Essay On Social Psychology

Social Psychology is defined as “The scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual imagined or implied presence of others” according to Gordon Allport (1935). The research carried out in this field is concerned with exploring human behaviour in a social context to explain certain aspects of human behaviour which may be deemed as abnormal or those which stray from the socially constructed “social norms”. This essay aims to explore classic studies throughout the field of social psychology which have attempted to explain human behaviour whilst simultaneously exploring the influence they have had on this branch of psychology and the world. Some researchers include Asch, Milgram

Many, from then have developed the theory of a social construct which alters human behaviour, one of whom is Solomon Asch. Asch, with his conformist approach challenged the view of humans as “autonomous beings” (Asch 1955) through his experiment which displayed how people are more likely to agree with majority opinion when confronted, rather than commit to their own beliefs and judgements. In an attempt to explain this particular human behaviour, The Asch Paradigm was carried out, after Muzafer Sherif conducted an experiment without the parameter of a definitive correct answer which therefore could not produce a solid conclusion. 123 males were placed into groups with `confederates` who had knowledge of the real aim of the experiment. They were then given a visual test, the task to decide which one of the lines on card two was the same length as the line on card one. The `confederates` were instructed to give 6 correct answers at the beginning of the session then supply the next 12 incorrectly in order to determine whether their answer would have an effect on the