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Lecture 1 Notes

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in relation to others in social contexts. It focuses on individual behavior and tries to understand the causes of social behavior and thought. Social psychology examines behavior through cognitive processes, environmental and cultural contexts, and biological factors. Some of social psychology's big ideas are that social influences shape behavior, personal attitudes also shape behavior, and social behavior has biological roots. A key model is that behavior results from an interaction between social situations and individual characteristics.

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25 views

Lecture 1 Notes

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in relation to others in social contexts. It focuses on individual behavior and tries to understand the causes of social behavior and thought. Social psychology examines behavior through cognitive processes, environmental and cultural contexts, and biological factors. Some of social psychology's big ideas are that social influences shape behavior, personal attitudes also shape behavior, and social behavior has biological roots. A key model is that behavior results from an interaction between social situations and individual characteristics.

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yuenheilong
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PSY004 EXPLORING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

- Lecture 1 Introducing Social Psychology – An Overview

Defining Social Psychology


Social Psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel and behave
about, interact with, and influence one another, individually and in groups in social
contexts.
The branch of psychology that studies social behavior – the think and behavior of
individuals as they relate to other human beings.

• Social Psychology focus on individual behaviour


• Social Psychology is Scientific Nature
• Social Psychology try to understand causes of social behaviour and thought

Social Psychology explained behaviors across different levels of explanation


 Cognitive Process
 Environment
 Cultural Context
 Biological Factors

Social Psychology’s Big Ideas


 We Construct Our Social Reality
 Our Social Intuitions Are Often Powerful but Sometimes Perilous
 Social Influences Shape Our Behavior
 Personal Attitudes and Dispositions Also Shape Behavior
 Social Behavior Is Biologically Rooted
 Social Psychology’s Principles Are Applicable in Everyday Life

A Model for Understanding Social Behavior


 According to a formula first proposed by Kurt Lewin (1936), one of the
important early figures in social psychology, social behavior is a function of
the interaction of the situation and the individual's characteristics, or:

 Behavior = f (social situation × individual characteristics)
 The combination of individual needs and situational factors is called the
psychological field in which the individual lives (Pratkanis & Aronson, 1992).

 The social situation comprises all influences on behavior that are external to
the individual. A situational factor might be any aspect of the physical and/or
social environment (the presence of other people, real or imagined) that
influences behavior
 Individual characteristics include sex, age, race or ethnicity, personality
characteristics, attitudes, self-concept, ways of thinking, and so on
Social cognition refers to a general process we use to make sense out of social
events, which may or may not include other people.

Social perception is the social processes by which we come to comprehend the


behavior, the words and actions, of other people.

 In any social situation in which we are directly involved, our own behavior
influences the social environment and probably will cause changes in the
behavior of others.

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