Scholarship essay: Social psychology essay

Social psychology essay

Psychological Analysis Of Human Nature Through The Stanford Prison Experiment Read More », social psychology essay. These social psychology essay forms are respectfully both held in high regards in connection to their culture and share common themes such as originating … Dance exposes socio-political psychology Read More ». Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Only formulating theories and principles on social psychology is not enough. Psychological Types.

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Geen, Russell G. Human Aggression. Philadelphia: Open University Press, Heath, Robert L. Human Communication Theory and Research: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, This decision has proved to be the wrong one, both morally and for their health. Thus, their decision makings skills are called into question, and their behavior has influenced their ability to weigh situations carefully and make the right choices. They did not weigh the side affects at the time, or did not understand them , and thus paid a price for their choice. Socially, STDs are a growing problem in America because they erode the health of mostly young Americans, and until the rise in STDs stops, health care costs will continue to rise.

More education on the negative results of poor behavioral choices is necessary, as is basic education in STDs, what they are and how they are acquired, could be one way to help stop the epidemic and create a better social environment at the same time. eferences Furby, L. And Thomas Smith, C. References Furby, L. These ideas introduced by Freud about the psychological price paid by people living in society would later be part of the views of several other 20th century sociological…. Additionally, Sociocultural theory assumes that individuals develop self-concepts through interaction with others, and we are influenced by culture and social processes, such as social norms.

Social norms dictate that girls are more sensitive and boys are less emotional, thus further explaining the gender differences in the above case study. The two predictions of how these interactions affect a child's development are: 1 if the child is treated with more love, intimacy, and talked to about feelings, the child will grow up being more sensitive to others and more open to discuss their feelings with others. If the child is taught not to respond to their feelings, or let their emotions guide them, the child will grow up to be less sensitive, more aggressive and less likely to discuss their feelings. Depending on treatment, a child may grow up to have negative qualities, such as violence or repressed anger.

These interactions…. This is evidenced from the fact that in all the 19 studies mentioned above, children from single parent families showed a higher rate of criminal behavior. Manning and Lamb , one of the studies that used ADD Health data in the survey showed that family consolidation by remarriages has little positive impact for children. Bibliography 1 Stephen E. Gilman et. al, May , "Family Disruption in Childhood and Risk of Adult Depression," the American Journal of Psychiatry, , 2 Robert Bauserman, "Child Adjustment in Joint-Custody vs. Sole-Custody Arrangements: A Meta-Analytic Review," Journal of Family Psychology," Vol 16 No 1 , 3 Cynthia C. Harper and Sara S. Early trauma that causes anger often corresponds to higher levels of aggression later in life, especially where the traumas are suppressed and internalized instead of being expressed at the time of their origin and at the source.

Aggression is a known factor in criminal conduct as well as other forms of non-criminal negative social behavior such as those associated with overt prejudice and other types of social intolerance toward others Macionis References Friedman, a. New York: Touchstone. Gerrig, R. Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall. These factors can be difficult, if not impossible to overcome, and lead to numerous problems in the court system, from hung juries to incorrect decisions about guilt or innocence. Trial lawyers are exceedingly good at using social psychology methods during trials. These lawyers use the principles of how people relate to each other and get along in life to make their clients seem more sympathetic and innocent to the jury and judge.

For example, a murder suspect comes to court with his young baby in the front row for all the jury and courtroom to see. These psychological persuasion tactics are quite influential to many jurors, who have their own belief systems and ideas about what is right and wrong and the lawyers understand this and use it to their advantage. References Gordon, R. Perceptions of race-stereotypic and race-non-stereotypic crimes: The impact of response-time instructions on attributions and judgments. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 16 4 , Ebbesen E. prejudicial value. html27 July starting point for research, I am selecting Scenario Two: Police Interrogations and False Confessions. The reason why I am selecting scenario two is that I have some degree of familiarity with the subject, and am fascinated by the ways people behave under pressure from authority figures, particularly law enforcement.

I am also interested in scenario three related to the psychological aspects of disaster preparedness, but am more interested and concerned with criminal justice generally. Therefore, I narrowed down my selection of the scenarios mainly because of personal interest and curiosity about the subject matter, which motivates my desire to conduct the research necessary to write a proposal and complete the report. Scenario Two described involving false confessions raises several points about the ethics of criminal justice, and how officers lie in order to extract information from suspects or witnesses. That information should not be admissible in court but sometimes is…. Optimism and Pessimism Relates to Stress and Coping with Cancer An increasing amount of research links negative and positive emotional states to wellness or ill health.

The negative or pessimistic emotions seem to have a negative effect on the immune system and on general health. Pessimism has been shown to be unhealthy and have adverse effects on health, including increasing the risk of cancer and preventing recovery from the disease. On the other hand, positive or optimistic emotions have been shown to strengthen immune function and bring good health. Gillman, There is a wealth of research that suggests optimism has a positive association with better mental and physical health, as well as coping with stress. Pessimism has been linked to a higher risk of death before the age of 65, while positive emotions, like optimism, are linked to lowered production of the stress hormone cortisol, better immune function, and…. Bibliography Schultz, Richard. Bookwala, Judith, Scheier Michael.

Brissette, I. The role of optimism and social network development, coping, and psychological adjustment during a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, Carver, C. Optimism, pessimism, and self-regulation. Chang Ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Gillman, Jane. The Science of Optimism and Hope: Research Essays in Honor of Martin E. Templeton Foundation Press, In this regard, Wood and Kroger report that, "Lewin's experiments in leadership style autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire became classics in the new experimental social psychology" p. Simply stated, social psychology uses the scientific method to study human social behavior ogers, According to ogers, psychological social psychology "studies how social events and phenomena influence the ways in which individual people feel, think and act.

It is concerned with the psychological processes such as social perception and cognition that…. References Hayes, D. RoutledgeFalmer guide to key debates in education. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Karakashian, L. Fear of negative evaluation affects helping behavior: The bystander effect revisited. North American Journal of Psychology, 8 1 , Part C A number of excuses are given over the course of the film. The brother and sister of one of the perpetrators said they initially assumed the killer was drunk and disoriented. Later, they say that they didn't want to be involved in something 'negative. When she discovered the body of the victim, she called , but refused to give much information. The mother of one of the killer's friends says she was initially told the victim was fine, and then assumed he had been taken to an area hospital after the body was discovered.

When was called -- twice -- the vague attitude of both of the callers caused emergency personnel to treat the call as a non-emergency. Decision tree Source: Prevos, Peter. Explanation models for the bystander effect…. social science indentified as social psychology studies the influences that affect how individuals in a society interact with one another Kenrick, In doing so, it applies scientific methods to measure how a variety of different factors such as group behavior, social perception, leadership, conformity, aggression and prejudice serve to affect how members of society relate to each other. In doing so, social psychologists examine the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of both the individuals and groups who incorporate society.

They also measure the effect that culture factors such as advertising, television, literature, and the movies contribute to these interactions. Through the study of social psychology experts in the field use empirical methods in an attempt to explain why people organize themselves in groups, make decisions, behave in deviant ways, and form dating relationships. The field of social psychology has adopted a number of approaches to study in this area but…. References Abelson, R. Experiments with People: Revelations from Social Psychology. London: Psychology Press. Kenrick, D. Social Psychology: Goals in Interaction. Oishi, S. Sociology: A Lost Connection in Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review, social psychology. Ancient ome openly accepted male-to-female transsexuals, allowing them to assume female identities without negative social repercussions, obviously long before the science existed for them to have gender-reassignment surgery eitz, Modern Indian society has Hijiras, transsexuals that, while not always treated with respect, are accorded their own gender identity and not relegated to male or female eitz, The Nadles could be intersexed people or transsexual people of either gender eitz, The Sioux referred to transsexuals as Winkte, and allowed them to completely assume their preferred gender.

In Sioux society no special magic was associated with this, it was just considered a way of correcting a mistake of nature" eitz, What these examples make clear is that, in a different society,…. References NNDB. David Reimer. Boys Don't Cry. Fox Searchlight Films. Reitz, J. What is transsexuality? Retrieved February 23, from Transsexuality. The language ability of the non-native English speakers was measured by their ability on tests of English grammar and vocabulary, but this ability declines from the roughly the age of seven and older. While it does seem that it would be easier for a student to learn multiple languages in school if they were learning them at the same time, there is some evidence that it may be difficult in other ways.

Although the acquisition of language is largely governed by neural maturity in the brain areas that control language and speech, differences also reside in the individuals as well. Some people will have difficulty with language acquisition overall, others will…. Question 2. The Bowflex ad featuring the year-old grandmother of a five-year-old is quite persuasive. The woman featured on the ad does not look like she is years old and she has a very attractive face, long luxurious hair, and a slim, shapely body. She TV advertisement shows her actively engaged in using the Bowflex and swimming and lounging in a two-piece bikini swimsuit.

The primary element of persuasion used in the advertisement is ethos. The woman featured in the ad seems credible, respectable, and certainly exhibits the healthy, fit persona to which she refers and to which she attributes her shapely body. She reasonably talks about loosing weight over a period of time that is believable. While it does seem that her statement that she saw results from using the Bowflex right away may seem a bit exaggerated, the rest of her testimony seems credible. The advertisement works because any year-old woman watching the TV ad would want to look as slim and fit as the woman featured in the ad.

In the control group the professor wore the same shirt without any label attached. The shirt was unstained and fresh-looking but not new. Finally, after the initial data collection, the subjects were advised of the genuine research topic and method in connection with a request for their consent to analyze the results participant-by-participant. Originally, they were assured of anonymity. All 20 participants granted consent to analyze their responses individually. Experimental Hypothesis and Variables Hypotheses Hypothesis 1 -- the control group will characterize the professor's attire as "Casual" or "Unprofessional. Rosewood is a film particularly suitable and interesting for the application of social psychology.

It concerns the story of a black community in early 20th-century Florida. The community was rather a-typical of the time, since black people were wealthy landowners. The neighboring company town of Sumner on the other hand, was occupied by poor white people, who were jealous of the wealth they observed in Rosewood. This setting provides a backdrop for social psychological analysis concerning ingroups and outgroups, and how racism leads to escalating tension. It also means the stereotyping of a certain group of people on the irrational grounds of a perceived threat, exacerbated by the fact that little personal information is available about the target of prejudice.

In the film, prejudice against black people is a paradigm of the historical time. The likelihood…. Bibliography Brehm, Sharon S. And Fein, Stephen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, Singleton, John. Rosewood, Social Psychology Studies: Explaining Irrational Individual Behavior by Understanding Group Dynamics Social psychology is, as its name suggests, a science that blends the fields of psychology, which is the study of the individual, and sociology, which is the study of groups. Social psychology examines how the individual is influenced by the group.

It looks at the influence of group or cultural norms on individual behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. However, because group norms are believed to change behavior, social psychology can be very difficult to document; the presence of the observer is believed to change behavior. As a result, social psychologists have developed a number of different studies aimed at investigating the interaction between group expectations and individual behavior. These studies offer insight into human social behavior, particularly into those social behaviors that seem to defy expectations and well-established social norms.

While there have been numerous social psychology studies since the…. References Abrams, D. Comments on the motivational status of self-esteem in social identity and intergroup discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, Bond, R. Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Asch's b, line judgment task. Psychological Bulletin, 1 , Darley, J. Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8 4 , Social Psych Applied social psychology refers to the application of social psychological theories and research to practice. Social psychology is the study of human behavior in social situations. The field draws as much from sociology as psychology, to describe issues like gender, race, and power but from a more individualistic perspective.

Whereas sociology is interested more in the macro processes shaping society and its institutions, social psychology is concerned with the role the individual plays and how social factors shape personal identity and behavior. The application of social psychology could be in a range of professional fields including private counseling, school counseling, or social work. Some of the most important applications of social psychology are in the realm of public policy analysis and development, or in administration. Issues such as attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms are probed in the research, as are problems related to criminality and aggression. I will…. References Dickson, K. Psychological empowerment and job satisfaction of temporary and part-time nonstandard workers: A preliminary investigation.

Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. pdf Staufenbiel, T. A model for the effects of job insecurity on performance, turnover intention, and absenteeism. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 83 1 : Ybema, J. Antecedents and consequences of employee absenteeism: A longitudinal perspective on the role of job satisfaction and burnout. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 19 1. Social Psychology One point in the evolution of social psychology that interests me is the Nazi influence upon social psychology in the United States.

Before and after WWII, Nazis in various sciences sought and found refuge in the United States. Many of them, because of their experience and education, were put to work. Kurt Lewin is one of these notable Nazis that came from Germany, one of what were called, Gestalt psychologists. This is interesting for a few reasons. Average Americans forget or are ignorant of how many Nazis fled to the states and have had direct influences on many of the things we find in everyday life. It is somewhat ironic that a country that continues to vilify Nazis, especially in the media, owes so much to this group. It is interesting also in that the Nazis, though the agenda of their leader was extreme and flawed, were excellent…. References: BBC. Chile's judges apologise after coup.

Preserve Articles. Brief notes on Social Motives from psychological point-of-view. Self and Social Psychology Social psychology is a relatively new field of study in modern science. Its focus is on the identity of the "Self" -- the sense of individuality: the component parts that make up who one "is" and the meaning of the "whole" Self. This paper acts as a referenced for individuals unfamiliar with the general principles of social psychology. It aims to provide the reader with a basic overview of the field and to define key principles often used by social psychologists.

Discovering the Self Self-Concept, Awareness, and Self-Schemas Discovering the Self in social psychology can seem as simple as posing the question, "Who am I? But answering the question is where the discovery of Self really begins. One's sense of identity, sense of self, sense of gender, race, categorical social grouping all factor into the answer. Reference List Aronson, E. NY: Pearson. Hewitt, J. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press. Jung, C. Psychological Types. Zurich: Rascher Verlag. Prejudice and social psychology Gender-based stereotypes and influence of society Cultural impact of host cultures The contribution of Stanley Milgram has been significant in the field of social psychology.

Milgram conducted experiments of human behavior in a laboratory setting and concluded that obedience to authority usually disregards moral or legal normative standards. An individual's behavior is thus shaped by the environment, people around, and his figure of authority. The current paper investigates as to what extent the human behavior is influenced by others. The paper adopts an investigative approach and cites peer reviewed articles to substantiate the discussion. Social identity theory is also an important theoretical explanation that explains how and why an individual voluntarily gets influenced from socially constructed relationships. Introduction Stanley…. References Aarts, H. The silence of the library: Environment, situational norm, and social behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84 1 , Bearden, W.

Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Journal of consumer research, 15 4 , Blass, T. The man who shocked the world: The life and legacy of Stanley Milgram. Basic Books AZ. Brewer, M. Choice behavior in social dilemmas: Effects of social identity, group size, and decision framing. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50 3 , History Of Social Psychology: Past and Future Directions The fields of psychology and social psychology owe their existence to the earlier philosophical thinkers including Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. However, the recognized founder of the field by most historians is the German scientist Wilhelm Wundt Farr, In Wundt proposed that there psychology should consist of two branches: a social branch and a physiological branch of psychology Farr, From Wundt's view psychology was more concerned with studying immediate conscious experience as opposed to studying overt behavior.

However, in Wundt published the first volume of a classic volume set of social psychology which described and analyzed a wide variety of social thought and social behaviors. Although Wundt's ideas and writings carried significant influence in Europe, his writings were not translated into English until sometime later. The behaviorist view became the more influential paradigm in the United…. References Adorno, T. The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper and Row. Allport, F. Allport, G. The historical background of social psychology. Aronson Eds. New York: McGraw Hill. The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. History Of Social Psychology According to Kruglanski and Stroebe social psychology is defined as the scientific study of how a person's feelings, behaviors, and thoughts are influenced by the implied, imagined, or real presence of other people.

Social psychology will analyze various social topics including social perception, behavior leadership, conformity, prejudice, nonverbal behavior, and aggression. It attempts to understand a person's behavior in a social context. Therefore, social psychology will look at human behavior as other people and the social setting that this occurs shape it. Social psychologists will deal with the factors that lead a person to behave in a given way in front of others, and it looks at the conditions in which some behaviors and feelings will occur. Social psychology is a young field that began in the 20th century. The early influencers of this…. References Baumeister, R. Advanced social psychology: The state of the science. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Handbook of social psychology Vol. Kruglanski, A. Handbook of the history of social psychology. Church Rd, Hove: Psychology Press. History Of Social Psychology Social Psychology studies how people's thoughts emotions and feelings are influenced by what they see, hear or observe from their immediate environment Feenstra, It also involves to how the same people respond to these influencers within their living environment. We must appreciate the fact that human beings are sensitive and receptive to all that goes on within their living environment.

They react to the stimuli they get through sight or hearing. It the early days before the Second World War, psychologists and sociologists used to interact mostly in their course of action. This interaction resulted in the development of this field of social psychology. It has helped in understanding the intricate aspects of human socio-psychological phenomena Burns, Social Psychology theories There are more than ten theories developed as from the late mid 20th century concerning the area of social psychology. They all explain the…. References Feenstra, J. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

ISBN: Boundless. Accessed December Boston: Boundless Learning, Inc. Research only matters if you do research that matters. Journal of College Science Teaching, 37 2 , ProQuest Document ID: Hogg, M. The Sage Handbook of Social Psychology. London: Sage. Internet is a significantly essential research place for sociologists examining hypothesis of technology transmission, as well as, media effects. The reason for this critical importance is because it is a channel exclusively competent of putting together ways of communication and structures of substance. This paper tends to highlight and analyze various researches conducted on the Internet's implications in the realm of societal psychology, as well as, community capital. The word, "Internet," actually refers to the electronic network of networks that connects people, as well as, information through computers and other digital devices permitting person-to-person communication, as well as, information recovery.

Even though the late s witnessed the commencement of an inherited network devoted to scientific as well as, subsequent to , military communication, the Internet did not materialize until ; it started its quick gradient only in the early s, when graphical boundaries turned out to be extensively obtainable and…. Bibliography Abbate J. Inventing the Internet. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Agre P. Presentation in Proceeding of a Congressional Breakfast Seminar on Information Technology and Community Change, pp. Washington, DC: Consortium of Soc. Bogart L. The Age of Television: A Study of Viewing Habits and the Impact of Television on American Life. New York: Ungar Castells M. Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. New York: Oxford Univ.

Personality Social Psychology Suzanne Kobasa's Personality and Social Psychology article entitled "Stressful Life Events, Personality, and Health: An Inquiry into Hardiness" builds upon past research to examine individual and group differences regarding responses to stressful life events. The author provides extensive reviews of past literature, pointing out the limitations that led to her conducting the current study. Much literature has shown a correlation between stressful life events and physical illness; namely, that "stressful life events precipitate somatic and psychological disease," Kobasa , p.

The current article in particular examines personality as a major mediating factor in the presence of physical illness following a series of stressful life events. Because prior research has shown that "the recent life histories of hospitalized persons contain significantly more frequent and serious stressful events than do histories of matched controls from the general population," Kobasa designed the current research to discover which personality factors were…. Works Cited Kobasa, Suzanne C. Social Psychology The term 'applied social psychology' is used to denote a methodical utilization of socio-psychological models, study approaches and outcomes, concepts, ideologies, and intervention approaches for comprehending or ameliorating social issues. Psychologists belonging to this subfield concentrate on comprehending and solving practical issues and coming up with intervention approaches to enhance individual, organizational and societal response to social issues.

Social psychological theories offer prescriptions to solve practical and social challenges. This paper is presented as a review of literature on social psychological theories and their generic role in resolving practical and social problems. A key applied social psychological theory is Cognitive Dissonance, whose main premise is that an individual is driven to remain consistent…. Self-Handicapping Urdan, Tim, and Carol Midgley. Urdan and Midgley's paper is a summary of their recent research on the topic of students, especially college students, who use self-handicapping in response to academic challenges.

They explore the reasons for it as well as the short- and long-term effects of such behavior. Their theoretical basis is goal theory, looking to see how goal-setting affects academic performance and the behavior of academic self-handicapping. They conducted four studies over the five years before this article was published, looking at academic self-handicapping from several perspectives and refining their approach with each study. They defined "self-handicapping" very specifically. They noted that most researchers view it as deliberately setting obstacles in their way of good school performance. Some of those behaviors include procrastination, lack of effort or practice, excuse-making, lack….

White Oleander" and Social Psychology "White Oleander" and Social Psychological Terms The movie "White Oleander" was made in , as an adaptation of Janet Fitch's book White Oleanders. It stars Alison Loman as Astrid Magnussen, Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother Ingrid, and Robin Wright and Renee Zellweger as foster mothers Starr and Claire. The movie follows the life of Astrid after her mother is convicted of murder. Astrid passes through several homes, and learns what it means to be both her mother's daughter and her own person. After Ingrid is convicted, Astrid is sent to her first foster home, with Starr. Astrid and Starr's much older boyfriend develop too close a relationship which breaks the family apart. After her first foster family dissolves, Astrid is briefly sent to a group home.

Her third home is with Claire Richards, who she learns to love deeply, however the woman is incredibly troubled…. Sociobiology Theory and Criminology Criminology field has varying psychological and biological theories that explain the criminality and factors that predispose individuals to engaging in criminal behaviors. Biological theories consider criminal behavior as a product of biological abnormality or defect. The criminal cannot change their behaviors because of the variation of their biological traits, thereby, forcing them to act in a specific manner.

However, biological theory is considered odd with the presence of psychological theories that try to explain the factors and reasons behind criminality. Therefore, this essay analyzes the sociobiological theory that tries to explain the relationship between personality and criminality. The essay also analyzes the key elements that underpin the sociobiological theory and its philosophical basis. Sociobiology refers…. Encyclopedia of social psychology. Thousand Oaks, Calif. Turner, J. Handbook of sociological theory.

New York: Springer. Wainwright, M. Toward a sociobiological hermeneutic: Darwinian essays on literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Learning Tools Study Documents Writing Guides About us FAQs Our Blog Citation Generator Flash Card Generator Login SignUp. Filter By:. Keyword s Filter by Keywords: add comma between each. Most Relevant Recently Added Most Popular. Home Topics Social Science Social Psychology Essays Social Psychology Essays Examples. Having trouble coming up with an Essay Title? Use our essay title generator to get ideas and recommendations instantly. I would imagine those scholarly journals will likely relate to leadership, to social behaviors from the perspective of individuals and from the perspective of… Works Cited Cherry, Kendra.

Essentially, social bias is a general concept which refers to… References Brehm, S. Delving deeper into the context… References Leong, F. Additionally, familiarity breeds attraction… References Smith, E. Power struggles and… Bibliography Aronson, E. First, there had been few studies on smiling and the perception of smiling before this study was completed, and most… References Costanzo, Mark. Another aspect of psychology would… References American Psychological Association. In other words, we can say that sociable is looking for companionship as, it's a part of our nature to look for companions belonging to the same genus and searching or looking for company that… Sociable.

Social psychology has been able to get a glimpse at a wide variety of social topics, and that includes things such as nonverbal behavior, leadership, social perception, group behavior,… Works Cited Baron, R. Sociologists study… Bibliography APA. Further, social psychology is not oblivious to the biological influence on a persons behavior;… References Hunt, C. However, the first formal references to social psychology include German research conducted on Volkerpsychologie in ,… References Bandawe, C. Burgers Replication of the Milgram Experiment Words: Length: 5 Pages Document Type: Essay Paper : Milgram worked with the hypothesis that obedience… References Burger, J.

Tjaden and Thoennes surveyed men and women to find their comparable… Hindsight Bias This is as also known as the knew-it-all-along effect or creeping determinism. In the first section… References Baker, David P. One of the chief reasons for suicide is the general perception that seeking counseling or psychological… References Brewin, B. Social psychologists have… WORKS CITED Arendt, Hannah. My relationship with my friends can… References: David, M. The principle difference between contemporary and most historic notions of gender pertaining to women in the workplace is that in modern times, there is supposed to be a substantial greater amount of… References Bisika, T. On several occasions, I allowed myself to become argumentative even after realizing that I… References Aronson, E.

Modern professionals trained in jury selection based on social psychology findings are known in today's industry as… Works Cited Cleary, Audrey. When two or more people are taking, working, discussing, sharing and interacting, planning, or even fighting verbally social psychologists study them with primary interest. Further communication processes, social influences in attitude change, bargaining and negotiating, interpersonal attraction, aggressive and helping behaviour are also important in social psychology. How attitude can be changed by advertising, how nonverbal behaviour can be used to infer emotions and how friendship, love, relationship can be developed with others, how tensions and cold war can be reduced are the responsibility of social psychologists.

Study of group processes, group dynamics and socio-metry is also of prime importance to social psychologists. Social psychologists on a larger scale study organisations, social institutions like government and legal system and physical environment to find out how people respond to these influences. Study of individual and group differences relate to the field of differential psychology. It represents continuous interests of the social psychologists in the study of the characteristics ides of temporary national groups and the problems of national character.

Cognitive factors like attitudes and opinions, beliefs, values, influences, communication research, content analysis, propaganda etc. are studied in social psychology as they play a key role in social behaviour. By knowing the basic cognitive processes social behaviour can be modulated and changed according to need. The growing influence of cognitive perspective has therefore been recognised by social psychologists particularly during the s. The measurement of attitudes, the use of polling devices and other survey techniques, investigations of the effects of various mass media, the study of attitude change through propaganda and other methods, the study of trends in public opinions towards T.

Social interaction, socio-metry and leadership include interrelated group of techniques and problems which are attracting tremendous attention of social psychologists working in the area of group dynamics and national and international relations. If the group is carefully analysed the process of interaction action and reaction starts from the very beginning i. The neonate is helpless at birth and the biological needs of the new born infant are satisfied by the society. During this process there is integration between the infant and the members of the society. Even in the lone situations the behaviour of a person is not free from social influences. The way he feels, thinks, acts and behaves is determined in relation to the social customs, traditions, values and norms even when he is alone.

However, one can say that the social influence may be minimum in a lone situation, while it is maximum when one is in a group. Hence the difference of influence is in degree and not in kind. The group may be divided into a number of subgroups but these subgroups differ and the difference may have an unhealthy influence upon the group morale. From this angle the problem of leadership should be given top priority because the leaders reflect the characteristics and functions of the subgroups. The various techniques of propaganda and change of attitudes are made in this direction. Problems relating to international tension are also included in the scope and field of social psychology. Particularly in the modern era when the distance in the international field is narrowed down, international tension is an interesting area to analyse and understand.

Like any other tension and conflict, the root of international tension is prejudice and discrimination. Hence prejudice, stereotypes and social tension etc. are studied in social psychology with special emphasis. Of late, there was a shift in interest towards intra individual social processes and away from inter individual processes. Thus work on attribution and social cognition and person perception has been given emphasis. More recently, everyone is experiencing the influence of social psychology in medical care, law and business etc. some social psychologist have also shifted their interest to study on impression formation.

Research on social pathology has also interested the social psychologists. Pathological aspects of social life has been studied with the development of adequate therapeutic methods. This interest has been directed particularly to the problems of mental abnormality, delinquency and crime and of the forms of inter group hostility reflected in prejudice and discrimination and industrial conflict. Social motivation is a very important factor. Need for prestige, status recognition, honour are vital aspects of study in social psychology.

Biological, sociological and psychological factors have entered in the realm of social psychology. That is why its field is very vast. Briefly the development of social psychology includes the application of evolutionary and hereditarian principles to society, the emphasis on the psychological characters of groups as distinct from individuals, the theory of social motivation and the reactions against it, the application of experimental methods to the problems of social psychology and the increasing realisation of the part played by society in determining the behaviour of individual.

For the last few decades, social psychology has become increasingly comparative experimental and applied. During this period a large number of studies have been done in the area of social psychology which indicates its tremendous popularity and the interest shown by the psychologists in the area of experimental social psychology. But the progress in the area of experimental social psychology is not upto the mark. i A lot of people consider scientific social psychology research to be unnecessary and not worth the expense,. ii This is because of their belief that they have been quite successful in political, economic and social field without having a scientific knowledge of social psychology,. iii The most important purpose of science is to understand, predict and central, but social psychology as a science has not been able to predict human behaviour in the true sense of the term because unlike physical sciences psychology deals with human beings who are dynamic in nature.

While studying the relationship between sociology and social psychology the absence of any sharp dividing line is noticed. Sociology deals with the society, groups and institutions, how the society and groups function, its various manners and behaviour etc. The group and society as a whole, its structure and functions is also studied in sociology. Adequate knowledge of the structure of the society, its customs and manners etc. would help one to understand the behaviour of the individual in the society as society influences the behaviour of the individual. On the other hand social psychology studies the individual behaviour in relation to the group or society.

According to Kupuswamy sociology is the science which studies the development and principles of social organisation and generally group behaviour as distinct from the behaviour of the individuals in the group. Basically the group is its unit of study. It studies the structure and organisation of groups. More analytically speaking, sociology is interested in the origin and development of groups, the factors leading to the continuance of a group, how a group or society imposes its own discipline on its members and demands their compliance. How and why of change of groups and social institutions are also investigated by sociologists. On the contrary, the field and scope of social psychology is very limited. Society psychology studies the psychological factors involved in the formation and development of a group.

This psychological factor is also of basic necessity for the formation, development and change of social institutions. Nevertheless a group is made up of individuals and overlapping in the scope and subject matter of sociology and social psychology is inevitable. For example, while considering the problems of gang and gang behaviour the sociologist would be concerned with the social and economic causes of gang life, the relation of the gang to law and order, and institutions like the school and the church and the geographical distribution of gangs, their effect on the life of the community etc.

On the other hand, the social psychologist might be expected to study the nature of the individual in the gang, their intellectual and personal characteristics, the effect of the gang on the individuals constituting it, the life history of the individual members, etc. When, however, a sociologist attempts to write a book or an article on GANG he would certainly not make any such artificial distinction and interestingly many of his findings would relate properly to the field of social psychology. Anthropology is defined as the science of man, study of individuals and their cultures. Anthropology involves the biological and socio cultural aspects. It takes even a larger approach to social phenomena than sociology by focusing its attention on the universal or total population of a particular culture such as family structure.

It places very little importance or emphasis on the individual. The science of anthropology particularly ethnology bears a similar relation to social psychology. Wissler regards social psychology as concerned with individual performance in group and anthropology with group- behaviour. The anthropologist is least interested in the function of the individual in the group. But there are occasions where the individual becomes of utmost importance to the anthropologist. Literatures and facts dealing with the life histories of members of many different cultural groups bear ample testimony to the growing interest of anthropologists in the individual and culture.

A human being not only transmits his beliefs, customs and values of social institutions to his children and descendants, he also transfers his skills to them. This is called culture. Culture has two aspects such as material and non-material. Material aspects refer to the modes of culture or modes of living, house building, tools and the objects which give a particular technique of living to different people. Non-material aspects refer to the customs, traditions, manners, taboos etc. prevalent in the society and this varies from culture to culture. A cultural anthropologist deals with such things. The social psychologist studies the behaviour of the individual in a group and these people of a group come form different cultures.

Whether different people of the same group come from same culture or different cultures will determine the behaviour of the individual. Difference in behaviour is marked because of difference in cultural conditions. According to Majumdar and Madan socio-cultural anthropology studies four types of human activities:. ii Activities reading to social organisation like family, marriage, clubs and other social institutions for satisfaction to biological and psychological social motives through group behaviour;. iv Activities required for the expression of aesthetic activities of a group. No human behaviour or nature is purely biological.

Different biological traits of behaviour are coloured and conditioned by the cultural training and upbringing. Approval of a particular trait demands upon the norms of the group. While aggressiveness and competitiveness is approved in New Guinea, it is disapproved in Zuni Red Indians of New Mexico. While the ideal qualities of Mudugammers are violence and aggressiveness, in Arapest tribe the ideal and accepted qualities are mildness and responsiveness. In the Tchembuli tribe, the woman is dominant, responsible and impersonal while the man is less responsible and emotionally dependent person says Margret Mead.

Similarly in Indian tribal groups technique of up-bring and socio cultural values influence personality traits and socialization process. The chief aim of an anthropologist is to study the patterns of culture in different parts of the universe particularly the illiterate tribal and rural groups of the world, their customs, traditions, mores, values and norms. Culture is considered as a very important force which studies the values and mores of a person and how they determine, control and regulate the behaviour of the individual. Though by and large a particular culture of a society determine, regulate and control individual behaviour and though the majority of the individual in any particular group are found to be of conforming type, it cannot be forgotten that some individuals bring change in the existing culture by their revolutionary and novel ideas.

While a cultural anthropologist studies the pattern of culture, social psychologist studies the way in which a particular individual of a particular group acquires the culture. According to Kupuswamy while anthropology makes use of culture and customs as concepts to understand patterns of social organisation, it is the task of social psychology to analyse the processes underlying these concepts. An anthropologist also attempts to determine how customs are found and transmitted from generation to generation. Data collected by both anthropologists and social psychologist is of tremendous value in classifying many psychological problems.

Psychologists have become more and more culture conscious and they are found using the data of anthropologists. Gradually they are familiarizing themselves more and more with anthropological research and are insisting on its growing need to separate the accidental from the universal in human nature. In some cases psychologists and psychoanalysts have applied their theories and techniques to the understanding of ethnological phenomena. Similarly in other cases, ethnologists have borrowed from psychology those modes of interpretation which they have found most useful. It is observed that application of psychological techniques to the comparative study of culture is increasing day by day. Psychologists and anthropologists have cooperated in this development in some instances combining their techniques and points of view in carrying joint research undertakings.

Although overlapping is observed among social psychology, sociology and anthropology, the major focus of interest and the approach to problems differ among these fields. The major focus of social psychologist has been individual psychological process and their social integration with others while sociologists and anthropologists focus on the larger groups to which people belong. The integration between individual, society and culture is so close and their interaction is so continuous that the investigator who tries to work with any of these disciplines without reference to the other two soon comes to a dead end. Social psychology is also related to social sciences like economics and politics in some way or other.

The individual may have some effimination to certain political parties, it may have some view about a particular economic problem. Therefore particular problems which are related to the individual in the society are also related to social psychology. Though of late a lot of work has been done on experimental social psychology, social psychology nevertheless begins and ends in the laboratory. Basic research in social psychology naturally leads to application. Almost as soon as the field was established, social psychologists were found rightly showing interest in the application aspect. Many social psychologist devote their primary professional efforts to solving societal problems. Social psychology is very helpful in providing data relevant to issues as diverse as the improvement of day care for children and evaluation of affirmative action policies.

It is thus seen that the job of the social psychologist is besides establishing principles of social behaviour to apply these principles and theories in social situations for understanding a specific behaviour. An applied social psychologist not only analyses but also diagnoses and advises on various social problems. When social psychology is shifted from academics and carried to occupations and applied setting, increasing emphasis on applied activity is visualized. Many of the modern social psychologists are currently working in hospitals, government offices, business organisations and other semi-academic and non- academic institutions to assess, control and predict human behaviour under different settings and solve social problems. In view of the period bias attached to social psychology today Rodin has defined social psychology as the utilisation of social psychological principles and research methods in real world settings in the attempt to solve social problem.

iii Psychology in work setting i. organisational behaviour,. In a society, there is enough scope for interaction and when people interact their behaviour and judgement etc. are affected by various factors like attitudes, emotions, beliefs and cognitions. In the court room or in the legal system these attitudes and beliefs affect the participants like the judges and jury, pleaders, attorney, dependants and witnesses in a major way. Huge Munsterberg started investing the accuracy in the statements of eye witnesses at the turn of the century. On the basis of his observations, pointed out that people have by and large a tendency to reconstruct events in ways that do not match what actually occurred.

He opined that emotions strongly affect the memories of witnesses as a result of which accounts of what occurred or happened were very often greatly distorted or transformed by fear, anxiety and anger etc. Munsterberg devises a physiological instrument to detect lying and also investigated the application of the technique of hypnosis as means to bring accuracy in the testimony of the witnesses. Both lie detection and hypnosis are the centre of current research efforts in this field. Munsterberg further believed that not only witnesses but also judges and juries were subject to the effects of suggestibility and persuasion. Thus applied research on the legal system provides convincing evidence that psychological factors influence witnesses, jurors and defendants, attorneys and judges according to Baren and Byrne It refers to the social psychological aspects of health care.

Gundola views that some personality variables predispose a person having certain illnesses. Increase in physical fitness leads to an improvement in psychological characteristics such as creativity. Thus according to Rogers health psychology studies the psychological processes that affect the prevention and treatment of physical illness. Prevention being always better than cure, preventing illness is always desirable than treating illness. Kirscht holds that any health programme must deal with individual differences in the willingness to follow medical advice. Analysis of the problem led to the development of health belief model. Weinstein noted that college students hold unrealistically optimistic beliefs about their health risks.

These findings may lead one to hold lack of knowledge on the part of the students which is not actually correct. Rudy and Salovey further say that the problem lies not in having the information but in applying it to oneself. This refers to organisational behaviour. It seeks to know, understand and predict human behaviour in original work situation or environment through scientific study of individuals and groups as well as the structure and function of such organisations. By the following factors one can achieve job satisfaction and assess its effects on production as well as on the employees:.

a Selection of the right employee can ensure full job satisfaction and productivity. The employee and the job must fit with each other. b To make jobs more interesting and stimulating variety, novelty and change can be introduced to routined task. c Flexible time schedules i. freedom in deciding when to work leads to decrease in absenteeism and hence more and better performance. e Meetings of employees should be called voluntarily once in a week to discuss problems on the job and to suggest solutions also may improve the quality and quantity of productions and overall psychological condition of the employees.

Those who are happily married like their jobs better than do those who are single. The behaviour of the individual in advertising, product information packaging, brand names and all other factors involved in marketing products and services come under applied social psychology. Consumer psychology is that field which deals with the factors affecting consumer behaviour. It would really be difficult to conceive any human behaviour where the findings of social psychology would be inapplicable and irrelevant. The science of social psychology as an applied science contributes a lot in dealing with the problems of national and international tension, communal and social prejudice, discrimination and conflicts relating to socio-economic status in uncovering the relevant causes of these problems in specific situations.

The concrete details of various problems of social psychology are to be known for applying social psychology to the concrete situation. For all these work, careful research on applied social psychology is essential. The various problems of social psychology change from time to time and from culture to culture and even to some extent in the same culture depending upon the parental and neighbourhood social values built up for long years. How particular intercultural and interpersonal problems influence various social problems are also studied by applied social psychologists. However, it is reasonable to hold that the findings of social psychological research with certain exceptions can be widely generalizable and potentially useful to all human beings of the society provided they have an applied bias.

Only formulating theories and principles on social psychology is not enough. Scientific studies, researches and investigations elevate the status and scope of a subject. In view of this, social psychology holds a lower status in India compared to its western counterparts. Psychological researches in India started around the first part of the twentieth century when Calcutta University started its first psychological laboratory in During these eighty years though certain research works have been carried out by Indian social psychologists they are not enough to give even a moderate status to social psychology.

Even if some have shown initial interest in the research work on social psychology, no continuity has been maintained. In most of the cases the works have been left half way, incomplete, unfinished due to various reasons. However, it cannot be denied that in the post independent period there has been a great rise in the research work on social psychology. While between the total number of research papers published in India in the area of social psychology come to 96, papers were published during the period

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