What Is Social Psychology, Exactly?
The three primary focuses of social psychology are social thinking, social behavior, and social influence.
Social psychology is based on certain concepts or principles.
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Consider how you might behave if you were alone versus if there were other people in the room.
Real-Life Examples of Social Psychology
Social psychology encompasses a wide range of social topics.
Because the people around us shape our thoughts, feelings,moods, attitudes, and perceptions.
The presence of others can influence the choices we make and the actions we take.
Understanding this helps psychologists develop public health programs and treatment approaches for adolescents.
These can help teenagers resist potentially harmful behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and substance use.
But it wasn’t until after World War II that research on social psychology began in earnest.
The horrors of the Holocaust led researchers to study social influence,conformity, and obedience.
What could explain why people participated in such evil actions?
Were people following orders and bowing to social pressure, or were there some other forces at work?
Social psychologist Stanley Milgram, for example, demonstrated just how much people are willing to obey authority figures.
The shocks were not real, and the other individual only pretended to be hurt by the electrical pulses.
However, there are important distinctions.
Social Psychology vs. ## Social Psychology vs.
Personality Psychology
Personality psychology focuses on individual traits, characteristics, and cognitive patterns.
Social psychology is focused on situations.
Social psychologists are interested in the impact of the social environment and group interactions onattitudesand behaviors.
Social Psychology vs. Sociology
Finally, it is essential to distinguish between social psychology and sociology.
Sociologists are interested in the institutions and cultures that affect how people behave.
Psychologists instead focus on situational variables that affect social behavior.
While psychology and sociology both study similar topics, they look at these questions from different perspectives.
Takeaways
What makes social psychology such an important topic?
BoD Books on Demand; 2015.
Knoll LJ, Magis-Weinberg L, Speekenbrink M, Blakemore SJ.Social influence on risk perception during adolescence.Psychol Sci.
2017;44(1):32-37. doi:10.1177/0098628316677644
