Introduction to Social Psychology

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Outline The Social Brain Hypothesis Two How (proximal factors) Power of situations Construal The Why (distal factors) Evolution Culture How we know: Basic research methods 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 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

The Cooperation Game Personality: cooperators vs. competitors Construal: “Wall Street Game” vs. “Community Game” Who cooperates?

Un petit yoghourt, s’il vous plait! 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 Evolution - explaining human behavior in terms of evolution by natural selection o Culture – explaining human behavior in terms of the cultural context in which humans live o Not mutually exclusive, but complementary

Evolution and Human Behavior o Traits that enhance the probability of survival and reproduction are passed on to subsequent generations o This principle is just as important for behavioral propensities as they are for biological characteristics o Core innately given mental propensities that (along with cultural experiences) allow us to learn, achieve goals, and solve problems

Example: Kin Selection And Altruism Degree of Relatedness The stronger the genetic relatedness, the more volunteering to help (Cunningham et al, 1995) This pattern holds across many cultures for many helping behaviors

Some Misconceptions about Evolutionary Psychology Naturalistic fallacy: Biology is destiny fallacy: Both 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)

HelpfulnessLowHigh Frequency Average Difference Culture is a statistical distribution of beliefs and behaviors, with average differences but individual differences within each culture Culture A Culture B

Levels of Explanation in Social Psychology Culture Evolution ConstrualSituations Social Behaviour

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! XCorrelationY X Y X Z Y

Doing Research o Correlational Research: examine whether two variables are related (positive or negative) o Experimental Research: examine whether one variable causes another variable, holding other variables constant

Doing Research Experimental Research o Independent Variable oEx: o Dependent Variable oEx: o Random Assignment o Control Group

Summary Two proximal themes of social psychology 1) Power of situations 2) Construal Small causes have big effects The Fundamental Attribution Error The Why questions--distal explanations 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