PSY220H1 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Social Psychology, Victim Blaming, Trust Law
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSY220H1
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Video: Bunch of triangles and circles moving on the screen. But most people write a
story abt what they see (the big triangle is a bully etc).
Our brains are wired to be social. We see faces in inanimate objects.
The default mode network: when we’re thinking abt anything freely, when our mind is
wandering, we’re most likely thinking about something social.
Social psychology still cares about individuals rather than macro level things which
would be a sociological perspective, or a cultural level which would be an
anthropological perspective.
Social psychology perspective would be looking at:
• Decision making processes
• Consequences, stigma
• Prejudice and stereotyping
• Propaganda on all sides surrounding the issue
IMPORTANT NAMES IN SOCIAL PSYCH
Floyd Henry Allport wrote the first book on social psychology, Social Psychology(1924),
that established it as it’s own unique discipline.
Kurt Lewin is also named another “founder” of social psych. His major contribution is
that he was from the Gestalt perspective (the whole is greater than its individual parts).
Lewin gave the formula of behaviour as B= f(P, E), behaviour as a function of the
person and the environment.
Social psych became especially important in WWII.
Meat was scarce in households bc all the good meat was being sent to the soldiers, so
the gov wanted to make ppl eat cuts of meat that usually wouldn’t be eaten. Informing
ppl on how nutritious it is or giving them recipes, giving them facts like this, was not that
helpful. It was more helpful for them to see their neighbours eating it. This is an example
of research Lewin was involved in.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
This is Reciprocal Determinism in the Person-Situation Interaction.
The history of social psych
The first social psychological experiment is mostly cited as Triplett (1898), because
Gordon Allport wrote so in his book. But this isn’t really true. They couldn’t test back
then if the results were statistically significant or not. Turns out it’s not.
But there are other people who looked at similar things earlier than Triplett that looked
at social facilitation: presence of other ppl influences performance.
Sometimes makes it easier: treadmill alone vs at a gym
Sometimes makes it harder: jeopardy at home vs jeopardy on the set
More complex tasks may be more negatively affected by the presence of other people
(being distracted, being worried, physiological arousement increasing etc).
Overarching themes
• Social influence is the impact that people have upon our beliefs, feelings and
behaviours. It’s pervasive. This usually happens without us realizing it.
• Construction of reality: People construct their own reality, there is no subjective
reality out there. This is shaped by both cognitive processes and social
processes.
Three Core Social Motives
1. Meaningful connections with other people (belongingness): Need for
belonging, avoiding being ostracized or rejected.
2. Mastery over our environment (understanding others, control, trust):
Being able to understand other people and/or what’s going on in the social
world. Being able to predict what’s going to happen in certain situations.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Video: bunch of triangles and circles moving on the screen. But most people write a story abt what they see (the big triangle is a bully etc). The default mode network: when we"re thinking abt anything freely, when our mind is wandering, we"re most likely thinking about something social. Social psychology still cares about individuals rather than macro level things which would be a sociological perspective, or a cultural level which would be an anthropological perspective. Social psychology perspective would be looking at: decision making processes, consequences, stigma, prejudice and stereotyping, propaganda on all sides surrounding the issue. Floyd henry allport wrote the first book on social psychology, social psychology(1924), that established it as it"s own unique discipline. Kurt lewin is also named another founder of social psych. His major contribution is that he was from the gestalt perspective (the whole is greater than its individual parts).
