Social Psychology Baron Book Pdf
Maybell Hughs
Social psychology applies scientific values and methods to research. Social behaviour and thoughts cannot effectively be explained with common sense or intuition, these factors are influenced by prejudice. Science refers to a range of values and multiple methods that can be used to research a wide range of topics. Four of the most important core values are:
These values are important because humans are not perfect information processing machines. For example, a common mistake or illusion is the planning fallacy: the strong tendency to believe that plans will take less time than they actually do.
A core goal of science is to develop basic principles that are accurate regardless of where or when they are tested or applied. Social psychologist to do not develop mathematical formulas, instead they look for the basic principles that guide social life. Although they acknowledge that cultures are very different and that the social world is constantly changing, they are looking for basic principles that apply over time and across different cultures.
Nowadays, social psychologists are convinced that social behaviour cannot be viewed separately from social thoughts (cognition). Behaviour (how people behave in social situations) and thoughts (how people think about themselves and others) constantly influence each other in a complex way.
Social psychologists are always interested in emotions and states of mind because they are known to play an important role in several aspects of social life. For example, research has demonstrated that positive moods increase our tendency to help others.
The influence of relationships on our social life is great, hence the great interest of social psychologists in understanding the social nature of relationships. Relationships are our social ties with other people, they can range from superficial acquaintances to intense long-term relationships such as marriage, or lifelong friendships.
Modern social psychology is eclectic in nature today and that is reflected in its use of very different research methods. This is how social psychologists in recent years have become more interested in neurosciences as a way to explain social behaviour and thoughts. In social neuroscience, neural and biological causes for social processes are researched and investigated. For example, neuroscientists study brain events, other neural activities and even changes in the immune system to determine how they relate to important social processes. MRI and other brain scans are used for this studies.
Another important new theme of modern social psychology is research in the role of implicit (unconscious) processes on social behaviour and thinking. Often behaviours and thoughts are influenced by factors of which the person is not aware. An important comment here is that research into implicit processes finds itself on the border of social psychology.
An important research method for studying social behaviour is systematic observation, where behaviour is systematically observed and recorded. In naturalistic observation behaviour is investigated in the environment where it would occur naturally (i.e. no interference/manipulation) another method is to give out questionnaires to a large number of people, asking about their attitude and behaviour (survey method). The people interviewed must be a good representation of the larger population group to which they belong, the population group that the researcher is investigating and ultimately wants to be able to conclude/infer results about.
In the correlational method, two or more variables are systematically observed in order to determine whether a change in one variable will result in a change in the other variable. It is therefore investigated whether the variables are related to each other. The method of research in which correlations are investigated is useful when it comes to being able to make accurate predictions. However, the existence of correlations between variables does not automatically imply that a causal link is also present. This is a shortcoming of this method of investigation. This method also fails to provide an explanation. Therefore, many researchers prefer other forms of research such as the experimental method, where researchers also hope to provide explanations for certain relationships.
In the experimental method knowledge is acquired through systematic intervention. In this method one or more factors (the independent variables) become systematic to determine whether changes in those factors have an effect on certain aspects of behaviour (dependent variable). The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated throughout the experiment. The dependent variable is the variable that is measured in the experiment. In social psychology, the presence or power of a variable, which is suspected to be on social behaviour or thinking, has been systematically changed. Next, the effects of these changes (if there are any) are carefully measured. An important condition for obtaining valid data is that the participants must be randomly allocated to the experimental conditions (they must all have the same chance of ending up in a certain condition). Another important condition for successful research results is keeping all other variables constant (everything except for the independent variables), as they may be confounding variables influencing your dependent variable without your knowledge. The external validity is also a point of attention in the experimental method. Because research takes place in an unnatural setting (research area like a lab), it begs the question whether the findings can be generalized to situations in real life and whether they can be generalized also to people who did not participate in the study. Furthermore, the experimental method can sometimes not be used for practical or ethical reasons.
A mediating variable is an indirect variable, it is influenced by an independent variable and in turn also affects the dependent variable. Mediating variables help explain why or how specific variables influence social behaviour or thoughts in a certain way.
It is important that research can be repeated and replicated. Only when research results are confirmed across multiple replications and studies (by different researchers in different research situations) can one really trust those results. Meta-analyses combining research data from independent investigations, to determine whether specific variables (or interactions between variables) have significant effects throughout all studies.
Social psychologists are often reluctant to tell the real reason for research to participants, as this could influence the behaviour of the participants (resulting in biased results). This is called deception. Deception raises ethical questions. Two procedures must be followed to reduce the dangers of deception:
Social cognition is an important field of research in social psychology. Social cognition is an umbrella term for the way in which we interpret, analyze, and store information from the social world and how we use it. We try to do this in the most efficient way possible as our cognitive abilities are limited. The most important aspects of social cognition are discussed in this chapter.
Different rules can be distinguished. The prototype is a list of attributes commonly possessed by members of a certain category. The representativeness heuristics is the belief that the more someone exhibits similar characteristics that are typical of members of a certain group, the greater the chance that the person also belongs to that group.
In social psychology, cognitive structures known as schemas are mental frameworks that have been developed on a specific theme. They are based on previous experiences and help organize large amounts of social information. Once formed, they are often persistent. They have a major effect on social thinking.
Attention refers to the information we notice. Schemas work as a filter here: information consistent with them is more likely to be noticed and enter our consciousness. We tend to rely on schemas when experiencing cognitive load, when we are trying to handle a lot of information at one time.
Retrieval refers to the process by which information is retrieved from the memory. We cannot simply say that information that is consistent with our schemas are better recalled than inconsistent information. It is a complex question that has been investigated in many different studies. Research has generally found that it depends on the memory measure employed whether we remember inconsistent or consistent information better. Generally, people report information consistent with their schemas, but inconsistent information may be strongly present in memory as well.
Schemas help make sense out of a vast array of social information. But a disadvantage is that they are resistant to change. They show a strong perseverance effect, remaining unchanged even in the face of contradictory information. Schemas can sometimes be self-fulfilling, they influence our responses to the social world in ways that make our expectations come true, consistent with the schemas.
A metaphor is a linguistic device that relates or compares a typically abstract concept to another unrelated concept by suggesting a similarity between them. Because metaphors can activate different kinds of social knowledge, they can influence how we interpret events. They facilitate the understanding of what is being communicated. Research suggests that the use of metaphors has consequences for social assessment and behaviour. Research by Landau, Sullivan, and Greenberg (2009), where participants had to read primed metaphors, showed how we talk (metaphorically, the pictures we paint with our words) can affect how we interpret and respond to the social world.
Once a concept is activated, it can exert important effects on social thought and behaviour. Often people behave in ways that are consistent with their schemas, even if they do not intend to do so. The effects of automatic processes go even further than that. There are also effects on the future behaviour of people.
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