...Social Psychology: Prosocial Behavior Social psychology is one of the wide topics in sociology that have been widely studied. Social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social context. Stangor (2013) has described social psychology as the scientific study of how people think, feel and behave around people and how people’s feelings, thoughts and behaviors are influenced by these people. It aims at studying and explaining how individual personalities change due to social groups. Social psychology helps one understand how individuals fit in the society. Social psychology exists in our daily life. When we make friends, when we argue with friends, how we live with people and relate with them, are all examples of social psychology. There are different study areas in social psychology and they are; prosocial behaviors, prejudice, discrimination and diversity, self and social behavior, social influence, cultural links, psychology of gender and violence, conflict resolution and peace. In this paper I will discuss prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is the opposite of anti-social behavior. While anti-social people will exclude themselves from the society, are selfish and don’t contribute much in conversations, prosocial people are philanthropic, obedient and cooperate with others. Prosocial behavior has been described as the phenomenon where people help each other, either willingly or with a hidden motive. Prosocial behavior should not be confused with altruism, which is...
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...Social Psychology Institute Name Date Introduction Psychology covers many topics and conducts different types of research to understand the function and development of humans. Social psychology, however, places a focus on individuals and how they think about, relate to, and perceive others. Social thinking, influences, and relations are the main concepts of social psychology that also construct main ideas to make remembering the concepts easier. Some forms of psychology may interact with other forms of psychology to gather a better understanding of a certain subject. Social psychology is useful in many types of psychology. Definition Social psychology pertains to an in-depth study of socialization. Perception, interaction, and influence are the main focus. Social psychology studies individuals to examine how they view others. Along with the views, relationship studies allow researchers to see the effects individuals have on one another. According to Myers (2010), concepts to remember in social psychology center on ideas in social thinking, influences, and relations. The first idea in social thinking is people construct their own social reality. People have a need to explain the behaviors of other people despite accuracy. A person who observes another person’s consistent behavior may see the behavior as part of the person’s personality (Myers, 2010). The second idea is the riskiness or usefulness of social intuition. An intuition is a personal feeling that...
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...Biopsychology: Biopsychology is a field of psychology that analyzes how the brain and neurotransmitters influence our behaviors, thoughts and feelings. This field can be thought of as a combination of basic psychology and neuroscience. Clinical Psychology: Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems. Cognitive Psychology: Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Comparative Psychology: Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior. Modern research on animal behavior began with the work of Charles Darwin and Georges Romanes and has continued to grow into a multidisciplinary subject. Today, biologists, psychologists, anthropologists, ecologists, geneticists and many others contribute to the study of animal behavior. Counseling Psychology: Counseling psychology focuses on providing therapeutic treatments to clients who experience a wide variety of symptoms. It is also one of the largest specialty areas within psychology. The Society of Counseling Psychology describes the field as " a psychological specialty [that] facilitates personal and interpersonal...
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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 studies elements of life situations. Social psychology dives deep into how people analysis and influence one another. Social psychology is a study concerning why a person thinks about, relates to, and influences others. Social psychology consists of the study of learning how people see themselves and others. Social psychology studies people’s beliefs, attitudes, thought process, and judgment making. Social psychology influences how genetic factors and society contribute to who people become, and how he or she interacts with each other. Social psychology researches how people influence people and how he or she are influenced by others. Social psychology examines the ways people cope, such as aggression, persuasion, empathy, and compassion (Crozier, 2000). Crozier, Ivan. (2000, August). Social Psychology. Social Studies of Science, 30(4). According to Fiske (2010), “People influence people.” Social psychology offers an understanding of how people can influence the behavior of other people. Social psychology tries to offer information how the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are changed by imagined or actual attendance of other people (Fiske, 2010). Social psychology is not only about the behavior of people, such as performing when asked. Social psychology also covers how a person may or may not be influenced by a group if the group goes against his or her best judgment (Fiske, 2010). An example of a group influencing a person to go against his or her...
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...understanding of the other? Why and how do individuals behave in social settings and the importance of social interaction for individuals? These are some of the questions that come in mind when talking about social psychology. To get a better understand the field of social psychology this paper will focus on defining social psychology, the four key characteristics of social psychology, the concept of situationism and the role it plays in social psychology, and the five core social motives and their affect on the field of social psychology. Social Psychology Social psychology is defined as the “scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual in social situations” (Baron, Byrne & Suls, 1989 p. 6). The classic definition that dates back to Gordon Allport describes social psychology as an attempt to understand how individuals are influenced by the presence of other human beings. According to Fiske (2010) Social psychology is the scientific attempt to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings, (p.2). Individuals have different reactions when exposed to social events and having to interact with other people. These changes in behavior, thoughts and feelings contribute to certain areas of the individuals’ personality as well as upbringing. Social psychologists study the influence of social interaction on human beings to try to understand why some...
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...Background of psychology Psychology has brief history as a scientific discipline though it has been studied since ancient time under the faculty of philosophy. The word psychology was derived from Greek word 'psyche' and 'logos' literal meaning of which was 'soul' and 'study' respectively. The definition of psychology had ever been in the process of change since then. The development of psychology can broadly be traced into four periods: Ancient Greek period, per-modern period, modern period and current status 1. Greek period: Greek philosophers had contributed much for the development of psychology. Some of the key contributors were Socrates was interested in studying the reincarnation of soul. Soul or mind was considered as the representation of individuals. Plato, a bright student of Socrates expanded Socrates concepts in philosophy about life and soul. It was Aristotle who wrote first book in psychology called Para Psyche; about the mind or soul. In the book, he introduced the basic ideas in psychology today, like law of association. However, the notion of psychology was primarily related to study of soul or mind at that stage. Later on it was found that physical existence of soul was doubtful. Also, there was controversy in defining soul and mind among the philosopher. The contributors of the period never focused on the behavior of individual. That is why the attention was diverted from the study of soul or mind 2. Pre-modern period it was during 1800's that psychology was established...
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...Social Psychology Ginger PSY/400 Social Psychology Our behavior is shaped by many influences, some external and some internal. Humans are social creatures meaning that cultural predispositions define our circumstances. Our attitudes and personalities play a significant role in shaping behavior as well, sometimes offsetting, and sometimes reinforcing social pressures. How we think influences our perceptions of the world and how we think influences our perception of others. Also how we think influences our perceptions of ourselves. Social Psychology differs from other related disciplines in that it focuses on “social” aspects of human behaviors, specifically, how people understand, and interact with others. Social Psychology Social psychology is the study of how and why people think, feel, and do the things they do depending upon the situation they are in (Myers, 2010, p. 4). In other words, social psychology focuses on the individual and relies on scientific research to generate theories of social behavior. The world is a dynamic place and the actions of human beings are constantly changing as individuals respond to various events and situations that confront them. Social psychology plays a role in helping to understand better how individuals view themselves and others in various social and cultural contexts. For example, social psychology can help in better understanding how stereotypes are formed, where attitudes...
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...Social Psychology Like many fields of psychology, social psychology is no different. From its foundation it has inspired many conflicts and different views and all the while still finds a way to add to the study of the field of psychology. The following will discuss the meaning of social psychology, how social psychology differs from other related disciplines and explains the main types of research approaches and/or methods along with their roles within social psychology. In short, the definition of social psychology is the study of the relations between people and groups. Those who specialize in this field of study normally already have specialized in fields of their own and are usually psychologists or sociologists even though both sides use both the individual and group as their units of analysis. Myers defines social psychology as, "the scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to one another." (Myers, 2010, p. 3). This type of psychology includes how people’s thoughts, behaviors or feelings are affect by others. Social psychology does differ from other disciplines such as clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology. Even though some of them overlap between disciplines, they each hold an alternate focus and are different in other aspects as well. To give an example of this, sociological and psychological researchers often have different goals, motives, methods, and terminology. Social psychology and sociology also have separate academic...
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...Social Psychology Social psychology is the study of how individuals perceive information and in return act and behave towards other individuals. It also touches on what influences and persuades other individuals based on ones actions or behaviors. One could argue that social psychology is within close proximity to sociology since the study of sociology elicits the study of groups, societies and people. Social psychology has everything to do with an individual’s belief, their attitude, and their relationships with others. Social psychology is a studied discipline, “which utilizes the scientific method to understand and explain how the thought, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual imagines or implied presence of other beings” (Cherry, 2013). Furthermore, it is how people think and act based on their relation and influence of others. Within social psychology there is a large variety of social topics. Some of the social topics are the following; social groups, social perception, leadership, non-verbal behavior, conformity, aggression and prejudice. Social psychology isn’t based solely on an individual’s social influences it is also based on social perception and social interaction when attempting to learn about social behavior (Cherry, 2013). While addressing multiple avenues of the broad subject social psychology looks to define the our social reality, how social influences, personalities, personal attitudes, and biology shape our behavior;...
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...What Is Psychology? When you hear the word psychology, what comes to mind? While psychology is a popular subject, a lot of people are not aware of the many elements of this broad and fascinating subject. Learn about the early history of psychology, the official beginning of psychology and more about psychology today. What Are the Four Major Goals of Psychology? * Question: What Are the Four Major Goals of Psychology? Answer: Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. While you might understand what psychology is, many people are not quite so certain about what psychology does. What purpose does psychology serve? What are its goals? The four key goals of psychology are: To Describe One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. Through describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we are better able to understand it and gain a better perspective on what is considered normal and abnormal. Psychology researchers utilize a range of research methods to help describe behavior including naturalistic observation, case studies, correlational studies, surveys, and self-report inventories. To Explain As you might imagine, psychologists are also interested in explaining behavior in addition to merely describing it. Why do people do the things they do? What factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health problems? Throughout psychology's history, many different theories have emerged to help explain...
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...Social Psychology Definition Social Psychology is the study of how individuals think, influence, and relate to other individuals. In social psychology the focus is more on the individuals and use of experimentation. The boundary of social psychology is based through asking questions and dealing with how people see and affect each other. Social psychology also covers topics such as attitudes, beliefs, conformity, and independence. In society, humans have the natural urge to explain behavior, attributing it to a cause, to make it seem predictable and controllable. Social influences play a role in shaping the behavior of individuals. As individuals, the response to social interactions are immediate, which can contribute to individuals responding to expressed attitudes (Myers, 2010). For example, in a catastrophe such as tornados in Missouri, individuals pull together and donate to help those in need. Whether it be through donation of items or through the physical aspect of volunteering to help clean up or rebuild. As humans inner attitudes affect behavior. This making individuals vulnerable to peer pressure and attitudes, which influence individual’s political views are some examples (Myers, 2010). As individuals attitudes play a role in how each individual behaves. Social psychology has principles that are used to guide thinking and behavior, which play a vital role in everyday life. First one must understand what clinical psychology, general psychology, and sociology are...
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...Analyzing Human Behavior from a Social Psychological Perspective Social psychology is the study of human behavior in the social situations. There are many different topics that are studied by social psychologists. They can include different behaviors such as attitudes, aggression, prejudice, pro-social behavior and self-identity. The goal of social psychology is to study the behavior of individuals to learn more about how people form impressions of others, interpret the behavior of others and behave in social situations. Social psychology also looks at a range of social topics. Leadership, group behavior, social perception, nonverbal behavior, aggression and prejudice are to name a few. Social psychology is not just about looking at social influences. Social perception and social interaction are vital to understanding social behavior. Social Psychology began to become more to the forefront after World War II. Other events just after like the Holocaust for example, caused Psychologists to start to ask themselves the effects of society on human behavior, according to an article by, Kendra Cherry titled, “What is Psychology?” (Cherry, 2012) The term social psychology was first used in the 1860’s. In 1908 the first textbooks on the subject were published. Floyd Allport in 1924 wrote a modern textbook and was regarded as the rebirth of social psychology. Kurt Lewin was called the father of social psychology. He was one of the first researchers to study organizational development...
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...Running head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY DEFINITION PAPER Social Psychology Definition Paper PSY 400 October 24, 2011 Matt Diggs Social Psychology Very often, one wonders why one acts the way he or she does. It just seems to be human nature to ask such questions and to try to discover more about the complexity of human actions and causes. Of course, there are many perspectives in the field of psychology that attempt to address these significant questions. For instance, biopsychology considers important factors including one’s brain, genetic predisposition, and many others when addressing behavior. However, social psychology, even though it agrees with other branches in psychology, does focus on different aspects when seeking these kinds of conclusions. Social psychology centers their attention on understanding human actions such as what led to the cruelty of killing millions of people during War II. Why will one always help him or herself first, before helping others? Why do others matter more when making decisions? Social psychology is essential not only to the field of psychology but also to every individual because it provides answers to questions one seeks about him or herself and others. However, social psychology does more than provide answers to these few questions, as these merely touch the surface of social psychology’s focus (Myers, 2010). Definition of Social Psychology Social psychology is a science just like many other fields including astronomy...
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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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