“There is nothing so
practical as a good theory”
- Kurt Lewin
What is Social Psychology?
Chapter 1
What is Social Psychology?
 It is the question... Why?
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Why did he say that to me?
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Why didn’t I help, it would’ve only taken a minute?
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Why were they so cruel to me?
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Why am I so angry at him?
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Why did she turn me down when I asked her out?
→
What is Social Psychology?
(Emphasis on data in answers questions about social behavior)
 It is also the data we collect to answer
the “why” question
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Thoughts (cognitions)
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Feelings (attitudes)
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Behavior (observables)
→
What is Social Psychology?
(Determining the causes driving behavior)
 From the data we collect… we infer
causality
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Within the individual (internal)
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personality, previous life history
Outside the individual (external)
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other people, the environment
→
What is Social Psychology?
(Focus on the individual)
 Consider the previous “why” questions
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Why didn’t I help her when it would only have taken a minute?
Why were they so cruel to me?
Why did she turn me down when I asked her out?
 Differs from Sociology in the unit of analysis (the
individual) not in the topics being studied
(conformity, violence, love).
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Your reaction to the environment
Your reaction to others
Your reactions within a group
→
What is Social Psychology?
(Brief History)
Ancients (Plato, Aristotle)
Experimental analysis, not philosophical study
∙ Long-standing emphasis on experimentation
∙ Tripplet (1897) – experiment on social facilitation
Early theoretical influences
∙ Biological influences (instinct, Darwin, Freud) = Person
∙ Behaviorism (reinforcement, Watson, Skinner) = Environment
∙ Considered competing influences (person, environment)
∙ Did one become more dominant since the time of Tripplet?
What is Social Psychology?
(Brief History)
 Kurt Lewin (1936 - his equation)
 Foundational theorist in social psychology
 Called for the integration of biological and environmental influences in
our explanations of social behavior
 B =  (P, E)
 Cannot explain behavior (B) if we completely rule out either
biological/person influences (P) or completely rule out environmental
influences (E).
 May help us not tip completely into one camp and fall prey to either
biological or environmental reductionism in our explanations of social
behavior.
What is Social Psychology?
(Brief History)
 Lewin: Field Theory
Life space (field)
 The subjective environment each of us experiences at a given moment
 Objective reality may be unknowable due to differences in our:
 experiences
 biology
 needs and motives
 future goals
 reinforcement histories
 Our life space is always changing due to the interaction of these influences.
 Although our subjective present life space is knowable…
 Our past is knowable only through the filter of our present.
What is Social Psychology?
(Brief History)
 Lewin: Field Theory (continued)
 Each of us sees a different perception of the social world through the filter or our
unique life space.
 Therefore, perceptions may differ between people as a function of the differences
between their unique life spaces.
 Shares some characteristics with current social cognitive models of biased social
information processing.
Image from Wolgang Wildgen, University of Bremen
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cogn/CognWild.htm
What is Social Psychology?
(Reaching into the future)
 Moving closer to current social cognitive theory
 The Lens Model was originally formulated to help explain perceptual judgments but
can be adapted to explain social judgments.
 Social judgments (Ys) of reality (Ye) are based upon cues (Xi) we have learned.
 Our experiences also weight ( rs ) each cue in terms of its perceived importance.
 Our weightings ( rs ) may not be congruent with the true importance of the cue ( re )
 These weightings may lead us to poor decisions if too incongruent with reality.
 Another implication of the model is that each of us may perceive reality differently
based upon our cue ratings.
 Reminiscent of Field Theory
What is Social Psychology?
(Reaching further into the future)
 Social neuroscience
 A blend of traditional social psychological, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology
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Focus on how the social environment affect our biology and….
How our biology affects how we respond to the our social environment
 Main biological influences
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Neural systems
Endocrine system
 Popular social psychological issues
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Prejudice
Aggression
Liking and attraction
Attitude change
Schema theory and confirmation bias
 Cognitive psychological theories in play
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Information processing theory
Categorization
Attention
What is Social Psychology?
(Reaching further into the future)
 Social neuroscience (continued)
 A blend of research methods
 fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
 ERP (event-related potential )
 EEG (electroencephalography)
 Self-report scales
 Overt behavior
 Reaction Time (RT)
 Error rates identifying stimuli
 Gaze duration and location
 Facial expressions
 How does Social Neuroscience hearken back to Kurt Lewin’s thinking on what
social psychology should use to explain behavior in our social world?