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Content Summary: Social Psychology and Research
Nickie Sightler
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Psychology 512: Social Psychology
Dr. Stacey Gaines
March 23, 2024
Social Psychology and Research 2
Introduction
In the readings of Module 1, they talked about what social psychology is. In the
chapters, it was discussed what the definition of social psychology is, how social
psychology is studied and how it affects people. There is a brief history of social
psychology throughout the years of 1880s until 2000’s. There was discussion about the
trends of social psychology today and how research was done to see how the different
areas of life were affected by social psychology. The interdependence in social
interaction was discussed and how we depend on one another to meet our goals and
maintain relationships.
In Chapter 2 of the Social Psychology book, the reading talked about why we
should learn about research methods. There are many reasons why we should learn
about research methods. Some of those reasons are that learning about research
methods helps us to get ideas and to see what is being done. Learning about research
methods also helps us to understand how the defining and measuring are done on
research and how the testing is done when doing research. We will also be able to
understand how research should be conducted and what we need to make sure we do
when conducting research, especially if people are involved.
In other readings, there was discussion of interdependence in social interaction
and how research was completed on how people still obey in life in today’s world. The
was information also shared about how examining demand characteristics in guard
orientation.
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and this was an article on Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment. There was
information that was shared through a journal article on How to Read a Journal Article in
Social Psychology. This article shared some important information on how people will
try to read an article, but I feel that it is very important to take the time, when doing
research to read through the article so that you will have helpful information on what you
are researching.
Summary
What is Social Psychology?
Social Psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and
behave in a social context. (Kassin, S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e,
2020) In this reading, the author talked about how the social animal. The human brain
relative to our bodies is massive. (Kassin, S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology,
11e, 2020) The chapter talked about how social influence can lead us to some paths
that we should not go down. People tend to follow trends and want to try an experiment
that can be harmful or not helpful to them. When reading about Social Psychology,
there are many ways we can approach to see how to understand how people think, feel
and behave. We can do this through research by looking at articles, readings, videos,
and assessments. When doing an assessment method, we need to make sure that we
let the people know we are conducting research and will need to let them know what it
is about and have their permission. In this chapter, there where social psychological
example questions that can
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be helping to understand how we affect others in different ways, when it comes to
Social Psychology and common sense, the reading talked about how Social Psychology
is different from common sense. Common sense may seem to explain many social
psychological findings. (Kassin, S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e, 2020,
p.9) Social Psychology uses the scientific method to put its theories to the test. ((Kassin,
S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e, 2020. p.9) The reading also talks about
Social Psychology and what is trending now. There are many areas trending today with
Social Psychology and some of those are behavioral genetics, culture perspectives,
behavioral economics, and how new technologies and the online world affect people
with social interaction. Social Interaction is important to help people get through many
things in their lives and very important to help people to understand how important it is.
Understanding Research Methods
It is very important when conducting research that we understand how the
research methods work. The research process involves coming up with ideas, refining
them, testing them, and interpreting the meaning of the results obtained. (Kassin, S.
Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e, 2020, p. 25) When conducting research,
the first of stage of research is coming up with ideas. When getting ideas on Social
Psychology, there will always be a question that the study begins with, or you may find
an idea through a reading. When an initial idea for research may be so vague that it
amounts to little more than a hunch or an elected guess and then this would be when it
could be shaped into a
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hypothesis. (Kassin, S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e, 2020, p.26) When
testing a theory, we can use basic research to help us increase our understanding of
behaviors in humans. When using applied research, it will be used to apply more toward
the world and contributing to the solution of the problem. It is very important that we
understand how to use research and apply it.
Social Interaction and Interdependence
Interdependence is at the heart of most human interactions, it is our dependence
on one another for outcomes, whether tangible or intangible. (Chadee, D., Theories in
Social Psychology, 2011, p. 250) In this reading, it discusses how people react in their
daily lives with others, when interacting or living together. It talks about how people are
affected by their interdependence and social interaction. Interdependence describes the
nature of our interactions, how we depend on one another to achieve goals and
maintain relationships. (Chadee, D., Theories in Social Psychology, 2011, p. 250)
Interdependence not only helps us in the ways mentioned above, but it also helps us
become more aware of the importance of cooperation and coordination in just
interpersonal relationships but also helps us in the local, national, and global level. This
also helps us to understand the behavior in the workplace and close relationships and
other relationships. When reading the two articles, Social Interaction and
Interdependence is shown in the readings on how people react and the behaviors that
were shown.
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Conclusion
In these chapters, the discussion talks about how important it is to understand
Social Psychology and what it means. It is also important to understand how people are
affected by social interaction and how they deal with it. We as researchers, should also
know the importance of how research is conducted, the steps that need to be taken to
complete the idea and how people are affected. We as researchers, should always
make too sure to take the steps that are needed to do the research after we come up
with an idea of what we want to learn more about. We also need to know how Social
Interaction and Interdependence is affected when we are dealing with an intermediate
relationship, a workplace and any relationship that we must interact with others. The
understanding of how our social skills is affected by interactions from others is very
important to understand. Social skills play a big part in humans lives from birth to the
end of our lives.
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References:
Kassin, S. Fein, S., Markus, H; Social Psychology, 11e, 2020
Chadee, D., Theories in Social Psychology, 2011
Burger, J. Santa, (2011). Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? American
Psychologist, Volume 64 (1), Jan 2009, Special Issue: Obedience-Then and Now;
www.web.p.ebscohost.com
Bartels, J. (2018), Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment again: Examining demand
characteristics in the guard orientation; www.tandfonline.com
Jordan, C., Zanna, M. (1999) How to Read a Journal Article in Social Psychology;
www.uni-muenster.de
