Introduction to
Social Psychology
Study Smarter:
Student Website

http://www.wwnorton.com/socialpsych
Chapter Reviews
Diagnostic Quizzes
Vocabulary Flashcards
Apply It! Exercises
Outline
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The Social Brain Hypothesis
Two How (proximal factors)
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The Why (distal factors)
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Power of situations
Construal
Evolution
Culture
How we know: Basic research methods
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Selection versus treatment effects
Correlational and experimental studies
Avoiding the correlation-causation fallacy
Puzzle of Large Human Brain

Why do humans have super large
neocortex?

The Social Brain Hypothesis (R.
Dunbar, 1998)
• Only
reliable
predictor of brain
size is:
• Human group
size for which our
brain was adapted
for
Case of New York City Crime
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Crime rates in NYC
plummeted suddenly in the
mid 1990s
Why?
The Power of The Situation
The Fundamental Attribution Error
The Power of Construal
People often think about, perceive, or
‘construe’ the same stimulus in
different ways. It is their construal
which affects behavior in a situation.
Social reality is interpreted!
Controlled, conscious, slow
 Automatic, unconscious, rapid
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The Cooperation Game
Personality: cooperators vs. competitors
 Construal: “Wall Street Game” vs.
“Community Game”
 Who cooperates?
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Un petit yoghourt, s’il vous
plait!
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Higher obesity rates in France than in
North America—why?
Portion sizes much smaller in France than
in North America
Portion size or # of portions determine
amount eaten?
“Unit bias” Study by Geier, Rozin, &
Doros (2006)
Distal Explanations
o
o
o
Evolution - explaining human
behavior in terms of evolution by
natural selection
Culture – explaining human behavior
in terms of the cultural context in
which humans live
Not mutually exclusive, but
complementary
Evolution and Human
Behavior
o
o
o
Traits that enhance the probability of
survival and reproduction are passed on
to subsequent generations
This principle is just as important for
behavioral propensities as they are for
biological characteristics
Core innately given mental propensities
that (along with cultural experiences)
allow us to learn, achieve goals, and
solve problems
Example: Kin Selection And
Altruism
The stronger the
genetic relatedness,
the more volunteering
to help (Cunningham
et al, 1995)
70
60
50
40
% Help
30
20
10
0
High
Moderate
Low
Degree of Relatedness
None
This pattern holds
across many
cultures for many
helping behaviors
Some Misconceptions about
Evolutionary Psychology

Naturalistic fallacy:
Biology
Both
is destiny fallacy:
are false!
Culture
Socially transmitted beliefs, behaviors,
and their material consequences
which affect behaviour
 1) Cultural learning
 2) Cultural variation in psychology

Love and Marriage across Cultures
(Levine et al, 1995)
If a man (woman) had all other qualities you
desired, would you marry this person if you
were not in love? (% AGREE)
Frequency
Culture A
Average
Difference
Culture is a statistical
distribution of beliefs
and behaviors, with
average differences
but individual
differences within each
culture
Culture B
Low
Helpfulness
High
Levels of Explanation in
Social Psychology
Social Behaviour
Construal
Situations
Culture
Evolution
Doing Research
Treatment effects vs. selection effects
 Treatment: exposure to some cause
affects behaviour
 Selection: people with certain
characteristics tend to choose certain
environments
Correlation is NOT causation!
X
Correlation
X
Y
X
Y
X
Z
Y
Y
Doing Research
o
o
Correlational Research: examine
whether two variables are related
(positive or negative)
Experimental Research: examine
whether one variable causes
another variable, holding other
variables constant
Doing Research
Experimental Research
o
Independent Variable
o Ex:
o
Dependent Variable
o Ex:
o
o
Random Assignment
Control Group
Summary
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Two proximal themes of social psychology
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1) Power of situations
2) Construal
Small causes have big effects
The Fundamental Attribution Error
The Why questions--distal explanations
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
Evolution
• The naturalistic fallacy; the biology is destiny fallacy
Culture
• Culture is not destiny either--statistical distribution of
beliefs that influence behaviour
Summary

How we know: Basic research methods
Selection versus treatment effects
 Correlational and experimental studies
 Correlation-causation fallacy
