepared. Final Exam: Essay questions, take home. Materials Reader: Master available at front office Powerpoint Slides: Available on my Web page http://psychology.rutgers.edu/~kharber

12. What Do You See? What Would Wundt See? Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

13. What Do You See? What Would Wundt See?

14. Historical Roots of Positivism Devine Right of Kings Sectarian violence, 30 Years War Religious oppression, Inquisition Stifling of intellectual freedom, e.g., Galileo Galileo Galilei 1564-1642

15. Gestalt Psychology 1. Revolt from then-dominant empirical psychology: Behaviorism, Associationism, Structuralism 2. Alternative to Psychoanalytic Theory 3. Early psychology suffers theoretical psoriasis: too dry or too flakey. Lewin: “What could be observed reliably is socially meaningless, and what is socially meaningful could not be observed reliably.” 4. Gestalt insight on apparent motion makes mental lives empirically accessible. Telephone lines from train Phi Phenomenon

16. The Phi Phenomena: An Insight Leading to Gestalt Leading to Insight http://www.yorku.ca/eye/balls.htm

17. Gestalt's "Cheerful" Revolution Mental events are legitimate objects of study Whole range of human experience open for scientific investigation Example: Insight 1. Behaviorists say all learning is trial and error 2. Gestaltists say it can be instantaneous--reorganizing of field 3. Sultan the ape, a stick, and a bananna 4. Learning is hypothesis driven

18. What Dominates Perception: Prior Learning or Novel Structure?

19. Gestalt Demonstrations on Vision Influence Social Psychology Theory Hering Illusion: Context Affects Perception

20. What’s The Story? Point: Perception driven by context, i.e., the entire field.

21. Social Perception Governed By Same Laws As Physical Perception How do these visual phenomena relate to social judgment? X X O O O O O O X O O O O O O X X O O O O O O X Objective Set Similarity Proximity Similarity Musing: What "dominates?", similarity or proximity? (Once a pattern is detected, it persists.)

22. Vision (and Problem-Solving) Is Constructive: Organize the Field, and All the Pieces Make Sense

23. Once you “see the dog” you can even see the missing piece. • Insight and learning: • Learning ≠ locating a missing piece • Learning = “reorganizing the field” • 3. Once you “see the dog” it is very hard to NOT see the dog. Why? What does that say about human consciousness?

24. Changes to Class Structure Student Presentations: Two, not three (see hand-out) No Write-ups Mid-term: Oct. 30

25. Insight and Problem Solving = ≠ • Sudden transition from helplessness to mastery • Quick, smooth performance once insight grasped • Retention of insight-gained knowledge • Transfer of insight to new situations • Lesson for teachers: Present the whole field, not just a stream of facts.

26. The Drive Toward Meaning Kuleshov Effect (Lev Kuleshov, 1899-1970) Heider & Simmel, 1944 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grCPqoFwp5k&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZBKer6PMtM&feature=related

27. Systems Perspective Whole is more than, and different from, the sum of its parts Spider web Row of dominos Billiard balls Respiration System Not a system Not a system System System: Affecting one part affects the whole system, affecting whole system translates down to parts. Relevance to social psych? Think “social system”

28. How Do Gestalt Principles Relate to Social Psychology? Gestalts are emergent phenomenon, real even if not reducible to material parts. Emotions, goals, motives Self, consciousness Focus on problem solving, insight, and meaning Behavior is goal driven, purposeful Unresolved goals stay alive, mentally, until resolved Problems are represented mentally Problem solving can be instant, once field is reorganized

29. Gestalt Key Take-Home Points 1. Phenomenal wholes, "gestalts", are scientifically meaningful * Whole is different from sum of its parts * Wholes emerge from interactions of parts 2. Mental life is scientifically meaningful. 3. Visual experience informs mental experience. 4. Insight key to learning. Not simple S-R links 5. Humans are meaning-driven

30. Gestalt Psychology Discussion Questions • Gestaltists say that rat in maze looks random, but it's b/c rat can't see entire maze. The Gestaltists therefore saw problem from rat's point of view. How might this relate to social judgment (i.e., how we judge others)? • Our ability to organize things into meaningful wholes is clearly helpful. Is it ever unhelpful? • People see animals in cloud formations, and religious figures in tortillas. Do Gestalt principles help explain this? • How might the Kuleshov effect relate to psychological problems, like paranoia? • Is the “self” a gestalt? Can’t people define themselves in terms of their “parts” (i.e., interests, family, skills, etc.)? • Does Gestalt notion that people see things purposefully rather than randomly relate to problems of social perception, like stereotypes or prejudice?