Social Psychological Principles Research Articles

The Social Side of School: Why Teachers Need Social Psychology

Teaching and learning are fundamentally social enterprises. In attempting to understand, explain, and predict social behavior, social psychologists have amassed scores of empirically grounded, fundamental principles. Yet, many such principles have yet to be applied to classrooms despite the social nature of these settings. This article illustrates how infusing novel concepts from social psychology into teachers’ repertoires holds untapped potential to improve their pedagogy, ability to motivate students, and capacity to enrich students’ understanding of subject matter. This article first examines three domains of social psychology—social cognition, influence/persuasion, and interpersonal relations—and illustrates how applications of principles from each domain could benefit classrooms. Next, two exemplars are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of past interventions that are rooted in social psychological principles. Finally, pathways through which teacher educators can introduce new social psychological concepts and applications to teachers are explored.

Birds of a feather: How personality influences blog writing and reading

The rapid development of blogs as a social networking tool has greatly increased the number of people who are expressing themselves in text published online. As yet little is known about the social psychology of online interaction using recently developed Web 2.0 functionalities. To what extent do principles of social psychology carry over into the online domain and how can appropriate use of those principles assist in activities such as community building, e-commerce, marketing, and personalization of services? There would seem to be a large number of novel research questions that can be posed with respect to online interaction. One pertinent question concerns the extent to which compatibility of personality influences online interaction. We investigated this question in terms of hypotheses derived from the personality research literature, using a two-part experiment. In the first study, eight participants wrote blogs in two distinct genres (personal diaries and commentaries) and rated their own personalities. In the second study 12 different participants judged the personality of authors as implied in the blog texts created in the first study. Those participants also completed a personality questionnaire and rated their attraction to the blog text author. Readers of the blog corpus were able to consistently judge the personality of the writers based solely on the text that they wrote. Moreover, they followed a well-established social rule regarding interpersonal attraction in real-life interaction. Blog readers were significantly more attracted to blog writers with more similar personalities—offering support that in a blog environment, “birds of a feather flock together.” Emotion word use in the blog corpus correlated with writer’s personality, suggesting that online personality may be signalled by linguistic cues. The two most popular genres of blog writing, personal journal and commentary, differed in how accurately readers judged author personality traits. Based on the results obtained it is suggested that personality is an important determinant and that further research on how people communicate with blogs will be relevant to social network analysis and to marketing.

A Major Role for Social Work Input during Development of an Innovative Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program in a Medical Center Environment

The Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine targets participants from groups that are underrepresented in biomedical research careers. During its first 5 years, Mount Sinai PREP has sent over 70% of the PREP scholars to an excellent array of PhD or MD/PhD programs. Over 90% of those students are progressing well in their doctoral studies and report important contributions of PREP to their success. Social work and educational psychology principles inform strategies used to identify and address gaps or impediments that would otherwise diminish the potential of Mount Sinai PREP scholars to succeed in cutting-edge research careers.

Putting Social Psychology into Serious Games

AbstractVideo or computer gaming is quickly becoming a significant part of many people's lives. We review several emerging themes in both the social psychological literature and popular culture that show the potential for a productive integration of social psychology and video gaming. In particular, we examine the growing impact of serious games and outline some social psychological principles that could be implemented in the context of games for social cognitive training.

Binary Particle Swarm Optimization with Bit Change Mutation

Particle swarm optimization (PSO), inspired by social psychology principles and evolutionary computations, has been successfully applied to a wide range of continuous optimization problems. However, research on discrete problems has been done not much even though discrete binary version of PSO (BPSO) was introduced by Kennedy and Eberhart in 1997. In this paper, we propose a modified BPSO algorithm, which escapes from a local optimum by employing a bit change mutation. The proposed algorithm was tested on De jong's suite and its results show that BPSO with the proposed mutation outperforms the original BPSO.

PID control for chaotic synchronization using particle swarm optimization

In this paper, we attempt to use the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to achieve the chaos synchronization for delayed discrete chaotic systems. Three PID control gains can be optimally determined by means of using a novel optimization algorithm, called the particle swarm optimization (PSO). The algorithm is motivated from the organism behavior of fish schooling and bird flocking, and involves the social psychology principles in socio-cognition human agents and evolutionary computations. It has a good numerical convergence for solving optimization problem. To show the validity of the PSO-based PID control for chaos synchronization, several cases with different initial populations are considered and some simulation results are shown.

Seguindo as pipas com a metodologia da TAR

À luz das idéias de Bruno Latour, buscamos elaborar os rudimentos para uma psicologia social do brinquedo, tomando a Teoria Ator-Rede como metodologia para registrar tal construção. Elegemos a pipa, objeto de tradição milenar que encerra múltiplas histórias, como objeto a ser investigado nas redes que garantem a sua sobrevivência, nas aprendizagens que suscita, nos efeitos que promove. Discutiremos os princípios e regras metodológicas da Teoria Ator-Rede, testando a sua aplicabilidade ao nosso objeto de pesquisa, tentando, sempre que possível, fertilizar uma reflexão para o campo de estudo da psicologia, que é onde se situa o seguimento de nossa ação.

European model for the training and supervision in cognitive-behavioral therapies for mental health professionals

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) requires the development of specific social skills and the awareness of the influence of the therapist’s cognitions and emotions on the therapeutic process. A historical perspective on the evolution of CBT is presented, within the unfolding of the concept of mental health, followed by an update made on the works dealing with the modification of the therapist’s emotions and cognitions along the supervision process, according to social learning and cognitive psychology principles. New insights on the problem of therapeutic alliance are presented, understood as a collaborative relationship. A three-level supervision and training model regarding the difficulty levels of clinical problems is proposed. We also suggest a broad concept of therapeutic relationship that has implications on training and supervision. The therapist´s role is to help the patient become autonomous, help him to increase his personal and social competences in order to be able to manage his life. We describe the model of training and supervision used in France, at the University Claude Bernard, Lyon I, which gives access to the European Association for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, through the French Association, proposed as guidelines for training and supervision in CBT

Medical Knowledge: The Importance of Faculty Involvement and Curriculum in Graduate Medical Education

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires that each residency program must demonstrate and document actual accomplishments through objective measures. At University of Washington we identified deficiencies in resident medical knowledge and designed interventions that would assist in improving resident AUA IS scores, using this as a metric to document the outcomes. In 2001 the University of Washington syllabus and faculty precepted chapter review sessions were formally established. The national AUA IS was used as an objective standardized examination to determine an annual group percentile score. We noted a gradual and consistent increase in the average percentile group score on the national annual AUA IS examinations of our residents. A generalized estimating equation model demonstrated a significant difference between pre-intervention and post-intervention average percentile resident AUA IS scores (p <0.001). Average resident percentile rankings in 2001 to 2004 were 25.6 points higher than the average rankings of residents tested in 1997 to 2000. We developed and evaluated a cohesive core curriculum designed to improve resident knowledge in urology, as measured by the AUA IS metric. With the active participation of faculty the curriculum enhanced resident education.

Perceptions of self and of ideal mates: Similarities and differences across the sexes

For 19 mating-relevant traits, single males (N= 53) and single females (N= 86) rated (a) themselves relative to their same-sex peers, (b) their perceptions of the qualities desired by members of the opposite sex in an ideal partner, and (c) the qualities desired in their own ideal romantic partner. Several themes emerged from the data. First, males’ and females’ judgments of what members of the opposite-sex seek were generally accurate. Second, males and females both feel that they fall short of perceived opposite-sex expectations in a few areas. Third, both males and females desire an ideal partner better than themselves, but this is especially true for females. These findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary social psychological principles.

Overcoming “Doom and Gloom”: Empowering Students in Courses on Social Problems, Injustice, and Inequality

In this paper, I use principles of civic education and social psychology to identify four main classroom contributors to students' pessimistic appraisals of their ability to improve social problems: authoritarian teaching methods, a culture of “doom and gloom,” little attention to solutions to social problems, and no linkage of social problems to individual behavior. I then propose a five-step process to effectively teach about social problems while empowering students to help solve these problems: (1) identify the process through which social problems are constructed, (2) identify existence of the social problem, (3) identify core causes of the social problem, (4) identify structural solutions to the social problem, and (5) identify individual actions that contribute to structural solutions.

Social Psychology in the Classroom: Applying What We Teach As We Teach It

Education is applied social psychology. Whenever we bring groups of people together for the purpose of learning, we have a great opportunity to apply social psychological principles that will further our educational goals. We discuss ways to increase student commitment to learning, reduce feelings of anonymity, change how attributions for academic success and failure are made, and demonstrate the principles we are teaching.

Should Organizational Behavior Management Expand Its Content?

The American Psychological Association (APA) has defined the years 2000 to 2010 as the “Decade of Behavior,” and has been promoting this designation in convention materials, newsletters, media briefs, and professional publications. But APA seems to be avoiding the leading discipline in analyzing and changing behaviors in industrial settings-organizational behavior management (OBM). Furthermore, with only a few exceptions, OBM does not receive the attention it deserves in university psychology departments, including graduate programs in industrial/organizational (I/O) Psychology. This paper entertains reasons for the low and decreasing academic attention to OBM, and offers some possible solutions. It is proposed that OBM is generally discussed in overly simplistic terms; and unlike I/O Psychology, OBM does not draw on the wealth of relevant concepts and principles in other areas, especially cognitive and social psychology. Specific examples are given for expanding the typical boundaries of the OBM curriculum in order to improve organization-based interventions and realize greater opportunities to demonstrate the unique qualities of a behavior analysis approach to real-world problem solving.

The Costs of Diversity in Religious Organizations: An In-Depth Case Study

A significant body of literature has documented and explained the racial and ethnic homogeneity of volunteer organizations, including religious ones. This paper seeks to break new ground by beginning to examine ethnically diverse religious organizations. In this study we ask: What are the personal costs of being in a multiethnic religious organization, and are these costs borne disproportionately by any specific groups of people? Drawing on macrostructural theories of intergroup relations and social psychological principles, we hypothesize that minority groups (in size and power) within ethnically mixed congregations will disproportionately bear costs compared to the majority group. We test our hypotheses using a case study congregation, conducting in-depth interviews with 22 members and 4 former members of the congregation. We also conduct a network analysis with 38 members of the congregation. We conclude that the same social dynamics that tend to produce internal homogeneity in volunteer organizations also produce high personal costs of belonging to multiethnic religious organizations. This is an important finding because it leads to the larger question of how multiethnic religious organizations survive despite these costs.

Enhancing the effectiveness of tobacco package warning labels: a social psychological perspective.

To outline social psychological principles that could influence the psychosocial and behavioural effects of tobacco warning labels, and to inform the development of more effective tobacco warning labels. PsycInfo and Medline literature searches and expert guided selection of principles and theories in social psychology and of tobacco warning labels, including articles, books, and reports. Tobacco warning labels represent a potentially effective method of influencing attitudes and behaviours. This review describes social psychological principles that could be used to guide the creation of more effective warning labels. The potential value of incorporating warning labels into a broader public health education campaign is discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.

Demonstrating the Anchoring-Adjustment Heuristic and the Power of the Situation

This article presents a technique used to elucidate the anchoring-adjustment heuristic and to integrate the concept with social psychological principles. After drawing a high or low number out of a hat, students estimated the number of yearly stroke-related deaths that occur in the United States. The interaction between type of anchor and familiarity with the heuristic predicted stroke estimates. Class discussion highlighted the power of situational forces, implications of cognitive biases, and methodological issues. Students' pre- and postdemonstration definitions of the anchoring-adjustment heuristic indicated that the demonstration helped them to understand the concept. Students described the demonstration and discussion as informative and enjoyable.

Social Psychology and Management: Issues for a Changing Society

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewsFull AccessSocial Psychology and Management: Issues for a Changing SocietyEric D. Lister, M.D.Eric D. ListerSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Aug 2001https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.52.8.1111-aAboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Dr. Brotherton is a professor of social psychology in England who is passionate about building bridges between his academic discipline and the practice of organizational management—which he would describe as the applied version of social psychology. In Social Psychology and Management he explores, in successive chapters, motivation and individual performance at work; groups, leadership, and teams; gender and diversity; social psychology and technology; and the rise of networked organizations. Dr. Brotherton does an impressive job of surveying and integrating the social psychological research of the past half century under these headings.Although the book does a masterful job of identifying the links between social psychology and management activity, it fails in the author's goal of setting "a dialectic debate between social psychology on the one hand and management on the other." First, it is not clear what point and counterpoint he would like to set against each other in debate. Second, his book is arranged and argued much more like a dissertation than a live discussion or debate of interesting and potentially complementary ideas.The writing is dense, constantly footnoted, and liberally sprinkled with long quotations from primary sources. The voice of the practicing executive is rarely heard, and the complexities of managing a large organization are never elaborated with the richness or nuance of Dr. Brotherton's exposition of social science theory.He argues: "If management and social psychology could come closer together in understanding the process of change, perhaps organizations would be less littered with failed innovations." While I would agree with that assertion, the learning process would be better served by a book less unidimensionally anchored in the language of academe. Deutsch and Coleman's Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice might serve as a more successful example; it is worth noting that although they circumscribed their task more narrowly, they took three times the amount of text to do their job.The book ends, peculiarly, with a three-page section that sounds like an homage to Microsoft. A number of commentators and Microsoft employees are quoted describing Microsoft as an organization of the future, one that fully integrates the principles of social psychology. In the context of all that has preceded it, the lack of rigor, balance, and analysis in this description is striking and seems a bad note on which to end.If Dr. Brotherton's work is reconsidered as one half of a dialogue, it stands much better. With broad and deep knowledge of social psychology theory and a constant eye toward the value that these theories might have to practitioners, he might be able to achieve his goal in an actual dialogue with practicing managers. As it is, however, he succeeds in offering the manager who is interested in psychology and social psychology a primer on the research and theory of social psychology that may well be germane to practical management but fails to offer an invigorating discussion.Dr. Lister is managing partner of Ki Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, specializing in work with governing bodies and executive teams of health care organizations.by Chris Brotherton; Buckingham, England, Open University Press, 1999, 206 pages, $29.95 softcoverReference1. Deutsch M, Coleman PT: Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2000Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 52Issue 8 August 2001Pages 1111-a-1112 Metrics History Published online 1 August 2001 Published in print 1 August 2001

The social psychology of policy analysis

This article illustrates how some of the core concepts of social psychology can increase understanding of the practice of policy analysis. Policy analysis is shown to be a form of rhetoric subject to social psychological principles of attitude change. The article argues that policy analysts are primarily concerned with changing policymakers’ beliefs about the consequences of alternative policies, but that preferences for alternative policies are largely the result of values. Values are formed and modified primarily by social comparison processes, conformity pressures, and the dynamics of group decision making rather than by rational argument. As a result, policy analysts could become more effective by addressing issues of values in their analyses or by mediating the social processes that might interfere with good policy choices.

Social cognition: learning about what matters in the social world

Social-cognitive principles underlie people's learning about what matters in the social world. The benefits of these social-cognitive principles reveal essential aspects of what it means to be human. But these social-cognitive principles also have inherent costs, which highlight what it means to be ‘only human’. Social cognition is ‘social’ because what is learned concerns the social world, and where the learning takes place is in the social world. This paper reviews the benefits and costs of both sides of social cognition: (1) the cognition of social psychology principles of organization, explanation, knowledge activation and use; and (2) the social psychology of cognition principles of shared reality role enactment, social positions and identities and internal audiences. The fact that there are inherent costs of the same social-cognitive principles for which there are essential benefits affords a new perspective on social-cognitive costs that is different from either the classic ‘conflict’ perspective or the more current ‘limited capacity’ and ‘dual-process’ perspectives. This ‘trade-off’ perspective deepens both our understanding of the true nature of these principles and our appreciation of our common humanity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Learning About Myself (LAMS) Program for At-Risk Parents: Learning From the Past—Changing the Future

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessThe Learning About Myself (LAMS) Program for At-Risk Parents: Learning From the Past—Changing the FutureJonathan C. Clayfield, M.A., L.M.H.C.Jonathan C. ClayfieldSearch for more papers by this author, M.A., L.M.H.C.Published Online:1 Oct 1999https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.50.10.1369AboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail The Learning About Myself (LAMS) program is a psychoeducational program that provides an excellent combination of didactic and experiential activities to help at-risk parents—that is, parents at risk of abusing or neglecting their children because they lack effective parenting, coping, housekeeping, and social skills—to learn the necessary life skills they need to be better parents. Instead of concentrating solely on improving parenting skills, the LAMS program focuses on the parent as a person, helping the person achieve greater self-esteem, a more positive and assertive attitude, better relationships with others, and more confidence to make changes in his or her life.The book contains detailed information on how to set up and run a LAMS program, structured as 12 to 15 weekly group sessions of two and a half hours each. For each session the author lists the goals for the week, the materials needed to conduct the session, and detailed step-by-step instructions for all didactic and interactive activities, with suggested time allowances for each activity.To keep participants interested and engaged, the program uses a combination of weekly affirmations, readings, exercises, role-plays, games, videos, craft activities, demonstrations, and guest speakers. Alternate activities and resources are offered, along with suggestions for finding resources in the reader's own area. Potential obstacles such as child care, transportation, and money for supplies are also addressed. Because each week's curriculum can stand alone, there is the added flexibility of changing the order of the sessions without compromising the program's effectiveness.A valuable feature is that the program can be used with persons who have difficulties with reading comprehension or writing, as all written materials are read aloud in the sessions. The program does an excellent job of using interactive activities to help participants make sense of often-complicated cognitive-behavioral concepts such as negative self-talk. A graduation certificate awarded on completion of the program helps participants feel a sense of accomplishment.Because the weekly curriculum can be tailored to the needs of the group and is adaptable to all ages and both sexes, the program could work well in a variety of therapeutic settings—as a supplement to individual or group counseling, as part of adult or adolescent day treatment programs, or in a psychoeducational support program. It could be beneficial to parents and nonparents alike, helping individuals plan realistic education and employment goals, learn basic budgeting and homemaking skills and proper nutrition, and improve hygiene and appearance.According to the author, group facilitators need only "a general understanding of basic social work or psychological principles and some life experience," and thus the LAMS program does not have to be directed by a therapist. However, the facilitator has the ultimate responsibility of conveying the weekly curriculum in the most interesting way possible for the program to be effective, and for dropout rates to be low.The LAMS program originated in the intensive family preservation unit of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services-Child Protective Services in Fort Worth. The program was originally developed by Ms. Rickard to help mothers involved with child protective services. Ms. Rickard has been working with high-risk abusive and neglectful families since 1979, and her many years of experience are certainly reflected in this well-designed and thoughtful program.Mr. Clayfield is coordinator of the parenting options project at the Center for Mental Health Services Research of the department of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.by Verna Rickard, B.S.W., L.S.W.; Binghamton, New York, Haworth Press, 1998, 195 pages, $14.95 softcover FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 50Issue 10 October 1999Pages 1369-1369 Metrics History Published online 1 October 1999 Published in print 1 October 1999