An Overview of Social Psychology

Social psychology is the study of the interplay between an individual and social groups. Social psychologists tackle issues that significantly affect people's health and well-being, such as bullying.

What Is Social Psychology?

According to psychologist Gordon Allport, social psychology uses scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied the presence of other human beings."1 Essentially, social psychology is about understanding how each person's individual behavior is influenced by the social environment in which that behavior takes place.

Social psychology encompasses a wide range of social topics, including:

• Group behavior
• Social perception
• Leadership
• Nonverbal behavior
• Conformity
• Aggression
• Prejudice

​It is important to note that social psychology is not just about looking at social influences. Social perception and social interaction are also vital to understanding social behavior.

History of Social Psychology

Social psychologist Stanley Milgram, for example, was able to demonstrate just how far people are willing to go to obey authority figures. In a series of now infamous experiments, Milgram and his colleagues ordered study participants to deliver what they believed was a potentially dangerous shock to another person.

In reality, the shocks were not real and the other individual was only pretending to be hurt by the electrical pulses. But 65% of those who took part in the study delivered the maximum level of shock simply because an authority figure told them to do so.

How Social Psychology Differs From Other Disciplines

Researchers do not make assumptions about how people behave; they devise and carry out experiments that help point out relationships between different variables. Psychologists instead focus on situational variables that affect social behavior. While psychology and sociology both study similar topics, they are looking at these questions from different perspectives.

Source: https://www.verywellmind.com/social-psychology-4157177

How much do you thing other peoples' opinions affect us?

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