Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Importance of social psychology
Importance of social psychology
Importance of psychology to social work
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Importance of social psychology
According to psychologist Gordon Allport (1985) social psychology is defined as the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or, implied presences of others. Essentially, how the people we are around every day can consciously or unconsciously influence our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Social psychology can focus on small groups, large groups, or even society as a whole. But, social psychology is not only about social influences. This research paper will also speak of the importance of social interaction and social perception and how they play a role in our social behavior. The way we think people see us and the way we see others can play a vital role in our decisions and actions. …show more content…
The people we are around in different social context shape our moods, feelings, thoughts, and judgement thus making a difference in the actions and choices we make. Think about how you behave when you are alone in your house versus how you behave when you’re in a classroom full of classmates. Chances are you’re a bit more relaxed or loud when at home versus in public you might be more reserved. Your decisions and behaviors probably depend on who you are around. For example, most people are likely to behave differently when they are around their best friends than when they are around their managers at work. Social psychology can relate to pretty much any aspect of human life. I will be focusing on how social psychology can have a powerful impact on our understanding of various aspects of our health and wellbeing. To better understand the correlation of social psychology and health, I will go in depth about how social psychology and the research that social psychologist carry out can have a greater influence than we think on our overall health and even be used to improve the problem of declining
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.
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.
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.
Crisp, R, J. Turner, R, N. (2007). Essential Social Psychology. Sage Publications Limited. London. (UK). First Edition.
Rogers, Anissa. Human behavior in the social environment. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print.
This model believes that an individual may be free from disease or physical injury however social factors that surrounds a person will determine their wellbeing. In the social dimension of health a person has to be able to interact with people, such as friends and family. According to Antonia C. Lyons and Kerry Chamberlain (2006) Health Psychology a Critical introduction ‘studies have demonstrated an association between what is called social integration and physical health, including mortality rates’. The skill to be able to build healthy relationships may give an individual a positive self-image. Poor social skills may mean that an individual may become isolated or stressed. If an individual becomes stressed and isolated they will be free of disease as they will be physically and mentally fit, however the stress will contribute to the health status of the individual. According to Charles L. Sheridan and Sally A. Radmacher (1992) Health psychology challenging the biomedical model ‘attributes like strength, health and attractiveness can be helpful in coping with
Schellenberg, James A. Exploring Social Behavior: Investigations in Social Psychology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1993. Print.
Aronson, Elliot, Timothy D. Wilson and Robin M. Akert. Social Psychology: The Heart and the Mind. New York: HarperCollins, 2002. Print.
Ashford, J., & Lecroy, C. (2013). Human behavior in the social environment. (Fifth ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. (p. 99, 596-597)
Social psychology is a specific branch of psychology that employs a number of different theoretical perspectives in order to focus on the social nature of individuals within society (Augoustinos, Walker, and Donaghue 2014). Two examples of such perspectives that help do this are Social cognition and discursive psychology. This essay will critically assess both perspectives by both comparing and contrasting them in order to gain a better insight into their impact on social psychology.
There are roles that we humans participate in the social world have on our cognition, social, emotional, and personality development. Cognition explores the way we perceive, process, and retain information. We learn through language, observing events, and by watching others. The biggest social norms that are played important in our lives affects the way we think and react to situations that are presented to us every day. This affects our cognition, social, emotional, and personality development and it is how we are as humans because the social world has an effect on us.
Within the social group it is influenced by the number of interactions a person has and the bonds a person forms. Researchers have documented a positive association between social support and physical health and social support has been connected in the etiology of disease and the success of treatment following illness. Hale, Hannum, & Espelage, 2005. In theory, Kanaiaupuni, Donato, Thompson-Colon, and Stainback (2005), in several ways social relationships are linked to better health. They possibly will provide emotional benefits, for example: intimacy, a sense of belonging, and self-esteem.
Social perception is 1.“the cognitive process that helps us form impressions of those around us and subconscious attitudes towards other people based their defining characteristics which help to comprehend a situation and gauge our behaviour accordingly. Social perception can be the mental progression of picking up clues and signals from others that help us form an early stage of what they may be like. Our brains may rely on stereotypes or previous similar experiences to build a picture of what to expect from any given social encounter”
PSYC321-Social Psychology taught me about the ways in which people are influenced by others, how people make decisions, inferences we make about others’ attitudes and personalities, and influence of situational and variables on behavior. I learned that people behave the way that they do for so many reasons. Behaviors are caused more by the social situation than they are by the characteristics of the individuals. One of the concepts that I recall is Lewin’s equation which indicates that the behavior of a person at any given time depends on both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation. Some of the things we do can also be attributed to cultural influences and differences that exist between societies. I found