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Psych 555 Social Psychology

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Social Psychology
Jesse Muerte
Psych 555 Social Psychology
Feburary 24, 2014
University of Phoenix
Gary Mccullough

Social Psychology
Social psychology is about understanding individuals through scientific studies to see how they think, what influences their emotions and behaviors, as well as how they ultimately relate to one another. The key characteristics are defined in four ways; broad scope, cultural mandate, scientific methods, and search for wisdom. This paper expresses the concept of situationism, as well as the five core social motives in social psychology beginning with defining what social psychology is.
Definition of social psychology
According to its definition social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another (Myers, 2002). Social psychology seeks to to understand individuals as a person, and how they interact with others in a social situation, or in society in general. Social psychology seeks to both understand and define social behaviors, what triggers people to do what they do. Within social psychology, their two types of processes, which shape all sorts of behavioral attributes, are known as social and cognitive processes. These processes are what help aid psychologists in understanding why people act a certain way, which explains further into the events that have been taken to make the person the way they are. Social psychology helps us take these factors and comprehend these actions, and allows us to use these events to develop solutions for social problems.
The four key characteristics of social psychology
Fiske reveals within chapter one that the four key characteristics of social psychology are broad scope, cultural mandate, scientific methods, and search for wisdom. Broad scope provides a vantage point on major human concerns, such as conformity and deviance, altruism

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