PS270 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Social Psychology, Test Cricket, Social Influence
PS270
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Cases To Know
o Kitty Genovese Murder
o Abu Ghraib
o Standford Prison Experiment
Social Psychological Questions
o Why to guards demean prisoners?
o Why do people fail to help others in need?
o Why do people stereotype others?
o How do crowds become violent mobs?
o Why and how do people fall in love?
What is social psychology?
o The sietifi stud of ho people thik aout, itefee, ad elate to oe aothe.
o Goes eod oo sese isdom
o Tries to establish a scientific basis for understanding social behavior
o Systematic observation, experimentation
Key Features
o Focus on social behavior and thought
o Situations
o Identifying causes
o Role of cognitive processes
o Scientific method
Sociology
Social Psychology
Personality Psychology
Provides general laws and
theories about societies or
societal groups, not
individuals.
Studies the psychological
processes that people have in
common that make them
susceptible to social
influence.
Studies the characteristics
that make people unique and
different.
Social and personality psychology are closely related.
Important Themes in Social Psychology
1. The power of the situation
• Social influence
2. The role of construal
• Reactions to a situation depend on interpretation and inference (of which we
may be unaware)
• “ujetie ostutio of soial ealit
3. The role of intuition, as well as reasoning
find more resources at oneclass.com
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• Dual poessig – powerful but perilous
4. Applicable to important social issues
Important themes: Biology
o Social behavior is biologically rooted
o Evolutionary basis for behaviors
• Genetic influences
o Social neuroscience
• Brain areas and processes involved in social behavior
Important themes: Culture
o Culture is relevant throughout the course
o Psychology of culture
• How does culture influence how we understand, influence and relate to others?
o Culture comparisons
• Do the phenomena we observe in Western samples generalize to other cultures?
What is culture?
o The man-made part of the environment
1. Material culture
2. Subjective culture
• Unquestioned assumptions, ways of doing things.
Identifying Culture
o Cultural Ideas are shared
o Often correspond with a particular language, time period, and geographic region
o Cultural syndromes
• Individualism vs. collectivism
Individualists
• Attend less to social groups
• Focus on personal accomplishments
• Define status by accomplishments (rather than relationship)
• Are competitive
• Are not concerned about cooperation and smooth social interaction
• Believe in autonomy and self-reliance
Social Psychology and Common Sense
o Beaut ad ais do’t i
o Larger rewards make people enjoy activities more
o People eliee the’e oe uiue tha the atuall ae
o Violent games release aggression, making people less aggressive
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
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