The Key Studies Within Social Psychology - 1350 Words

This essay aims to explore and describe some of the key studies within Social Psychology and show why social psychology is still important within the science of psychology today. Social psychology was once described by Allport (as cited in Lindzey Aronson, 1985, p.5) as, â€Å"the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others†. One of the first psychologists to study social psychology was Kurt Lewin. Lewin is considered the â€Å"father of social psychology† by many as he took a stand against the dominant behaviourist approach during the 1920’s through his belief that interaction between the individual and their environment is key to affecting behaviour, rather than environment alone. His revolutionary ideas matured into the study of group dynamics, which is widely used by many organisations today (Collin, 2012). Within social psychology there are areas of behaviour which psychologists have been particularly interested in. These areas include conformity, obedience and social facilitation to name a few. Two key studies within the areas of obedience and conformity were carried out by Milgram and Asch (Billingham, Ladbrook, Standring Teahan, 2008). Milgram investigated how far people would be prepared to go when obeying an authority figure. Forty men aged from 20 to 50 volunteered to take part. When the participant arrived they were greeted by the experimenter who was wearing a lab coat. TheShow MoreRelatedPsychology Is Everywhere You Look957 Words   |  4 Pages Psychology is everywhere you look (Caldwell 2014). It can be found within TV shows, music, sports, and even society. The textbook, Exploring Psychology, begins to explore the social, cognitive, and emotional roots of prejudice within society (545). Prejudice has remained a huge obstacle throughout world history. With the recent murders of unarmed African American men, the aspect of police brutality begins to relate back to prejudice. According to Jesse Holland of the Associated Press, the recentRead MoreSociology: The Study of Humanity Essay1480 Words   |  6 Pagesand as such it is a subject to be distinguished from the so-called physical sciences. Sociology is t he study of humanity. However this description of sociology is only partially correct. To say that sociology is about people and humanity is not enough to distinguish it from the other subjects in the human sciences. For it is equally the case that Psychology, Social Policy, Economics and Social History, amongst others, are all in some sense about people and humanity. Thus the fact that sociologyRead MoreSocial Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism1494 Words   |  6 PagesSocial Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism PSYCH/550 May 27, 2013 Social Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism According to Fiske (2010), the classic definition of social psychology is, â€Å"the scientific attempt to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings† [ (p. 4) ]. In other words, where general psychology is the study of human behavior on an individualRead MoreComparing Childhood Studies And Child Psychology1368 Words   |  6 Pages Part 1: Comparing and contrasting childhood studies and child psychology a. What are the main features of childhood studies? (400 words) Childhood studies is a subject area surrounding the study of children’s lives through many different concepts or ideas with many different features. It is related to many different fields such as law, history, sociology, health, anthropology and much more as Martin Woodhead (Open University) said â€Å"It uses multiple methods rather than just singular methods† andRead More Social Psychology Essay1687 Words   |  7 Pagesorigins of modern social psychology. It is therefore important to consider that social psychology cannot be traced back to one single source of origin (Burr, 2003). Hence, this is the reason why there are debates of what social psychology is. Allport (1985) described social psychology as the study an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours which are influenced by the actual, imagines, or implied presence of others. As seen from this definition there is a direct link between social science and theRead MoreApplications for Psychology in Adult Learning1319 Words   |  6 PagesPsychology and adult learning are inherently linked given their focus upon the internal processes of the mind. The field of psychology has increasingly been applied to inform the adult education practice. Psychology is oftentimes incorporated into the foundation of the training that is received by adult educators in training. The field of psychology provides answers to questions that are common within adult education. These questions include â€Å"What motivates students to attend classes? ThroughRead MoreIs Psychology a Science? Essay1133 Words   |  5 PagesThe British Psychological Society states that ‘Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour’ (BPS). In this essay I will be discussing what is actually meant by this and whether psychology fits into both the traditional views of a science, as well as more contemporary perspectives. It is widely suggested that Psychology is a â€Å"coalition of specialities† meaning it is multi-disciplinary (Hewstone, Fincham and Foster 2005, page 4). I will therefore examine whether it could beRead MoreApplied Social Psychology On Psychology981 Words   |  4 Pages Applied social psychology 2 Applied social psychology is one way that psychologist can study our thought, feeling and belief, and how we function around each other, in our everyday lives, here are the five issues that I will be addressing in my literature review they are social influence, Attribution Theory, Group polarization, Cognitive dissonance theory, and Observational Learning. Social applied psychologyRead MoreEvolution of Social Psychology Essay1668 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Social Psychology is one of the younger sub disciplines within the field of Psychology. In the short span in which social psychology has existed, began with the work of the Norman Triplett in the late 1890s. Tripletts work at Indiana University was primarily experimentation with people in competitive settings. Gordon Allport followed Tripletts experimentation with his observations the attitudes of individuals and the study of the self. While these contributions to the history of social psychologyRead MoreHistorical Reference Of Social Psychology1169 Words   |  5 Pages Historical Reference of Social Psychology Social psychology uses scientific methods to understand how people’s opinions and behaviors are influenced by the actual presence or the implied presence of others. Social psychology is an integrative field that builds the gap between psychology and sociology. Sociology, on the other hand, is the scientific study of human behavior. In addition, social psychology is a comparatively new field that originated in the early 20th century. In 1954 Gordon Allport