History Of Social Psychology
According to Kruglanski and Stroebe (2012) social psychology is defined as the scientific study of how a person's feelings, behaviors, and thoughts are influenced by the implied, imagined, or real presence of other people. Social psychology will analyze various social topics including social perception, behavior leadership, conformity, prejudice, nonverbal behavior, and aggression. It attempts to understand a person's behavior in a social context. Therefore, social psychology will look at human behavior as other people and the social setting that this occurs shape it. Social psychologists will deal with the factors that lead a person to behave in a given way in front of others, and it looks at the conditions in which some behaviors and feelings will occur. Social psychology is a young field that began in the 20th century. Around 90% of all social psychologists are believed to be alive. The early influencers of this field are Aristotle, who believed that human beings were naturally sociable, which allowed humans to live together. This is an individual centered approach. Plato who believed that the state controlled the person, and encouraged them to be socially responsible coined a socio-centered approach.
Early years
Texts that focused on social psychology started emerging at the beginning of the 20th century. The first famous book was "An Introduction to Social Psychology" by William McDougall in 1908. The book included chapters on sentiment and emotion, character, religion, and morality, which were all quite different from the ones included today. McDougall conceived that social behavior was instinctive and individual, which led to his choice of topics. Modern social psychology does not hold this belief. The current thinking is underpinned to Floyd Allport's work of 1924. Allport recognized that social behavior resulted from interactions amongst people. He chose a methodological approach, which focused on actual research and emphasized the social psychology was a scientific field (Fiske, Gilbert, & Lindzey, 2010). Allport's book covered topics that are still evident today like conformity, emotion, and an audience effect on others.
Norman...
History Of Social Psychology: Past and Future Directions The fields of psychology and social psychology owe their existence to the earlier philosophical thinkers including Aristotle, Plato, Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. However, the recognized founder of the field (by most historians) is the German scientist Wilhelm Wundt (Farr, 2003). In 1862 Wundt proposed that there psychology should consist of two branches: a social branch and a physiological branch of psychology (Farr,
History Of Social Psychology Social Psychology studies how people's thoughts emotions and feelings are influenced by what they see, hear or observe from their immediate environment (Feenstra, 2013). It also involves to how the same people respond to these influencers within their living environment. We must appreciate the fact that human beings are sensitive and receptive to all that goes on within their living environment. They react to the stimuli they
Social psychology is a very broad field that takes in the many varieties of group dynamics, perceptions and interactions. Its origins date back to the late-19th Century, but it really became a major field during and after the Second World War, in order to explain phenomena like aggression, obedience, stereotypes, mass propaganda, conformity, and attribution of positive or negative characteristics to other groups. Among the most famous social psychological studies
Social psychology has only existed as it is defined, within the last eighty years, with growth accelerating in the past four decades. Social psychology enables analysis of the cognitive and social processes in relation to human-to-human interaction. "Social psychology, the scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others" (Smith, Mackie & Claypool, 2014, p. 11). It allows people
Optimism and Pessimism Relates to Stress and Coping with Cancer An increasing amount of research links negative and positive emotional states to wellness or ill health. The negative or pessimistic emotions seem to have a negative effect on the immune system and on general health. Pessimism has been shown to be unhealthy and have adverse effects on health, including increasing the risk of cancer and preventing recovery from the disease.
Social Psychology Studies: Explaining Irrational Individual Behavior by Understanding Group Dynamics Social psychology is, as its name suggests, a science that blends the fields of psychology, which is the study of the individual, and sociology, which is the study of groups. Social psychology examines how the individual is influenced by the group. It looks at the influence of group or cultural norms on individual behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. However, because group
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