 This is part two of lecture one and this part we're going to be talking about. What is social psychology? But before I go to definitions, let me start by asking you a question What are according to you the biggest problems that modern society are facing? So if you just take a moment for yourself to think about this What is really something that disturbs you something that you worry about if you think about the society or the world that we live in? well, one thing that will probably come to mind is The worlds and the state of nature in the worlds of course climate change is a very big problem that we're all Facing with and we we realize every summer while it gets hotter That's this is something that's that's gonna change our lives and it already did change our lives And it's gonna be something that will become a reality even more so over the upcoming years so a Question that you might be having when it comes to climate change is why do we behave in ways? That are actually damaging to us in the long run. Why is it so hard for people to for example? Show behavior that they know is better for the worlds taking shorter showers Taking the bike instead of going by car all these tiny behaviors that will eventually make a difference in Making an impact on the world, but it's really hard for people to behave in ways that is good in the long term We are very short-minded We think about what is nice for us right now, and it's really hard to sort of transform our behavior to show Behavior that is good in the long run not only for us But also for the world that we live in and social psychology can help us understand these behaviors can help us understand Why climate change has gone so far and if we're in the first place and also it can help us? Answer a question that is on the mind of politicians for a long time How can we stop this and is there a way of? changing people's behavior the short answer is yes, there is there are certain ways certain Strategies that we can use to impact people's behavior and we'll be discussing them throughout this course Let's now move on to another problem something very different, but definitely not more urgent or important That is the way we treat each other How is it? Why is it that people get treated differently based on their appearance? This is an ancient old question We treat people differently when they look different from us and this leads to very negative intersocial situations and very negative behaviors such as stereotyping Discrimination and sometimes it goes even so far that lives are on the line like what happened here in the United States Another question something that has been very relevant for us in the last couple of years is why is it so hard for people to? Follow rules that are essential for human health If you're dealing with a pandemic in which it's very clear what we need to do to sort of tackle this and make sure that we Stay safe People find it very hard to change their habits to change the way they behave on a day-to-day Basis to keep distance from people that they love that's really really difficult Why is that the case? Why is it so hard to follow very basic rules rules that make a lot of sense if you know what's going on Then a final topic that you might be thinking about when you talk about and you think about deep problems in society is The discussion surrounding safety when it comes to interpersonal situations like the Me Too movement in the Me Too movement It became very clear that there's some deep-rooted sexism in behaviors often between People in power often men in power and people that do not have power and it's very hard for victims in these situations to speak up and There's many examples of this for example also here in the Netherlands. There was a lot of Bad media press outlets on situations on a very popular TV show called the voice of Holland International format that's also a broadcast is here in the Netherlands Where people in power? judges of the program coaches of the program actually got involved in in me too behaviors and Finally victims spoke up they talked about what they went through but it was very hard and it was hidden for years So why is that why is it so hard for victims to speak up? So all these different very complicated issues We can understand them just a little bit better if we understand human behavior So this is if you think about what's going on in the world around us and things that that might be upsetting to you When you read the newspaper, but also in your own life. You probably also had some situations that really impacted you maybe situations that resemble the Problems that we discussed before something that had to do with power abuse or a discrimination But it might also be something really different Maybe in the past or maybe still you experience situations in which you feel bullied or excluded by other people Why does it feel so bad to be excluded by people? Especially when you're part of a certain group and all of a sudden you're not part of that group anymore You're ignored and people talk bad about you or they laugh in your face or behind your back even That's really hurtful. It can't really be a traumatizing experience Why is that even if it's not? Physical you're not physically assaulted. It's just something psychological, but why does it feel so bad to be excluded? Something that's more on the positive side and of course the special interest in me a question That also researchers has been have been studying for for decades is why do we fall in love? This is of course very different from the other topics But falling in love and forming relationships is also very impactful in your life and The way you are treated in an interpersonal relationship, especially in a romantic relationship will also leave its mark So if you had a good partner, this this is great for developing healthy relationships Even further even besides that that one partner and if you get treated badly This also leaves its mark and it makes you makes it harder for you to trust people So why do we fall in love and how do relationship? Impacts us and our personality and the relationships will form in the future so all these questions are just for you to get a sense of how Psychology social psychology matters because if you have insight into social psychology You will have insight into answering this this very deep and complicated questions So let me now go to some definitions First of all, let me start with it the definition of psychology the study that you're all studying So psychology that's no surprise to you That's a scientific study of the mind and with mind I mean thoughts and feelings and the behavior of people and that's very broad of course social psychology sort of focuses on a specific aspect of psychology and that is that in social psychology Psychology you zoom into the way in which people's thoughts and feelings and behaviors are impacted by others so other people around us Influence our minds and our behavior So this happens for example when you're together with the group of friends Maybe you're studying or you're just catching up all these people Impact you so the personalities of each of these individuals in the group impact how you behave Their behavior is gonna impact how you behave if everybody's very loud and talking a lot and and being extroverted you can either Be a show Behavior that is the same and you feel like you're imitating the behavior of the group or you maybe even behave completely different because you want to shy away and you feel sort of intimidated by the group Nevertheless, even if you're imitating the others or you're showing behavior. That's different They are impacting your behavior So the group that you're in the people that are around you in your near presence. They impact your behavior But not only the people that are actually there also people that are not actually there that are in your mind They also impact you so for example Maybe this guy on the very right is all of a sudden realizing that it's actually his mother's birthday today so he's thinking about his mother while he's being in that group and Thinking about her will also Consequently impact his behavior so people do not have to be physically present to impact your behavior So people are influenced by both the real presence of others This is what we as social psychologists refer to as the explicit presence of other Others and also the imagined presence of others. So that's the implicit Presence of others and One of the core Themes within social psychology is social influence and that is the way the effect That's basically all the behavior of other people the words the actions the mere presence of other people Have on our own thoughts feelings and behavior So how are people impacting us and we'll have plenty of examples throughout this course of the way that we Impacted by other people So if you want to study the mind if you want to understand humans better and then you can take different approaches So clinical psychology and personality psychology for for these psychologists the level of analysis is the individual They are interested in for example individual differences between personality that sets one person aside from the other For social psychologists the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation So we never focus on an individual on its own like it's it's like it's in a bubble We also don't think that makes a lot of sense because humans are group animals. We always Have others in our surroundings and even if we're not physically with others They are impacting us through their implicit presence. So the individual in the social context that's the field of social psychology and What social psychologists try to do is to get a sense of the individual's Construal of a social situation and with construal. I mean how do humans? Perceive and comprehend and interpret their social worlds. What type of constructs do they use? How do they make sense of the social worlds that they are living in and This will be a returning topic in many of the upcoming lectures