Choosing topics for social psychology research papers or projects for class can be challenging.
Social psychology explores how individual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by social influences.
It explores how each person’s behavior is affected by their social environment.
PeopleImages.com / Getty Images
Browse Through Past Research
After narrowing down your choices, consider what questions you might have.
Are there questions that haven’t been fully answered by previous studies?
The goal is to choose a research question that is specific, measurable, and testable.
In this case, the specific topic of your paper would behow group size influences social conformity.
A literature review involves reading through the existing research findings related to a specific topic.
You may find it helpful to start by reading review articles ormeta-analysisstudies.
This initial step can save you a lot of time and hassle later on.
For example, one study found that 75% of people perceivemen to be more intelligent than women.
Prosocial Behavior
You might also choose to focus onprosocial behaviorin your research.
This can involve investigating the reasons why people help others.
What are the different techniques that can be used to persuade someone?
What factors make some people more susceptible to persuasion than others?
Aggression
Another area of social psychology that you might research isaggressionand violence.
This can involve exploring the factors that lead to aggression and violence and the consequences of these behaviors.
Which signal do people respond to most strongly?
Lying
How good are people atdetecting lies?
Ask members of the group which statements they thought were true and which they thought were false.
Social Norms
How do people react when social norms are violated?
Keep track of your own thoughts as you perform the experiment and observe how people around you respond.
Social Perception
How does our appearance impact how people respond to us?
Social psychologistshave found that attractiveness can produce what is known as ahalo effect.
American Psychological Association.Frequently asked questions about institutional review boards.
2016;11(2):e0148284.
