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What does social psychology mean to me
Importance of social psychology
Importance of social psychology in society
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Social Psychology is defined as the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or impliedpresence of others. The first published study in this area was an experiment in 1898 by Norman Triplett, on the phenomenon of social facilitation, the tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others than when alone. After performing several laboratory experiments, Norman concluded that children perform tasks faster in multiples rather than individually. (socialpsychology.org)In 1908 William McDougall wrote and published the first notable book in Englishcalled “An Introduction toSocial Psychology”. The book McDougall wrote included chapters on emotion and sentiment, …show more content…
Unfortunately,McDougall’s work was not the principle that is upheld in modernsocial psychology. (simplypsychology.org)However, his work in the 1930s was very influential in establishing parapsychology, and later writing more books about psychology.(socialpsychology.org)In 1924 an American psychologist Floyd Henry Allportwork“Social Psychology” supports current thinking by acknowledging that social behavior results from the interactions between people. He performed several experiments and discovered that individuals perform the same tasks better in a group than when theyare isolated.(socialpsychology.org)When he was researching Allport took a methodological route which allowed him to discussing actual research. He made it an importance that the field was a science which studied the behavior or the individual person as that person effected other people’s behaviors. His work also involved emotion, acceptance, and the effects of a crowd on others. (simplypsychology.org)These three psychologistsin my opinion are the most significant because they were the first to have major finding in social psychology and changed it …show more content…
Regardless of whether we need to comprehend it ourselves or the social world around us, social psychology offers important experiences. Social psychologist considersour feeling of individual character, our impressions of other individuals, our beliefsabout worldevents, the pressure we now and again feel to fit in with social gatherings, and our search for loveand important social connections. Social psychologist also encourages us to understand the stories behind the present news headlineson such points as globalterrorism, school violence, sexual harassment, same‑sex marriage, andsaving energy. As anyone might expect, educators, healthexperts, attorneys, political examiners, business leaders, and individuals in a wide range of professions discover social psychologist profitable in their work. Attemptingto exhibit the fundamental speculations and discoveries of social psychologist and to indicate how social psychologystandards are significant to our day by day lives.(wordtrade.com)To completely comprehend why individuals,do the things that they do, it is necessary to take a lookat singular attributes, the circumstance and setting, and the interaction between these two factors. In many examples, individuals act distinctively relying on the circumstance.Our social interactions help us form our self-concept and perception. Sometimes we participate in upward social comparison where we rate ourselves
Social psychology is a scientific study that studies how people think, feel, and how they behave under the influence of other people (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2013, p. 2). Thinking about what social influence really means, we tend to think of a person who tries to persuade another person to acting a certain way. It can be a form of peer pressure, like taking that first puff of a cigarette, or it can be conforming to popular societal views, such as obeying the law of the land. Fiction is a great way to learn about social psychological perspectives. Watching popular theatrical films is the perfect way to learn because it illustrates the application of many perceptions within the subject of social psychology.
Many people attribute modern psychology to psychologist such as Sigmund Freud, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner. Though, they were a part of developing modern psychology, many forget to recognize important founders such as William James. According to King, Viney and Woody, James came from a family with a strict father, raised in tolerance. James and his father had many encounters because of their different views. They were a wealthy and cultured family. James attended Harvard, studying a broad spectrum of just about everything. He finally received his medical degree in 1869, but then became depressed and anxious about life. He was not fond of medicine and was then offered to teach a course in the Relations between Psychology and Physiology. He was also the founder of Harvard’s first psychology laboratory. James then began to teach psychology as well as writing the first U.S. psychology text, Principles of Psychology, in 1890; this book was the main psychology textbook for many years to come (p.284). James was well known for his philosophy, which he explored many areas. For example individualism, which he believed that circumstances shape individuals and then individuals shape the world also that we understand reality only through individual experiences. Pluralism was another view which he believed that there are many ways to understand the world, and a variety of methods and topics to study. Also, for James pragmatism was a belief that if an idea worked it was valid; these ideas should have “cash value” as he stated. He meant that these ideas should be useful and apply them to the real world. Although philosophy was a major part of his work, he was also known as the American founder of psychology (King, Viney &Woody 2013, p.286). Wi...
Social psychology is an empirical science that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This field focuses on how individuals view and affect each other. Social psychology also produces the idea of construals which represent how a person perceives, comprehends or interprets the environment. Construals introduce the idea that people want to make themselves look good to others and they want to be seen as right. It is also said that the social setting in which people interact impacts behavior, which brings up the idea of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior is a function of the person and the environment.
American psychologist B.F. Skinner 1904-1990, developed social process theory he studied behaviorism, which included responses to environmental stimuli and the controlled scientific study of response. This study was termed operant conditioning created through both social and non-social reinforcements. Most learning of criminal behavior occurs in social interactions with other people (B.F. Skinner).
There are some human phenomena, which seem to be the result of individual actions and personal decisions. Yet, these phenomena are often - on closer inspection – as much a result of social factors as of psychological ones.
Myers, David G. “Chapter 14: Social Psychology.” Psychology. 10th ed. New York, NY US: Worth
Social Psychology is the study of how we think and relate to other people. These psychologists focused on how the social situation influences others behavior. We see social influences everywhere we go, but might not notice it. Like when watching a movie for fun you do not notice it as much as when you are actually looking for the behaviors, like in the film The Breakfast Club. There are several examples of social psychological behaviors in the film.
The birth of psychology was in December of 1879, at Germanys University of Leipzig (Myers, 2014, p.2). In 1960, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener defines psychology as “the science of mental health” (Myers, 2014, p.4). However, two provocative American psychologists, John Watson and B.F Skinner, redefined psychology in 1920. They redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” (Myers, 2014, p.4). The problem arose when psychologists realized people could not observe feeling or thought so they needed to come up with a new definition for psychology. We define psychology today as “the science of behavior and mental processes” (Myers, 2014, p.4). Psychology includes many subfields such as human development, social behavior,
Social psychology is one of the many variations of psychology. By definition, social psychology is how humans influence each other’s way of behaving and thinking. Under social psychology, there are various ways to define human behaviour and understand why we behave in a particular manner. These approaches deal with multiple concepts such as conformity, obedience, and social influences. They help answer questions about our behaviour and actions, while also analyzing our cognitive processes in certain situations. Social experiments conducted throughout history have also led to more understanding in the aforementioned areas. With these understandings of social behaviour, society can benefit and become aware of themselves and their mentalities.
Social psychology is an empirical science that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This field focuses on how individuals view and affect one another. Social psychology also produces the idea of construals which represent how a person perceives, comprehends or interprets the environment. Construals introduce the idea that people want to make themselves look good to others and they want to be seen as right. It is also said that the social setting in which people interact impacts behavior, which brings up the idea of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior is a function of the person and the environment.
Hergenhahn, B.R. (2009). Social and Theoretical Psychology: Conceptual and Historical Issues 1. An introduction to the History of Psychology. 1 (1), p1-28.
This essay will study what social psychology actually is and the debates within the field as well as the history and origins of social psychology. In addition to this it will then continue and look at what they study within this field and what types of questions to ask and what results they gain from this.
Social psychology essentially became the focus on the individual rather than the group as a whole. Many thoughtful ideas are collected in response to the studies of social psychology. Human cognition is understood to arise from interacting socially, highlighting the importance of socialization. We use social cognition to develop our explanations and our ideas on why a person’s behavior is/does what it is/does. As explained in class, we may have a student who never completes assignments and from that viewpoint, we determine that the student is a lazy person and more than likely does not care about the class.
Psychology, which includes how people think and feel, is described as the scientific study of behavior and mental process. Social psychology also studies behavior and mental process but incorporates how society influences our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. According to Song’s article, “The Psychological Explanation of Conformity”, conformity, which is a form of social influence, is the change of actions or attitudes caused by the pressure from some real or notional groups. In other words, changing one’s behavior to more closely match the
Psychology is the scientific study and practical application of observable behavior and mental processes of organisms. Psychology differs from other social sciences such as: Sociology, History, or Economics, because psychology specifically deals with the study of an individual. The other social sciences will study groups, or history. Psychology is less a science of reported findings, it attempts asks and answers questions using observable behavior and what can be determined as mental processes of the subject. The symbol for psychology is the Greek letter “psi” (Ø). The subject matter of psychology is, affect, behavior, and cognition. The affect for psychology is the actual mental processes that make up: moods, feeling, and emotional state. An example for affect would be feeling sad about something happening. Behavior includes the actually actions and responses of organisms. Behavior can include the way we act in any given situation, for example when we get up in the morning. The order in the way we prepare ourselves for going out into public can be categorized as our behavior. Cognition is the actual mental events and the processes that result from them. Memories of an event are a great example of an organism’s cognition. The components and corresponding faces of psychology include the body of knowledge which is considered the teaching face, set of investigative methods or research face, and array of techniques the therapy face. The goals of psychology are: to explain behaviors, to describe behaviors, to predict behavior, and to modify inappropriate behaviors. Explaining behaviors would be a question similar to “Why does this happen?”, and example of how describing behavior could be accomplished would be asking “What causes this behavior, where does it come from?”. Predictions can be elaborated on by asking “When will the behavior occur?”. An example of a behavioral modification question is “What can be changed in the environment to alter this behavior?”. A specialized subfield of psychology that most interests me is, Forensic Psychology, because it would be appealing to me to understand a potential criminal mind and to make the determination if the criminal was sane at the time the crime was committed or if he/she was operating with full judgment. In studying the 9/11 attack on America, a Forensic Psyc...