The Main Themes Of Social Psychology

Social values are the moral attitudes and principles that a society (or the majority of a society) hold collectively. They evolve over generations, with each generation able to express, become informed and pass down their values in new ways into a gradually more open minded social environment. These changes are largely due to technological developments, such as social media platforms. These changes are still happening in todays society, for example same sex marriage being legalised and different abortion laws, and will continue to develop forever as we as a society try to achieve the ultimate goal of equality.

Social psychology and personality psychology both came into fruition around the same time – the 1920’s and 1930’s. Needless

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.

Psychology is one of the newest sciences. Because it is the science of the mind and behavior, it is also less concrete than some of the other sciences. Over the years, social scientists have developed theories or perspectives based off of their observations, research, and the perspectives of other scientists. Although there is some overlap, each of the major perspectives of psychology is unique. As a result, they each have strengths and weaknesses and explain psychology in a different way. One theory, the sociocultural perspective, is exactly what its name suggests. It’s the idea that the society and groups that an individual belongs to are what influences development, thoughts, and behavior. The sociocultural perspective was

“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)

According to our text, social psychology is a science that studies the impact of our

Self-efficacy can be described as the level self-confidence that a person has when they try to do something. It is important in making a behavioral change because people need to envision themselves succeeding.

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).

and in some cases enlist the help of a “confederate”, someone who appears to be a naïve part of

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.

When it comes to the scientific method, especially in the science of psychology, there are many different ways a question can be asked in order to get the conclusion to a hypothesis. Psychology is by its nature something that not only produces many questions but also helps to find the answer to those questions. Through asking the right questions a person can see a whole new world of understanding unfold before them. This understanding of why a person or animal acts the way it does has been groundbreaking in the growth of understanding a individual on a much deeper level than the sociological standpoint. Before this understanding can be obtained however one must learn first how to ask a proper question and then in turn how to test that

Chapter 12 social psychology cover how we affect one another’s behaviors. Culture, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination attitude, and interpersonal attraction are all factors that contribute to behavior in a social setting. Understanding how we influence one another on a social level forces us to look at not only ourselves, but also look at how others affect the world we live in and why it is important to be able to identify these influences and the impact they have on our behaviors good or bad

Three of which include, his or her cognition towards situations, his or her emotional status, and the decision-making process of that individual. Self-efficacy affects an individual’s cognition towards a situation due to the fact that a person’s view can greatly influence the outcome of that situation. Therefore, thinking in an optimistic manner can be beneficial, whereas thinking in a negative manner towards a circumstance can be detrimental. Self-efficacy can affect the emotional status of an individual, in that a resilient sense of self-efficacy enables an individual to recognize that it is normal for him or her to feel discouraged in certain situations, and this transpires in a determination to persevere and turn the outcomes of his or her circumstances into success. The manner in which self-efficacy affects an individual’s decision-making process is that it facilitates the individual to recognize that there is always a choice for choosing the way he or she will experience a certain situation or circumstance. In summation, the concept of self-efficacy pioneered by Albert Bandura elucidates that through an individual mastery of his or her thoughts emotions and decisions with the guidance of past circumstances he or she will be able to recognize the ability to shape the outcomes of his or her situations and circumstances. Therefore, the concept of self-efficacy has proven to be a paramount dynamic in the positive field of psychology regarding the prerequisite for behavior

Values are beliefs and standards that an individual holds. In social work, many decisions will be based upon the values a generalist

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