Module 1: Introduction

Social psychology is the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature
and causes of individual behaviour, feelings, and thought in social situations. Social
psychology investigates the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actions are influenced
by the social environments in which we live—by other people or our thoughts about them
Social psychology is scientific in nature because it adopts the values and
method used in other fields of science. Some of the core values that science adopt are:
1. Accuracy: A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the world
(including social behaviour and thought) in as careful, precise, and error-free a manner as
possible.
2. Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a manner that
is as free from bias as humanly possible.
3. Skepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only to the extent they have
been verified over and over again.
4. Open-mindedness: A commitment to changing one’s views—even views that are strongly
held—if existing evidence suggests that these views are inaccurate.
Social psychology, as a field, is deeply committed to these values and applies
them in its efforts to understand the nature of social behaviour and social thought.
Focus of Social Psychology
All aspects of social behaviour, from prejudice to helping: the actions are
performed by, and the thoughts occur in, the minds of individuals, although they may, of
course, be strongly influenced by other people. Because of this basic fact, the focus in social
psychology is strongly on individuals. Social psychologists realize that we do not exist in
isolation from social and cultural influences—far from it. The field’s major interest lies in
understanding the factors that shape the actions and thoughts of individuals in social settings.

Social psychology seeks to understand the causes of social behaviour and thought
Many factors and conditions shape the social behaviour and thought of
individuals. Some of them are:
a. The actions and characteristics of other persons- Other people’ behaviour often has a
powerful impact upon us. In addition, we are also often affected by others’ appearance. The
behaviour of other people often exerts powerful effects on our own behaviour and thought.
b.Cognitive processes- Cognitive processes play a crucial role in social behaviour and social
thought. We are always trying to make sense out of the social world, and this basic fact leads
us to engage in lots of social cognition—to think long and hard about other people—what
they are like, why they do what they do, how they might react to our behaviour, and so on.
Social psychologists are well aware of the importance of such processes and, in fact, social
cognition is one of the most important areas of research in the field.
c.Environmental variables-Research findings indicate that the physical environment does
indeed influence our feelings, thoughts, and behaviour,. So these variables, too, certainly fall
within the realm of modern social psychology.

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d. Biological factors-The view that biological factors play an important role in social
behaviour comes from the field of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology
suggests that our species has been subject to the process of biological evolution throughout its
history, and that as a result of this process, we now possess a large number of evolved
psychological mechanisms that help us to deal with important problems relating to survival.
Evolution involves three basic components: variation, inheritance, and selection. Variation
refers to the fact that organisms belonging to a given species vary in many different ways.
Inheritance refers to the fact that some of these variations can be passed from one generation
to the next through complex mechanisms that we are only now beginning to fully understand.
Selection refers to the fact that some variations give the individuals who possess them an
“edge” in terms of reproduction: they are more likely to survive, find mates, and pass these
variations on to succeeding generations. The result is that over time, more and more members
of the species possess these variations.

Origin and development of social psychology

Social psychology is only a bit older than 100 years, with most of the
growth occurring during the past six decades. The earliest social psychology experiments on
group behaviour were conducted before 1900 (Triplett, 1898), The years between 1908 and
1924 seem to qualify as a period in which it emerged as an independent field of study. Each
of these dates represents years in which important texts containing the term social psychology
in their titles were published. William Mc Dougal wrote on social behaviour and instincts in
1908.the second by Floyd Allport ( 1924) emphasized the value of experimentation and
contained discussions of actual research that had already been conducted on conformity ,
facial expressions, and the impact of audience on task performance.
During 1930s the following major development took place: Thurston and Likert
introduced the scale for the measurement of attitude in 1932. In 1934 Moreno introduced the
method of sociometry and in the year 1935 Muzafir Sherif conducted a study of social norms
In 1936 the first organization of psychologists “Society of Psychological Study of Social
Issues” was founded. The basic principle of this organization was to use the principles of
social psychology for the benefits of common people. In 1939 Kurt Lewin carried out
research on the nature of leadership and related group processes.

During the 1940s and 1950s, the social psychologists Kurt

Lewin and Leon Festinger refined the experimental approach to studying behaviour, creating
social psychology as a rigorous scientific discipline. Lewin is sometimes known as “the
father of social psychology” because he initially developed many of the important ideas of
the discipline, including a focus on the dynamic interactions among people. Social
psychologists focused attention on the influence that group and group membership exert on
individual behaviour. Perhaps the major event of this period was the development of the
theory of cognitive dissonance.(Leon Festinger, 1957). This theory states that human beings
dislike inconsistency and will strive to reduce it.

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During 1970’s several new topics like attribution, gender difference, sex discrimination,
environmental psychology, etc. were studied in a new perspective. In the 1980’s there was a
growing influence of a cognitive perspective. Social psychologists have realized that
cognitive factors, attitudes, beliefs, values and inferences- play a key role on social
behaviour. Social psychologists concluded that our understanding of virtually all aspects of
social behaviour could be greatly enhanced by giving attention to the cognitive processes
underlying them.

Another major trend in 1980’s was a growing concern with the application of social
knowledge. An increasing number of social psychologists has turned attention to questions
concerning personal health, legal processes, work settings, etc.

After the 1990’s there was a growing influence of cognitive perspective and increasing
interest in the application of social psychology. Social psychologists also began to focus on
the emotional side of our existence. Many social psychologists believe that ethnic and
cultural factors are so powerful that they can influence even the basic aspects of social
behaviour. This lead to an increased interest in multicultural diversity. Social psychology
continued to grow throughout the twentieth century , inspiring research that has contributed
to our understanding of social experience and behaviour. In recent years insights from social
psychology have even been used to design anti-violence programs in societies that have
experienced genocide (Staub, Pearlman, & Bilali, 2010).

Social psychology and other related disciplines

Social psychology is related to many disciplines, including anthropology, economics,

political science, and cognitive science, sociology etc.

Anthropology
Anthropology, the study of the origin and development of human societies and cultures, has
been a focal point for centuries. The field gained importance in Europe's Age of
Enlightenment, which flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. During that period, there
was a pronounced focus on advancing society and knowledge, and understanding human
behavior was seen as a key to achieving that goal.
Economics
A social science that has its roots in the works of ancient Greek philosophers. The history
of economic thought goes back all the way to ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato,
Aristotle, and Xenophon. Their works laid the foundation of nearly all social science,
economics included.
Political science
The study of how power is distributed in society, and how to analyze political issues.
Political science forms the foundation of social development and aims to understand the
distribution of power in society. Training in politics focuses on policy and political analysis,
critical thinking, research skills, political risk analysis skills and a broad understanding of
political issues.
Cognitive science

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The study of how the human mind thinks, remembers, and learns. They apply psychological
science to understand how we make decisions and perceive our world.

Sociology

Sociology as a science developed in Europe in the mid-1800s, a period of rapid social

change. This prompted early sociologists to wonder how to maintain stability when so much
in life was shifting so fast.

Methods of social psychology

Refer 1sem notes.
Methods of psychology and methods of data collection.