Psychology 2720A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Murder Of Kitty Genovese, Naturalistic Observation, Gestalt Psychology

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2720A/B
• Professor: Rachel Calogero

Document Summary

The branch of psych dedicated to scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to each other. Classic example: kitty genovese attacked by a stranger stabbed, raped and killed outrage because no one helped her (neighbours) Pose an explanation, assess and test it, offer solutions to social problems. What is social psychology: social sect: presence of others: actual, imagined and implied, environmental factors stress, weather, money, news, broader social contexts time, history, culture, religion. Focus on impact of all situational forces and social influence. Green: thought they were the only bystander. Red: thought there was one other bystander. Blue: thought there were 4 other bystanders. ***response time is higher with fewer bystanders and one is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders diffusion of responsibility each bystanders" sense of responsibility decreases as the number of witnesses increases. About 90% of studies in 1980 showed that bystanders who were alone were significantly more likely to help.