Social Psychology

Social Psychology DB1

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Social Psychology DB1

Social psychology is a branch of psychology that looks at different aspects of society to better understand their impact on a person’s behavior. Social psychology seeks to understand how different social processes impact people. For example social psychology seeks to understand the behavior of the individual in a group to better understand group conformity or the development of social norms. Social psychologists are interested in social influences, perception, and social interaction. Other branches of psychology are focused on human behavior or the internal processes of the mind.

In social psychology the focus is on the individual and how they are impacted by social processes. Social psychology involves the ways in which both social and mental processes determine action (Kearl, 2009). Social psychology applies a scientific method to understanding more about social situations. Other branches of psychology, such as behavioral psychology, look at human behavior in association with the environment. Social psychology looks at how people react to different social situations while behavioral psychology is focused on ways to change negative behavior into positive behavior. While it is important to understand why people react to certain social situation the behaviorist approach has been very beneficial to the education field.

The behaviorist approach finds behavior becomes conditioned but can be measured and changed through reinforcement and punishment (McLeod, 2007). The strengths of the behaviorist approach are the behavior can be observed so it is easy to gather data and identify the troubling behavior. Another advantage of this approach is the development of effective techniques to change the troubling behavior. The behavioral approach has its disadvantages because it rejects the internal processes of the mind and does not account for other types of learning. While some behaviors can be changed there are behaviors that are the result of internal processes of the mind.

Social psychology looks at the impact of a social situation on a social group. it does not look at the individual experience of the social situation. Some critics believe this can lead to bias or stereotypes for the group. Social psychologists look at situational variables that affect social behavior which can the results if any scientific study to generalized. While there are some challenges to social psychology this branch of psychology helps to better understand the attitudes of the group on important social topics, such as abortion or the death penalty and provides insight into other social situations.

References

Kearl, M. (2009). Social Psychology. Retrieved August 19, 2014 from

http://lessons.pennfoster.com/

McLeod, S. (2007). Behaviorist Approach. Retrieved August 19, 2014 from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html