Social Psychology: Key Figures and Theories
Early Influences on Social Psychology
Aristotle believed that humans were naturally sociable, a necessity which allows us to live together (an individual-centered approach), whilst Plato felt that the state controlled the individual and encouraged social responsibility through social context (a socio-centered approach).
Hegel (1770–1831) introduced the concept that society has inevitable links with the development of the social mind. This led to the idea of a group mind, important in the study of social psychology.
Lazarus & Steinthal wrote about Anglo-European influences in 1860. “Volkerpsychologie” emerged, which focused on the idea of a collective mind. It emphasized the notion that personality develops because of cultural and community influences, especially through language, which is both a social product of the community as well as a means of encouraging particular social thought in the individual. Therefore, Wundt (1900–1920) encouraged the methodological study of language and its influence on the social being.
Much of the key research in social psychology developed following World War II, when people became interested in the behavior of individuals when grouped together and in social situations. Key studies were carried out in several areas.
Some studies focused on how attitudes are formed, changed by the social context, and measured to ascertain whether change has occurred. Amongst some of the most famous work in social psychology is that on obedience conducted by Milgram in his “electric shock” study, which looked at the role an authority figure plays in shaping behavior. Similarly, Zimbardo’s prison simulation notably demonstrated conformity to given roles in the social world.
Wider topics then began to emerge, such as social perception, aggression, relationships, decision-making, prosocial behavior, and attribution, many of which are central to today’s topics and will be discussed throughout this website.
Thus, the growth years of social psychology occurred during the decades following the 1940s.
Social Psychology: Key Figures and Studies
Allport (1920) – Social Facilitation
Allport introduced the notion that the presence of others (the social group) can facilitate certain behavior. It was found that an audience would improve an actor’s performance in well-learned/easy tasks, but leads to a decrease in performance on newly learned/difficult tasks due to social inhibition.
Bandura (1963) – Social Learning Theory
Bandura introduced the notion that behavior in the social world could be modeled. Three groups of children watched a video where an adult was aggressive towards a ‘bobo doll’, and the adult was either just seen to be doing this, was rewarded by another adult for their behavior, or were punished for it. Children who had seen the adult rewarded were found to be more likely to copy such behavior.
Festinger (1950) – Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger, Schacter, and Black brought the idea that when we hold beliefs, attitudes, or cognitions which are different, then we experience dissonance – this is an inconsistency that causes discomfort. We are motivated to reduce this by either changing one of our thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes or selectively attending to information which supports one of our beliefs and ignores the other (selective exposure hypothesis).
Dissonance occurs when there are difficult choices or decisions, or when people participate in behavior that is contrary to their attitude. Dissonance is thus brought about by effort justification (when aiming to reach a modest goal), induced compliance (when people are forced to comply contrary to their attitude), and free choice (when weighing up decisions).
Tajfel (1971) – Social Identity Theory
When divided into artificial (minimal) groups, prejudice results simply from the awareness that there is an “out-group” (the other group). When the boys were asked to allocate points to others (which might be converted into rewards) who were either part of their own group or the out-group, they displayed a strong in-group preference. That is, they allocated more points on the set task to boys who they believed to be in the same group as themselves. This can be accounted for by Tajfel & Turner’s social identity theory, which states that individuals need to maintain a positive sense of personal and social identity: this is partly achieved by emphasizing the desirability of one’s own group, focusing on distinctions between other “lesser” groups.
Weiner (1986) – Attribution Theory
Weiner was interested in the attributions made for experiences of success and failure and introduced the idea that we look for explanations of behavior in the social world. He believed that these were made based on three areas: locus, which could be internal or external; stability, which is whether the cause is stable or changes over time; and controllability.
Milgram (1963) – Shock Experiment
Participants were told that they were taking part in a study on learning, but always acted as the teacher when they were then responsible for going over paired associate learning tasks. When the learner (a stooge) got the answer wrong, they were told by a scientist that they had to deliver an electric shock. This did not actually happen, although the participant was unaware of this as they had themselves a sample (real!) shock at the start of the experiment. They were encouraged to increase the voltage given after each incorrect answer up to a maximum voltage, and it was found that all participants gave shocks up to 300v, with 65 percent reaching the highest level of 450v.
It seems that obedience is most likely to occur in an unfamiliar environment and in the presence of an authority figure, especially when covert pressure is put upon people to obey. It is also possible that it occurs because the participant felt that someone other than themselves was responsible for their actions.
Haney, Banks, Zimbardo (1973) – Prison Study
Volunteers took part in a simulation where they were randomly assigned the role of a prisoner or guard and taken to a converted university basement resembling a prison environment. There was some basic loss of rights for the prisoners, who were unexpectedly arrested, given a uniform, and an identification number (they were therefore deindividuated).
The study showed that conformity to social roles occurred as part of the social interaction, as both groups displayed more negative emotions and hostility, and dehumanization became apparent. Prisoners became passive, whilst the guards assumed an active, brutal, and dominant role. Although normative and informational social influence had a role to play here, deindividuation/the loss of a sense of identity seemed most likely to lead to conformity.
Both this and Milgram’s study introduced the notion of social influence, and the ways in which this could be observed/tested.