Defining Social Psychology Brandi K. Keller PSY/400 March 20, 2013 Dr. Timothy Doty Defining Social Psychology Throughout the years each field of science and each discipline relating to psychology has had to fight to prove its point and its relevance to the field; therefore, making each field of psychology worthy of its place within the science and academic communities. One of the many behaviors observed during this trial has been the way people think, influence, and relate to others otherwise known as social psychology. Friends, family, and collogues influence each other, which can be either a positive or a negative influence. How each person thinks and relates to these influences is what determines if the influence will be a positive
Social Psychology PSY/400 University of Phoenix Social Psychology Social psychology is taking the theories and applications of psychology and applying it, not on an individual alone in the world, but on how that individual interacts, thinks, feels, and behaves in a particular social situation. There are plenty of things that an individual might not have done if he or she had not been in the situation he or she were in with the people he or she were in it with. The way that most individuals interact with the world has to do with the perceptions others around them have about them, and the perception he or she have of themselves. Social psychology seeks to understand how this social dynamic makes a difference in psychology. Define
Latane and Darley (1968) conducted an experiment to determine a person’s response time to an emergency and how their social environment influences it. They conducted this experiment because a previous study was done that had displayed when people are alone they are more likely to intervene in an emergency than when other people who did not intervene or in a group of naïve people who want to intervene but just are confused as to what to do. The major question they were attempting to answer was how do people react in the state of an emergency? Do they conform to what other is doing when surrounded by people or do they react solely based off instinct? In the current experiment Latane and Darley (1968) had students from Columbia University come to what the participants thought would be an interview.
This paper will provide an overview of the three major theoretical perspectives and the impact of each on the institution of family. Evaluating the family unit from various sociological viewpoints gives insight into the development of socialization within the familial framework and society at large. The Institute of Family The family unit is often seen as a societal institution which initiates the positive and/or negative process of social interactions between people. Over the last decade what constitutes the family unit has changed throughout the world. Family units in today’s environment are diverse in nature and may go beyond the scope of just parents and their children.
These factors are created or exist with the mental or physical presence of others, and with these factors creates stories of extraordinary performances, failed success stories, stories of heart break and stories of acceptance. Through the studies of Dr. Kurt Lewin ( group dynamics and Lewin’s Field Law) and Dr. Yerkes Dodson (Dodson’s Law Theory of social facilitation) we can learn, understand and interpret these behavioral changes (Snyder, 2009) (Calabrese, 2008). Social influence can be brought on by the actual, imaginary, or implied presence of others. The actual presence of people is simply the people around you, family, friends, co-workers, fans, and people of similar interest groups. Imaginary or implied presence can be experienced through television, an imaginary audience created in one’s mind to create a staged atmosphere or by following a cultural norm.
Having Fun With Operational Definitions Adapted from teachpsychscience.org Directions: Identify and operationally define the independent and dependent variables in each of the following research ideas. Research Idea #1: A social psychologist was interested in whether people are more likely to exhibit conformity when they are in situations that make them feel nervous and unsure of themselves. What is the independent variable? How would you define it operationally? What is the dependent variable?
It is difficult, therefore, to imagine if and how youth work was at the front of society’s mind many years ago in the 1920’s for example. Gilchrist et al (2003) demonstrates that these issues and tensions are long standing and that the origins of youth work are a response to the insecurities, inequalities and instability created by social changes. It seems that there was a slow conflict of interest between many agencies such as the state, education, the labour markets and in particular the youths themselves during this time period. Did these conflicting agencies have similar aspirations for the young person? Or did they all have some hidden agenda?
However in today's society, psychologists have been able to do research on the way human’s behaviour react in different situations with different participants to be able to get a generalized result but to do so they must first distinguish if the participant is showing social or personal identities. Unlike in early psychology when it was focused on an individual, researchers have now found the most effective way of finding results is looking at the social context when studying behaviour. To be able to get an indiscriminate result, psychologists have to look at what groups their participants belong too. This means the age, sex and nationality among many other things. When we belong to certain groups, most of the time we are unaware of how the socially derived structure actually affects us in the way which we behave.
“In social situations behavior adjusts to facilitate the area around a person. There are influences on social behavior but there is also the persons actions and whether or not these actions are socially acceptable behavior or not". There have been so many studies done on human social behavior, because there are many various behaviors and even more influences, such as genetic, environmental, religious, cultural, financial, educational, the list goes on and on. "Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others “ said American psychologist, Gordon Allport, . (Gupta, unknown) When people draw conclusions about behaviors they give it attributions."
Social psychologists have developed the definition of social psychology by many years of scientific research. Social psychology is a mixture of many sciences. “Sometimes the context lies in the traditions of academic psychology, often in sociology or anthropology, sometimes in philosophy or theology, occasionally in history or in economics, frequently in the political life of our day.” (Cherry, 1995) Social psychology is a scientific study of human behavior with social influence, biological and other sciences may be pursued to accumulate correct data when forming social theories. Social psychologists study groups, such as work, religious, cultural and other organized groups to determine how the group may influence members as individuals. Humans usually choose the group to which they would like to belong based on personal comfort levels.