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Chapter 1
Introduction to Social
Psychology
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2005
How can you tell if another person
is attracted to you?
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In most mammalian species, a
female raises offspring with no
help from the male.
Why are homo sapiens one of the rare
exceptions?
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Space Blaster
Does playing violent
video games increase
aggressiveness?
Doomsday
Version 2.5
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Chapter Outline
What is Social Psychology?
Major Theoretical Perspectives
Basic Principles
Research Methods
The Network of Knowledge
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What is Social Psychology?
Social psychology –
the scientific study of how people’s
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by other people
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Scientific Description and
Explanation
Social Psychology, like any science,
involves:
Description –
careful and reliable observation
Explanation –
development of theories that connect
and organize observations
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Scientific Description and
Explanation
Theories are scientific explanations
that:
Connect and organize existing
observations
Suggest fruitful paths for future
research.
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Major Theoretical Perspectives
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
Social Learning
Social Cognitive
Click On Any
Perspective
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Sociocultural Perspective
Sociocultural perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that searches
for the causes of social behavior in
influences from larger social groups
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Sociocultural Perspective
What drives social behavior?
Forces in larger social groups such as:
norms within cultural groups
social class differences
nationality/ethnicity
fads
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Sociocultural Perspective
Sociocultural theorists might ask:
What are the differences in social
behavior across cultures?
For example, women in some societies
marry more than one man
(polyandry).
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Sociocultural Perspective
Social norm –
a rule or expectation for appropriate
social behavior
Culture –
the beliefs, customs, habits, and
language shared by the people living
in a particular time and place
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esearch
Culture, Choice, and
Intrinsic Motivation
American culture teaches children to
cherish their own individual choice
and independence.
But Asian culture emphasizes more
collective values – viewing the self
as interdependent with family and
social group.
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esearch
Culture, Choice, and
Intrinsic Motivation
In one study, researchers asked AngloAmerican and Asian-American
children to solve word puzzles that
were either:
Chosen by the child (Personal Choice),
Chosen by the experimenter, or
Chosen by the child’s mom.
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Iyengar & Lepper, 1999
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Number of
Word
Puzzles
Completed
5
0
Personal
Choice
Anglo
American
Asian
American
Experimenter
Choice
Personal choice
enhanced
motivation for
Anglo-American
children
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Mom
Choice
But Asian-American
children were more
motivated when their
mothers had chosen the
task
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Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that searches
for the causes of social behavior in
the physical and psychological
predispositions that helped our
ancestors survive and reproduce
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Evolutionary Perspective
What drives social behavior?
Genetic predispositions inherited from
our ancestors that promoted their
survival and reproduction, such as:
The tendency to automatically recognize
an angry face
The tendency for mothers to feel
protective of their children
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Evolutionary Perspective
Natural selection –
the process by which characteristics
that help animals survive and
reproduce are passed on to their
offspring
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Natural Selection
Animals with features suited to the
demands of the environment will
survive better than those with less
well-adapted features.
Those well-adapted animals will
reproduce more successfully.
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Evolutionary Perspective
Adaptation –
a characteristic well designed for
survival and reproduction in a
particular environment
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Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary theorists might
ask:
Are there similarities in social
behavior across species?
What are the similarities in
social behavior across
cultures and historical
periods?
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esearch
Age Preferences
in Mates
One example of a seemingly universal
feature of social behavior is the
difference between men and women
in the preference for younger versus
older partners.
The next slide shows the minimum
and maximum ages specified in
singles ads in the U.S.
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DIFFERENCE FROM
TARGET'S AGE
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Young men show no
particular preference for
younger partners, but
older men prefer partners
younger than themselves
Oldest preferred
Youngest preferred
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10
10
0
0
-10
-10
-20
-20
10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
Women of all ages ask for
men around their own
age or older
10s
MALE'S AGE
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
FEMALE'S AGE
Kenrick & Keefe, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, (1992)
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Oldest preferred
DIFFERENCE FROM
TARGET'S AGE
Youngest preferred
20
20
Marriages show a
similar pattern
10
10
0
0
-10
-10
-20
-20
10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
10s
MALE'S AGE
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
FEMALE'S AGE
Kenrick & Keefe, Behavioral & Brain Sciences, (1992)
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DIFFERENCE FROM
TARGET'S AGE
PORO – 1913 - 1929
20
10
The same pattern was found
on a remote island in the
Philippines throughout the
century
Phoenix Singles Ads
Oldest preferred
Youngest preferred
0
-10
-20
10s 20s
30s 40s >50
10s 20s 30s 40s >50
MALE'S AGE
FEMALE'S AGE
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Social Learning Perspective
Social learning perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that focuses
on past learning experiences as
determinants of a person’s social
behaviors
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Social Learning Perspective
What drives social behavior?
Classically conditioned preferences
For example, the feeling of fear at sight of
person who hit you.
Habits rewarded by other people
For example, a boy who fights frequently
after his father praised him for winning
fight with neighborhood bully.
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Social Learning Perspective
What drives social behavior?
Imitating the rewarded behavior of
others
For example, buying a gun after seeing a
movie in which the hero wins true love
after shooting half the people in his
girlfriend’s neighborhood.
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Learning Violence From Video
Games
One team of researchers hypothesized
that violent video games may make
aggression rewarding, by allowing a
person to win points for killing and
maiming human-like opponents
(Anderson & Dill, 2000).
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Learning Violence From Video
Games
In an experiment, students first played
a violent video game (Wulfenstein)
or a nonviolent game (Tetrix).
They then played a competitive game
in which they could retaliate against
real opponents by delivering
unpleasantly loud blasts of noise.
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Anderson & Dill, 2000
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Retaliatory
Aggression
(unpleasant
noise level)
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Nonviolent
Violent
Students who
played a violent
video game
demonstrated
significantly
higher levels of
retaliatory
aggression
Type of Videogame
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Social Cognitive Perspective
Social cognitive perspective –
a theoretical viewpoint that focuses
on the mental processes involved in
paying attention to, interpreting, and
remembering social experiences
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Social Cognitive Perspective
What drives social behavior?
What we pay attention to
How we interpret and judge social situations
What we retrieve from memory
People notice the behaviors of group members
who are in a minority, and exaggerate the
significance of the things they do.
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From Chump to Champ
Research on social cognition suggests that
our memory processes are often biased
to make ourselves feel good.
For example, Anne Wilson and Michael
Ross (2001) asked students to:
Describe yourself as you are now, or
As you were several years ago.
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Wilson & Ross, 2001
4
Students
described their
present selves as
champs, with
more positive
and fewer
negative features
than the chumps
they used to be
Frequency of
2
SelfDescriptions
0
Past
Now
Self-Description
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(+)
(-)
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Perspective
What Drives Social Behavior?
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
Social Learning
Social Cognitive
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Perspective
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
What Drives Social Behavior?
Forces in larger social groups
such as: norms, fads, social
class, ethnic identity,
Social Learning
Social Cognitive
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Perspective
What Drives Social Behavior?
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
Social Learning
Genetic predispositions that
promoted our ancestors’
survival and reproduction,
such as: the bond between
parent and child
Social Cognitive
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Perspective
What Drives Social Behavior?
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
Social Learning
Social Cognitive
Classically conditioned
preferences
Habits rewarded by others;
Imitation of behavior we have
seen rewarded in others
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Perspective
What Drives Social Behavior?
Sociocultural
Evolutionary
Social Learning
Social Cognitive
What we pay attention to;
How we interpret and judge
social situations;
What we retrieve from
memory
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Basic Principles of Social
Behavior
Social behavior is goal-oriented.
Social behavior represents a continual
interaction between the person and
the situation.
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Social Behavior is Goal-Oriented
At the surface level, we have many
day-to-day goals.
Go shopping
Study for a test
Get a date for Saturday night
Etc.
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Social Behavior is Goal-Oriented
At the broadest level, we can categorize
social goals into fundamental motives
To establish social ties
To understand ourselves and others
To gain and maintain status
To defend ourselves and those we value
To attract and retain mates
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
By person, psychologists mean the features
or characteristics that individuals carry
into social situations.
By situation, psychologists mean the
environmental events or circumstances
outside the person.
Persons and situations influence one
another in a number of ways.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
1. Different persons respond
differently to the same situation.
Example: You may see a party as a
welcome chance to make new friends;
another person may see the same party
as an unbearable ordeal.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
2. Situations Choose the Person
Not everyone gets to enter every
situation they would like.
Example: A tall person is more likely to
be encouraged to play basketball; A
short person to be a jockey.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
3. Persons Choose Their Situations
Example: Violence-prone people
choose to watch violent films; Less
violent people do not.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
4. Different Situations Prime Different
Parts of the Person
Example: Around your professor, you
may show your intellectual side;
around an old friend who did not go to
college, you may suppress it.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
5. Persons Change The Situation
Example: A highly extraverted person
can change a boring party into the
social event of the season.
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The Interaction Between the
Person and the Situation
6. Situations Change the Person
Example: After four years of college,
your intellectual inclinations will
probably be more prominent.
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How Psychologists Study Social
Behavior
Hypothesis –
a researcher’s prediction about what
he or she will find
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How Psychologists Study Social
Behavior
Descriptive methods involve attempts
to measure or record behaviors,
thoughts or feelings in their natural
state.
Experimental methods involve
attempts to manipulate social
processes by varying some aspect of
the situation.
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Descriptive Methods
Social psychologists use five major types
of descriptive methods
Naturalistic Observation
Case Studies
Archives
Surveys
Psychological Tests
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Descriptive Methods:
Naturalistic Observation
Naturalistic observation involves
observing behavior as it unfolds in
its natural setting.
Advantages:
Behaviors are spontaneous.
Doesn’t rely on people’s ability to
report on their own experiences
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Descriptive Methods:
Naturalistic Observation
Disadvantages:
Researcher may interfere with ongoing
behavior.
Some interesting behaviors are very rare.
Observer bias –
The researcher may selectively attend to
certain events and ignore others.
This method is time consuming.
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Descriptive Methods:
Case studies
Case studies involve intensive
examination of a single person or
group.
Advantages:
Rich source of hypotheses
Allows studies of rare behaviors
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Descriptive Methods:
Case studies
Disadvantages:
Observer bias
Difficult to generalize findings from a
single case
Impossible to reconstruct causes from
complexity of past events
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Descriptive Methods
Researchers can also examine archives, or
public records of social behaviors.
Advantages:
Easy access to large amounts of pre-recorded
data.
Disadvantages:
Many interesting social behaviors are never
recorded.
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Descriptive Methods:
The Survey Method
The survey method involves asking
people questions about their beliefs
and behaviors.
Advantages:
Allows study of difficult-to-observe
behaviors, thoughts and feelings
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Descriptive Methods:
The Survey Method
Disadvantages:
People who respond may not be
representative.
Social desirability bias –
the tendency for people to say what
they believe is appropriate or
acceptable
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Descriptive Methods:
Psychological Tests
Psychological tests involve attempts to
assess an individual’s abilities,
cognitions, motivations, or
behaviors.
Advantages:
Allows measurement of characteristics
that are not always easily observable
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Descriptive Methods:
Psychological Tests
Disadvantages:
Tests may be unreliable (yielding
inconsistent scores).
Tests may be reliable, but not valid (not
measuring the actual characteristics
they are designed to measure).
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Descriptive Methods
The descriptive methods are useful in
determining correlation.
Correlation –
the extent to which two or more more
variables are associated with one another
Correlation coefficient –
a mathematical expression of the
relationship between two variables
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Descriptive Methods
If we know two variables are highly
correlated (e.g. ice cream sales are
up on days when drowning incidents
are highest), can we determine the
causal relationship between them?
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Descriptive Methods
Variable B
Variable A
(drowning)
(ice cream)
Variable A could cause Variable B.
(Eating ice cream could cause cramps,
which could lead to drowning)
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Descriptive Methods
Variable B
Variable A
(drowning)
(ice cream)
Variable B could cause Variable A.
(Parents could buy kids more ice cream
to console them after their friends
drown)
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Descriptive Methods
Variable C
(heat)
Variable B
Variable A
(drowning)
(ice cream)
Or a third variable could cause A and B.
(Heat leads people to eat ice cream and to
swim, but the two aren’t directly linked)
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Descriptive Methods
In order to determine causality we
must turn to experimental methods.
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Experimental Methods
An experiment is a research method in
which the researcher sets out to
systematically manipulate one
source of influence while holding
others constant.
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Experimental Methods
Independent variable –
the variable manipulated by the
experimenter
Dependent variable –
the variable measured by the
experimenter
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Experimental Methods
Social psychologists use two major
types of experimental methods:
Laboratory experiments
Field experiments
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Experimental Methods:
Laboratory Experiments
Laboratory experiments involve the
direct manipulation of (independent)
variables and the observation of
their effects on the behavior of other
(dependent) variables.
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Experimental Methods:
Laboratory Experiments
Advantages:
Allows cause-effect conclusions
Allows control of extraneous variables
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Experimental Methods:
Laboratory Experiments
Disadvantages:
Artificial situations may not represent
relevant events as they naturally
unfold (subjects’ responses may not be
natural, since they know they are
being observed).
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Experimental Methods:
Field Experiments
Field experiments involve the
manipulation of independent
variables using unknowing
participants in natural settings.
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Experimental Methods:
Field Experiments
Advantages:
Allow cause-effect conclusions
Subjects give more natural responses.
Disadvantages:
Although participants don’t know they’re
being observed, situation still unusual.
Less control of extraneous factors than in
laboratory experiments.
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Experimental Methods
Internal validity –
the extent to which an experiment
allows confident statements about
cause and effect
External validity –
the extent to which the results of an
experiment can be generalized to
other circumstances
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Experimental Methods
Random assignment –
the practice of assigning subjects to
treatments so each subject has an
equal chance of being in any
condition
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Experimental Methods
Confound –
a variable that systematically
changes along with the independent
variable, potentially leading to a
mistaken conclusion about the
independent variable
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Experimental Methods
Demand characteristics –
cues that make subjects aware of
how the experimenter expects them
to behave
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Ethical Issues
The American Psychological Association’s
ethical guidelines for research includes:
1. Obtaining informed consent.
Informed consent –
a research subject’s agreement to
participate after being informed of any
potential risks and his or her right to
withdraw at any time without penalty
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Ethical Issues
2. Fully debriefing subjects after the
research is completed.
Debriefing –
a discussion of procedures,
hypotheses, and subject reactions at
the completion of the study
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Ethical Issues
3. Evaluating the costs and benefits of
the research procedures.
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How Does Social Psychology Fit
into the Network of Knowledge?
Social psychology is closely connected
to other sub-disciplines of
psychology, including
developmental, personality, clinical,
cognitive and physiological
psychology.
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Physiological
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Does early exposure to
televised violence lead to
increased aggressiveness in
later years?
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Physiological
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
What individual differences
predict success in marital
relationships?
Environmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Physiological
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
How do social dilemmas
contribute to overpopulation
and environmental
destruction?
Cognitive
Physiological
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
How do normal feelings of
attachment go awry in
obsessive love relationships?
Cognitive
Physiological
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Physiological
How do attention-demanding
distractions contribute to our
ability to resist persuasive
messages?
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Area of Psychology
Example of Common Question
Developmental
Personality
Environmental
Clinical
Cognitive
Physiological
How do hormones like
adrenaline and testosterone
contribute to aggression?
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How Does Social Psychology Fit
into the Network of Knowledge?
Social psychology also connects to
other disciplines, including basic
research sciences like biology and
sociology as well as applied fields
like organizational behavior and
education.
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