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
Social psychology is the scientific study of the way individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context. Social psychology often emphasizes the power of the situation in affecting people. Social psychology can be distinguished from other disciplines, including sociology, clinical psychology, personality psychology, and cognitive psychology; however, social psychology overlaps with each of these disciplines as well. Social psychology may at first appear to be common sense, but common sense often makes contradictory claims, and many of the findings in social psychology would not be predicted by common sense. A wide range of research methods are used in psychology.
These big ideas can be categorized under social thinking, social influence, or social relations. The idea that we construct our social reality falls under social thinking, it describes the natural human urge to explain behavior, by attempting to attribute it to a cause, in order to make it seem orderly, predictable, and controllable (Myers, 2010). According to social psychology our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous, suggesting that the human ability to understand something immediately, molds or influences behavior because it also shapes fears, attitudes, impressions, and relationships (Myers, 2010). It is also believed that social influences shape behavior as does behavior shape social influences. Myers (2010) provides an example as to how behavior is shaped by social influences making humans social creatures, “We speak and think in words we learned from others (Social psychology, p. 7).
Foundations of Psychology PSY/ 300 9/15/2014 In today’s society, there are many foundations of psychology. The major schools of psychology are Functionalism, structuralism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, humanistic, and cognitive Psychology. In this paper, I will examine the many different factors that help play crucial roles in the lives of human beings through culture and biology. The first known school of thought in psychology is structuralism. According to our text, psychology sixth addition Titchener (1867-1927) describes structuralism as an attempt to use introspection as a method for uncovering the basin elements of consciousness and the way they combine with each other into ideas (Kawaiski
Social Psychology Tandy Noonan Learning and Cognition/PSY400 12/19/2011 Dave Brueshoff Social Psychology Definition Paper How do we define Social Psychology and what influences does it have on individuals? When one understands social psychology they will be able to help others in being the best they can. In this paper you will find the definition of social psychology. Along with the definition of social psychology, you will find a discussion on how social psychology is different from sociology. Defining social psychology "Social psychology is a science that studies the influences of our situation, with special attention to how we view and affect one another; social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about; influenced, and relate to one another.
Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology Alice F. Brown Psy 450 May 21, 2013 Shally Vaid Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology Culture is defined as a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols that are shared by a group of people and passed down from generation to generation (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Cultural psychology is about finding links that are meaningful between a culture and how an individual thinks who lives in the same culture (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). How an individual internalizes his or her culture is the basis of cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychology is the study of cultures in a comparative and critical method by psychologists. Cross-cultural psychologists are interested in the similarities and differences in all cultures.
According to Cherry (2013) “Informal assessments personality tend to focus more on individuals, personality psychologists instead use conceptions of personality that can apply to everyone.” Therefore research has been done to explain the how and why certain personality traits develop, (Cherry, 2013). Personality as most people think should endure throughout a person’s life; however sometimes in situation circumstances the personality can change over time. Define personality There is not one defining meaning to personality and psychologist differs among one another about the meaning of what is personality, (Feist &
The difference Jung has with Freud’s theory of infantile sexuality and libido. Jung refused to accept that sexual instinct is the main psychological drive which led him to develop his own theory and therefore his own school of analytic psychology. The two characteristics of these theories I agree with are Alder’s four types of people and dream interpretation aided the treatment of patients. The two that I disagree with are Jung’s analytic psychology and Displacement is one of many defense mechanisms which are when a person is upset or angry with someone else and when he or she comes around other people they are still upset taking their anger out on people that had nothing to do with why she or he is
‘Assess the usefulness of Social Action Theory to our understanding of Society’ (33 marks) Social action theories are radical opposites of structural theories. Structural theories commonly view people as ‘puppet’s’ of the social system, passively and unthinkingly playing out their lives as determined by pre-existing social laws. The main disagreements between this social structure is that Functionalists emphasise the benefits for the entire society, whilst others believe that it is only beneficial to one type of group, via means of production; these are Marxists or Feminists. Social action theories have an issue with determinism, they alternatively believe that people within society are social actors and have free will, consciousness, meanings and motives. Social action theorists believe that illusion of a stable and constant society is slightly more than hundreds of individual interactions each carried out by choice and interpretation.
Therefore, the role of research in social psychology is for people to understand how each person thinks, influence, and relates to others such as peers, family members, collogues as well as the general public. In conclusion, social psychology is a field that has proven that it can stand on its own whether in an academic or a science setting; thus, social psychology shows just how individual’s think about, influence, and relate to others (Myers, 2010). After much research one can only come to the fast conclusion that social psychology is indeed a strong and reliable field. After seeing the many differences between social