Social psychology is a type of social science The social sciences are the fields of scientific knowledge and academic scholarship that study social groups and, more generally, human society. The social sciences initially were constituted of five fields: Jurisprudence and Amendment of the Law; Education; Health; Economy and Trade; Art. The contemporary field of science comprise academic that is concerned with individuals' thoughts, feelings and behavior as they affect or are affected by other individuals.[1] Scholars in this interdisciplinary An interdisciplinary field or multidisciplinary field is a field of study that crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged area are typically either psychologists Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior. Occasionally, in addition or opposition to employing the scientific method, it relies on symbolic interpretation and critical analysis, albeit often less prominently than do other social or sociologists Sociology is the study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Its subject matter ranges from, though all social psychologists employ both the individual As commonly used, individual refers to a person or to any specific object in a collection. In the 15th century and earlier, and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics, individual means "indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning "a person." . From the seventeenth and the group A group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller as their units of analysis The unit of analysis is the major entity that is being analyzed in the study. It is the 'what' or 'whom' that is being studied. In social science research, the most typical units of analysis are individual people. Other units of analysis can be groups, social organizations and social artifacts.[2]
Despite their similarity, psychological and sociological researchers tend to differ in their goals, approaches, methods, and terminology. They also favor separate academic journals An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting original research, and professional societies A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Polish Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana , the Italian. The greatest period of collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II.[3] Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two disciplines.[4]
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Psychology
Most social psychologists are trained within psychology. Their approach to the field focuses on the individual and attempts to explain how the thoughts Representative reactions towards stimuli from internal chemical reactions or external environmental factors. The word comes from Old English . þoht, geþoht, from stem of þencan "to conceive of in the mind, consider" , feelings Feeling is the nominalization of "to feel". The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of touch either through experience or perception. The word is also used to describe experiences, other than the physical sensation of touch, such as "a feeling of warmth". In psychology the word is, and behaviors Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behavior can be conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary of individuals are influenced by other people. Psychologically oriented researchers emphasize the immediate social situation and the interaction In sociology, social action refers to an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals . According to Max Weber, "an Action is 'social' if the acting individual takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course" (Secher 1962) between person and situation variables. Their research tends to be empirical The word empirical denotes information gained by means of observation, experience, or experiment. A central concept in science and the scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical, or empirically based, that is, dependent on evidence or consequences that are observable by the senses. It is usually differentiated from the philosophic and quantitative, and it is often centered around laboratory experiments In scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences. An experiment can be used to help solve practical problems and to, but there are some computational modeling efforts in the field.[5]
Psychologists who study social psychology are interested in such topics as attitudes An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event-- this is often referred to as the attitude object. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously, social cognition Social cognition is the study of how people process social information, especially its encoding, storage, retrieval, and application to social situations. Social cognition’s focus on information processing has many affinities with its sister discipline, cognitive psychology. Social cognitive neuroscience is the investigation of the biological, cognitive dissonance Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitudes and beliefs, the awareness of one's behavior, and facts. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance, social influence Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence, and interpersonal behaviors such as altruism Altruism is the deliberate pursuit of the interests or welfare of others or the public interest, aggression In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause pain or harm. Predatory or defensive behavior between members of different species is not normally considered "aggression." Aggression takes a variety of forms among humans and can be and persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are sexual persecution i.e.; persecution of women, religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. Three influential journals for the publication of research in this area are the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. It is considered one of the top journals in the fields of social and personality psychology. Its focus is on empirical research reports; however, specialized theoretical, methodological, and review papers are also published, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology is a scientific journal published by Psychology Press, and is distributed as part of dues to the membership of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology (SESP). It is highly cited and is considered one of the field's top journals, and the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin is a scientific journal published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology . It publishes original empirical papers on subjects like social cognition, attitudes, group processes, social influence, intergroup relations, self and identity, nonverbal communication, and social psychological. There are also many other general and specialized social psychology journals.
Sociology
Sociologists' work has a greater focus on the behavior of the group A group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. By this definition, society can be viewed as a large group, though most social groups are considerably smaller, and thus examines such phenomena as interactions and exchanges Social exchange theory is a social psychological and sociological perspective that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties. Social exchange theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective cost-benefit analysis and the comparison of alternatives. For example, when a at the micro-level, group dynamics Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that and group development The goal of most research on group development is to learn why and how small groups change over time. To do this, researchers examine patterns of change and continuity in groups over time. Aspects of a group that might be studied include the quality of the output produced by a group, the type and frequency of its activities, its cohesiveness, the, and crowds Crowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also provoked controversy. Social scientists have at the macro Macroscopic is a word commonly used to describe physical objects that are measurable and observable by the naked eye-level. Sociologists are interested in the individual and group, but generally within the context of larger social structures and processes, such as social roles, race, class, gender, ethnicity, and socialization. They use a combination of qualitative research designs and quantitative methods, such as procedures for sampling and surveys.
Sociologists in this area are interested in a variety of demographic, social, and cultural phenomena. Some of their major research areas are social inequality, group dynamics, social change, socialization, social identity, and symbolic interactionism. The key sociological journal is Social Psychology Quarterly.
See also
- Demodoxalogy
- List of social psychologists Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- Social action In sociology, social actions refer to any action that takes into account the actions and reactions of other individuals and is modified based on those events. Social action is a concept developed by Max Weber that explores interaction between humans in society. The concept of social action is used to observe how certain behaviors are modified in
- Sociology Sociology is the study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Its subject matter ranges from
- Social neuroscience Humans are fundamentally a social species, rather than individualists. As a social species, Homo sapiens create emergent organizations beyond the individual - structures that range from dyads, families, and groups to cities, civilizations, and cultures. These emergent structures evolved hand in hand with neural and hormonal mechanisms to support
- Structure and agency The debate surrounding the influence of structure and agency on human thought and behaviour is one of the central issues in sociology and other social sciences. In this context "agency" refers to the capacity of individual humans to act independently and to make their own free choices. "Structure" refers to those factors such
- Symbolic interactionism Symbolic interactionism is a major sociological perspective that is influential in many areas of the discipline. It is particularly important in microsociology and social psychology
- Verstehen Verstehen is a German word signifying the "understanding" and "interpretation" of meaning and human activities. It has come to mean a systematic interpretive process in which an outside observer of a culture relates to an indigenous people or sub-cultural group on their own terms and from their own point-of-view, rather than
References
- ^ David G. Myers, McGraw Hill, 2002.
- ^ Social Psychology, David G. Myers, McGraw Hill, 1993. ISBN:0070442924.
- ^ Sewell, W. H. (1989). Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 15.
- ^ The Psychology of the Social, Uwe Flick, Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN:0521588510.
- ^ Sun, R. (2008). The Cambridge Handbook of Computational Psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York. 2008
External links
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Social Psychology The social psychology program enjoys an atmosphere that fosters cooperation intellectual creativity and discovery | Reg Adams | Terri Vescio |
James McDonald
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:56:53 GM
As you analyze all the many degree options at your disposal from business to health care services to technology to . social. work or . psychology. (often called psych), it's critical that you are sure to select a distance learning degree ...
Q. I'm a sophmore in High school and I need to start looking at colleges and majors. I'm really interested in Social Psychology but I don't know what I need to do now to get into a college and what I need to have to do in college (like degrees and courses) to work in that. So can anybody help me?
Asked by knightlygirl011 - Mon Jun 30 12:13:45 2008 - - 7 Answers - 0 Comments
A. You should take Biology, Chemistry and Anatomy & Physiology, four Years of English classes with at least two terms of writing, and as many social science courses as you can. Once you get to college, your advisor will help you select courses.
Answered by zendall - Mon Jun 30 12:25:04 2008
