MODULE 1

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 defined as the scientific
field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior,
feelings, and thought in social situations.
• Floyd Allport (1924) has defined social psychology as “the scientific study of
the experience and behaviour of individuals in relation to other individuals,
groups and culture”.
• Gordon W. Allport (1968) states that social psychology is a discipline “that
attempts to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behaviour of an
individual are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.”
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
1908 and 1924:
Period during which social psychology become an independent field. In both
these years books containing social psychology as their titles were published.
William McDougall; 1908 The first book which was based on the view that social
behavior tends from innate tendencies or instincts. Floyd Allport 1924 published
second volume of the book o He argued that social behavior stems from many
different factors including the presence of others and their specific actions. The
book emphasized the value of experimentation and contained discussions of
actual research that already been conducted on such topics as conformity, the
ability to recognize others emotions from their expression and the impact of
audiences on task performance.
20th century; By the middle of twenties, social psychology had appeared on the
research field and had begun to investigate many of the topics. 1930s and early
1940s; Two decades after the publication of allport’s book were marked by rapid
growth. New issues were studied and new methods for investigating them were
devised.
1935 Muzafer Sherif and Kurt Lewin; Important milestones in the development
of social psychology during this period includes research by two of its founders.
Muzafer sheriff studied the nature and impact of social norms and rules indicating
how individuals ought to behave and so contributed basic insights to our
understanding of pressures toward conformity. Kurt lewin and his colleagues
carried out revealing research on the nature of leadership and other group
processes. Lewin’s influence on social psychology was proof
und, because many of his students went on to become very prominent contributors
in this field. By the close of the 1930s, social psychology was a growing field
that had already contributed much to our knowledge of social behaviour.
Social psychology growth: the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s 1940 and 1950:
Social psychologists focused on attention on the influence that group and group
membership exert on individual behaviour(forsyth,1991) They examined the link
between various personality traits and social behaviour. 1957, leonFestinger;
Most important event during this period was the development of cognitive
dissonance theory. This theory proposed that human beings dislike inconsistency
and strive to reduce it. Specifically, the theory argues that people seek to eliminate
inconsistency between various attitudes that they hold or between their attitudes
and behaviour. 4 1960; The time when social psychology came of age. So many
lines of research either began or expanded during these years like “interpersonal
attraction and romantic love, repression, formation, attribution and other aspects
of social perception; many different aspects of social influence such as obedience,
conformity and compliance, the cause and prevention of human aggression and
effects of the physical environment on many forms of social behaviour. 1970-
1990: a maturing field
• Many lines on research began during the 1960s were expanded and several new
topics to prominence. The most important among that are:
1. Attribution: the process through which we seek to understand the cause of
others behaviour.
2. Gender differences and sex discrimination: investigation of the extent to which
the behaviour of women and men actually differs and the impact of negative
stereotypes concerning the traits supposedly possessed by gender.
3. Environmental psychology: investigations of the effects of the physical
environment-noise, heat, crowding, air quality on social behaviour.
Social psychology reached maturity in both theory and method during the 1980s
and 1990s. Modern researchers are interested in a variety of phenomena, but
attribution, social cognition, and self-concept are perhaps the greatest areas of
growth. Social psychologists have also maintained their applied interests, with
contributions in health and environmental psychology, as well as the psychology
of the legal system.
NATURE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
The core values that are essential for a field to be considered as scientific in
nature.
o Accuracy: A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the
world (including social behavior and thought) in as careful, precise, and error-
free a manner as possible.
o Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a
manner that is as free from bias as humanly possible.
o Skepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only to the extent
they have been verified over and over again.
o 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 is scientific in nature
• Social psychology is scientific in its approach to the range of topics it deals.
One may find many common-sense explanations and literary works that tell us
about interpersonal relations, love, jealousy, aggression, altruism and the roles of
individuals in groups. The difference lies in the approach that a social
psychologist adopts.
Social psychology focuses on the behaviour of individuals
Societies differ greatly in terms of their views concerning courtship and marriage,
yet it is still individuals who fall in love. Similarly, societies vary greatly in terms
of their overall levels of violence, yet it is still individuals who perform aggressive
actions or refrain from doing so. The same argument applies to virtually all other
aspects of social behavior, 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, of course, that we do not exist in isolation from social and cultural
influences. But 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
Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors
and conditions that shape the social behavior and thought of individuals, their
actions, feelings, beliefs, memories, and inferences concerning other people.
The actions and characteristic of other people
• other people’s behavior often has a powerful impact upon us.
• For example, you are in a hurry and notice that you are driving faster than you
usually do—above the speed limit, in fact. Suddenly, up ahead, you see 6 the
blinking lights of a state trooper who is in the process of pulling another driver
over to the side of the road.
• In addition, we are also often affected by others’ appearance.Research findings
indicate that we cannot ignore others’ appearance even when we consciously try
to do so and it plays an important role in dating and romantic relationships.
Cognitive process
Cognitive processes play a crucial role in social behavior 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 behavior, 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.
Environmental variables: impact of the physical world
Are people more prone to wild impulsive behavior during the full moon than at
other times. Do we become more irritable and aggressive when the weather is
hot and steamy than when it is cool and comfortable? Does exposure to a pleasant
smell in the air make people more helpful to others and does that occur on
baseball playing fields as well in crowded and largely unconditioned sections of
cities? Research findings indicate that the physical environment does indeed
influence our feelings, thoughts, and behavior, so these variables, too, certainly
fall within the realm of modern social psychology.
Biological factors
our preferences, behaviors, emotions, and even attitudes are affected, to some
extent, by our biological inheritance . Although social experiences too have a
powerful effect, and it often interact with genetic factors in generating the
complex patterns of our social lives. The view that biological factors play an
important role in social behavior comes from the field of evolutionary
psychology. This new branch of psychology suggests that our species, like all
others on the planet, 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 (or once helped) us to
deal with important problems relating to survival.
Module 2
SOCIAL PERCEPTION
The process through which we seek to know and understand other people. This
process can be done through both verbal and non-verbal communication. Non-
verbal communication
Communication between individuals that does not involve the content of spoken
language but relies on an unspoken language of facial expressions, eye contact,
and body language. Changing moods, shifting emotions, fatigue, illness, drugs,
even hidden biological processes such as the menstrual cycle—can all influence
the ways in which we think and behave. We often try to find out how others are
feeling right now. Sometimes, doing so is quite straightforward—we ask other
people how they are feeling or what kind of mood they are in, and they tell us.
Sometimes, other people will be unwilling to reveal their inner feelings. In such
situations we pay careful attention to nonverbal cues provided by changes in their
facial expressions, eye contact, posture, body movements, and other expressive
actions. Such behavior is relatively irrepressible, so that even when others try to
conceal their inner feelings from us, these often “leak out” in many ways through
nonverbal cues. The information conveyed by such cues, and our efforts to
interpret this input, are often described by the term nonverbal communication.
Non-verbal communication channels
Research finding indicate that there exist 5 basic channels for non-verbal
communication
1) facial expression
The Roman orator Cicero stated: “The face is the image of the soul.” By
this he meant that human feelings and emotions are often reflected in the
face and can be read there in specific expressions. It is possible to learn
much about others’ current moods and feelings from their facial
expressions. five different basic emotions are represented clearly on the
human face: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and disgust. It’s important to
realize that the fact that only five different emotions are represented on our
faces does not imply that human beings can show only a small number of
facial expressions. Emotions occur in many combinations (e.g., joy
together with sorrow, fear combined with anger) and each of these
reactions can vary greatly in strength. Thus, while there may be only a
small number of basic themes in facial expressions, the number of
 variations on these themes is immense. Facial expression are universal and
have few exceptions. It has been found that certain facial expressions such
as smiles, frowns, and other signs of sadness are recognized as representing
basic underlying emotions (e.g., happiness, anger, sadness) in many
different cultures. Cultural differences certainly do exist with respect to the
precise meaning of facial expression. For example, in india geographical,
linguistic, religious, and other factors are so diverse across the country, that
it is difficult to generalise the meaning of non-verbal expression.
Expression of emotions like “lajja” can differ vastly with the situation,
because lajja can be associated with shyness, shame, guilt, happiness, bliss
and so many such other emotional expression.
2) Eye contact
ancient poets often described the eyes as “windows to the soul” We do
often learn much about others’ feelings from their eyes. For example, we
interpret a high level of gazing from another as a sign of liking or
friendliness. In contrast, if others avoid eye contact with us, we may
conclude that they are unfriendly, don’t like us, or are simply shy. Even a
high level of eye contact with others is usually interpreted as a sign of
liking or positive feelings, If another person gazes at someone continuously
and maintains such contact regardless of what the recipient is do, such eye
contact can be said to be staring. A stare is often interpreted as a sign of
anger or hostility and most people find this particular nonverbal cue
disturbing. In fact, we may quickly terminate social interaction with
someone who stares at us and may even leave the scene. Coming to the
indian society, the indian child is socialized to avoid direct eye contact with
elders while communicating, as it is considered as a sign of disrespect. On
the other hand, in adult-to-adult communication, if one avoids looking at
others eyes, it is considered as evasion of truth.
3) Body language
Our current moods or emotions are often reflected in the position, posture,
and movement of our bodies. Together, such nonverbal behaviors are
termed body language
Body language: Cues provided by the position, posture, and movement of
others’ bodies or body parts. Body language often reveals others’ emotional
states. Large numbers of movements, especially ones in which one part of
the body does something to another part (touching, rubbing, and
scratching) suggest emotional arousal. The greater the frequency of such
 behavior, the higher the level of arousal or nervousness. Larger patterns of
movements, involving the whole body, can also be informative. Such
phrases as “she adopted a threatening posture,” and “he greeted her with
open arms” suggest that different body orientations or postures indicate
contrasting emotional states. The findings of the experiment conducted by
Aronoff and his colleagues shows that the dangerous, threatening
characters would show more diagonal or angular postures, whereas the
warm, sympathetic characters would show more rounded postures. These
and related findings indicate that large-scale body movements or postures
can sometimes provide important information about others’ emotions, and
even about their apparent traits. More specific information about others’
feelings is often provided by gestures. These fall into several categories,
but perhaps the most important are emblems: body movements carrying
specific meanings in a given culture. Gender difference in the use and
perception of various gestures do appear to exist.

4) Touching
Touching depends mainly on three factors:
1. Who does the touching(a friend or a stranger or a member of your own
gender or the other gender)
2. Nature of the physical contact (if the touch is prolonged or brief, if it is
gentle or rough, which part of the body is being touched.)
3. The context in which the touching takes place( business setting, social
setting or at a doctor’s office)
Depending on such factors, touch can suggest affection, sexual interest,
dominance, caring, or even aggression. Existing evidence indicates that
when touching is considered appropriate, it often produces positive
reactions in the person being touched. For eg. showing respect to elders by
touching by touching the feet is viewed positively in Indian culture. One
acceptable way in which people in many different cultures touch strangers
is through handshaking. “Pop psychology” and even books on etiquette
(e.g., Vanderbilt, 1957) suggest that handshakes reveal much about other
people. Levav and Argo (2010) found that a light, comforting pat on the
arm can induce feelings of security among both women and men, but only
if the touching is performed by a woman. Such feelings of security, in turn,
influence actual behaviour. Individuals touched on the shoulder by a
female experimenter actually showed greater risk taking in an investment
 task than those not touched, or ones who were touched only through
handshakes. In sum, touching can serve as another source of nonverbal
communication, and when it is appropriate (as, for example, in handshakes
in cultures that view this as an appropriate means of greeting others), it can
induce positive reactions. If it is viewed as inappropriate, however, it can
encourage negative perceptions of the person doing the touching.
5) Deception:
This includes very small “white lies” designed to avoid hurting others
feelings or accomplish other positive social purposes to ones designed to
get us out of trouble or further our own goals (“I’m sorry, Professor—I
missed the exam because of an unexpected death in my family . . .”).
Research findings indicate that most people tell at least one lie every day
and use deception in almost 20 percent of their social interactions.
Experiments confirming these findings indicate that a majority of strangers
lie to each other at least once during a brief first encounter.
6) Micro expressions:
These are fleeting facial expressions lasting only a few tenths of a second.
Such reactions appear on the face very quickly after an emotion-provoking
event and are difficult to suppress, revealing true feelings or emotions