Social Psychology Definition

Social Psychology Definition

Ashley Stringer-Franco

PSY/400

Ernie Hernandez

Feburary 13, 2012

Social Psychology Definition

The subject that occupies a no-man’s land somewhere between psychology, sociology, physiology, and evolutionary theory in the uncultivated areas of the social sciences with only the unifying concept of social interaction is called social psychology (Harold, 2000). Biology and sociology are similar to social psychology but each is different in their own way. Biology explains natural selection and adaption, while sociology explains social structure and organizations. However social psychology explains how humans think about, affect, and interact with one another on a psychological, biological, and social level (Myers, 2008; Pinel, 2007). To explain this better let us say that the genetic and biological predisposition is the piano and environmental factors the pianist. Then the keys of social interaction are the instrument by which the two conjugate to create amazing music (i.e. congnition and behavior). When you examine the main ideas and research methods of social psychology and the comparison to the other fields of psychology, then you will start to understand just what social psychology truly is.

Main Ideas of Social Psychology

The type of psychologists that study a set of strategies that answer questions related to attitudes and beliefs, how humans understand the world, and conformity and independence are the social psychologists. They use these strategies rather than just simply compiling everything that they find together. In social psychology there are four main ideas that social psychology seeks to address and they are the construction of our social reality, social intuition, how social influences, personal attitudes, personality, and biology shape our behavior, and how social psychology’s principles can be applied in everyday life (Myers, 2008). The first main idea that rests on the materialistic assumption that an objective...