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What is Social Psychology? An Introduction — Transcript

by Practical Psychology · 2,393 words · 372 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00social psychology is simply fascinating
0:02with a lot of questions to answer comes
0:04a lot of theories behind human behavior
0:07and why we make certain decisions
0:08judgments or comparisons
0:10this video is going to give you an
0:12overview of social psychology and the
0:14impact that it has had on the world i'll
0:16be going over a brief history of social
0:18psychology top theories and the
0:20experiments that shaped it into what it
0:22is today
0:23so first off what is social psychology
0:26let's start with a brief definition of
0:27social psychology it is the study of how
0:30humans behave and interact with each
0:32other mainly in specific situations so
0:35psychologists in this field believe that
0:37all behavior takes place in a social
0:39context by looking at society's
0:41influence on the individual we can then
0:43begin to understand the inner workings
0:45of the mind and why certain decisions
0:47are made
0:48the recent pandemic like many historical
0:50events tends to bring out the good and
0:52bad in people you may see stories online
0:55of people selfishly giving up their time
0:57money or lives to help other people but
0:59you may also see stories that show
1:01blatant disregard for the truth or even
1:03the lives of others
1:05the decisions that we have had to make
1:06during this pandemic are largely
1:08influenced by the people around us a
1:10young healthy person may decide to
1:12self-isolate for example not for
1:14themselves but to protect the herd and
1:17as you were cooped up in quarantine you
1:19probably asked yourself a lot of
1:20questions about human behavior because i
1:22know i did these extreme circumstances
1:25can often bring out questions about
1:26human nature and how we work together in
1:28a society and these big questions are
1:31not new social psychologists have been
1:33attempting to answer these questions for
1:35decades so let's go over some of the
1:37history of social psychology the impact
1:40of society on the individual has been in
1:42the minds of psychologists and
1:43philosophers since the ancient greeks
1:46aristotle for example emphasized the
1:48importance of a state or political
1:50community has on an individual's
1:52survival he also believed that our
1:53language and laws separated us from
1:56other animals and that some of these
1:57laws included everyone's different roles
2:00to create a thriving economy
2:02but aristotle didn't conduct experiments
2:05the way that psychologists do now this
2:07way of validating theories was not
2:09popular in social psychology until the
2:11late 1800s and at this point a few
2:14psychologists had written about the
2:15influence of society on our behavior but
2:17they didn't have the data to back it up
2:20so one of the earliest experiments in
2:22social psychology as we know it today
2:23occurred in 1895. norman triplett was an
2:27american psychologist at indiana
2:29university he conducted an experiment in
2:31which children wound up a fishing rod
2:34some children completed the task alone
2:36while others were in the presence of
2:38other children and what he found was
2:40that the children who were among their
2:41peers were motivated to complete the
2:43task faster and this is how the idea of
2:46social facilitation theory was born
2:48which i actually have a video which i'll
2:50release later so make sure to hit that
2:51subscribe button social psychology
2:54gained popularity in the early 1900s but
2:56it really took off in the later part of
2:58the century world wars and the great
3:00depression in america raised a lot of
3:02questions about society and its
3:03influence on specific individuals racial
3:06prejudice also influenced the work of
3:08many social psychologists and during the
3:1060s and 70s darker and more shocking
3:13experiments on human behavior for
3:14psychologists to look at the process in
3:16which experiments are conducted and how
3:19to ethically approach social psychology
3:21and the study has expanded well beyond
3:23america's borders today research and
3:26influence from all over the world has
3:28continued to shape social psychology and
3:30how it's approached there's still a ton
3:32of stuff to learn next let's move into
3:34the basic beliefs of social psychology
3:37so the basic tenets of social psychology
3:39do more than just address how humans
3:41interact with each other they also lay
3:43out how to collect data and observe
3:45people to build theories within social
3:46psychology so here are some of the main
3:48ideas that have shaped social psychology
3:50and remain at the core of this field
3:52number one behavior and decision making
3:55are largely influenced by society even
3:58if a decision is made privately an
3:59individual is influenced by society a
4:02person may not choose to steal even if
4:04no one is looking and they know they
4:06won't get caught they're simply
4:07influenced by the laws laid out by
4:09society number two experiments may be
4:12conducted to back up theories so social
4:15psychology is viewed as predictable and
4:17able to be tested and psychologists are
4:19encouraged to test their theories
4:21multiple times and objectively measure
4:23the results to support or deny their
4:25argument this process is evolving as
4:27psychologists discover what it truly
4:29means to be objective
4:31in fact some famous experiments have
4:33even been discredited due to bias from
4:34the researchers it's an ever-evolving
4:37process number three behavior is used to
4:40assess someone's personality and
4:41character so you've probably heard the
4:43phrase before actions speak louder than
4:45words and in social psychology actions
4:47speak very loud a handful of theories in
4:49social psychology look at the way in
4:51which we assess other person's behaviors
4:53and how that shapes our perception of
4:55that person we also use these types of
4:57assessments to make judgments on our
4:59personality and character and the
5:00interesting thing is since we really
5:02can't know what exactly someone is
5:04thinking we can only look at their
5:06actions and sometimes we can ask them
5:08but it's not completely accurate lastly
5:11we have behavior helps to reach certain
5:13goals yes our society influences our
5:15behavior and decisions but all of these
5:17decisions are made to complete a goal
5:20this could be a fulfillment of a
5:21physical need or to obtain a certain
5:23status within society and these four
5:25basic ideas will show up again and again
5:27the more you read about social
5:29psychology and specifically their most
5:31famous theories and experiments
5:33speaking of theories let's get on to
5:35some of the most notable theories and
5:37names in social psychology so the first
5:39one i'm going to bring up is something
5:40called attribution theory so why did
5:43your best friend lie to you or why did
5:44you cut that guy off in traffic and why
5:47does a billionaire abandon their riches
5:49for a more spartan lifestyle every day
5:52you are faced with hundreds of decisions
5:54you make some of these decisions alone
5:56some of them you make in front of other
5:57people and sometimes you observe the
5:59behaviors of others and make judgments
6:01as to why they made their decisions
6:03attribution theory looks at the way that
6:05we observe other people and explain how
6:07someone else made their decisions see as
6:10humans we are meaning making creatures
6:13we want to understand why someone made
6:14specific decisions or what factors they
6:17took in to contribute to their behavior
6:19so the two main categories with an
6:20attribution theory include external
6:22factors things like money the weather
6:24what they're wearing or internal factors
6:27things like their personal beliefs or
6:28insecurities so in short attribution
6:31theory looks to explain how we perceive
6:34other people whenever they make
6:35decisions next up we have something
6:37called self-perception theory so
6:39attribution looks to the way that we
6:40observe and make judgments about the
6:42behavior of others but self-perception
6:44theory looks at the way that we observe
6:45and make judgments about our own
6:47behavior and the way that we perceive
6:48ourselves is very crucial to the goals
6:51that we think we can achieve our mental
6:53health and actually how our life plays
6:55out next up we have something called
6:57social identity theory so you may look
6:59at yourself and see someone who's funny
7:01accomplished and courageous but you may
7:03also see a student or an actor someone
7:06who lives in new york and because of
7:07this you might identify as a new yorker
7:09a student or an actor and your identity
7:12as that may influence the way that you
7:14make your decisions or how you present
7:16yourself to others this is what social
7:18identity theory is all about this theory
7:20looks at the process in which people
7:22categorize themselves and other people
7:25we often see people in in-groups or
7:27out-groups and depending on your own
7:28position you may see people who are
7:30similar to you in one light and people
7:32that are different than you in another
7:33light next up we have something called
7:35cognitive dissonance theory so when
7:38groups of people interact there are
7:40bound to be differing opinions but what
7:42happens when we learn new information
7:44that contradicts information we already
7:46know the cognitive dissonance theory
7:48says that this conflict can be very hard
7:50for people to bear in fact some
7:52psychologist thinks it causes anxiety
7:55our minds have trouble accepting and
7:56processing this conflicting information
7:59often if we're not aware of this
8:01discomfort we just throw away the new
8:03information and stick to our gut and
8:05trust me we see this play out while
8:06talking politics at the dinner table or
8:08sharing articles on social media all the
8:11time people just want to continue
8:12believing what they believe one last
8:14topic and theory i want to explain is
8:16evolutionary psychology so why do we
8:19perceive people in a certain way is it
8:21due to the culture that we grew up in or
8:23could our perceptions our language and
8:25our social interactions be just a result
8:28of evolution and that's the question
8:30that evolutionary psychology attempts to
8:32answer this approach to psychology has
8:34been around since the late 1800s charles
8:36darwin's idea of something called
8:38natural selection largely influenced
8:40evolutionary psychology and while it's
8:42mainly sat on the fringes of psychology
8:44world since evolutionary psychology is
8:46becoming more mainstream
8:48this goes to show that while some ideas
8:50within social psychology seem timeless
8:52others will gain and lose popularity so
8:54the five theories i've mentioned are
8:56just a small piece of social psychology
8:58there's a few other theories and ideas
8:59which include social learning theory
9:01cognitive biases schemas social
9:03comparison and social exchange theory
9:05something called the triangular theory
9:07of love and you can't forget about
9:09something called the bystander effect so
9:11social psychology doesn't just look at
9:12why humans make good decisions and
9:14follow the rules because many of these
9:15theories and experiments in this field
9:17attempt to answer the questions about
9:19why humans do bad things many of social
9:21psychology's most notable or notorious
9:24experiments happened in the years after
9:26world war ii how could humans commit
9:28such atrocities how can we prevent the
9:30attitudes and behaviors that led to the
9:32rise of nazism well some of these famous
9:34experiments i'm going to go over really
9:36quick if you've seen some of my other
9:38videos you may actually be familiar with
9:39these experiments and the impact that
9:41they've had on the world of psychology
9:43so first up is something called the bobo
9:44doll experiment and this is actually one
9:47of the most famous experiments in all of
9:49psychology that helped to form something
9:50called the social learning theory so the
9:52bobo doll experiment placed children in
9:54a room with an adult an inflatable bobo
9:56doll and other toys and other things
9:58that they could play with some of these
9:59adults acted aggressively towards this
10:01doll while others left it alone or maybe
10:04were gentle with it psychologists found
10:06that the children who observed the
10:07adults being aggressive were also more
10:09likely to be aggressive themselves and
10:11what this did is it showed that children
10:13can learn by modeling or observing other
10:16people's behaviors
10:17next we have the famous stanford prison
10:20experiment the stanford prison
10:22experiment may be the most notorious of
10:24all in fact you can actually watch a
10:25movie about it on netflix the experiment
10:27placed college-aged boys in a simulation
10:30prison while half of the group role
10:32playing as guards and the other half
10:34role-playing as inmates very quickly the
10:36guards and inmates took to their roles
10:38and both of these roles became violent
10:41and the experiment was actually put to a
10:42halt only after six days this experiment
10:45attempted to show how quickly labels and
10:47roles can affect a person even if just
10:50in a simulation another very famous
10:52experiment is the milgram experiment so
10:54why do we make questionable decisions
10:57sometimes it's just because we're
10:58following orders we're doing what we're
11:00told and in the 1960s stanley milgram
11:03conducted an experiment in which people
11:05were instructed to deliver electric
11:07shocks to participants which they didn't
11:09know but they were actually actors and
11:11these shocks were as high as 450 volts
11:14but the researchers instructed the
11:16participants to give the shocks
11:18surprisingly a lot of participants
11:20actually delivered the shocks even if
11:22they felt uncomfortable about it they
11:24still followed orders milgram's
11:26experiment like the stanford prison
11:27experiment goes down as another
11:29notorious and potentially damaging
11:31experiment to the participants issuing
11:33the shocks but it does offer an
11:35explanation for why people may commit
11:37crimes or make other unethical decisions
11:40and as i near the end of this video you
11:42should know this is just the tip of the
11:43iceberg there's a lot more to the
11:45scientific field that we call social
11:47psychology after all it's been discussed
11:50since the days of aristotle this field
11:52will continue to evolve especially as
11:54the world faces new challenges and
11:55creates new technology social media for
11:58example is at the core of many social
12:00psychology studies 30 years ago though
12:02social media wasn't even a term so take
12:05the time to learn the basics of social
12:06psychology and build yourself a library
12:08of knowledge on how society impacts
12:11individuals you may learn something
12:13about yourself your culture or how the
12:14people around you view the world i
12:16really hope you guys like this
12:18introductory video on the social
12:19psychology and i plan on producing a
12:22bunch more videos on specific social
12:24psychology topics so hit the subscribe
12:26button if you're not already subscribed
12:28and leave any questions or maybe video
12:30ideas down below in the comments thank
12:32you so much for watching this and i hope
12:34to see you in the next one
12:40you

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