social psychology psy220

1. social psychologypsy220 • Jonathan Freedman • Sid smith 4029 Tuesday 11-12 • Raymond Marr • Sid Smith 119 Wednesday 3-4

2. email • freed@psych.utoronto.ca • raymond@psych.utoronto.ca

3. WEBSITE http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/~freed/psy220.htm

4. TEXTBOOK • Social Psychology. Second Canadian Edition  by Aronson, Wilson, Akert and Fehr. 

5. requirements • two terms tests (30% each) • February 3 and March 16 • Final (40%) • All half multiple-choice, half short essays

6. WHAT IS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY • people live in a social world • they affect and are affected by each other • they affect and are affected by groups • examples are aggression - liking • attitudes

7. related disciplines • sociology • political science • anthropology • animal behavior • personality psychology

8. What is Social Psychology? Compared to Sociology Social psychology shares with sociology an interest in situational and societal influences on behaviour, but focuses more on the psychological makeup of individuals that renders them susceptible to social influence.

9. What is Social Psychology? Social psychology shares with personality psychology an emphasis on the psychology of the individual, but it emphasizes the psychological processes shared by most people that make them susceptible to social influence. When trying to find explanations of social behaviour, personality psychologists generally focus on individual differences. Individual differences are the aspects of people’s personalities that make them different from other people. Compared to Personality

10. basic concerns • self-esteem • enhance • protect • cognitive needs • understanding • consistency

11. basic social processes • acceptance - rejection • deviancy • social comparison

12. SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY • LEON FESTINGER • EVALUATE BY COMPARISON • LEARN BY COMPARISON • COMPARE TO SIMILAR OTHERS • COMPARE WHEN UNCERTAIN