PSY 3109 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: The Need, Ingroups And Outgroups
15 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Unit 1: Social Needs
Social Motivation: the human need to interact with other humans and to be accepted by them
• Social behaviours that address either directly or indirectly, other people with the purpose of
soliciting a response
Begins early:
• 36 hours of birth: babies prefer human faces
• 12-16 hours: prefer a video of their mother’s face
• 70 hours: begin to imitate facial expressions and physical actions
• 4 days: upset if an adult stops interacting with them
• 6 weeks: baby will imitate the mannerisms of a person they recognize
• 9 months: recognize other people are independent agents
Beaumeister & Leary (2011) Outline their criteria for new theories in social motivation to be
considered creditable
• Generality: must account for a broad range of behaviours
• Satiation: must explain why people stop pursuing certain goals
• Substitution: must account for the fact that if one means to goal satisfaction is thwarted,
another means may take its place, multiple roots to which something can be achieved
The Need to Belong Theory:
• Beaumeister & Leary created a new theory of social motivation
• Human beings have a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of
lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships
• No other theory has the combination of frequent interaction plus persistent caring
• Most theorists have neglected to provide systematic empirical evaluation of their
hypothesis
Group can: share food, provide mates, help care, hunt and defend
Two main feature of the theory:
1. People need frequent personal contacts or interactions with other people
2. People need to perceive that there is an interpersonal bond or relationship marked by
stability, affective concern, and continuation into the foreseeable future
a. To satisfy the need to belong, the person must believe that the other person cares
about their welfare and likes/loves them
Prediction:
• People who are socially deprived should exhibit a variety of ill effects such as…
o Signs of maladjustment or stress
o Behavioral or psychological pathology
o Possible health problems
o Increase in goal-directed activity aimed at forming relationships
• Strong ties in one area can offset weak ties in another
• Social bonds should form relatively easily
o And they do
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social motivation: the human need to interact with other humans and to be accepted by them: social behaviours that address either directly or indirectly, other people with the purpose of soliciting a response. Group can: share food, provide mates, help care, hunt and defend. Prediction: people who are socially deprived should exhibit a variety of ill effects such as , signs of maladjustment or stress, behavioral or psychological pathology, possible health problems. Optimal distinctiveness theory: seeks to understand in-group-out-group differences. Assimilation and differentiation needs: a fundamental tension that humans must continually navigate -> the motivations to be a part of a group versus the motivation to be distinctive individual. I play strategy board games which makes me different than those people who play party board games groups should be higher. Optimal distinctiveness theory: at high levels of in-group inclusiveness (ex.
