Module 10- Social Psychology I: The Power of the Situation
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Kurt Lewin and his two classic statements
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Behaviour is a function of the person and the situation
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There is nothing quite so practical as a good theory
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Conformity and obedience
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Bystander intervention
Kurt Lewin and his two classic statements
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Father of field of social psychology
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90% of field can trace roots back to Lewin
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Very eclectic psychologist
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“Behaviour is a function of the person and the situation”
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Anytime you look at behaviour you have to look at the power of the situation and
how the person works and the two things work together
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Statement has been fundamental in understanding social psychology
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Most people believe they are not controlled by the situation, that they are their own
person and do what they want to do
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Social psychologists believe that most people can be treated the same, that they are
affected in the same way by the same situation
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“There is nothing quite so practical as a good theory”
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Approach of social psychology is that you need to have a good theory about what is
going on to understand and do something about a problematic situation
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Concerned with real issues that really affect people
Conformity and Obedience
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Musafa Sherif- the Sherif Norm Formation Study
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Wanted to understand people came to have a certain set of beliefs and why those beliefs
are shared widely throughout society
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- Spring '09
- online
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Milgram experiment
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