...Social Psychology The way that humans interact with themselves and others can have a strong impact on how they behave. This can be a negative interaction or a positive interaction. How can one person by shy and quiet at home but be outgoing and loud with their group of friends? Social psychology takes a more in-depth look out how these situations shape them into who they are and how they act. Social psychology is a science that studies how situations can influences the views of a person and how they affect one another (Myers, 2010). There are three big parts to social psychology: social thinking, social influences, and social relations (Myers 2010). Each person is different in his or her own way. If two people are put in the same type of situation, both will act and behave differently because each of them “think differently” (Myers, 2010, p. 5). Social thinking involves how humans interact with other people and how they think about them. A person’s emotions are affected by how they think about someone and how that someone responds to them (Garcia, 2012). Humans are very intuitive, more often than they realize. Intuition helps shapes persons fears, impressions, and relationships, (Myers, 2010) but it sometimes can be dangerous depending how quickly a person judges something or someone. The next part of social psychology is social influences, which come from a person’s culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, and groups of people (Myers, 2010). “Sometimes the power of a...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...psychological principles that underlie human behavior and reactions to everyday life. Students are provided an opportunity to apply critical-thinking skills to psychological problems and issues. The basic tenets of psychology are presented from a historical perspective, with attention to research-based behavioral science. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: · University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. · Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Course Materials Carpenter, S., & Huffman, K. (2010). Visualizing psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. All electronic materials are available on the student website. Week One: Introduction to Psychology Details Due Points Objectives 1.1 Describe the development of the discipline of psychology. 1.2 Compare and contrast research methods used to examine psychological phenomena. 1.3 Explain biological influences on the human brain. Readings Read Ch. 1 & 2 of Visualizing Psychology. Review this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings. Participation...
Words: 2233 - Pages: 9
...What is Social Psychology? Psychology has many divisions including abnormal, cognitive, developmental, comparative, educational, experimental, and a multitude of others. It is a diverse and complex field of study, with each branch focusing on its own perspective of human thought and behavior. Social psychology spotlights human behavior as it relates to social interactions, influences, and relationships. It seeks to understand why people in society behave the way they do with each other and to determine the cause of societal conformities, beliefs, and trends. The following paper provides an overview of social psychology; its definition, how it differs from other branches, and the role of research in the discipline. Social Psychology Defined Social psychology is defined as "the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to each other" (Myers, 2010). The main concepts studied within the field of social psychology include social thinking, influence, and relations. Social thinking encompasses how people perceive themselves and others, their attitudes, beliefs, and judgments. Social influences encompasses how culture, social situations, groups of people, and the accompanying temperaments manipulates behavior. Finally, social relations refers to how relationships (attraction, intimacy, family), feelings toward others (prejudice, hostility, kindness), and biology relate to behavior (Myers, 2010). Social Psychology Differs From Other Disciplines ...
Words: 769 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 946 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 566 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 566 - Pages: 3
...Sapp 02/01/2013 Chapter 3 1. Social Cognition- How people think about themselves and the social world, or more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions. 2. Automatic Thinking- Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless. 3. Schemas- Mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember. 4. Accessibility- The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people's minds and are therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world. 5. Priming- The process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. 6. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy- the case whereby people have an expectation about what another people is like which influences how they act toward that person, which causes that person to behave consistently with people's original expectations come true. 7. Judgment Heuristics- Mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently. 8. Availability Heuristic- A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind. 9. Representativeness- A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case. 10. Analytic Thinking Style- A type of thinking in which people focus on the...
Words: 348 - Pages: 2
...Social psychology What is social psychology? It is the scientific study of how a person’s behavior, thoughts and feelings are influenced by the real, imagined or implied presence of others. Social influence: The process through which the real, imagined or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings and behavior of others. Types of Social Influence: 1. Conformity: Conformity is seen wherein a person changes his/her behavior to more closely match the behavior/actions of other people. For example, Solomon Asch’s an experimenter had studied on conformity by experimenting some participants on their behavior pattern. The participants in his experiment were shown 3 comparison lines. They were later shown the standard line and were asked to determine which of the 3 lines matched the standard line. It was then found that the one participant followed what others said, despite of having his own answers to the question asked. 2. Group think: It is a kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned. For example, sinking of the Titanic in 1912, wherein the group responsible for designing and building the ship assumed that she was unsinkable and did not even bother to include enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers which caused the life of many people. Characteristics of Group think: a. Invulnerability:...
Words: 2790 - Pages: 12
...Barriers of Critical Thinking Barriers are objectives that one faces that hinders progress to one’s goal. With any goal one has a barriers one must overcome. Critical thinking is not an exception to this rule one must first recognize that there are barriers to overcome. One of the biggest external Barriers, and one which has the most impact, is the Media. Media is what you watch on television, what you read in newspapers, journals and magazines, and what you hear on the radio. Media has the most influence, because one cannot escape media; it is everywhere. At a young age, one is thought to rely on media; we simply absorb the information and not question it. Media is not a promoter of critical thinking; when one relies on media influence one loses the ability to think for one self. To modify this external barrier, one must limit the amount of media one chooses to view. One will seek out different media and question the source of the information being shared. Friends are another large external barrier. One tends to choose friends who share their same ideas and values; although these are great qualities for friendship, this is a horrible recipe for developing one’s critical thinking skills. Friends are the main factor in one’s social environment; which means, what one’s friends do or don’t do, one will also do. This is to say, modifying the external barrier means modifying ones friends. Encourage them to become critical thinkers and show them the necessary skills. One can...
Words: 334 - Pages: 2
...Social Psychology Psych/555 April 8, 2013 Dr. Anthony Social Psychology Human social behavior has been studied for the last 100 years, giving social scientists insight into the influence of thought on behavior. In this endeavor, scientists have also provided theories on the human need to obtain and maintain close attachments as well as the influence of human interaction. The development of social psychology as a discipline has provided insight into the precarious nature of human behavior and social interaction. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the conceptual foundations of social psychology. Within this analysis will be the definition of social psychology, an analysis of its four key characteristics, an explanation of the concept of situationism, and identification of the five core social motives and how these concepts affect the field of social psychology. Social Psychology Social psychology can be defined as the study of how an individual’s situations influence his or her behavior, emotions, thoughts, etc., with particular focus on how individuals perceive as well as affect on another (Myers, 2008). Furthermore, social psychology primarily focuses on social relations, social influence, and social thinking. According to Myers (2008), social relations refers to certain attributes such as aggression, helping others, prejudice, and attraction and intimacy. Social influence comprises factors such as pressure to conform, biology and culture, groups of people, and...
Words: 1278 - Pages: 6
...PSYCH 102 Social Psychology -The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another Social Thinking How we think about others, especially when they do something unexpected Attributing Behavior to Persons vs. Situations Attribution Theory: -We have a tendency to give causal explanations for someone’s behavior -Often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition Examples: -Child misbehaving in class -attributed to child having ADHD or child having not learnt enough about discipline -Someone giving us a curt greeting -attributed to “they don’t like me/they don’t recognize me” -Person tripping on a sidewalk -attributed to them being clumsy Fundamental Attribution Error -The tendency to overestimate the impact of personal disposition, and underestimate the impact of the situations in explaining the behaviors of others Self-Serving Bias -People take credit for success, deny responsibility for failure Attitude -A belief and feeling that predisposes a Attitudes Can Affect Action -Our attitudes predict our behaviors -Imperfect predictor – other factors (example: external situation) also influence behavior -Not only do people stand for what they believe in (attitude), they start believing in what they stand for Example: Cooperative actions can lead to mutual liking (beliefs) -Food-in-the-Door Phenomenon: The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later...
Words: 358 - Pages: 2
...Male vs Female : Social Issues Nowadays, social issues in our country become widely and it’s out of our control. The globalization makes our world become smaller and all the information could be easily to get by computers or which means emerge as internet. Social problems become more serious because bad things from other countries enter to ours. There are also has a good cultures however it also have bad things cultures that can influence to ours especially among teenagers. Most young generations cannot identify and also can’t analyze what are the different between good and bad things. They’re thinking speculation is far away from what adults do. The bad things that affect them could be eliminate the moral values for young generation. However, it’s not just among teenagers which means opposite sex such as male and female but almost many stage of people have this kind problem of social issues. To begin with, social issues are considered to affect the people of the society either directly or indirectly. The main things is, some people thought that it is from male carriage this kind of issues. For an example, a gay among of teenagers. Gay is the relationship within the same sex that involves man with man relation. When talking about same-sex relation, what comes in people’s mind is abnormal relationship. The first factor that caused this problem is biological influence. Therefore, natural biological is one of the reason why they get involve in gay. However, everyone knows that...
Words: 786 - Pages: 4
...Why is systems thinking critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges? Systems thinking is a method of thinking that looks at the interconnectedness between different elements rather than a linear cause and effect approach and sees patterns of change rather than fixed “snapshots”. In essence it is a view on the “whole picture” (Anderson, R 1994). Peter Senge and Andres Edwards expressed the importance of system thinking in that it is necessary for “understanding the dynamic complexity of a situation”, anticipating “the unintended consequences of proposed actions” and implementing “lasting solutions” (Higgins, K 2014). Obesity is a wicked problem we face today where systems thinking is necessary as it is a sustainability issue that flows into the three pillar model. It affects the social, economic, and environmental pillars, as well as physiological and psychological factors on an individual level making it a unique and complex system. By looking at genetics, psychological disorders, social norms and consequences, the food we buy and energy we use as well as the economy we can see why past and current attitudes have failed and that by encouraging a system thinking approach a new understanding of the circumstances can be achieved helping to identify prospects for action that may not have previously be seen; altogether illustrating systems thinking’s critical role in developing solutions to sustainability challenges. Over the last few decades obesity has rapidly...
Words: 2606 - Pages: 11
...The environment plays a huge role in human behavior from larger things like whether the country that a person lives in is at war to smaller things like the type of weather that is typical for that specific area. You may have heard of the term nature vs. nurture before. This is a term that psychologists use to describe different reasons for why people behave in the ways that they do. Nature refers to people’s DNA. This is their inherent genetic makeup that plays a role in not only their behavior but also in their outward appearance. Nurture describes the environment that people live in including each person’s own experiences within their family but also their experiences in the larger world and within their community. Human beings are programmed response in every sense of the word. We learn everything that we are from others. We are not born with knowledge or personality; we acquire those from society-at-large. As an example; if, at the moment you were born, you were exchanged with a baby being born in Ethiopia, and your skin, hair, and eyes were altered to that of other Ethiopians, you would grow up and be an entirely different person. Your taste in food, music, dress, and all your aspects of culture would be entirely different from who you are today. If the two of you were to meet as adults, neither would recognize similar behavioral attributes in the other. Each of you would have entirely different personalities. Genetically, you may have the same physical...
Words: 2028 - Pages: 9
...Wendell K Stephens Strategic MGMT Seg 2 RAND Corporation 1. What made RAND so Conducive to fostering and facilitating strategic thinking and strategic thinkers during the cold war? The original organizational direction of RAND corporations was to allow a small select group of intellectuals who were successful in collaborating with scientific work for the military during and after the World War II. The formation of RAND was initially placed under the guidance of the Air Force, however, the sentiment of senior leaders in the military, government, and intellectuals participating felt that continuing under the umbrella of one of the branches of the military might stagnate the benefit of having a group of “free thinkers” from achieving great results. RAND was given independence to conduct research and this freedom of thought was “guarded” within this group of researchers. RAND attracted creative talent and individuals who were free thinkers who found comfort in not being held to a deadline or driven towards an A or B outcome choice. RAND fostered strategic thinking based on all of the intellectuals from various disciplines like economics, mathematics, research analysis, were placed in an environment with colleagues from the most influential intellectual institutions of the day as well as the federal sector, military and civilians branches of government. RAND received a grant from Henry Ford II ($1,000,000) which allowed the organization to become...
Words: 776 - Pages: 4
