PSYC213 - Social Psychology Lecture Notes PDF

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Lecture 1 - 16th July - Introduction to Social Psychology Defining Social Psychology ● Scientific study of how individuals thoughts, feelings and behaviour are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others. - It is science because the research is based on scientific methods. Theories argued through research etc. Starts with an observation and recording data Similar method to other sciences. ● The individual: The person and how he/she perceives, represents, comprehends the social world/environment. Even study of groups focuses on individuals within the group ● Thoughts, feelings and behaviour - ABC’s of social psychology - Affect: toward self, others or various issues - Behaviour: across a range of domains - Cognitions: about the self, others or various issues ● Social Context: Emphasis is on the social and environmental factors that influence an individual - Influence may be due to real or imagined presence of others: behaviour in consideration of others opinion. Emotions may become present even thinking about various events or people. History of Social Psychology ● For centuries philosophers have pondered over some of the questions that interest contemporary social psychologists. ● Not until the 19th century these notions were moved from a speculative study to a science. ● Folk psychology began in Germany to deal with the collective mind and the influence of society on the individual. ● Late 19th - Concept of group mind emerged to account for social behaviour (e.g Le Bon, McDougall). ● Following WWII there was an explosion of research on prejudice, power, obedience and groups due to the impact of Hitler on a whole nation.

Lecture 2 - 17th July Where is Social Psychology Now ● Proactive about integrating affective components such as emotion and motivation as well as cognition. - Interest in distinguishing between automatic vs. controlled processes and understanding the dynamic between them. ● Biological and evolutionary perspectives. - Social neurosciences - Behavioural genetics - Evolutionary psychology ● Multicultural and cross-cultural research. Research Process 1. Ask the question 2. Search the literature 3. Shaping idea into a hypothesis

Lecture 3 - 23rd July - Methodology Correlational Research ● ‘I wonder if the amount of time spent on social media affects anxiety levels’ Example of the design and how it would be used. ● Goal is to learn about the relationship between the two variables ● How similar or distinct are two variables and how does one variable predict another variable. ● Advantages: Can study the associations of naturally occurring variables that cannot be manipulated or induced - can examine phenomena difficult or unethical to crete for research purposes - offers freedom in settings in which the variables are measured ● Disadvantages: Correlation is not necessarily causation Explaining Correlations ● 3 possibilities to explain correlations - A causes changes in B, B causes changes in A, C Causes changes in both A and B Experiments ● Used to examine cause-and-effect relationships ● Two essential conditions of a experiment: - Researcher has control over the experimental procedures. - Participants are randomly assigned to different treatment conditions.

Variables ● Variable: Any characteristic of an object, event or a person which can take two or more values. ● Independent: Manipulated variable ● Defendant: Factor which is measured ● Subject Variables: Variables that characterise pre-existing differences among study participants (e.g gender, race, culture). Independent Measures (between-subject design) ● Recruit a group of participants and divide into different groups based on the amount of conditions and then assign conditions and then measure the dependent variables for each group then compare the results. Repeated Measure (uses within-subject design) ● Similar to independent measures however the participant pool is not divided up, but the conditions are repeated by the whole group.

Lecture 4 - 24th July - The Social Self Search for the self ● Search for sense of self is one of life's great quests - all religion touch upon the idea ● Reflexive thought is a key difference between humans and other living beings. ● Only a capable species capable of self-recognition The Self Concept ● Self is an important object of our attention ● Self concept: The sum of total beliefs we have about ourselves ● Is made up of self-schemas - Self Schemas: Beliefs about oneself that guide processing of self-relevant information - People tend to be schematic on certain dimensions (sports, music, gender, identity etc.) - People self-schematic on important dimensions, when they are extreme, and when opposite is untrue

Where does our self-concept come from? 1. Introspection

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Self-knowledge through looking inward at one's own thoughts and feelings Contrary to belief we do this a lot less than we think Introspection limited in what it tells us about our thoughts and feelings, people may know what they are feeling but not know why - We also have difficulty predicting responses to future events: over estimate strength and duration of emotional reactions - Mechanisms underlying affective forecasting: lack of recognition for our psychological coping mechanisms - focus only on the emotional impact of a single event, overlooking the effects of other life experiences. 2. Influence of Social Context - The self-concept changes in response to personal and situational factors - We identify with what makes us unique in a given situation 3. Influence of Other People - Social comparison theory: process of evaluating ourselves through comparisons with other people - When do we turn to others for comparative information: most often when uncertain about our self-evaluation - We compare ourselves with similar others - Two factor theory of emotion: Sometimes we turn to others to determine our emotions - two factors necessary to feel a specific emotion: we must experience physiological arousal + we must make a cognitive interpretation that explains the source of arousal. - Conclusion: When unclear about our own emotional state, we sometimes interpret how we feel by watching others. 4. Perceptions of Our Own Behaviour - Self Perception Theory: When internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain insight by observing their own behaviour - But only in the absence of compelling situational pressures or strong pre-existing thoughts or feelings about something - self perceptions of motivation: Programmes offer incentives for tasks, types of motivation include intrinsic (originates in factors within the person) and extrinsic motivation ( originates in factors outside the person)

Lecture 5 - 30th July - The Social Self contd. 5. Cultural Influences - Individualism: one's culture values the virtues of independence, autonomy, and self expression - western nations - Collectivism: culture values the virtues of interdependence, cooperation and social harmony - Asian Self Esteem ● Affective evaluation of our own self-concept ● Self worth may be contingent upon varied aspects of our lives (e.g academic abilities, sports, appearance etc) - success or failure in any of these domains impact one's self esteem Self-Discrepancy Theory ● Self schemas can be about: - Actual self - Ideal self - Ought self ● Self discrepancy argues that self-esteem fluctuates based on match or mismatch between ‘actual’ ad ‘ideal’ self or ‘actual’ and ‘ought’ self. ● Different emotions evoked for each match or mismatch ● Self-esteem depends on a number of factors: amount of discrepancy between actual self and self guide - the importance of discrepancy to the self Mechanisms of self-enhancement ● How does the average person cope with his or her faults, inadequacies and uncertain future - Self enhancement is a core social motive 1. Illusions and Biases about the self - People tend to have positive illusions about themselves - people tend to believe that positive personality traits describe themselves rather than negative traits overestimate own contributions to a group and over compensate their own abilities - People also have unrealistic optimism about their own future compared to that of others - such optimism is good for self-esteem and health, but can backfire: overestimation of ability leading to unattainable goals resulting in failure. 2. Self-Handicapping ● Behaviours designed to sabotage one's own performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure ● Men tend to do it more so than females -

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Sandbagging: downplaying own ability, lowering expectations or open predicting failure - preempting one's own ability to protect the self - may impair performance as preconceive failure 3. Basking in the Glory of Others - Bask in reflected glory by associating with others who are successful or identifying with groups that are successful - i.e wearing a sports team clothing piece who is winning - ‘We won’ - To protect our SE (SELF-ESTEEM) we also ‘cut off reflected failure’ by distancing ourselves from others who fail or are of low status 4. Downward social Comparison - We tend to make comparisons with others who are worse off and feel better about ourselves - Listing the ways in which their partners are better than others led to greater relationship satisfaction than listing positive qualities - Comparisons between past and present self

Lecture 6 - The Social Self - 31st July Culture and Self-Esteem ● Self Esteem scores in individualist societies have increased in the last several decades ● Collectivists rate themselves as having less positive self-esteem than individualist cultures ● The longer someone is in an individualist culture, the more likely they are to rise immigrants from a collectivistic society to an individualistic for example - self esteem status is based on immmigration status ● Do people in collectivistic societies really feel worse about themselves r dod cultural norms influence their expression of positive self regard - Using implicit measures of self esteem, people in both individualistic and collectivist societies found to positively evaluate themselves - need for positive self regard is universal, however, expression may vary - Individualists present themselves as unique and confident, while collectivists present themselves as modest and equal members ● Differences may impact how each response to failure: Individualists more likely to try doing a task they succeeded at before, while collectivists more interested in trying a task they failed at before. Failure in a collectivistic culture is less daunting, whereas in an individualistic culture failure can hinder self image. ● Other differences in self-enhancement and experiences of negative emotion: Collectivists less likely to endorse positive illusions about their future and perceive less control of their lives - Cultural differences in coping with negative emotions

Should we all strive for high Self-Esteem? ● Common assumption that low self esteem predictive of various negative outcomes ● Evidence accumulated that high self esteem and narcissistic self-perceptions are dangerous because more likely to lash out against threats to their ego: Studies show that under threat, high but not low self esteem participants aggress against the source of threat. ● SE is not bad, however if not managed then it can be potentially self destructing The Multifaceted Self ● Self historically has been viewed as an enduring aspect of personality: Stable over time and slow to change ● But at least part of the self is malleable: Molded by culture and experiences - varies from one social context to the next. ● Self is complex and multifaceted. Intergroup Bias - New Topic What is it ● Systematic tendency to perceive one own group (the Ingroup) more favourably than a group to which one does not belong to (outgroup). ● Groups can be defined in many ways - cultural context influences which group membership people focus on - variation in which group membership and specific conflict is based on. Manifestations of Intergroup Bias ● Bias can manifest itself in terms of attitude (prejudice), Behaviour (discrimination) and Cognition (stereotyping) ● Stereotypes: generalised beliefs that links a while group of people with certain traits or characteristics - positive or negative in every sense ● Prejudice: negative attitudes or feelings toward a certain group and it individual members ● Discrimination: Action of behavioru inn fvaour or against an individual based on their group membership Blatant to subtle forms of bias ● Intergroup bias: Blatant forms of bias may emerge in racist epithets, derogatory sexist of hmopobic comments. ● Social norms have lead to a declining in such expressions as they are seen as morally wrong ● Bias is hurtful even when people treat cultural differences as problematic, mocl another for difference or exclude others based on their identity. ● Bias maybe more subtle in the form of aversive racism or implicit stereotyping or prejudice Aversive Racism

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Form of racism that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable and easy to rationalise: I.e job application study - only are seen when there is an excuse to explain behaviour Implicit Bias ● Stereotypes or prejudice considered unconscious or implicit when people express them without awareness and without being able to control their responses ● Implicit prejudice and stereotypes broadly represent mental association between group and feelings or beliefs ● Several tools used to measure implicit bias including the IAT, evaluating priming, GNAT etc.

Lecture 7 - Intergroup Bias contd. - August 6th Implicit Bias ● Several studies have shown that implicit attitudes and stereotypes predict a variety of behaviours ● However, meta-analsyes suggests that implciti attttde and stereotypes have nly a modest relationship with discrimination ● Instead, implicit attitudes and stereotypes appear to be stronger predictors of important real-world outcomes at the contextual level - implicit stereotypes of gender pay gap predict between boy and girls math,science achievement - greater implicit stereotypes mean that there was a bigger gap between male and females at this level - Regions with greater average implicit bias have more public shootings in the US ● Neuroscientific measures used to measure implicit bias - ERP and fMRI Sexism - specific form of bias ● Gender stereotypes are Distinct: they are not only descriptive, but also prescriptive (i.e they tell people what they should do or be). - Also people have much contact with women and care deeply for them. ● Both men and women across many cultures believe that men are competent and independent, while woman are warm and expressive (communal vs Agentic) Social Role theory - stems from Gender difference ● Small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting social roles occupied by men and women. ● Influence occurs in three steps: Combination of biological and social factors influences division of labour in the first place - people behave in ways that fit the roles they play these behavioural differences provide a continual basis for social perception that men are dominant and women are domestic ‘by nature’ ● Gender differences tend to get exaggerated and generalised: perceived group differences on various traits were significantly greater than actual difference between sexe Causes of the biases problem

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Economic perspective: competition for material resources can lead to intergroup bias tendency for scape-goating. Poor economic conditions relate to increased hatred toward outgroups - economic conditions in the US between 1882-1930 correlated with the amount of lynchings of blacks. Macroeconomic threat leads to increased prejudice towards groups perceived as a threat to economic resources Realistic Conflict Theory: competition for scarce resources between groups, breeds, prejudice, stereotypes and hostility. Conclusion: competition between two groups sufficient for intergroup hostility and not necessarily differences in background. Superordinate goals that require groups to work together (not just putting them together) helps reduce hostility between them. Resource conflict doesn't have to be real; it may be perceived or subjective. Motivational Perspective: HUmans are social creatures - fundamental motive is needed to belong and affiliate - serves the basic motive of self-protection - also generates readiness for ‘us vs them mentality. Social Identity Theory (SIT): our self concept and self esteem not only derive from our personal identity and accomplishments, but also form the status and accomplishments of groups to which we belong to. SIT: people strive to achieve or maintain a positive social identity; positive identity derives from favourable comparisons made between the ingroup and relevant outgroups - Studies suggest that giving preference to ingroup members boost the groups standing and may elevate self-esteem - people who engage in in group favoritism can show higher self-esteem than those who did not - some studies also show that derogating outgroup members can boost self-esteem Uncertainty Reduction: we are motivated to know who we are and how we relate to others - we like to feel relatively certain about things in life. Social identification is one way to reduce uncertainty by offering a prototype and defining our place with respect to others. People identify with groups more strongly under times of uncertainty

Lecture 8 - Intergroup Relations - 7th August

Cognitive Perspective ● Intergroup biases result form the ways in which we process information out people ● Social categorization: the classification of people into groups on the basis of various attributes - categrosing of race and gender occurs rapidly. ● Social categorisation adaptive and helpful in processing complex world, however, categorization problematic because it can lead to peer estimation of between group differences and underestimation of within group differences. People assume their beliefs are more similar to those of another group member and more different from our group members. Outgroup Homogeneity Effect ● Social categorisation can lead to this effect. ● OHE: tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of our groups than among members of ingroups. Occurs because we often have more contact with ingroup members to notice divergent opinions. Also, we do not treat ingroup members as representative of the whole; we think of it as idiosyncrasies of the individual. Biased Information Processing ● Stereotypes also influence how we communicate, process information and interpret events Subtyping ● Opposite of stereotype - Explaining away exceptions to a stereotype by creating a subcategory that differs from the group as a whole. Tend to be more critical of exceptions to the rule than those congruent with the stereotype Cultural influence ● Socialisation refers to process by which people learn the norms, rules, and information of a culture or group ● Intergroup bias is influenced by media and socialisation - media messages can also influence self-conceptions Being a member of a stigmatised group (biased groups essentially) ● May suffer setbacks in health, wealth and employment opportunities ● Biases have negative consequences through - Negative health outcomes - Attributional ambiguity - Stereotype threat

Negative Health Outcomes

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Stigmatised groups tend to have worse health outcomes than advantaged groups or majority. Perceived discriminatio negatively impacts mental and physical health - subtle biases also quite detrimental for health and well-being ● Exclusion and marginalisation in society leads to negative mental and physical health outcomes - similar effects found among ethnic minorities, immigrants, sexual minorities and poor Attributional Ambiguity ● Stigamtised group members often face dilemma of how to attribute experiences they have - a minority who's left to wonder is this process (being pulled over) due to the physical attributes or whether they have broken the law ● Attributing negative feedback to bias...