PSY403 Highlighted Handouts 2024 by Haalim

Table of Contents

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Introduction To Social Psychology (Continue) Lesson 3 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 4 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 5 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 6 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 7 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 8 Conducting Research In Social Psychology Lesson 9 The Self Lesson 10 The Self Lesson 11 The Self Lesson 12 The Self Lesson 13 Person Perception Lesson 14 Person Perception Lesson 15 Person Perception Lesson 16 Attribution Lesson 17 Attribution Errors Lesson 18 Social Cognition Lesson 19 Social Cognition Lesson 20 Attitudes Lesson 21 Attitude Formation Lesson 22 Attitude And Behavior Lesson 23 Attitude Change Lesson 24 Attitude Change Lesson 25 Prejudice And Discrimination Lesson 26 Prejudice And Discrimination Lesson 27 Reducing Prejudice And Discrimination Lesson 28 Interpersonal Attraction Lesson 29 Interpersonal Attraction Lesson 30 Intimate Relationships Lesson 31 Social Influence Lesson 32 Social Influence Lesson 33 Social Influence Lesson 34 Aggression Lesson 35 Aggression Lesson 36 Reducing Aggression Lesson 37 Prosocial Behavior Lesson 38 Prosocial Behavior Lesson 39 Group Behavior Lesson 40 Group Behavior Lesson 41 Group Behavior Lesson 42 Interpersonal Power: Leadership Lesson 43 Social Psychology Applied: Social Psychology In Court Lesson 44 Social Psychology Applied: Social Psychology In Clinic Lesson 45 Final Review Lesson 01 esson 01 esson 01 esson 01

Aims

Introduction of social psychology is a very important discipline of psychology.

1. Defining social psychology.
2. Introduce main content and subject matter of social psychology in relations to different questions of interest in this discipline.

General Introduction of the Course

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think, influence, and relate to one another. It is a comparatively young discipline. The broad theme of this course will be how individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people -- the SOCIAL influences. Social Psychology is a surprisingly broad field that overlaps with other sub-disciplines of psychology like personality and cognition, and various other human disciplines like anthropology, sociology, and communication.

Learning Objectives of this course

To acquaint the students with the field of social psychology. When we say “the field of psychology, we mean a broad range of topics relevant to social psychology, general scientific approach of the discipline, and various concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to this discipline. To provide many insights into our own and others’ behavior. Benefiting one’s own relationships and services as a friend, relative, roommate, neighbour, and co-worker

Practical application of this course

Through journal writing and Applied social psychology Lab students will be able to experience the personal relevance of social psychology. The introduction of these two procedures is as under:
Journal: One means of enhancing the course’s personal relevance is an assignment called a “Journal”, which students will accomplish as the course will proceed.
Applied Social Psychology Lab: Different classroom activities will be conducted to give students a practical overview and knowledge about the application of Social Psychology by case reports, small activities, and current research

By the End of this course students will be able to:

Demonstrate foundational knowledge in social psychology
Apply social psychological phenomena to one's own thinking, behavior, and relationships
Recognize the extent to which social behaviors are influenced by situational and interpretive factors

Readings

Text Books

Franzoi, S.L. (2006). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.
David G. Myers, D. G. (2003). Social Psychology (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Other Readings

Lord, C.G. (1997). Social Psychology. Orlando: Harcourt Brace and Company.
Lippa, R.A. (1994). Introduction to Social Psychology... Belmont: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

What is Social Psychology?

In the following two definitions of social psychology have been described, the first of these has been quoted in majority of the textbooks on social psychology.
Social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods in “an attempt to understand and

explain how the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others” (Gordon Allport, 1985, p. 3).
Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think. Feel, and behave toward

other people and how individual’s thoughts, feelings, & behaviours are affected by other people (Brehm, Kassin, & Fein, 2002, p. 5).

Main Elements of Definitions

Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviours of individual
Influence of other people
How these influences will be studied? It will be done by the use of Scientific Method. The definitions suggest a cause and effect equation – people influencing individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

Main Questions of Interest in Social Psychology

The topics of social psychology—attitudes, person perception, interpersonal attraction, conformity, etc. are among the most personal but largely unexamined parts of ourselves. Questions of interest in social psychology can be divided into 3 categories: these 3 categories correspond to thoughts, feelings and behaviour components of definition of social psy. However, this is merely a convenient way of organization, one overlaps with other part. The main questions/ topics of interest in social psychology are as given below:
Thinking about the self and others
Evaluating persons and relationships
Interacting with others

Ist Question: Thinking about the self & others

Each question of interest can be further divided into different categories. For example, different questions can be asked under this first question of interest. The following 4 questions seem diverse but they refer to the thought process. Social cognition is thought process in general; however, other questions given below investigate one specific kind of thinking.
Social cognition: Researchers who are working on social cognition can ask the following question in their investigation: “How do jury decide guilt or innocence”
Person perception: People working on person perception can be curious to know: “How do we know when someone is lying or telling truth”
Attribution: It refers to thought process that occur when we decide what caused another person’s behavior
The self: We ask specific questions about ourselves, for example one may be inquisitive that “when does a thin body image promotes eating disorders”

2nd Question: Evaluating people & relationships

The following 5 questions also seem diverse but they all involve people’s feelings. Attitude is the most basic type of field - about feeling in general.
Attitude: feelings lie at the core of + and neg. attitudes; how feelings, thoughts and behaviour relate to each other: why people feel one way and yet behave in exactly the opposite way
Attitude change: This question of social psychology is concerned with when and why people alter their attitude over time. For example, “how can we instill positive attitude in children toward school”.
Prejudice: People interested in research on prejudice, etc. may also be interested in investigating that “how can society reduce stereotyping and discrimination”
Interpersonal attractions: These issues may question, “why do people desire to make friends with one and not the others”, or “why people feel romantic attraction for one and not for other person”.