PSY 345 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Georg Simmel, Interaction Model, Prosocial Behavior
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Introduction
- Syllabus Overview
o Fridays from 1:30 – 3:30 and if not available to go during that time email him to
set up an appointment
o Test ID # is CSUN ID #
o Weekly writing assignments on Canvas are casual
- Social Psychology
o Social Cognition and Interaction
▪ Social Interaction
• Shared responses/behaviors between organisms is what we
consider social interaction in this class…
o This is a process of back and forth actions, responses, or
behaviors between 2 or more organisms which can develop
competition, strengthening/weakening of social bonds,
social roles, etc. between these organisms
o This is not talking about the thoughts of the organisms…
just the actions/behaviors
• I mention the word “organisms” instead of “humans” because there
are a lot of types of living organisms on our planet, and most
experience some sort of social interaction with other living
organisms
• This can be between organisms of the same species or between
organisms of different species
o Humans sharing responses with other humans
o Dogs sharing responses with other humans
o Dogs sharing responses with other dogs
o Bacteria/viruses sharing responses with humans
• However, for this class we are only looking at “human on human”
social interaction – how actions of individual human beings or
groups of human being influence their actions with other humans
• The 2 major methods that influence social interaction in humans:
o Cognition (internal thoughts or cognitive processes)
o Actions/responses (external or observable behavior)
▪ Social Cognition
• How you think about others and how they thing about you comes
from the idea of social cognition among human beings…
• “Social cognition is the study of mental processes involved in
perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making
sense of the people in our social world” (Moscowitz, 2005, p. 3)
• Social cognition doesn’t involve actions or behaviors – it is the
cognitive process like thinking, feeling, and forming impressions,
coming up with ideas or concepts in the mind that contribute to
social interaction (shared responses)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• YOUR actions are influenced by YOUR thoughts and feelings
about yourself and others
o Punching someone
o Asking someone out
o Not inviting someone to a party/event
o Calling/texting a friend who might be sad to cheer them up
o Commenting on someone’s post on social media
• These kinds of response actions (social interaction) though are
largely influenced by your own thought about others (social
cognition) – how you tried to perceive, attend to, or make sense of
the people around you led you to act in a certain way
• YOUR actions can influence YOUR thoughts about yourself and
others
o Punching someone
o Asking someone out
o Not inviting someone to a party/event
o Calling/texting a friend who might be sad to cheer them up
• These kinds of response actions (social interaction) often confirm
or deny our own thoughts about others (social cognition)
• Social cognition can influence social interaction and the other way
around
• YOUR thoughts about yourself/others (social cognition) can come
from OTHER people’s actions (social interaction) you perceive
o They punch you
o Someone else asks you out on a date
o You don’t get invited to a party
o Someone calls you to cheer you up
o Someone “likes” your Facebook status
• This means that other people’s actions (social interaction) can
influence your internal thoughts (social cognition) as well
• YOUR thinking (cognition) influences how YOU act/behave with
other people (social interaction)
• Other people’s actions/behaviors (SI) influence YOUR thoughts
about them/yourself (SC)
• YOUR actions with others (SI) influence other people’s thinking
(SC)
• Their thoughts are NOT influences by your thoughts, or vice versa
• Types of Social Interactions
o Voluntary/On Purpose (you insult someone to their face,
you shake hands)
▪ Carried out with a specific purpose in mind
▪ Part of our brain that involves planning, logic,
focus, etc. will contribute to the execution of these
types of voluntary behaviors
▪ Example: thanking a person for help to make sure
they know that you are grateful
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Syllabus overview: fridays from 1:30 3:30 and if not available to go during that time email him to set up an appointment, test id # is csun id , weekly writing assignments on canvas are casual. Example: john and ramon are having an argument. John doesn"t like how ramon treated him in front of other people at a social event. John points his finger at ramon and yells at him, you made fun of me in front of all those people, idiot! ramon doesn"t like being called an idiot by john. Ramon rolls his eyes in front of john. Ramon feels that he was not making fun of john, only making a joke with other people. Ramon thinks john is overreacting and calmly says, don"t call me an idiot, john. You"re making a big deal for no reason. john feels that ramon does not understand what he is angry about.
