Showing papers on "Social psychology (sociology) published in 1979"
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a framework for social theory based on structuralism and the theory of the subject, with a focus on contradiction, power, and historical materialism.
Abstract: Preface Introduction 1. Structuralism and the Theory of the Subject 2. Agency, Structure 3. Institutions, Reproduction, Socialization 4. Contradiction, Power, Historical Materialism 5. Ideology and Consciousness 6. Time, Space, Social Change 7. The Prospects for Social Theory Today Notes and References Index
5,186 citations
1,929 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that the bias of individualistic theories in social psychology derives from the assumption that social behaviour takes place inside homogeneous and unstructured social systems, using as examples the theory of belief similarity in prejudice and equity theory.
Abstract: In a recent paper, Taylor & Brown have argued that, although research in social psychology needs to take into account the social context of social behaviour, the theories should aim at the explanation of individual behaviour. The present paper argues against this view as it applies to some important issues in social psychology. First, it is contended that the ‘individualistic’ bias of research in social psychology derives from the nature of the theories dominating the discipline. Second, a theory of inter-group behaviour is briefly outlined in order to show that its structure and aims are different in some important ways from the individualistic theories. The bias of these theories which is due to their assumption that social behaviour takes place inside homogeneous and unstructured social systems is illustrated using as examples the theory of belief similarity in prejudice and equity theory.
490 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: The current status of affect control theory can be found in this paper, where the authors present a catalog of social identities and interpersonal acts, as well as an analysis of social processes and social roles.
Abstract: Preface 1. Affect control and situated action 2. Affective reactions 3. Event construction and retroduction 4. Analysing social processes 5. Social roles 6. Current status of affect-control theory Appendix: Catalogues of social identities and interpersonal acts Notes References Index.
442 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared traditional reviews of research in social psychology with a statistical approach and concluded on both abstract and practical grounds that adoption of the statistical approach would lead to theoretical progress for the research area covered.
Abstract: Traditional (literary) reviews of research in social psychology are compared with a statistical approach It is concluded on both abstract and practical grounds that adoption of the statistical approach would lead to theoretical progress for the research area covered A meta-analysis "package" is described and then applied to the question of whether there are sex differences in degree of conformity The meta-analysis is yoked to a literary analysis, and conclusions of differing direction and confidence appear Problems in application are encountered, and appropriate courses of action are discussed Finally, limitations on the power of the procedure are outlined The traditional way to review research in social psychology has been to take a literary approach That is, summary statements about research areas are usually based on impressions gleaned by the reviewer from a reading of related studies This article takes issue with the efficiency of such an approach An example of a statistical technique for combining the results of independent experiments is provided, and this approach is contrasted with a literary summary The quantitative procedures describe numerically the characteristics of a body of evidence and give a probability level related to the observed pattern of results Although the actual numerical manipulations require little statistical sophistication, the theoretical progress possible through their employment may be great (progress is here denned as more precise and confident statements about segments of our world) The reasons for believing that progress will follow the adoption of quantitative procedures are both abstract and practical
407 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a generic definition of "stereotype" is proposed: the structured sets of beliefs about the personal attributes of women and men, which are linked to the social categories female and male.
Abstract: Progress in understanding sex stereotypes has been impeded by the failure of researchers to address two critical conceptual questions: What is a sex stereotype? How do sex stereotypes function in social cognition and behavior? As a step toward answering the first question, the meaning of the term “sex stereotype” was considered. On the basis of points of agreement among extant conceptual definitions of the construct “stereotype” (in both the female-male and ethnic relations literatures), a generic definition of “sex stereotypes” is proposed: the structured sets of beliefs about the personal attributes of women and of men. In order to relate sex stereotypes more closely to research and theory on “normal” psychological processes, this basic definition is recast in terms of the person perception construct, “implicit personality theory”: the structured sets of inferential relations that link personal attributes to the social categories female and male. Two studies are presented to illustrate the utility of this translation. The remainder of the article addresses the second question. Here we offer preliminary ideas regarding a more general cognitive—social psychological framework for the study of sex stereotypes. Stereotype and stereotyping are distinguished, and each is discussed in light of relevant research in cognitive and social psychology.
354 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: Social Psychology: what, why, and how as mentioned in this paper ) is a generalization of social psychology to the psychology of social cognition, where the self is defined as extending the self to others.
Abstract: Social Psychology: what, why, and how. Social cognition. Knowing the self. Presenting the self. Forming and changing attitudes. Relating actions and attitudes. Attraction and close relationships. Altruism: extending the self to others. Aggression: harming and hurting others. Developing and resolving conflict. Prejudice and stereotypes. Social influence. The dynamics of groups. The environment.
227 citations
162 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: The Field of Social Psychology: How We Think About and Interact with Others as mentioned in this paper... The field of social psychology: How we think about and interact with others. And how we internalize our social world.
Abstract: Preface. About the Authors. 1. The Field of Social Psychology: How We Think About and Interact with Others. 2. Social Perception and Social Cognition: Internalizing Our Social World. 3. Attitudes: Evaluating the Social World. 4. The Social Self: Personal and Social Identities. 5. Prejudice and Discrimination: Understanding their Nature, Countering their Effects. 6. Relationships: From Attraction to Parting. 7. Social Influence: Changing Others' Behaviour. 8. Helping and Harming: Prosocial Behaviour and Aggression. 9. Groups and Individuals: The Consequences of Belonging. 10. Applied Social Psychology: Health, Work, and Legal Applications References. Name Index. Subject Index. Credits.
TL;DR: Social psychology has been defined as the attempt to understand how society influences the cognition, motivation, development, and behavior of individuals and, in turn, is influenced by them.
Abstract: This paper presents an assessment of the current state of social psychology in the light of its historical and social context. The discipline is viewed as a social system, and an attempt is made to show how the properties of this system have influenced the research techniques, substantive content, and theories of contemporary social psychology. It is suggested that the field's basic mission should be defined as the attempt to understand how society influences the cognition, motivation, development, and behavior of individuals and, in turn, is influenced by them. It is proposed that this definition provides a basis for integrating all of social psychology, including its two main subdivisions and several areas of specialization. The entire history of social psychology as a field of empirical research extends over a period of only approximately eighty years. And since most of its growth has occurred within the past four decades, it is largely the product of scholars who are still active in the field. In this paper, I would like to draw upon my own experience as a social psychologist over the past
TL;DR: A review of sociological studies of mass communication can be found in this article, where sociological developments in five areas of mass communications research, concentrating on the period from 1972 through mid1978 but also including some earlier research.
Abstract: The study of mass communications is a broad, multidisciplinary field to which sociology has made major contributions. Some of these contributions have been reviewed in earlier works by Riley & Riley (1959), Larsen (1964), Janowitz (1968), McQuail (1969), Davison & Yu (1974), & Ball-Rokeach (1975), and Wright (1975a). Several chapters in Annual Review of Psychology, although not explicitly sociological in orientation, report on communication studies of sociological relevance. Schramm(1962) reviews the social psychology of mass communication from 1955 through 1961. Tannenbanm & Greenberg (1967) update that review through 1966, and W. Weiss (1971) brings it up to 1970. Lumsdaine & May (1965) focus on educational media, a topic beyond the scope of this review. (For an account of recent developments in media of instruction, see Schramm 1977.) And a recent review by Liebert & Schwartzberg (1977), which focuses the effects of the mass media, also presents data on patterns of media use, media content, and transmission of information and cultivation of beliefs-all of which are topics of sociological concern. Current statistics on the distribution, structure, and uses of mass media are available in Frey (1973) and in a recent comprehensive review and guide American communication industry trends by Sterling & Haight (1978). In addition, the reader can find useful sociological materials on the mass media in the Handbook of Communication(Pool et al. 1973) and in Communication Research---A Half-Century Appraisal (Lerner & Nelson 1977). Here we review sociological developments in five areas of mass communications research, concentrating on the period from 1972 through mid1978 but also including some earlier research. First, we examine studies of mass communicators, media organizations, and the processes by which mass communications are produced. These studies relate to sociological interests in occupations and professions, complex organizations, and the phenomenon of work--placing the communicator in the context of the social system, a sociological development in communications research foreseen by Riley & Riley (1959) two decades ago. Second, we consider research on mass media audiences, especially research oriented toward interests in social differentiation and in the social psychology of media uses and gratifications. Third, we review studies that relate interpersonal communication and mass communication opinion leadership, communication networks, and diffusion of news. Fourth, we consider studies of mass media content that touch upon changing social norms and upon the public presentation of social roles. Finally, we review recent research on mass communication effects, especially studies attempting to determine the media's effects on public beliefs, knowledge, and concepts of social reality, but also those considering the media's roles in socialization and social change. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/94 Ann. Rev. Sociol. 1979. 5:193-217 Copyright © 1979 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved
TL;DR: The authors discuss correlates of an improved emotional state following conversion and employ attribution theory, drawn from social psychology, to put the conversion process into a psychiatric perspective.
Abstract: The authors undertook this study to enhance psychiatric understanding of contemporary charismatic religious sects. After a pilot study, a representative sample of members of the Unification Church (N = 237) completed a 216-item structured questionnaire. Respondents were below the mean for an age- and sex-matched group on a psychological general well-being scale, and they reported significantly greater neurotic distress before conversion. The authors discuss correlates of an improved emotional state following conversion and employ attribution theory, drawn from social psychology, to put the conversion process into a psychiatric perspective.
15 Feb 1979
TL;DR: In this paper, an overview of research related to moderators of life stress is provided, with special attention given to studies of social support, perceived control, and stimulation seeking, which are important areas for future investigation.
Abstract: : The present paper provides an overview of research related to moderators of life stress. Special attention is given to studies of social support, perceived control, and stimulation seeking. Also considered are important areas for future investigation. (Author)
TL;DR: The chapter attempts to show that both cultural and cross-cultural dimensions of social behavior are investigated, and to illustrate how studies are done and how knowledge can be returned to the people.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the cultural ecology of social behavior. There appears to be a growing interest in relationships between social behavior and its sociocultural context, and in the cross-cultural generality of these relationships. The chapter attempts to illustrate how such studies are done (a methodological emphasis), what does such study reveals (a substantive emphasis), and finally, how such knowledge can be returned to the people (an applied emphasis). The chapter discusses an ecological-cultural-behavioral model. The model views the development of individual behavior as a function of membership in a cultural group; and cultural characteristics are viewed as a function of both the ecological setting of the group and the acculturative influences, which impinge upon the group. The chapter also focuses on social behaviors, charted cross-culturally, and on their group and individual distributions. The chapter attempts to show that both cultural and cross-cultural dimensions of social behavior are investigated. The aim of science is to make general statements, but the aim of social psychology is to make culturally universal statements about human social behavior.
TL;DR: In this article, the dissatisfaction with the existing scientific paradigm of social psychology and its adoption in sport psychology is discussed, and a partial solution in the development of a new paradigm is suggested that sport psychologists trade their smocks for "jocks, turning their efforts to multivariate, long-term field research.
Abstract: The dissatisfaction with the existing scientific paradigm of social psychology, and its adoption in sport psychology, is discussed. Although many metapsychological issues are raised, attention focuses on the inadequacies of laboratory experimental research. As a partial solution in the development of a new paradigm, it is suggested that sport psychologists trade their smocks for “jocks,” turning their efforts to multivariate, long-term field research.
TL;DR: A comparison of cross-Cultural Comparisons in Interpersonal Attraction of Females toward Males in the context of Europe and the United States shows clear patterns of attraction toward males.
Abstract: (1979). Cross-Cultural Comparisons in Interpersonal Attraction of Females toward Males. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 108, No. 1, pp. 121-122.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effects of perceived freedom, motivation, and goal on male and female subjects' perceptions of leisure and found that perceived freedom is the critical regulator of subjective definitions of leisure.
Abstract: Based upon Neulinger's (1974) theoretical model, the study examined the effects of perceived freedom (low vs. high), motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic), and goal (instrumental vs. final) on male and female subjects’ perceptions of leisure. In full support of the model, an analysis of variance revealed that the main effects of perceived freedom, motivation, and goal were statistically highly significant. Specifically, these results indicated that it was high rather than low perceived freedom, intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation, and final rather than instrumental goal that increased subjects’ perceptions of leisure. But the data also produced three statistically significant interactions involving freedom and motivation, freedom and goal, and sex and motivation. The first two interactions suggested that perceived freedom is the critical regulator of subjective definitions of leisure in that the positive effects of intrinsic motivation and “final” goal orientation materialized largely under the cond...
TL;DR: This paper argued that individual oriented theories must give way to a new level of theorizing emphasizing group processes and that the latter type of criticism is entirely justified but that the second is somewhat misleading.
Abstract: Social psychology has been criticized by several American and European writers for being too individualistic in its treatment of social behaviour. The various positions appear to focus on two major issues. First, that at the empirical level, the individual rather than the group has been the focus of research. Second, that individually oriented theories must give way to a new level of theorizing emphasizing group processes. Our own position is that the first type of criticism is entirely justified but that the second is somewhat misleading. The position is illustrated by reference to recent group-oriented theories of Tajfel and Moscovici.
TL;DR: In this article, the Asch/Kelley experiment was used to assess whether subjects in a typical, successful social psychological experiment pick up cues planted by experimenters and then proceed relatively mindlessly with the task at hand.
Abstract: An experiment, offered as a methodological prototype, was conducted to assess whether subjects in a typical, successful social psychological experiment pick up cues planted by experimenters and then proceed relatively mindlessly with the task at hand. The Asch/Kelley experiment was used to test this hypothesis. Subjects were tested on recall of information they had just been given. As predicted, subjects who were mindless with respect to this information were more likely to confirm the Asch/Kelley prediction than disconfirm it, while there was no difference in confirmation for the mindful group. The implications of these results for our ability to generalize our findings from the laboratory to the nonlaboratory world were discussed.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: It is postulated that the Triplett experiment functions as an “origin myth” which is sustained by inductivist approaches to the history of psychology.
Abstract: It is customary for modern social psychology textbooks to claim that experimental social psychology began in 1898, the year in which Norman Triplett published the results of his investigation into the dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. An historical enquiry shows this claim to be quite without foundation, and it is postulated that the Triplett experiment functions as an “origin myth” which is sustained by inductivist approaches to the history of psychology. Early experimental studies of suggestion are here examined in order to demonstrate the difficulties involved in tracing the origins of experimental social psychology.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report observations of children's interactions in the playgrounds of a first and middle school, and propose a number of categories for the types of solution employed.
Abstract: Summary Children avoid violence in the playground by continually producing social solutions to the problems that are met. Following work by the Opies (1959) and Harre (1974; 1975; 1977), this article reports observations of children's interactions in the playgrounds of a first and middle school, and proposes a number of categories for the types of solution employed. It is noted that children's strategies for avoiding violence closely resemble those used by adults, and could be regarded as part of the process of growing up. This paper was first presented at the Contemporary Violence Research Centre conference on Understanding Everyday Violence, Oxford, September 1978, and the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Conference, Cardiff, September 1978. A fuller version of the work will be available as a book, Growing up in the Playground, to be published in 1979 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. I am indebted to the Social Science Research Council for financial support for the period 1975‐78.
15 Apr 1979
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical framework for stress research is presented which emphasizes the role of cognitions related to situational demands, constraints, and opportunities, and the nature of these cognitions is influenced by personality characteristics, recent life experiences, and social supports.
Abstract: : A theoretical framework for stress research is presented which emphasizes the role of cognitions related to situational demands, constraints, and opportunities. The nature of these cognitions is influenced by personality characteristics, recent life experiences, and social supports. Relevant research dealing with these factors is reviewed. Two studies in which elements of social supports were experimentally manipulated are described. Their clinical and developmental implications are discussed. (Author)
TL;DR: In this paper, Rosen and Tesser's reluctance to bear bad news (MUM) effect was studied in the public transportation systems of Paris, Madrid, London, Geneva, and Frankfurt am Main.
Abstract: Postcards containing a message either high or low in importance, and either favorable or unfavorable for the recipient, were individually "lost" in the public transportation systems of Paris, Madrid, London, Geneva, and Frankfurt am Main. More postcards were returned when the message was favorable than when it was unfavorable, but only in the high importance conditions. This pattern of results occurred in each location except Madrid. The findings are discussed in terms of Rosen and Tesser's (1970) reluctance to bear bad news (MUM) effect.