What is Social Psychology?
Social psychology studies the effects of construction of reality and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others in order to understand the social behavior of individuals. This is done in a systematic way, using scientific methods, constructed with the awareness of possible error. Social psychology split from general psychology by maintaining an emphasis on important effects of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Human social behavior can be understood in terms of a few fundamental social psychology processes, flowing from eight principles. We shape our own construction of reality by cognitive and social processes. Other people influence this construction by influencing our thoughts, feelings, and behavior, which shows the pervasiveness of social influence. In addition, people’s motivations to striving for mastery, seeking connectedness, and valuing me and mine influence their social behaviors. Finally, social behavior can be understood in terms
Social psychology is a branch of psychology which examines the impact of social influences on human behavior. This field is vast, encompassing a wide range of fields of study and several disciplines. Social psychology is also used in a range of disciplines and industries; many people utilize the principles of social psychology without even being aware of it when they try to control a group, influence someone’s opinion, or explain why someone behaves in a particular way. The roots of social psychology were laid in the late 1800s, when psychology as a discipline was thriving in Europe. As the First World War drove many psychologists to the United States, social psychology began to arise as a distinct discipline in the 1920s. One of the major influences on the field was Kurt Lewin, who is called the “father” of social psychology by some people; other famous social psychologists include Zimbardo, Asch, Milgram, Festinger, Ross, and Mischel. A social psychologist looks at the attitudes, bel
Social Psychology, together with Cognitive Psychology, are the two core disciplines within Psychology. If cognitive psychology is the study of how information is stored and recalled from our memories then social psychology is fundamentally about how we operate in group and social settings. As such it is a vast field of study and it touches on other disciplines such as sociology, politics and economics as well as different areas of psychology. The discipline has tended to be based on research derived in experimental settings (some psychologists have argued this is one the flaws in social psychology). Historically there have been some famous, if ethically dubious, experiments in obedience and group formation. Topics In Social Psychology Social Psychologists study a range of issues including: • human sexuality; • group dynamics and formation; • the formation of our individual identities (and how this can vary); • conflict, including racism and hatred of those we perceive to be different;
