Lecture notes for Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016
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Lecture notes for Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016This course on social psychology provides a more in-depth look at topics that have been introduced in Introduction to Psychology and Psychology, History, and Application.
Social psychology seeks to understand the motivation behind people's behaviours in a social context. It aims to uncover the interactions between people in a given society and how and to what extent the environment (including other people) influences the actions of an individual. An official definition is thus: the study of people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
One example is the Bystander Effect, where in traumatic situations, many witnesses and bystanders do nothing to help the victim, while simultaneously holding the belief that they would. This occurs due to complex networks of relationships between the bystanders, resulting in a general non-response. In fact, the larger the number of bystanders, the less likely anybody is going to help. This is applicable in a number of situations.
The main reason for this effect is diffusion of responsibility - that is, the more people there are, the more helping the victim becomes a shared responsibility, and the less responsibility an individual feels towards helping in the situation. Another reason is the 'nothing has happened ' assumption. If no one is taking action, it is plausible to assume that nothing has actually happened, which may lead to fear of embarrassment for jumping in on a situation that did not need help in the first place.
In order to avoid the bystander effect, several measures can be taken, including assigning specific responsibilities to specific people, and making it clear that help is required.
An example of the application of social psychology is in the Earthquake issue in Groningen. Gas companies initially denied responsibility for these earthquakes and the problem has posed a huge problem to the government, as reparation costs would be a toll on government income. This made for a good study on collective injustice, which falls under the realm of social psychology. When people perceive that they are being treated unjustly and that they have the power to change something, they tend to take action in the form of protests. In the case of the Groningen Earthquakes, however, very few protests.....read more
Lecture notes for History and application of psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was not a psychologist, but rather a naturalist or biologist. He is fundamental for introducing a new way of looking at nature and human beings. He revolutionised our perspectives on the world, introducing a naturalistic way of looking at the natural world. There were no miracles - everything, humans included, had a natural cause. Thus, the mind and behaviour should be explainable by natural causes. In Darwin's day, this was rather controversial, and it made atheism a valid belief.
Darwin was fascinated with variation and extinction within species. He studied fossils and eventually came up with the theory of evolution and natural selection. This was opposed by religious people. For one, Darwin's theories went against what was written in the Bible. However, there were also many philosophical arguments.
The Religious View
William Paley's Argument from Design is one of the most well-known of these arguments. It goes like this: Suppose you don't know what a clock is, and you wonder to yourself, where does it come from? You open it up and realise that all of the parts of the clock are perfectly designed for the purpose of telling time. This perfection shows that the clock has been designed, and the same goes for the perfection within plants and animals. According to Paley's theory, plants and animals must have come from an intelligent designer, or God. As it turns out, though, the organs of many species are not very well designed. They have flaws that would not have resulted from being constructed from scratch.
Another argument for the religious argument is that the world was actually rather young. James Usher calculated the age of the Earth back to 4004 BC, based on the genealogy of Jesus Christ. This theory opposed Darwin's evolutionary theory because evolution takes time. The proposed age of the Earth was not long enough to support Darwin's theory.
However, more and more evidence against the religious view came to light, including fossils and variation, and naturalistic theories were become more popular.
The Naturalistic View
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck theorised that individuals of a species acquire characteristics over life. For example, giraffes have very long necks. This could have occurred due to the giraffes reaching for food, stretching its neck. According to Lamarck's theory, the offspring's neck would be a little bit longer, and the pattern would continue. Unfortunately, there are many physical characteristics that do not.....read more
Lecture notes for Developmental Psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016Developmental psychology builds on several fields within psychology. It its a combination of physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Development examines both 'what' and 'how' these three aspects change across the human life span.
The six 'what' factors studied in development are:
This is one of the most fundamental arguments in psychology. Everyone knows that psychological development is influenced by both aspects; however discovering exactly what that means is still largely unanswered.
Are we able to influence our own development, or are we simply shaped by aspects that are beyond our control? Some of these aspects include a person's parents, culture, genetic disposition, and socioeconomic status. These are all factors of nature or nurture that all can push us into passivity in our own development.
Are individuals fundamentally good? Do we become more and more 'bad' due to society? This point relates to nature vs. nurture and passivity vs. activity in that if we assume that we are born a certain way, nature and passivity are the clear determinants of our personalities.
Do we change slowly across the lifespan, or do we experience jumps and spurts in our development? Some theorists believe that development is always gradual, while some believe it is always abrupt. In psychology, it is very impractical to think in black and white; thus development, like everything else, has aspects of both continuity and discontinuity. Psychologists examine both quantitative and qualitative changes to address this topic. A quantitative change does not always mean a continuous change, while a qualitative change does not always imply a discontinuative change.
Do all humans undergo the same stages of development; do we all go through the same universal stages? Or is our development simply context-dependent?
These contexts can be physical or environments, for example: the university you attend, your particular subculture, gender, or any other individual differences.
Traits are stable aspects of ourselves that are different within individuals, while states are things that change across contexts. One argument studied in developmental psychology is whether people all develop the same traits, or whether we all develop similarly across similar states.
In addition, psychological development studies the 'how' of how we develop:
There are several factors that influence development, including cognitive factors, environmental factors, and predisposition. There are many research designs available and many have advantages and disadvantages. It's.....read more
Introduction to psychology: Summaries, Exam Questions and Lecture Notes - B1 RUG - Study Bundle
In this bundle summaries, exam questions and lecture notes will be shared for the course Introduction to Psychology, BA Psychology Year 1, University Groningen.
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Statistics 1a: Summaries, Exam Questions and Lecture Notes - Psychology B1 RUG - Study Bundle
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Statistics 1B: Summaries, Study Notes and Practice Exams - RUG A Theoretical Introduction to Research Methods: Summaries, Exam Questions and Lecture Notes - Psychology B1 RUG - Study Bundle
In this bundle summaries, exam questions and lecture notes will be shared for the course "A Theoretical Introduction to Research Methods", Psychology, Year 1 University Groningen.
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Summaries and study notes with the 9th edition of Social Psychology by Hogg & Vaughan - BundleSummaries and study notes with the 9th edition of Social Psychology by Hogg & Vaughan
Lecture notes for Social and Cross-Cultural Psychology at the University of Groningen - 2015/2016This course on social psychology provides a more in-depth look at topics that have been introduced in Introduction to Psychology and Psychology, History, and Application.
Social psychology seeks to understand the motivation behind people's behaviours in a social context. It aims to uncover the interactions between people in a given society and how and to what extent the environment (including other people) influences the actions of an individual. An official definition is thus: the study of people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
One example is the Bystander Effect, where in traumatic situations, many witnesses and bystanders do nothing to help the victim, while simultaneously holding the belief that they would. This occurs due to complex networks of relationships between the bystanders, resulting in a general non-response. In fact, the larger the number of bystanders, the less likely anybody is going to help. This is applicable in a number of situations.
The main reason for this effect is diffusion of responsibility - that is, the more people there are, the more helping the victim becomes a shared responsibility, and the less responsibility an individual feels towards helping in the situation. Another reason is the 'nothing has happened ' assumption. If no one is taking action, it is plausible to assume that nothing has actually happened, which may lead to fear of embarrassment for jumping in on a situation that did not need help in the first place.
In order to avoid the bystander effect, several measures can be taken, including assigning specific responsibilities to specific people, and making it clear that help is required.
An example of the application of social psychology is in the Earthquake issue in Groningen. Gas companies initially denied responsibility for these earthquakes and the problem has posed a huge problem to the government, as reparation costs would be a toll on government income. This made for a good study on collective injustice, which falls under the realm of social psychology. When people perceive that they are being treated unjustly and that they have the power to change something, they tend to take action in the form of protests. In the case of the Groningen Earthquakes, however, very few protests.....read more
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