Essay On Social Psychology

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History of Social Psychology Nature and Definition Social psychology is a science that studies our human connections. It is an important perspective from which we can view and understand ourselves. It is an environmental science and reveals how social circumstances influence behavior. Social psychology views human behavior as scientific rather than subjective. According to Allport, social psychology is the study of social behavior, the study of how people organize and respond to their social experience, the study of people in groups, the study of interaction and the study of the effects of one person on other. Social psychology is almost one hundred yeas old as a scientific discipline and most of the growth has occurred during the past five decades (McGarty & Haslam, 1997). So we can say that social psychology is a young science. Famous Social Psychologists Following are the list of psychologists which are famous due to their contribution in the field of social psychology. • Floyd Allport & Gordon Allport • Kurt Lewin • Gustave Le Bon • William McDougall & Edward Ross • Solomon Asch Wundt and Social Psychology: 1862-1894 Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of psychology had a hand in the early development of social psychology. He proposed that psychology should have two branches: Physiological psychology and Social psychology. His writings affected positively and by the 1900, the Germany’s annual bibliography of the psychological literature listed over 200 articles per year regarding “social psychology.” Although his ideas were popular in Europe but they had no impact on America as his writing was not translated in English. Thus, psychological social psychology in America, developed without Wundtian influence. Early Years of Social Psycho... ... middle of paper ... ... gave a positive impact and broad field of social psychology emerged. Researchers began to conduct more correlational studies and become more responsible regarding accusations of gender and racial bias. Cognitive Revolution In this period, social psychologists took the ideas from cognitive psychology to describing the social behaviour. This increased the theoretical material and research in social psychology. They focused on the concept of self. Global View of Social Psychology: 1985–present Almost in 1970s, social psychological associations were formed in Europe & Latin America. After that the Asian Association of Social Psychology was founded in 1995. Psychologists of overseas were giving more importance to intergroup and societal variables in describing social behaviour. Due to the exchange of ideas over the world, the discipline began to reshape in mid-1980s.

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