SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
How individuals affect others and
others affect them
Group
• Must have four characteristics to be
considered a group:
– Common goal
– Interdependence of members
– Patterned behavior/structure
– Perceived “groupness”
Personality unit test Friday (#2)
• Humanists
– Abraham Maslow
– Carl Rogers
• Trait theories
– MBTI
– Big 5
• Projective tests
– Rorschach inkblot
– TAT
– Sentence completion
What is social psychology?
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Social psychology is a branch of psychology
that studies individuals in the social context.
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It is the study of how and why people
think, feel, and do the things they do
depending upon the situation they are in and
who else is involved.
Sociology vs Social Psychology
•
Sociology focuses on group factors such as
race and socioeconomic class
•
Whereas social psych focuses on the
individual (within those groups)
Norm Reform – Violating social norms
• Unit 9 project will involve going out in public and
violating a norm.
• That is, performing an unexpected behavior
• You will do this consistently/follow a procedure
– Ex: always break into line in front of 3rd person at
MacDonald's
• Compare reactions in 2 different neighborhoods, ex:
– Inglewood vs Beverly Hills
– Mexican vs Black neighborhood
– Santa Monica vs Venice
• You must be systematic (scientific) and document,
analyze and present results
Norm
• Something that is usual, typical, or standard.
• A standard or pattern, esp. of social behavior,
that is typical or expected of a group
• Ex: saying thank you after being served food
• Ex: facing the front when in an elevator
Homework, due Friday
• Finish Mean Girls worksheet
• Generate a list of social norms - behaviors that
we take for granted and perform
automatically. For each one, find a way to
violate it, and predict how people might react.
• Read page 323 – 327 (due WEDNESDAY)
Mean Girls
• Watch this awesome movie to see social psych
concepts in action!
– Groups
– Conformity
– Persuasion/influence
– Obedience
– Norms
• Answer Q’s on worksheet
College level reading
• 323 to 346 (some of it you’ve read already)
• QUIZ FRIDAY!
Groups
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Class will split into 2
Half will go outside (given instructions)
Half will stay inside (given instructions)
Analysis after
ALL: How much is your sense of self
based on your groups?
• How much of your self is personal and how much
is interpersonal? Explore your sense of self by
taking the "Who am I" twenty-statements test
• Number the lines on a sheet of paper from 1 to
20.
• On each line, complete the statement "I am ..."
with whatever aspect of yourself comes to mind.
• Answer as if you were talking to yourself, not to
somebody else.
• Write the answers in the order they occur to you,
and don't worry if they aren't logical or factual.
Who are you?
• Read each statement and then classify it into one
of two categories.
– Collective qualities are any descriptions that refer to
the self in relationship to others. It includes roles ("I
am a student,"), family relations ("I am a mother,"),
ethnicity, race, gender, and origins (e.g., "I am an
African American" or "I am from the States"), and
religion.
– Individualistic qualities are qualities that apply to you
personally, such as traits, attitudes, habits, and mood
(e.g., I am intelligent," or "I like to play soccer").
• 3. Summarize your self-concept by
computing the percentage of your self that is
individualistic versus collectivistic.
• a. Is your self-concept more individualistic or
collectivistic?
• b. Did you tend to list collective qualities
earlier in the list than individualistic ones?
• c. Was it difficult to classify the selfdescriptions as either individualistic or
collectivistic?
• d. Which qualities are more central to your
identity: the collective components or the
individualistic components?
Time: Deindividualization
• What happens when you remove individual
responsibility or identity from a group?
• One a sheet of paper, write a list of all the
things you would do if you were invisible for a
day. No swearing please!