PSYC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Social Loafing, Cockroach, Social Facilitation
PSYC104 Lecture 2 Notes 4/9/18
- Kurt Lewin: father of modern social psychology
oPeople are like particles and you can predict what they’ll do based on the forces that act
upon them. Sometimes forces act upon us in conflicting directions (attractive and
repulsive forces). Power these forces have on us is proportional to distance it is from us
in a non-linear fashion (inverse-squared)
- Types of conflicts
oApproach-approach: people tend to choose things that are closer, until they reach
equilibrium (same distance away), then they cannot decide. Putting you in the middle
causes an unstable environment
oAvoid-avoid: move away from things you want to avoid if they are closer to you. If you
are at the equilibrium point, you don’t move. Putting you in the middle causes a stable
environment
oApproach-avoid: if there’s a tiger and a bowl of chips are in the same area, is it worth it
to go to the bowl of chips? If you are close, the force pushing you away from the tiger is
higher than the force pushing you toward the bowl of chips. However, the change in
force at greater distances is different for tigers and bowl of chips. There is a point where
the 2 forces in different directions intercept, where you are in stable equilibrium, since
each location you’re in has forces in direction of equilibrium
Ex: if there’s dismembered body, you’re curious to see it but also grossed out. You
approach to satisfy your curiosity until you’re grossed out then stop moving closer
Ex: if you bungee jump, you go closer to the edge, but then you don’t want to, so
you move back. Then you think you can, so you move closer. This goes back and
forth until you are at the equilibrium point
Ex: abusive relationships. Problem with these is that you cannot rest at equilibrium
point. Can’t be half in a relationship. You get a yo-yo effect of being together and
apart, etc.
oCan have approach-avoid conflict with time. Delay of gratification: if A is a big reward
that is far away in time, and B is a smaller reward that is not as far away in time, you’re
attracted to both. Initially, A’s attractiveness is slightly higher because both A and B are
far away in time. But, overtime, when you get closer in time to B, the attractiveness of B
increases more rapidly than A’s attractiveness, so you choose route B, and regret that
you didn’t choose A as time passes. From a distance, A looks like the better option.
However, when the B temptation is immediately present, very hard to resist
Ex: at the start of the quarter, you believe you should do all the readings at the
beginning of the quarter to get a good grade at the end of the quarter. However,
temptations for fun occur closer than finals week, so you go for those options in the
short run. Then you regret it later that you didn’t choose the good grade option
Other examples: eating healthy, waking up at time of alarms, smoking, etc.
Can overcome temptations by preventing your temptation self from doing the
temptation while you are at the stage of pre-temptation. Can also reform
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Document Summary
Kurt lewin: father of modern social psychology: people are like particles and you can predict what they"ll do based on the forces that act upon them. Sometimes forces act upon us in conflicting directions (attractive and repulsive forces). Power these forces have on us is proportional to distance it is from us in a non-linear fashion (inverse-squared) Types of conflicts: approach-approach: people tend to choose things that are closer, until they reach equilibrium (same distance away), then they cannot decide. Putting you in the middle causes an unstable environment: avoid-avoid: move away from things you want to avoid if they are closer to you. If you are at the equilibrium point, you don"t move. If you are close, the force pushing you away from the tiger is higher than the force pushing you toward the bowl of chips. However, the change in force at greater distances is different for tigers and bowl of chips.
