For kim woods only

Social psychology theory

Shakera Springs

Southern New Hampshire University

This paper will focus on devising a new look in the social psychology theory. Several students who take a course in introduction to social psychology theory have found themselves not wishing to take such a course again. To assist them make sense of the course, the instructors and these students should put emphasis on five themes. These themes include universal principles relevant to broad range of behavior and ways of thinking about the social world: considering that behavior have manifold interacting causes, identifying social psychology as a type of technology, questioning and identifying empirical hypothesis, exploring and imagining alternatives, and emphasizing the centrality of both community and individuality.

Social psychology educates critical thinking with reference to social behavior. The field that takes years to study assists our students to view the worlds as new hence it is comforting to believe on this. The choice of these themes is rather subjective and sometimes political; however, a good case can be made from these five themes. Exploring these themes reflects a number of influences. These include appreciating social psychology prior to the discovering of the crisis of confidence of the field. Others include an effort to explain to skeptical students on the importance of learning the social psychological theory and the mainstream practices and values of psychology in the critical psychology analysis. The five themes are discussed as follows;

On questioning and identifying empirical assumptions, the most valuable lesson about social psychology may be that assumptions about human nature and human behavior are frequently wrong. Even though the difference between science and common sense is sometimes inflated, it's good to learn how political, historical, cultural and other variables influence both daily behavior and our understanding of that behavior. Since assumptions about human behavior have policy consequence far beyond the interpersonal and personal, though, the traditional social psychology theory should widen its boundaries. The majority texts already apply social psychological theory to real-world areas such as environment and health. Significant topics such as prejudice and aggression are normal. Social psychologists are supposed to be at the front position of sorting out the degree to which these experimental assumptions are disseminated mainly since they are politically convenient for those in power.

Exploring and imagining alternatives is the next step. Taking psychology theory matter seriously, everything will be up for discussion for instance the forces that maintain global and national economic and political power, the nature of family and work life, the purpose and structure of the standard college classroom. If our world is either inevitable or optimal, then every course should spend time imagining how we might attain a better one. This implies considering possibilities further than the relatively minor reforms social psychologists characteristically suggest. Abraham Maslow (1971) half a century ago taught a course in Utopian Social Psychology. His description focuses on realistic and empirical questions. Adding to its educational benefits, this discussion might encourage students to confront common justifications for an flawed status quo and even, maybe, work to make things improved (Lindzey et al 2010).

Even if many details are significant, the landscape of social psychology is important. It is our hope that we attempt to understand competition and aggression, obedience and prejudice; they will keep in mind that social behavior has numerous causes. Since the behavior reflects an interaction between setting and person, some of those causes are at least variable and that this variation is unavoidable. So that behavior is hardly ever completely unsurprising even when experimental, manipulations reach statistical importance. Elevating the level of analysis toward the global and societal should be a fraction of every social psychology theory (Lindzey et al 2010).

The pressure between the community and the individual is an obvious link between many distinct topics of social psychology. Regardless of frequent mention of this connection, though, textbooks progressively de-emphasized group activity and highlight its disadvantages as they narrow their gaze toward the intrapersonal and interpersonal. The introductory classes should emphasize how the body of knowledge of social psychology shows the significance of both community and individuality and should consider more cautiously how both might be enhanced. Social psychology can give confidence to students to consider how those viewpoints reflect competing experiential assumptions by assessing how competing philosophical and political perspectives attempt to balance the two.

Concluding that the global and societal results of many forms of technology have been mainly negative is not reasonable. Even constructive technologies, although, change society without democratic decision-making and debate. The short of public input gains additional meaning when the technology in question is created explicitly to shape behavior without our permission awareness.

Several students discover that introductory social psychology theory is more interesting, and its significant lessons are more memorable if the course emphasized universal themes vital to an informed public fairly than an amalgamation of detached research findings. Those planning to become professional social psychologists can also gain from thinking about the field’s broader insinuations. It formulates sense, therefore, for dialogue of behavior's context to regularly consider societal assumptions about why and how those institutions and assumptions vary across cultures (Lindzey et al 2010). Also, about which behaviors are natural and expected, and about who loses and who benefits from existing institutional arrangements. It is reassuring to assume social psychology theory will assist improve our world, and particularly comforting to find examples like Latin American liberation psychology Ignacio Martín-Baró's (1994). Achievement, though, is more likely if teachers and students explore jointly just what social psychology should be, what it is, and what is about.

References

Evaluating the Social Cognitive Perspective on Personality - Boundless Open Textbook. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/the-social-cognitive-perspective-81/evaluating-the-social-cognitive-perspective-on-personality-316-12851/

Lindzey, G., & Aronson, E. (2010). The handbook of social psychology (2d ed.). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub.

Social Psychology | Simply Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-psychology.html

The Social Psychological Narrative-or-What Is Social Psychology, Anyway? (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://edge.org/conversation/the-social-psychological-narrative—or—what-is-social-psychology-anyway

Feedback Shakera,

Good start. Looking forward to your theory. Start looking at existing literature reviews on theories you would like to draw from, as you continue working on your own unique theory. Keep up the good work. No points for this assignment, but will be factored into your final work.