Thesis on "Social Psychology"

Thesis 6 pages (1691 words) Sources: 4

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Psychology

"The social sciences are dedicated to understanding the human conditions, ideally to the extent that the singular and collective behaviors of human beings can be understood and even predicted," social psychology tries to understand the human psyche based on our behaviors and cultural influences (Kearl 2009:1). It is obvious that there are plenty of innate aspects of our development that stem from the basics of human nature. but, one cannot deny the impact of the social world when we spend an entire lifetime enmeshed within it. Social psychology attempts to bride the gap between the two in the attempt to show how they work together in synergy to create the individual environments needed for individual development. It is a vastly inter-disciplinary approach, that then allows researchers within the subject to cover a wide variety of topics -- even more abstract ones. Therefore, the realm of social psychology covers both the individual and social influences on the human psyche. Both our cognitive processes and the social world around us have huge influences in who end up to be. Recent research within the field of social psychology has provided evidence based answers to some of the most abstract of questions.

Social psychology is a blended idea that weaves together cognitive structures with social constructs. It is a discipline which "involves the ways in which both social and mental processes determine action," (Kearl 2009:1). It examines the relations of both people as well as groups. In each area there are humans there is a unique culture and set of social values. Yet, at the same time previous psychological research has also proven that there are common patterns of characteristics and behaviors within the human mind. The world around us proves as influential as our innate human characteristics and cognitive developments. According to research, "Social psychology offers a special perspective on human behavior, because the social aspects of human behavior -- the ways that people's thoughts and actions are affected by other people -- can both be powerful and puzzling," (Smith & Mackie 1999:2). The discipline has inspired a multitude of very different concepts of human development and the level of influence the social world proves. The wide breadth of potentiality available within the larger discipline allows researchers within it to expand upon a plethora of research questions. Social psychology is "the scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others," (Smith & Mackie 1999:3). There are then varying level of degrees of influence which particular groups of thought within social psychology align with. Some are more traditional in the sense that they seek to answer questions that they can emulate and examine within the pristine environment of a scientific study with controlled variables. Others allow social interactions to happen naturally and concentrate their body of research on gathering detailed descriptions of those social events and the individual reactions of those that lived through them. Thus, it aims to even tackle more abstract conceptions with the same fine-tuned scientific method that is represented in traditional psychology.

The genre of social psychology is incredibly varied. It is interdisciplinary in its basic construction and is divided between those who take more influence from traditional psychology, and those who identify more a position within sociology. Having this synergy of psychologists and sociologists, the genre is then allowing researchers to cover a wider range of disciplines with the conventions of social psychology. Some of the most popular major theories of development in psychology share elements of the social influence upon the human psyche. Even the psychological extreme, Freud's psychoanalytic theory still presents a strong interaction between the individual and the social world. This is seen in such elements as the Oedipus complex, which pits the infant against his social male rival within the context of the family. The moral reasoning seen in the development of the psyche within Jean Piaget's Cognitive theory also represents social influences even within the most seemingly staunch psychological conceits. At the other extreme is Behaviorism, which posits the idea that all human traits are socially inspired. This thought presents the idea that any behavior can be trained through reinforcements. People are then completely moldable to and by external influences.

Other socially dominant theories include such thoughts as Symbolic Internationalism and Role Theory (Smith & Mackie 2009). These theories posit the idea that the development of the human mind is dominated by the social construct around them. With the different conceptions of truth come much different ways of finding answers.

The psychological approach to social psychology presents clearly scientific investigations through strictly quantitative measures. This perspective includes the prevalence over individual's thoughts, feelings and behaviors, which are then influenced by the social world around them in varying degrees. Development and construction of human thought are then the basis of more of a natural human innateness rather than more of a social influence. Although they acknowledge the existence of social influence, a psychologist perspective is more interested in those factors which are innate. It looks at "the ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and motives guide our understanding of the world and our actions," (Smith & Mackie 1999:4). What this notion of social psychology is examining does not wholly exclude social influences, but rather relies on the dominance of individual psychological factors. In social psychology, "psychologists are inclined to give greater attention to the bearing of thought processes, personality characteristics, and their changes across the life-cycle," (Kearl 2009:1). Within such pursuits, researchers use empirical and quantitative research centered on experiments. These experiments are primarily conducted within controlled atmospheres, such as laboratories. Therefore, variables can be strictly controlled. The independent, dependent, and control variables can easily be defined, classified, and controlled. This prevents external factors from jeopardizing the integrity of the study. Much modern research still revolves around more scientific and quantitatively measurable behaviors of individuals and groups of individuals. A 2009 study (New York University) looked at the age which each child begins to differentiate themselves as human from animals. The results of the study showed that "Infants as young as five months old are able to correctly identify humans as the source of speech and monkeys as the source of monkey calls," (New York University 2009:1). The study construct was very controlled, and took place within a laboratory. It presented pictures of people with both human and monkey responses played in the background and vice versa. Researchers "showed five-month-old infants from English and French speaking homes a sequence of individually presented pictures of human faces and rhesus monkey faces paired either with human speech or rhesus vocalizations," (New York University 2009:1). It is a typical example of a modern research study within the psychological aspect of social psychology. Thus quantitative measures represent measurable variables in controlled atmospheres.

Social psychology from a sociologists' perspective looks at behaviors and thought patterns of groups of people. This is based on the idea that "social processes affect us even when others are not physically present," (Smith & Mackie 1999:4). People focused more so on sociology are still interested with the singular, yet focus on the individual within the context of a larger group. Human societies, familial units, and neighborhood are all their own unique groups and provide unique living conditions for those within them. "Being more interested in understanding the relationships between group structures and processes," many sociologists within the genre will focus research on social experiments (Kearl 2009:1). These are naturally occurring in the social world everyday. These influences are measurable, for "Connectedness with others is an overarching atomization of the human condition, focusing on the self and its inner workings, sociologists' attention is directed toward human connection," (Kearl 2009:1). Groups individuals by means of cultural differences, race, social roles, gender, class,… READ MORE

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