Psychology 2720A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Psych, Gestalt Psychology, Fundamental Attribution Error

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

Document Summary

So(cid:272)ial ps(cid:455)(cid:272)holog(cid:455) is defi(cid:374)ed i(cid:374) the te(cid:454)t as the s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)tifi(cid:272) stud(cid:455) of the (cid:449)a(cid:455) i(cid:374) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h people"s thoughts, feeli(cid:374)gs, a(cid:374)d (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iors are i(cid:374)flue(cid:374)(cid:272)ed (cid:271)(cid:455) the real or i(cid:373)agi(cid:374)ed presence of other people. It bases its theories and ideas on empirical evidence. Social psychologists focus on processes within the individual (thoughts and feelings) that influence behavior in settings where other people are either present or imagined. Modern social psychology emerged from the second world war as a field that used experimental techniques to study social behavior. Lambert: i(cid:374)terested i(cid:374) ho(cid:449) stude(cid:374)ts" attitudes toward a second language influenced their achievement of bilingualism. Arrowood: interested in the conditions under which people compared themselves with others and the consequences of such comparisons on affect and behavior. Social psychology is about exploring the power of social influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Fundamental attribution error: we mistakenly attribute people"s behavior to their personalities and forget about the situational influences.