Social Psychology By Stanley Milgram

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.

“Social psychologists investigate how we view ourselves and others, how we interact with others, how we influence others, and how we act when we are part of a group. Given the amount of time each of us spends thinking about and interacting with the people we encounter every day, much of our lives are spent with the subject matter of social psychology.”(p.22)

This essay aims to explore and describe some of the key studies within Social Psychology and show why social psychology is still important within the science of psychology today. Social psychology was once described by Allport (as cited in Lindzey & Aronson, 1985, p.5) as, “the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others”. One of the first psychologists to study social psychology was Kurt Lewin. Lewin is considered the “father of social psychology” by many as he took a stand against the dominant behaviourist approach during the 1920’s through his belief that interaction between the individual and their environment is key to affecting behaviour, rather than environment alone. His revolutionary ideas matured into the study of group dynamics, which is widely used by many organisations today (Collin, 2012).

There were three questions asked at the start of this paper. What is Social Psychology all about? Why is the study of it so important? Is there truly a purpose or benefit from the findings of the studies? Social Psychology is the study of attitude, behavior, and interactions of individuals within a group setting. You may have heard the saying "for every action, there is a reaction," Social Psychologists observe and interpret behaviors in effort to provide further explanation of cause and effect. It is thru the studies of Social Psychology we can learn how to get into the cause and begin to foresee patterns of reactions. A simple yet sophisticated theory.

In life people will come in contact with others, who are from a different background, culture, lifestyle or ethnicity as them, yet still every individual is equal, they’re all humans. As humans, people have the tendency to have their own unique perspectives on the world around them and everything it encounters. Psychologist Gordon Allport (1985), one of the founding fathers of personality psychology, defined social psychology as a discipline in which scientific methods are used in order “to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings” (Cherry).Social psychology involves

When people interact and affect each other, they work within Social Psychology. For example, if a problem arises in a certain organization, a team works together to get a comprehensive understanding of the problem. Social Psychology studies our attitudes, interpersonal relationships and intergroup interaction. Bandura (2006) explained that there is an

The bystander effect affects human beings as a distinguishing feature of the species in comparison to others is how important social aspects of human life is, as much of society is based around groups, relationships, and

In this essay I have been asked to outline and assess the use of experiments in social psychology. For the last century scholars have often questioned what actually is social psychology, and many answers can be found, however the general consensus of social psychologists is that it is the science of the socially structured mind. Prof Haslam (2006) stated “For me as a social

People act differently when they are alone versus when they are in a group. Of course, it would seem logical that when a person is in a group they would act better because people are around, probably some of whom they know, to judge actions. This may be the case for most actions, but a curious psychological response, called the "bystander effect", has been observed which shows a troubling aspect of group behavior. This essay will look at a particular case that started the research into this phenomena, why it happens, and how it is effected by other variables.

The first study discussed is Asch’s conformity experiment designed to see if an individual would conform by giving a wrong answer in a simple eye exam due to social pressure. Asch drafted 50 male participants from Swarthmore College to undertake the vision test in small groups. The group consisted of one naïve participant and six confederate participants. The pseudo-participants agreed prior to the experiment to consistently give the wrong answers when presented with a line test. The line test consisted of four lines two of which were the same length the participants were asked to match the line that was the same length as the first line. Although the correct answer was obvious the participants gave there answers out loud with the naïve participant giving the answer last. Asch made variations on these experiments giving the naïve participant anonymity or an ally. In conclusion Asch’s experiments found that on average a 75 percent of naïve participants agreed with the answers of the group majority at least once. However, when given anonymity or an ally the rate of conformity drops (Asch, 1956).

Introduction: The bystander effect is a normal occurrence that happens when the presence of others decreases an individual’s probability to intervene in an emergency situation. There are many reasons to why the bystander effect occurs, the main reason being the fact that the individual’s sense of responsibility is reduced when there are other people witnessing the situation. Culture plays a significant role in determining if a bystander will or will not aid during certain situations. Western countries such as Australia, United States, Germany and Ireland are all known to have an individualist culture, where people are seen as

Studies show that diffusion of responsibility accounts for results in bystander hypothesis studies. As Baron et al. explain, the bystander effect occurs when the number of persons willing to help decreases with the number of people present. Darley and Latane (1968) assert that in the presence of others, bystanders reduce the individual feelings of personal responsibility and lower the speed of reporting an incident. Thus, in prosocial situations an individual's willingness to intervene or assist someone in need is inhibited by the presence of other people. The individual is under the belief that other people present will or should intervene, and does not perceive it as his or her responsibility to take action. In addition, diffusion of responsibility

The social psychological phenomenon addressed in the Daily Mail Article ‘How ‘selfie syndrome’ has taken indifference to a different level’ is the Bystander effect. The Bystander effect as characterized by Hogg and Vaughan refers to the likelihood that people are less likely to help in an emergency situation when they are with others versus when they are alone. They also deduced that as the number of people present increases the less likely it is that anyone present will help (Hogg & Vaughan, 2014). The concept of the bystander effect was first established by John Darley and Bibb Latané in the 1960’s after the murder of Kitty Genovese. The purpose of their study was to establish how bystanders react in an emergency situation. Before investigating

There are many explanations for the origins of modern social psychology. It is therefore important to consider that social psychology cannot be traced back to one single source of origin (Burr, 2003). Hence, this is the reason why there are debates of what social psychology is. Allport (1985) described social psychology as the study an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours which are influenced by the actual, imagines, or implied presence of others. As seen from this definition there is a direct link between social science and the individual psychology (Sewell, 1989). Social psychology cannot be seen as a linear phenomenon. This is because social psychology has been derived from a combination of influences. The development of

Social psychology is the understanding of an individual’s behavior in a social context. It is the scientific field that focuses on the nature and causes of that individual’s behavior in social situations. It looks at the human behavior that has been influenced by others and in the social context with which it occurred. Social psychology pays attention to how feelings, thoughts, beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed and how these factors influence our behavior and interactions with others. This paper will examine the principles of social psychology and help us to