Psychology 2070A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Order Of The Solar Temple, Mass Suicide, Construals

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2070A/B
• Professor: Corey Isaacs

Document Summary

Task of the psychologist is to try to understand and predict human behaviour. Social psychology - the scientific study of the way in which people"s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people. Is is an experiment-based science (test assumptions empirically instead of opinions ) Difficult to predict behavior of highly sophisticated organisms in complex situations. Social influence is the phenomenon at the heart of this. Can be influenced by presence of a person or even in the absence of presence (ex. mother) Broader than one person"s attempts to change another person"s behaviours, includes our thoughts, feelings and overt acts. Construal - the way in which people perceive, comprehend and interpret the social world. Murder trials, no matter how powerful the evidence may be, the final verdict will always hinge on precisely how each member of the jury construes on the evidence. Connections: the role of construal in conflict negotiations.