MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION & SOCIAL THINKING
CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Social Psychology
Social Psychology, like other sciences, tries to figure out how things work - what makes them go wrong. Social psychology specifically tries to figure out how our social lives work; it wants to know how we think about, feel for, and act toward other people. But social psychology is not alone in trying to figure this out. Anthropology, sociology, history, political science, economics, and philosophy have the same general aim.
Some of the work you will study in this course has been done by anthropologists, sociologists, historians, political scientists, economists, and philosophers. So much for clear lines. But still there are differences in emphasis among these fields. The most important difference is this: social psychology is more concerned with the individual than are many of these fields. As you will see, social psychology is the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. General psychology studies how an individual behaves. Social psychology takes the examination one important step further by studying how the individual behaves in a social world.
Objectives/Outcomes
After participating in the Learning Activities of this section you should be able to:
1. Define social psychology and give examples of the discipline's central concerns.
2. Identify similarities and differences between social psychology and the other disciplines that study human nature.
3. Indicate how the personal values of social psychologists penetrate their work.
4. Discuss the nature and implications of the "hindsight bias" for social psychology.
5. Describe the major research methods used in social psychology and state the advantages and disadvantages of each.
6. Explain the general nature and purpose of a theory.
7. Identify ethical standards that govern social psychology research.
Learning Activities/Assignments
TEXT: (Myers) Read Chapter I, "Introducing Social Psychology."
EXPERIENCE: The Framing of Survey Questions
Focus: Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrated how trivial changes in formulations of questions can dramatically affect people's choices.
Procedure: Ask 5 people the following question:
You've decided to see a play at the Cleveland
Playhouse for which the ticket price is $40. As you enter the theater to
buy your ticket, you discovered that you've lost $40 from your pocket.
Would you still buy the ticket? (Assume you have enough cash left to do so).
______ Yes ________ No
Ask 5 different people the following question:
You've decided to see a play at the Cleveland
Playhouse and have bought a $40 ticket. As you enter the theater, you
realized you've lost your ticket. You cannot remember the seat number, so
you cannot prove to the management that you bought a ticket. Would you
spend $40 for a new ticket? (Assume you have enough cash left to do so).
______ Yes ________ No
REACTION 1: Despite the fact that both cost $40, most people will by a ticket after losing cash but not after losing the ticket. What were your research results? Why do you think a difference (most will buy a ticket) exists? Explain. E-mail your results and explanations.
INTERNET SITES:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec99/ss8.html
or (but not both) http://www.spsp.org/what.htm
American Psychological Association What is a Social Psychologist?
http://www.socialpsychology.org/expts.htm
Participate in Online Research
Discussed
what you experienced/learned at the web sites you visited. Whenever
possible, incorporate text material into your review.
CHAPTER 2: The Self in a Social World
Who are you? What is your ideal self? What is your ought self? Where and how does an individual acquire a sense of self? How do we know what we believe, how well can we perform, and generally speaking, what kind of person are we? Social psychologists have discovered a great deal about the ways we know ourselves, and how we evaluate ourselves.
Objectives/Outcomes:
After participating in the Learning Activities of this section you should be able to:
1. Describe the nature of our self-concept and discuss how our beliefs about ourselves influence our thoughts and actions.
2. Describe the factors that shape our self-concept.
3. Discuss research findings regarding the accuracy of our self-knowledge.
4. Define self-efficacy and explain its relationship to behavior.
5. Give several examples of the self-serving bias and discuss why people perceive themselves in self-enhancing ways.
6. Describe how the self-serving bias can be adaptive but also maladaptive.
7. Show how tactics of impression management may lead to false modesty or self-defeating behavior.
Learning Activities/Assignments
TEXT: (Myers) Read Chapter 2, "Introducing Social Psychology."
EXPERIENCES: "Self-Discrepancy Theory"
You can readily extend the text's discussion of self esteem by introducing E. Tory Higgins's (1989) self discrepancy theory. His theory distinguishes between domains of the self and standpoints on the self. The three types of self domains are (1) the actual self, the traits that someone (yourself or another) believes you possess; (2) the ideal self, the traits that someone (yourself or another) would like you to possess; and (3) the ought self, the traits that someone (yourself or another) believes you should possess. Two standpoints on the self include (1) your own personal standpoint; and (2) the standpoint of some significant other (e.g., mother, father, spouse, close friend). Combining the domains on the self with the different standpoints creates six basic types of self-state representations including actual/own, actual/other, ideal/own, ideal/other, ought/own, and ought/other. The first two self- state representations, particularly the actual/own, constitute a person's self-concept. The four remaining self-state representations are self-directive standards, or what Higgins labels self-guides. The degree of discrepancy between one's self-concept and self-guides determines one's self-esteem. The theory further assumes that people are strongly motivated to reach a condition in which their self-concept matches their personally relevant self-guides. Self-discrepancy is unique in that it predicts specific emotional consequences for failure to achieve specific self-guides. For example, discrepancy of the self-concept with the ought/own guide leads to guilt, with the ought/other guide produces shame, with the ideal/own guide leads to disappointment, and with the ideal/other guide leads to dejection and lack of pride. Finally, the discomfort created by self-discrepancy varies not only with its amount but also its accessibility, that is, the degree to which people are aware of it.
To experience first hand how Higgins' theory works, generate a list of up to 10 attributes for each of the different states, e.g., "List up to 10 attributes of the type of person you think you actually are," then "List up to 10 attributes of the type of person your mother thinks you should or ought to be," etc. After you have generated these lists, compare and contrast the different lists, reflecting on the feelings they generate.
INTERNET SITES
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1356
Inflated Self
http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/sn_arc99/5_29_99/bob2.htm
Simple Minds; Smart Choices
Discussed
what you experienced/learned at the web sites you visited. Whenever possible, incorporate text material
into your review.
CHAPTER 3: Social Beliefs and Judgments
Technology has provided us with many interesting types of mechanical devices. One such device is a refrigerator. Another device is a robot like the ones in Star Wars, Star Trek, or Lost in Space (do not admit that you found the latter intriguing, or that you actually watched the show). Which one do you find more interesting? You probably answered the robot (at least I would hope). What makes robots more interesting than refrigerators is that something about robots' (but not refrigerators') behavior leads us to think of them with concepts we usually reserve for people. We think of robots as having fears, abilities, desires, (i.e. personalities). Whether it is a robot, a cat, or a human being, anything that possesses behaviors, overt emotions, or a personality intrigues us. Moreover we cannot control are interest. We always want to know why certain things, animals, or humans engage in specific behaviors. This next section looks at how we come to know a person. Additionally it looks at the psychological processes involved in coming to know a person.
Objectives/Outcomes
After participating in the Learning Activities of this section you should be able to:
1. Identify the assumptions, questions, and general findings of attribution theory.
2. Define the fundamental attribution error and explain why it occurs.
3. Show how our preconceptions control our interpretations and memories.
4. Illustrate and explain the overconfidence phenomenon.
5. Show how we often ignore useful base-rate information.
6. Illustrate the illusions of correlation and personal control.
7. Describe how our moods affect our judgments.
8. Describe how our erroneous beliefs may generate their own reality.
9. Describe the representativeness and availability heuristics.
Learning Activities/Assignments
TEXT: (Myers) Read Chapter 3, "Social beliefs and Judgments"
EXPERIENCES: The availability heuristic and the news media.
Does the media sometimes lead us to distort frequency estimation by overexposing us to some events, and underexposing us to others? Answer the following questions:
The FBI classifies crime in the
Also answer the following questions:
Based on deaths per 100 million Americans, do
more people die from
Homicide or Diabetes? Flood or Infectious
hepatitis?
Asthma or tornadoes? Appendicitis or
Lightning?
E-mail all of your answers to me.
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Narrative/michotte-demo.swf
Attribution experience:
Review but do not submit as an experience to be graded.
INTERNET SITES
http://www.richmond.edu/%7Edforsyth/df/h.htm
Heuristics (Recommended)
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/chapters/attrib.htm
Attribution Theory
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/chapters/judge.htm
Social Judgment
http://www.nku.edu/~garns/165/pptj_h.html
Judgment Heuristics and Biases
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/A-Bud/Attribution-Theory.html
Attribution Theory
Discussed
what you experienced/learned at the web sites you visited. Whenever
possible, incorporate text material into your review.
CHAPTER 4: Behavior and Attitudes
What is an attitude? People have
attitudes toward a variety of things: AIDS victims, sexuality, politics,
abortion, our friends, our teachers, our family, and so forth. How are
attitudes formed? How do they relate to behavior? Do attitudes
predict behaviors or vice versa? How useful are attitudes? Over 90%
of Americans believe that exercising their right to vote is extremely
important, yet less than 50% of Americans vote in presidential elections!
Nearly all Americans surveyed believe that eating healthy foods is extremely
important, but everyday thousands of Big Macs are consumed. How can we
possess such convictions and be so hypocritical. Attitudes can be
personal and share a collective commonality. They can have a profound
effect on social policy. Since many Americans believe that drugs and
crime are two of the greatest ills of our society, we as a nation have
aggressively attempted to thwart their existence through incarceration.
The
Objectives/Outcomes
After participating in the Learning Activities of this section you should be able to:
1. Identify the components of an attitude.
2. Describe research findings on the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
3. Identify the conditions under which attitudes predict behavior.
4. Provide evidence that behavior determines attitudes.
5. Give three explanations for why our actions affect our attitudes.
6. Describe how rewards influence attitudes.
Learning Activities/Assignments
TEXT: (Myers) Read Chapter 4, "Behavior and Attitudes"
EXPERIENCES: Attitudes and Behavior
ATTITUDE SURVEY
Please indicate the extent to which you agree with each of the statements below, using the following scale:
1 = strongly disagree
2 = disagree
3 = neither agree nor disagree
4 = agree
5 = strongly agree
________ 1. Engaging in regular physical exercise three times a week promotes good health.
________ 2. Eating a variety of foods each day, including five or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, contributes to wellness.
________ 3. It is essential that all citizens exercise their right to vote if government is to effectively reflect the will of the people.
________ 4. Homelessness is a serious social
problem that needs attention.
BEHAVIOR SURVEY
Please indicate whether or not you have performed each of the following actions:
Yes No 1. I take time to engage in regular
physical exercise at least three times a week.
Yes No 2. I regularly eat at least five servings
of fresh fruits and vegetables each day.
Yes No 3. I voted in the last election for which
I was eligible.
Yes No 4. Within the last year, I have
personally done something to address the problem of homelessness (e.g., made a
charitable contribution, talked with a homeless person, wrote my congressman
regarding the problem of homelessness).
Are your attitudes and behaviors congruent?
OPTIONAL EXPERIENCE: RESEARCH OUTCOMES
Imagine that you are a participant in a psychology experiment. On arriving at the laboratory, the experimenter seats you at a table and requires you to perform a dull task, such as turning wooden knobs again and again. After you finish, the experimenter tells that, because his assistant could not make the next session, he needs you to tell the next subject that the tasks you have performed are interesting and educational. After being paid $1 or $20 to do this, you carry out the assignment. Finally, you are asked to privately rate your enjoyment of the initial task involving the turning of the wooden knobs. Under what condition, $1 or $20, do you believe your actual enjoyment rating of the tasks would be higher?
E-mail your experiences to me
INTERNET SITES
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1870756
Discussion with Zimbardo
and how his experiment relates to recent prison abuse in Iraq.
In your review discuss how Zimbardo
explains why American soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners. (Audio discussion).
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~sbb/comm221/chapters/abc.htm
Attitudes
Discussed
what you experienced/learned at the web sites you visited. Whenever
possible, incorporate text material into your review.
SECTION 5: Genes, Culture, and Gender
Social psychology emphasizes cultural effects on behavior more than any other discipline of psychology. Our culture profoundly effects our behavior, especially our sexual behavior. Our culture allows, restricts, and limits the sexual potential our biology gives us. Males and females have different sexual strategies that have evolved throughout our existence.
Evolution has also effected our sexual behavior. Our sexual desires have come into being in the same way as other kinds of desires. Satisfying our hunger drive and our sex drive are fundamentally the same. Both drives based on survival. Sexual desire not only satisfies our immediate needs, but reproduction satisfies our basic need to perpetuate our genes. What do we want from a potential sex partner? Are we looking for love, sex, or companionship? Or are we looking for a partner that provides us with the highest potential to successfully perpetuate our genes with? Physical attraction is the most important attribute a woman can possess in the eyes of a man looking to reproduce. But what defines physical attraction? According to David Buss (1994) a woman whose waist is two-thirds the size of her hips is attractive! This is the greatest determinant of attraction. Why? The ratio indicates reproductive abilities. A woman also believes that physical attraction is important, but wealth or at least wealth potential is also very important. Are our desires shallow? No, they have evolved over thousands of years.
Objectives/Outcomes
After participating in the Learning Activities of this section you should be able to:
1. Identify two important perspectives on human similarities and differences.
2. Describe the major themes of evolutionary psychology.
3. Discuss the nature and function of norms.
4. Identify some differing cultural norms and at least one universal norm.
5. Describe the nature of roles and the various effects of role playing.
6. Discuss important gender similarities and differences.
7. Explain how the evolutionary psychologist accounts for gender differences and describe how hormonal differences predispose psychological differences.
8. Discuss how gender roles vary with culture and over time.
9. Describe the relationship between biology and culture and discuss the "great lesson" of social psychology.
Learning Activities/Assignments
TEXT: (Myers) Read Chapter 5, "Genes, Culture, and Gender"
EXPERIENCES: Whom Would You Save?
Suppose you were in a boating accident with your
5-year-old and your 1-year-old child, and you could save only one. Whom
do you choose to save? Similarly, you are an older parent and the
accident involves your 40-year-old and 20-year-old daughters, neither of whom
can swim. Whom do you save? And Why? (Answer both question.
Remember that you can only save one.)
E-mail your experiences to me
INTERNET SITES
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/07/02/powerpuff/?x
Powerpuff
Girls Meet The World
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1407414
Single Men Make Better Scientists
(Audio Discussion)
Discussed
what you experienced/learned at the web sites you visited. Whenever
possible, incorporate text material into your review.
SELF TEST FOR MODULE ONE
Practice tests for the first five chapters
are available at the author's web site: http://www.mhhe.com/myers9 It is highly
recommended that you practice before taking the on-line examination.
END OF MODULE ONE