...Social Psychology Dawn S. Peck PSY 400 12/22/2014 David Brueshoff Social Psychology What is Social Psychology all about? Why is the study of it so important? Is there truly a purpose and benefit from the findings of the studies? Let’s look at each of these questions, break them down, and try to make sense of it all. Simply defined, Social Psychology is the scientific study of individual attitude and how it effects or influences others in a social context. It is helpful to understand the why, what, or could be, behind a behavior or reaction. Those that research this field, can provide credible insight to assist with understanding and ultimately contribute to the success of peace-keeping within society. There are many meanings behind Social Psychology, and it should be noted this branch of psychology is unique from other disciplines in the same field. Social Psychology Basics To be considered a “scientific study” there must be a theory, followed by a hypothesis and tested to support or reject the original theory. Methods of research include public surveys where both targeted and random speculation occurs. Work can be done in a laboratory with a controlled subject or in the field where everyday life happens. Social Psychology researchers pay particular attention not only to the cause and effect of behavior but they look deeper into the relationship we have with ourselves in effort to explain the overall difference of opinion and responses amongst...
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...Psy/400 Social Psychology Social Psychology Definition Lauren Davis Marinela Dushmani November 2, 2015 Introduction The things the author will discuss and cover in this paper are; the definition of social psychology, a brief history background of social psychology. The way social psychology differs from clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology. Also the role of research in social psychology will be discussed. Define Social Psychology Social Psychology is a discipline that uses scientific method “to understand and explain ones thoughts, feelings, and behavior that are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human being” (Gordon Allport, 1985). The year social facilitation was introduced was 1800’s. After WW2 was when the research of social psychology began. The holocaust was what led the researchers to study the effects of social influence, conformity, and obedience. The US Government was interested to apply social psychology concepts to influence citizens. The Differences The way social psychology differs from Clinical Psychology, General Psychology, and Sociology are; Clinical Psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on diagnosing and treating mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Some of these disorders are learning disabilities, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. General Psychology is a term that refers to the entire science of psychology. Psychology is the study of mind and behavior...
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...SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION PAPER Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY 400 March 25, 2012 For this paper, the definition of social psychology will be assessed, as well as how social psychology is researched. Also discussed will be how social psychology is different from other disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, and general psychology. What is Social Psychology? Social psychology is the scientific study of social thinking, social influence, and social relations (Meyer, 2010). . Social influence is the effect that words, actions, or the presence of other people, have on our thoughts, feelings, attitude, or behavior. In other words, social psychology is the way in which individual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people, whether they are real people, or imagined in ones thoughts. At the heart of social psychology is a phenomenon of social influence. Every single person is influenced by other people. Sometimes we are influenced by persuasion, where another person deliberately tries to change another individual and their way of thinking and behavior (Meyer, 2010). Social influence is happening now on television and across America with the presidential candidates all trying to persuade the people of America to vote for them, or the commercial on crest toothpaste, using creative techniques to persuade people to buy this particular brand. Another example of social influence is seen in schools a lot. One being direct attempts from...
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...SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION PAPER Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY 400 March 25, 2012 For this paper, the definition of social psychology will be assessed, as well as how social psychology is researched. Also discussed will be how social psychology is different from other disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, and general psychology. What is Social Psychology? Social psychology is the scientific study of social thinking, social influence, and social relations (Meyer, 2010). . Social influence is the effect that words, actions, or the presence of other people, have on our thoughts, feelings, attitude, or behavior. In other words, social psychology is the way in which individual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people, whether they are real people, or imagined in ones thoughts. At the heart of social psychology is a phenomenon of social influence. Every single person is influenced by other people. Sometimes we are influenced by persuasion, where another person deliberately tries to change another individual and their way of thinking and behavior (Meyer, 2010). Social influence is happening now on television and across America with the presidential candidates all trying to persuade the people of America to vote for them, or the commercial on crest toothpaste, using creative techniques to persuade people to buy this particular brand. Another example of social influence is seen in schools a lot. One being direct attempts from...
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...Social Psychology Defined Jackeline Rodriguez PSY/400 June 18th, 2014 Jacqueline Burnett-Brown Social Psychology Defined There are many different forms of psychology that have been discovered and have made their mark in the world of psychology and in science. In this paper, social psychology will be defined and further explain how social psychology is different from other forms of psychology, and provide insight into how and why research is needed in social psychology. Social psychology is the scientific study of the way that people think about one another and how people influence and relate to each other in a society (Myers, 2010). There are other factors that play a significant role in social psychology such as; how human behavior is impacted by other peoples’ thoughts, attitudes, personalities, cultural differences and our own human biology. Social psychology is more than how people interact and influence each other; it focuses on social thinking, social influence and social relations. The three subcategories cover self-perception, beliefs, judgment, culture, conformity, prejudice and aggression. Social psychology also studies how social intuitions can be misleading, deceive people and tamper with social worlds (Myers, 2010). There are many other forms of psychology that it can be quite easy to confuse one for another. For example social psychology and clinical psychology can easily be confused due to the fact that they both assess behavior. Thankfully there are...
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...Social Psychology Definition Lynett DeWolf PSY/400 Social Psychology Leslie Binnix April 17, 2013 Introduction There are many different fields of psychology. This paper will review the definition of social psychology and that the main focus is an individual within a group or other social setting. This paper will also review the differences between social psychology, clinical psychology, general psychology and sociology psychology as well as the importance of research within the social psychology field. Social Psychology Social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social setting. Thought, feeling and behaviors are studied and how a person in either influenced or how they influence social settings. Social psychology studies how the thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual presence of others, imagined presence of others and or the implied presence of others (Allport, 1935). There are three parts to social psychology, one part being how people think about themselves, other people, personal beliefs, judgments and attitudes. The second part is the culture where a person lives, political and professional groups a person belongs to, religious group, family and friends is what creates the social influence for a person (Myers, 2010). The third part is how people relate to each other when it comes to intimacy, attraction, aggression and social prejudice (Myers, 2010). How social psychology differs from other disciplines The difference between social psychology...
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...Social Psychology PSY/400 Jamie Enright December, 3 2012 Leslie Binnix Social psychology is not a very old practice. In fact, it started after World War II. The unfortunate incident with the Holocaust made researchers want to study the effects of social influence, conformity and obedience because of how badly those groups of individuals were treated. Social psychology is the study of how we, as human beings relate to one another. It is the study of how we interact, how we think, and how feel towards actual individuals that are similar and those that are different from us as well. It makes us ask ourselves questions that we have wanted to know about ourselves. Individuals as a whole want to know other aspects or contributions that make them unique and by researching or studying other individuals, they are able to acquire that different perspective. It also helps one to see/view and affect another individual whether it is in a positive way or not. It also would show how different individuals’ attitudes or behaviors affect another depending on their environment. There are many different psychologies out there that deal with some of the same aspects as social psychology, however, there are really three different types of psychology that social psychology has a very close relation to. One of which is sociology. Sociology deals with people that are in large groups and/or people in different societies. The difference is social psychology has to do with how an...
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...Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY/400 October 28, 2013 Social Psychology Definition Paper Social Psychology is the branch of psychology that would deal within the social interactions. This has to deal with where it came from (the origin) and how it affected or the effects on an individual. Many different social topics are covered in social psychology like group behavior, social perception, non-verbal behavior, leadership, aggression, conformity and prejudice. It is used to explain and understand how a thought, feeling or behavior of a person is influenced by actual other human beings. Research has been done to determine what is the best way to find out how others influence the decisions that are made in everyday life (Myers, D. G. 2010). Define Social Psychology Understanding social psychology can be a bit difficult. It looks at the behavior of humans that is influenced by others and what social context to which will occur. Social psychology is the scientific field that searches to understand the nature and the causes in an individual’s behavior during social situations. The behavior of humans is formed by different influences. Some can be internal as well as some external. Humans are all social animals so our tendencies through our culture can define our circumstances. The personality and attitude plays a big part in forming behavior but it can also offset and reinforce social pressures. There are some main ideas in which social psychology inquire about to address...
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...PSY/400 | Social Psychology Definition Paper | Julee Poole | | Jamie Uber | 7/29/2013 | In this paper I want to explain what the meaning of social psychology is and how social psychology differs from other fields, such as clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology. Also I will explain the methods used to research social psychology. | Social psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with social interactions, including their origins and their effects on the individual. Social psychology looks at all different types of social interactions, including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and prejudice. One thing to know about social psychology is that it does not just deal with social influences, but they are vital to understand it. Social psychology has been around since the 1800’s, but wasn’t really used until the horrors of the Holocaust; it led researchers to study more on the effects of social influence, obedience, and conformity. Also the government wanted to use social psychology to influence the citizens; it has grown since then and more and more are interested in understanding social experiences and behaviors. Social psychology differs from sociology because it deals with social behavior of an individual and uses more experimentation, when compared with personality psychology; it tends to focus less on an individual and more on how they affect one another. Social psychology tends...
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...Social Psychology Definition Paper Douglas Cooper PSY/400 April 4, 2016 Ami Taharka Social Psychology Definition Paper How do people think about, influence, and relate to each other? These are just some of the questions that social psychologists are looking to answer. This paper will further define social psychology’s goals to elicit a richer understanding of the field. It will discuss how social psychology differs from other disciplines, such as clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology and why those differences are important. Finally, it will examine research methods and strategies that social psychologist utilize to answer questions. Social Psychology Defined According to our text, social psychology “is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another” (Myers, 2010, pg. 4). It is a relatively young science, that some may confuse with sociology. Whereas sociology focuses on group dynamics, social psychology focuses more on how individuals interact with each other. At the heart of social psychology are three different constructs. These are: social thinking (what we perceive about ourselves and other, what we believe, the judgements we make, and our attitudes), social influence (culture, conformity pressures, persuasion), and social relations (prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy, and helping). There are several concepts that contribute to these constructs. Some of these include the following. First is that...
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...Social Psychology Definition Heather de Leur PSY/400 April 9, 2012 Robert Irizarry Social Psychology Definition What is Social Psychology? Social Psychology is defined as a discipline that uses scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings (Allport, 1985). So learning about Social Psychology we know that it looks at huge variety of social topics. Some of the topics that it does touch base on are topics like group behavior, leadership, social perception, aggression, prejudice, and nonverbal behavior. But one must be aware of is that it also touches base on Social perception as well as social interaction in understanding the meaning behind Social Psychology (Cherry, 2012). Social psychology is different from other psychology, such as clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology in different ways. Clinical psychology is the field where the branch of psychology is concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness. This area merges the science of psychology with the treatment of complex human problems, making it an interesting career choice for people who are looking for a challenging as well as a rewarding field (Cherry, 2012). In general psychology is the scientific study of human behavior. Many individuals over time defined Psychology differently it was not until 1990 that Feldman came up with the definition for it...
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...Social Psychology Definition Paper Elisa Castaneda PSY/400 May 21, 2014 Dr. Matthew Hicks Social Psychology Definition Paper Social Psychology gives an understanding to the behavior of people. It can help to understand how we tend to feed off one another when we are in a social environment whether it is in school, work, or with friends. As people seem to find common interests with others that shape and influence behaviors, but it is up to the individual in how he or she interpret the information. This essay discusses the meaning of Social Psychology, Social Psychology compares to other fields of psychology as well as the role of research in Social Psychology. Definition of Social Psychology Social Psychology can be defined as the types of situations that people set themselves in and the way that we as individuals can affect one another. It also can be defined as the decisions and choices we choose to make stemming from how we see ourselves as well as those around us to our own self judgment. Our cultural background and the beliefs and traditions that were instilled in us as children as well as the way individuals compose themselves when they are around friends, family or strangers. It is what makes people strive for the opportunity to fit in or make a difference in someone's life (Myers, 2010). Discussion of how Social Psychology differs from other disciplines such as Clinical Psychology, General Psychology, and Sociology. Social Psychology...
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...Social Psychology Definition Roberta Menlove Psy/400 October 2, 2012 Richard Johnston Social Psychology Definition Social psychology is a discipline of science attempting to guide social situations giving particular consideration to how humans interact with one another. Social psychology focuses on how individuals, in general, think about, view, influence, relate to, and affect each other. Social psychology cannot explain every social problem, however, by studying how individuals react to specific situations it does give insight into understanding many aspects such as how stereotypes are created. It also can explain behaviors such sexism, racism, why a person may behave one way in a certain situation and like a completely different person in a different situation, and even how individuals fall in and out of love (Myers, 2010). Clinical Psychology Social psychology is very similar to other psychologies, such as clinical psychology and sociology, but has distinctions of its own. For instance, one contrast between social psychology and clinical psychology is social psychology tends to focus on situational influences of “normal” behavior, whereas clinical psychology focuses on particular behaviors mainly intra-psychic influences of “abnormal” behavior. Clinical psychology is an expansive field of research within the sphere of psychology that applies psychological principles to rehabilitation, prevention, assessment, amelioration, or psychological dysfunctional behavior...
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...Social Psychology Definition PSY 400 - Social Psychology Social Psychology Definition When people go to parties with friends to socialize and have a good time do you think they ever take the time to think about the interactions that are happening with each other? When a husband and wife are has had an argument over where to travel for vacation, are they thinking about how they are influencing one another? Social psychology is about the interactions and influences that people have on each other and how they impact who one another. When a judgment is made against another, where does that thought come from? Why do people feel the way they do about one another and where does that learned behavior and attitude come from? In this paper we will show the difference between the different disciplines of psychology, show the types of research used and how social psychology affects us as individuals and where our perceptions stem from. To define social psychology is to define humans as individuals. How we behave and interact with one another makes up the bulk of who we are. There are several big ideas in social psychology one being our need to “construct our social reality” (Myers, 2010). People have this need to justify their behavior because it makes it seem more palatable for some reason. If a person receives an item that they are suspicious is stolen and choose to keep it anyway, they will feel the need to justify their behavior to anyone they come into contact with...
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...Social Psychology April Owens Social Psychology/ PSY 400 Lauren Davis February 13th 2012 Social Psychology People are social beings. From the moment we are born, we are raised to socialize with an incredible amount of people. These people influence our day-to-day lives just as much as we affect the lives of others. Social psychology searches to understand these interactions. What complicates these interactions is that they do not even need to be real, as long as they are perceived interactions. The idea is that people are a combination of their own personality plus the people they interact with on a regular basis. Social psychology treats the social aspects of mental life. It tries to understand the link between the mind, group situations, and the responses a person has as a result (WordIQ, 2010). By looking at how an individual reacts to a certain group (large or small) and how the group reacts to the individual, it is possible to find out how each portion can influence the other. There appear to be three general topics that are studied in social psychology. These topics are socialization (gender, life development, intelligence), communication (persuasion, self presentation, language, and rules), and social perception (identity, attitude, and attribution; WorkIQ.com, 2010). By focusing on these topics, we are able to get the full idea of how individuals and groups influence each other. One thing to look at is if social groups influence the...
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