Theoretical Perspectives in Social Psychology

FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Kates Dorlyn GrajalesMPA Student

“If you fail to deliver on promises and thereby block someone’s goals, he/she will get mad at you.”

“If someone’s goals are blocked, he/she will get frustrated and become aggressive. If someone is aggressive, he/she will attack either the source of frustration or convenient surrogate”

2 Kind of Theories in Social Psychology

Middle-range theories – are narrow, focused frameworks that identify the conditions that produce a specific social behavior.

Theoretical perspectives – offer general explanations for a wide array of social behaviors in a variety of situations.

Theory – a set of interrelated propositions that organizes and explains a set of observed phenomena.

Role Theory Reinforcement Theory Cognitive Theory Symbolic Interaction Theory Evolutionary Theory

THE 5 CENTRAL PERSPECTIVES

The Stanford Prison Experiment

ROLES – consist of a set of rules(expectation held by others) that function as plans or blueprints and guide behavior.

It is based on the premise that people conform to norms defined by the expectations of others.

It is most useful in explaining the regular and recurring patterns apparent in day-to-day activity.

Role Theory

PROPOSITIONS

People spend much of their lives participating in groups & organization wherein they occupy distinct positions.

Positions entails role performed by the person for the group

Group formalize expectations as norms (rules specifying behavior as well as rewards and punishments)

People are conformists, they try to meet the expectations

Members check each individual performance & give rewards/punishments to ensure performance as expected.

Role Theory

Role TheoryIMPACTS To change a person’s

behavior, it is necessary to change or redefine his/her role

Roles that people occupy not only channel their behavior but also shape their attitudes.

Roles can influence the values that people hold & affect the direction of their personal growth.

LIMITATIONS Deviant Behavior- any

behavior that violates/ contravenes the norms defining a role

Refusing to perform as expected

Contradicts the assumption that people are essentially a conformist

The theory can’t explain how role expectations came to be nor when & how it change



It helps to explain not only how people learn but also when social relationships will change.

Social behavior is governed by external events. EXTERNAL EVENTS are directly observable. Any events that

leads to an alteration/change of behavior is called STIMULUS. The change in behavior induces by a stimulus is called a RESPONSE.

REINFORCEMENT – is any favorable outcome that results from a response

CONDITIONING – a contingency is established between emitting a response & subsequently receiving a reinforcement.

STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION – occurs when a person learns the exact conditions under which a response will be reinforced

Reinforcement Theory


Social Learning Theory Social Exchange Theory

A person (learner) can acquire new responses simply by observing the behavior of another person (model)

IMITATION – observational learning process wherein learner neither performs as response nor receives reinforcement

Acquire new responses through imitation and conditioning

Assumes that individuals have freedom of choice & must choose among alternative action when facing social situations

Individuals are HEDONISTIC – they try to maximize rewards & minimize costs.

EQUITY- exists in a relationship when the rewards are proportional to the costs.

LIMITATIONS

Doesn’t account for creativity, innovation or invention Individuals react to stimuli rather than initiating behavior

based on creative thoughts Characterize social behavior as hedonistic; can’t explain

selfless behavior




THE CONTRACTOR

REAL ESTATE AGENT

POTENTIAL RENTER

NEIGHBORHOOD KID

Quality of house construction

Cash flow, occupancy

rate, depreciation,

mortgage & amortization

Located near to his job, neighborhood is safe

Haunted House !@#$^@*

It holds that such processes as perception, memory, and judgment are significant determinants of social behavior.

The theory treats ideas and beliefs as organized into structures (schemas) and relies on various principles (such as the principle of cognitive consistency) to explain changes in attitudes and beliefs.

Differences in cognitions help to illuminate why individuals may behave differently from one another in a given situation.

Cognitive Theory

COGNITIVE STRUCTURE & SCHEMAS Refers to any form of organization among cognition

(concepts & beliefs) Gives special emphasis to exactly how they are

structured & organized in memory & how they affect a person’s judgment.

Uses schemas to make sense of complex information about other persons, groups & situations.

SCHEMA - Greek word “form”; refers to the form or basic sketch of what we know about people & things

Cognitive Theory

Cognitive Theory COGNITIVE

CONSISTENCY The principle maintains

that individuals strive to hold ideas that are consistent/ congruous with one another

If a person holds several ideas that are inconsistent, he/she will experience internal conflict

LIMITATIONS OF COGNITIVE THEORY

It simplifies/ oversimplifies an inherently complex phenomenon

Cognitive phenomena are not directly observable; they must be inferred

Compelling & definite test of theoretical prediction are sometimes difficult to conduct



CERVANTES OF A MAN TALE

A man thought he was made of glass. Whenever people came near, he

screamed and implored them to keep away for fear they would shatter him. He refused to eat anything hard and insisted on sleeping only in beds of straw. Because glass is transparent and skin is not, he claimed that his

body’s unusual construction enabled his soul to perceive things more clearly and offered to assist people perplexed

difficult problems. He developed a reputation and in the end a patron

hired a bodyguard to protect him from outlaws.

It holds that human nature and social order are products of communication among people.

It stresses the importance of the self, of role taking, and of consensus in social interaction.

It is most useful in explaining fluid, contingent encounters among people.

NEGOTIATING MEANINGS People can communicate successfully with one another only

if they ascribe similar meaning to objects The theory views humans as proactive & goal seeking It portrays social interaction as having a tentative,

developing quality

Symbolic Interaction Theory

Symbolic Interaction TheorySELF IN RELATIONSHIP

TO OTHERS Central to social

interaction is the process of role taking in which an individual imagines how he/she looks from others viewpoints

The theory emphasizes that a person can act not only towards others but also towards his/her SELF

LIMITATIONS Balance between

rationality & emotion Model of individual

implicit in symbolic interaction theory

It places too much emphasis on consensus & cooperation & neglects/ downplays the importance of conflict



It posits that social behavior is a product of long-term evolutionary adaptation.

Behavioral tendencies exist in human beings because these behaviors aided our ancestors in their attempts to survive and reproduce.

EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH – attempts to account for how & why these mechanism arise

The theory’s psychologists believe that evolutionary perspective provides a unifying principle that ties together many theories about social behavior that have a more specific focus

Evolutionary Theory

Evolutionary TheoryEVOLUTIONARY

FOUNDATION OF BEHAVIOR

Evolutionary psychologist locates the roots of social behavior in our genes & links the psychological & social to the biological

Social behavior is encoded in our genetic material & is passed through reproduction

LIMITATIONS Critique accuses

psychologist of circular reasoning

The logical trap is unavoidable because we can’t travel back in time to observe the actual evolution of social behavior.

COMPARISON OF THEORIES

Thank You FOLKS ! ! !

Science

Theoretical Perspectives in Social Psychology