Psychology Lecture 2 Social CC - University of Torontojhewitt/pepper...Microsoft PowerPoint - Psychology Lecture 2_Social_CC Author Cherry Chan Created Date 9/15/2016 11:20:06 AM

PsychologySession 2

Social Psychology

Date: September 16th, 2016

Course instructor: Cherry Chan Mothercraft College

Agenda

1. Recap: Research with Children

2. Social Psychology

3. Social Situations

4. Conformity

5. Obedience

6. Compliance

7. Social Rules

8. Prosocial Behaviors

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Research with Children

• Be sensitive to children’s body language, silence can mean “no”

• Play is a good way for interviewers to build rapport with children

• Visual methods can help children answer questions

• Conduct research at places familiar for children, such as childcare, school or home

(Clark, 2011)


Social Psychology

• “The study of the way in which the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others influences the thoughts feelings, and behaviors of individuals”

(Wood, Wood, Boyd, Wood, & Desmarais, 2017, p.278)

As a early childhood educator, what influences your thoughts and feelings towards children and parents?


Explaining Social Situations

(Wood et al., 2017, p.278)

What types of information do we use to explain social situations?

• Situational attribution: “Attribution of a behavior to some external cause or factor operating in the situation; an external attribution”

• Dispositional attribution: “Attribution of one’s own or another’s behavior to some internal cause such as a personal trait, motive, or attitude; an internal attribution”


Our Biases

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 278)

• Fundamental attribution error: “The tendency to overemphasize internal factors and underemphasize situational ones when explaining other people’s behavior”

• Actor-observer bias: “The tendency of observers to make dispositional attributions for the behaviors of others but situational attributions for their own behaviors”


More Biases

• Self-serving bias: “Our tendency to attribute our successes to dispositional causes, and our failures to situational causes”

“Sometimes our expectations become a self-fulfilling prophecy and actually influence the way other people act”

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 278)


Conformity

• Norms: “standards of behavior and the attitudes that are expected of members of the group”

From where do children learn social norms?

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 282)


Obedience

What factors affect you to follow orders? • Who • When • Where • How

How does obedience play a role in child care centers?


Compliance• “Acting in accordance with the wishes, suggestions, or direct

requests of another person” • Foot-in-the-door technique: “A strategy designed to secure a

favorable response to a small request first, with the aim of making the subject more likely to agree later to a larger request”

• Door-in-the-face technique: “A strategy in which someone makes a large, unreasonable request with the expectation that the person will refuse but will then be more likely to respond favourably to a smaller request later”

• Low-ball technique: “A strategy to gain compliance by making a very attractive initial offer to get a person to agree to an action and then making the terms less favorable”

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 285)


Social Roles• Roles: “behaviors considered to be appropriate for

individuals occupying certain positions within a group”

• “Roles are useful because they tell us beforehand how people- even people we have never met before-are likely to act towards us in many situations”

What are the roles of: • Instructors• Center supervisors • Early Childhood Educators

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 288)


Bystander Effect• Bystander effect: “As the number of

bystanders at an emergency increases, the probability that the victim will be helped by them decreases, and the help, if given, is likely to be delayed”

• Diffusion of responsibility: “When bystanders are present in an emergency, they generally feel that the responsibility for helping is shared by the group”

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 296)


Prosocial Behaviors

• Prosocial behaviors: “behavior that benefits others, such as helping, cooperation, and sympathy”

• Altruism: “behaviors aimed at helping others that requires some self-sacrifice, is not performed for personal gain, and carries no expectation of external reward”

• People are most likely helped when they are physically attractive, similar to the person who is helping, and if they are in a positive mood

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 297)


Prosocial Behaviors in Preschool Children

• In the article’s literature review, Ferreira et al. (2016) discussed studies relating to prosocial behaviors and found that prosocial behaviors are associated with: – Warm and responsible relationships with parents – Sensitive parenting (parents recognizing and responding to

children’s distress cues) – Close teacher-child relationships that are characterized by

warmth and open communication

• Prosocial behavior is an important part of social competence and is linked to children’s social acceptance and psychological adjustment.

(Ferreira et al., 2016)


References Clark, C.D. (2011). In a younger voice: Doing child-centered qualitative

research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. Ferreira, T., Cadima, J., Matias, M., Vieira, J.M., Leal, T., & Matos, P.M. (2016).

Preschool children’s prosocial behavior: The role of mother-child, father-child, and teacher-child relationships. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25, 1829-1839. doi: 10.1007/s10826-016-0369-x

Wood, S.E., Wood, E.G., Boyd, D., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2017). The world of psychology (8th Canadian ed). Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada

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Psychology Lecture 2 Social CC - University of Torontojhewitt/pepper...Microsoft PowerPoint - Psychology Lecture 2_Social_CC Author Cherry Chan Created Date 9/15/2016 11:20:06 AM