Oh Social Psych, how do I love thee? Let me count
the ways….
Ok that may be overdoing it a little, but I do want
to discuss some of the most interesting (or as Dr. G would say) sexiest theories from the field of
Social Psychology.
Let’s start with my favorite:
Cognitive Dissonance Theory- I have always been
intrigued with this theory, I think because it is so powerful. The thought that
people will actually change their attitudes simply because you get them to
perform a behavior that is opposite of their true attitudes…well that is just
crazy. Common sense would tell you that people would simply justify the
behavior and move on (which they sometimes do), but a wealth of studies have
also shown that people often do change their beliefs to match their behavior.
It just goes to show you how complex and confusing human behavior is!
Next, and in no particular order:
Self-verification Theory- This theory also goes
against everything we want to believe about ourselves. We all know we love
ourselves, and we love people who love us, but this theory flies right in the
face of all we know about our narcissism, and says that we actually prefer
accurate feedback about ourselves (even when negative). Wow. I think it is such
an interesting theory because it is counter-intuitive, yet the research shows
that this theory holds true in many cases. Maybe we aren’t as narcissistic as I
thought….
Ironic Processes- This theory confirmed something I
always knew was real but couldn’t explain: the fact that the more you try not
to think about something, the more you think about it. Is there anything more
annoying?! It was cool to learn the psychological mechanism behind this problem
and how you can attempt to overcome it. Maybe now I can get that damn “Call me
maybe” song out of my head.
Attribution Theory- I love this theory because it
explains so much about human behavior. Specifically the fact that people tend
to need an explanation for everything that happens (I am one of these people),
but the truth is that there is often more than one explanation for things, and
sometimes things are just random. I guess the next time my husband does
something strange I won’t try to figure out why (some things are better left
alone).
Social Facilitation Theory- This theory is so cool
because it deals with something that everyone has experienced in their
lifetime: choking or peaking. One of my biggest fears is
performing an unfamiliar task in front of other people, and now I know why. I
think if people understand this theory than many of them won’t feel so bad
about performing poorly with an audience.
Now, those are all awesome theories, but we wouldn’t
have them without these amazing Social Psychologists:
Leon Festinger- Two Words: Cognitive Dissonance.
Again, this is my most favorite theory and I think many people in the field
agree with me. Festinger is the man. Period.
Bill Swann- This guy has some balls (pardon my French).
He set out to dispute another very prominent theory in Social Psych
(Self-enhancement Theory), and not only that, he did it with style. The methods
he used to conduct his research and develop this theory are pretty cool and he
deserves some mad props.
Dan Wegner- This man is a genius. I wouldn’t even
know how to begin to think up a theory like Ironic processes, much less how to
operationalize and test it. I think that this is one of the most ingenious
methodologies I have read about thus far in the field.
Fritz Heider- Attribution Theory and Balance Theory,
this guy has been busy. Both of these are pretty complex theories that deal
with very important issues in the field of Social Psych: Explaining behavior,
and explaining attraction. Kudos to you, Fritz.
Last, but certainly not least, Bob Zajonc- What can
I even say about this man? He is just a badass. Social Facilitation Theory is
one of the most interesting and well thought out theories in the field. And I
can definitely attest to the validity of the Mere Exposure Effect (my husband
should thank you, Mr. Zajonc).
Now I know I could have gone with Milgram or
Zimbardo, which are two of the most ground breaking Social Psychologists for
sure, but I feel that the ones I have listed are just as sexy, even without the ethical dilemmas ;)
Word count- 743
No comments:
Post a Comment