Running head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER

Social Psychology Paper C.S. PSY/400 July 11, 2011

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER Social Psychology Paper Ones perception of themselves in relationship to their environment plays a critical role in the choices one makes, their beliefs and values, as well as their behavior. Through social psychology, the study of how people interact with each other and how one person influences another person can explain some basic aspects of ones social behavior and how one views themselves. The discipline of social psychology is still relatively new as a branch of psychology and a field of science. In fact, it wasnt until after World War II did social psychology emerge as the exciting thriving field it is today (Meyers, 2010). Through a set of scientific strategies and different social theories, scientists have attempted to answer questions regarding humans belief

and attitudes. Question like why racism occurs or sexism exists; how do stereotypes form, and how humans fall in love (Berger, 2008). What is Social Psychology? Social psychology observes and studies a wide range of social topics. This includes social conditioning, social perception, and social interaction. Social psychology looks at group behavior as well as individual behavior. Social psychology also is concerned with how humans interact with one another and what social influences affect a persons decision making process. In addition, social psychology observes humans nonverbal behavior, prejudice, leadership, aggression, and compliance. According to Myers (2010), social psychology is a science that studies the influences of any given situation specifically, how humans view and affect one another. In other words, it is the scientific study of how humans influence each other, relate to one another, and what goes through their minds. Social psychology provides many social theories to and covers all topics relating to social interactions as it looks into the self and its inner workings. How does Social Psychology Differs from other Disciplines?

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER

According to GoodWin (2009), psychology in general provides some unity for a discipline that has become very diverse and highly specialized into different fields which interconnect among different areas of psychology. Psychology can no longer exists as a common study, but rather a variety of studies ranging from developmental to abnormal behaviors, personalized experiences, and social influences among the human organisms. In other words, the field of psychology has branches of specialized studies that address a variety of questions about humans such as developmental functions, evolutional changes, behavioral concerns, and cognitive functioning. The way social psychology differs from other disciplines such as clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology is important. Social psychology is different because it doesnt rely on folk wisdom but rather it relies on subjective interpretation and anecdotal observation (Meyers, 2010). Meyers (2010) also explains that social psychology utilizes scientific methods as it studies the social phenomena while other psychology fields focus on individual thoughts, characteristics, and traits. Social psychology focuses on the whole situation and its impact in the social environment whereas clinical psychology is limited to an individual and general psychology is a universally wide coverage. Sociology on the other hand notes social influences which is vital to understanding social behavior (Deckers, 2010). Although social psychology appears to be closely related to general psychology, clinical psychology, and sociology, is quite different because it focuses on situations that affect human behavior as individuals or small groups rather than huge social groups or society as a whole. Other branches of psychology focus on specific characteristics, cognitive development, and biological make up of the human organisms individual traits. Social psychology concerns itself with the impact of group interactions within the social environment (Meyers, 2010). The Role of Research in Social Psychology

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER Within the social psychology field, there are numerous methods that are used to conduct researches on specific topics that relate to social psychology. For instance, social cognition closely parallels the field of cognitive psychology as both fields are concerned with the brains ability to process, store, and apply information. However, social psychology is concerned with the connection between similar schemas that play a critical role in ones thought process and social behavior (Willingham, 2007). Another area of research that concerns social psychology is the components of attitudes, its changes, and development. Social psychology also looks at what causes human aggression and violence. Specifically, why humans engage in violent behaviors or act aggressively within a small group. In contrast to aggressive and violent behavior is prosocial behavior. Questions like why some people are helpful to others and willing to cooperate is an important study within the social psychology field. Another very common area that social psychology researches, discrimination, stereotypes, and prejudice, what is the origin of the feeling and why these feelings exist are some of the questions asked by social psychologists. The identity of self as individuals and individual perceptions are studied in the hopes of learning about how these inner influences affect the social

group (Pinel, 2009). Theories about social identity and self are key interests of social psychologists as well as an important research area. Then there are areas in social psychology such as group behavior, social influences, and interpersonal relationship that appear to play a key component in shaping behaviors, feelings, attitudes, and thoughts. Interpersonal relationships are important when viewing attachments, attractions, and love between two or more people (Deckers, 2010). The role of social influences has been linked to decision-making and behavioral changes due to peer pressure, persuasion, obedience, and conformity. This area of research truly shows the power of social influences over another person. What makes a good leader can be, conflict resolution, or

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER

cooperation are the dynamics of group behavior research. The role of research in social psychology is to focus on the behaviors of small groups of people or the behavior of individual people, while focusing on all the characteristics of humans and their interaction with each other (Meyers, 2010). In Conclusion It can be noted that social psychology as a discipline is different from other disciplines because its main focus is to understand, through scientific methods, how ones feelings, thoughts, and actions influence the behavior of others (Meyers, 2010). Through observing a wide rang of social topics such as leadership, aggression, prejudice, nonverbal behavior, social perception, and group behavior can society begin to understand the impact social influences on an individual person or small groups. The field of social psychology is important because it researches realworld issues which then allow social psychologists the ability to help educational programs or businesses (Deckers, 2010). Social psychologist can apply a number of strategies to help one another work together, diffuse conflicts, develop intervention strategies, and encourage people to act in such a way that it benefits the group as well as ones individual self. Social psychologist can help organization of small groups develop leadership skills, positive attitudes, and individual and group perceptions (Meyers, 2010).

References Berger, K. S. (2008). The developing person through the life span (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Deckers, L. (2010). Motivation: Biological, Psychological, and Environmental (3rd ed.).

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER Boston: Pearson Education. GoodWin, C. J. (2008) A History of Modern Psychology (3rd Edition) Hoboken , NJ. Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Pinel, J. P. J. (2009). Biopsychology (7th ed.). Boston,MA: Allyn and Bacon. Willingham, D.T. (2007). Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.