Social psychology is the study of the relations between people and groups. Scholars in this interdisciplinary An interdisciplinary field is a field of study that crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged area are typically either psychologists Psychology is the study of human or animal mental functions and behaviors. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is a psychologist. Psychologists are classified as social or behavioral scientists. Psychological research can be considered either basic or applied. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in or sociologists Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter, though all social psychologists employ both the individual As commonly used, an individual is a person or any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics, individual means "indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person." . From the seventeenth and the group In the social sciences a group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller as their units of analysis The unit of analysis is the major entity that is being analyzed in the study. It is the 'what' or 'whom' that is being studied. In social science research, the most typical units of analysis are individual people. Other units of analysis can be groups, social organizations and social artifacts.[1]
Despite their similarity, psychological and sociological researchers tend to differ in their goals, approaches, methods, and terminology. They also favor separate academic journals An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting original research, and professional societies A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Polish Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian. The greatest period of collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II.[2] Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two disciplines.[3]
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Psychology
Most psychologists are trained within psychology. Their approach to the field focuses on the individual and attempts to explain how the thoughts Thoughts are forms conceived in the mind, rather than the forms perceived through the five senses. Thought and thinking are the processes by which these concepts are perceived and manipulated. Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Similar concepts and processes include, feelings Feeling is the nominalization of "to feel". The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of touch through either experience or perception. The word is also used to describe experiences, other than the physical sensation of touch, such as "a feeling of warmth". In psychology, the word is, and behaviors Behavior, or behaviour , refers to the actions of a system or organism , usually in relation to its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or of individuals are influenced by other people. Psychologically oriented researchers emphasize the immediate social situation and the interaction In social science, a social relation or social interaction refers to a relationship between two , three (i.e. a triad) or more individuals (e.g. a social group). Social relations, derived from individual agency, form the basis of the social structure. To this extent social relations are always the basic object of analysis for social scientists between person and situation variables. Their research tends to be empirical The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. It is usually differentiated from the philosophic and quantitative, and it is often centered around laboratory experiments Experiments is the step in the scientific method that arbitrates between competing models or hypotheses. Experimentation is also used to test existing theories or new hypotheses in order to support them or disprove them. An experiment or test can be carried out using the scientific method to answer a question or investigate a problem. First an, but there are some computational modeling efforts in the field.[4]
In its early days, with the exception of sociologists of the day, social psychology struggled for recognition as a social science.[5] One of the earliest psychologists to deal directly with this was William McDougall William McDougall was an early twentieth century psychologist who spent the first part of his career in the United Kingdom and the latter part in the United States. He wrote a number of highly influential textbooks, and was particularly important in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology in the English-speaking world.[5] Contemporary social psychology is "characterised by a fundamental commitment to the experimental method".[6] While publications on social psychology tend to be dominated by American texts, efforts have been made to balance this by publication of a European perspective.[7]
Psychologists who study social psychology are interested in such topics as attitudes An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously, social cognition Social cognition is the encoding, storage, retrieval, and processing, in the brain, of information relating to conspecifics, or members of the same species. At one time social cognition referred specifically to an approach to social psychology in which these processes were studied according to the methods of cognitive psychology and information, cognitive dissonance Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. It is one of the, social influence Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence, and interpersonal behaviors such as altruism Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Sikhism, and many others. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness and aggression In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause pain or harm. Predatory behavior between members of one species towards another species is also described as "aggression." To exhibit aggression towards members of another species is. Three influential journals for the publication of research in this area are the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. It is considered one of the top journals in the fields of social and personality psychology. Its focus is on empirical research reports; however, specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers are also published, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology is a scientific journal published by Psychology Press, and is distributed as part of dues to the membership of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP). It is highly cited and is considered one of the field's top journals, and the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin is a scientific journal published by SAGE Publications for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology . It publishes original empirical papers on subjects like social cognition, attitudes, group processes, social influence, intergroup relations, self and identity, nonverbal communication, and. There are also many other general and specialized social psychology journals.
Sociology
Sociologists' work has a greater focus on the behavior of the group In the social sciences a group can be defined as two or more humans who interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller, and thus examines such phenomena as interactions Symbolic interactionism is a major sociological perspective that places emphasis on micro-scale social interaction, which is particularly important in subfields such as urban sociology and social psychology. Symbolic interactionism is derived from American pragmatism, especially the work of George Herbert Mead and Charles Cooley. Herbert Blumer, a and exchanges Social exchange theory is a social psychological and sociological perspective that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties. Social exchange theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective cost-benefit analysis and the comparison of alternatives. The theory has roots at the micro-level, group dynamics Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that and group development The goal of most research on group development is to learn why and how small groups change over time. To do this, researchers examine patterns of change and continuity in groups over time. Aspects of a group that might be studied include the quality of the output produced by a group, the type and frequency of its activities, its cohesiveness, the, and crowds Crowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also provoked controversy. Social scientists have at the macro The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or processes are of a size which is measurable and observable by the naked eye-level. Sociologists are interested in the individual and group, but generally within the context of larger social structures and processes, such as social roles, race, class, gender, ethnicity, and socialization. They use a combination of qualitative research designs and quantitative methods, such as procedures for sampling and surveys.
Sociologists in this area are interested in a variety of demographic, social, and cultural phenomena. Some of their major research areas are social inequality, group dynamics, social change, socialization, social identity, and symbolic interactionism. The key sociological journal is Social Psychology Quarterly.
See also
- Social neuroscience Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological systems implement social processes and behavior, and to using biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social processes and behavior. Humans are fundamentally a social species, rather than individualists. As a social species, Homo
- Neuroculture NeuroCulture is the relation between the sciences that study the functioning of the brain and culture. We understanding the latter as the knowledge, history, habits, ideas and values of the human race, and their manifestations in any form of expression: social, scientific, artistic, philosophical, moral or religious, etc
- List of social psychologists The following is a list of academicians, both past and present, who are widely renowned for their groundbreaking contributions to the field of social psychology
| Wikiversity has learning materials about Social psychology |
References
- ^ Social Psychology, David G. Myers, McGraw Hill, 1993. ISBN:0070442924.
- ^ Sewell, W. H. (1989). Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 15.
- ^ The Psychology of the Social, Uwe Flick, Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN:0521588510.
- ^ Sun, R. (2008). The Cambridge Handbook of Computational Psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York. 2008
- ^ a b McDougall, William William McDougall was an early twentieth century psychologist who spent the first part of his career in the United Kingdom and the latter part in the United States. He wrote a number of highly influential textbooks, and was particularly important in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology in the English-speaking world (1909. First published 1908), An Introduction to Social Psychology (2nd ed.), London: Methuen & Co, pp. 1-2 (n13-14 in electronic fields), http://www.archive.org/stream/introductiontoso020342mbp#page/n0/mode/2up (Note: This and other versions of this title available at Internet Archive}
- ^ Jerald Greenberg & Robert Folger (1988), "The Scientific Status of Social Psychology", Controversial Issues in Social Research Methods, New York: Springer-Verlag, p. 1, ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-387-96571-8
- ^ Miles Hewstone & Wolfgang Stroebe, ed. (2004), Introduction to social psychology: a European perspective (3rd ed.), Massachusetts: Blackwell, ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-631-20437-7, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=V0HxX1Jld54C&dq=%22Introduction+to+social+psychology:+a+European+perspective+%22&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=3OTwS6_mMI-gkQXgwd3WBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false (see Preface to first Edition for context of original publication).
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Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:28:55 GMT+00:00
Pittsburgh Post Gazette Dr. Aron, a social psychology professor at Stony Brook University in New York, has been studying romantic love for 30 years, using brain imaging technology ...
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Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:37:22 PST
a very funny video from a japanese tv-show. It shows how people's behavior can be shaped like the behavior of the group / in critical ... youtube.com.
