Preview

Social Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1491 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Social Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism
Social Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism
PSYCH/550
May 27, 2013

Social Psychology: Characteristics, Motives, and Situationism
According to Fiske (2010), the classic definition of social psychology is, “the scientific attempt to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings” [ (p. 4) ]. In other words, where general psychology is the study of human behavior on an individual level, social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social context. There are four key characteristics of social psychology including broad scope, cultural mandate, scientific methods, and search for wisdom. Social psychologists examine situationism as an explanation for varied behaviors. Further, social psychology studies the influence of five core motives in which most individuals strive to fulfill in their social environment. Understanding the power of social influence as it pertains to behavior is the first step in improving negative social issues.
Key Characteristics of Social Psychology
The study of human behavior from a social perspective is characterized by four key elements. Social psychology encompasses a very broad point of view that examines human interactions and the influence of society upon an individual. Culture is an important aspect of social psychology as it defines what is acceptable or unacceptable within that society. Further, scientific methods and the search for wisdom help to explain socially influenced behavior.
Broad Scope
Social psychology has a very broad perspective pertaining to the behaviors of individuals in society. Social psychology helps to explain why individuals conform to the rules of society and why individuals turn to deviance instead of conformity. Further, it helps explain selflessness and aggressive tendencies as well as why individuals love and hate [ (Fiske, 2010) ]. Social psychology spans the


References: Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social beings. Core motives in social psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley. Kamtekar, R. (2004). Situationism and virtue ethics on the content of our character. Ethics, 114(3), 458-491. doi:10.1086/381696 Koerth-Baker, M. (2013, May 21). Why rational people buy into conspiracy theories. Retrieved from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Social Psychology And Multicultural Psychology
    • 783 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Social Psychology And Multicultural Psychology

    According to psychologist Gordon Allport, social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings" (1985). Social psychology looks at a wide range of social topics, including group behavior, social perception, leadership, nonverbal behavior, conformity, aggression, and 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.…

    • 783 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Exploring a Classic Case in Social Psychology
    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Exploring a Classic Case in Social Psychology

    Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Project part 1
    • 1134 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Project part 1

    The way we perceive ourselves in relation to the rest of the world plays an important role in our choices, behaviors and beliefs. Conversely, the opinions of others also impact our behavior and the way we view ourselves. Social psychologists investigate how people view themselves and others, how they interact with and influence others, and how people act when part of a group. Given the amount of time spent thinking about and interacting with other people, it follows that much of our lives are spent with the subject matter of social psychology.…

    • 1134 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Key Features of Situation Ethics
    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Key Features of Situation Ethics

    Situation ethics is a Christian ethical theory that was principally developed in the 1960’s by a priest called Joseph Fletcher and expanded by Bishop John Robinson. It is a teleological theory, but in contrast to utilitarianism; it is based on Christian principles, and primarily the promotion of agape. The moral worth of any action is judged on its consequences, not on the action itself. The judgement is made on how much love is produced by the action.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Grand Canyon University: History Of Social Psychology
    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Grand Canyon University: History Of Social Psychology

    Social psychology covers a gamete of social topics relating to leadership, group behavior, perception, conformity, gender, and self to name a few. If social psychology is to stay true to itself and remain relevant it must expand its reach and theoretical framework to include trends addressing social change. Some researchers fear that social psychology has become a discipline of research and scientific methods on behavior and social interactions. Researcher and philosopher Muzafer Sherif (1970) said it best: “A relevant social psychology should be concerned with the study of social movements produced by social problems, for it is these movements that are groping toward the shape of the future” (p. 154).…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    PSY 370: An Application Of Social Psychology
    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages

    PSY 370: An Application Of Social Psychology

    On some instances people are prone to behave in a manner that leaves questions on people’s minds on the reason as to why they behaved the way they did. This is where social psychology is applicable. During some occasions someone’s behavior might have more perceptual salience than a give surrounding situation. There is also the ability to conform to influencing behavior. This includes normative social influence as well as informative social influence. Using social behavior which is achievable due to social psychology, promotes social behavior. This is the development of ways to affect the behavior of people as well as encouraging better behaviors. Obedience towards the authorities is a considered to be a social norm but social psychologists have the capability to look further into it (Smith & Mackie, 2000). Understanding people is the principal influence of social psychology. There is also a lot of focus on observations of people’s behaviors over periods of time. Problems can be discerned and information can be grasped thanks to social…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Diffusion of Responsibility
    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Diffusion of Responsibility

    References: Fiske, S. T. (2012). Social Beings: Core motives in social psychology (2nd ed.) Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Outline the Four Domains of Analysis Found in Social Psychology. Illustrate These with Examples from the Course. Should These Different Modes of Explanation for Psychological Phenomena Be Treated as Complementary, as
    • 3089 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Outline the Four Domains of Analysis Found in Social Psychology. Illustrate These with Examples from the Course. Should These Different Modes of Explanation for Psychological Phenomena Be Treated as Complementary, as

    Stevens, R. (2001) D317 Course review, Social Psychology: Personal lives and social worlds, The Open University.…

    • 3089 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Psychology Final
    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Psychology Final

    Chapter 11 Social Psychology: studies how your thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment. Social Cognition: studies how we form impressions of others, how we interpret the meaning of other people’s behavior, and how our behavior is affected by our attitudes. Person Perception: an active and subjective process that occurs in a interpersonal context; is influenced by subjective perceptions, social norms, personal goals, and self-perception. Person perception often involves using mental shortcuts−social categorization, implicit personality theories. Attribution: Explaining the behavior of others reflects common cognitive biases and explanatory patterns; fundamental attribution error, blaming the victim, hindsight bias, self-serving bias, and self-effacing bias. Attitudes: A learned tendency to evaluate an object, person, or issue in a particular way; can have cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components; although attitudes typically influence behavior, sometimes our behavior influences our attitude. When a person’s behavior conflicts with his or her attitude, cognitive dissonance may be the result. Prejudice: A negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group. Stereotypes: form of social categorization in which a cluster of characteristics is attributed to all members of social group or category; stereotypes are fostered by in-group and out-group thinking, and the out-group homogeneity effect; in-group bias occurs when we attribute positive qualities to members of our own group. Muzafer Sherif: Robbers cave experiment demonstrated that intergroup conflict can be decreased when groups engage in a cooperative effort. Social influence: social psychology research area that investigates how our behavior is affected by situational factors and other people. Conformity: when you adjust your opinions, judgments, or behavior so that it matches other people, or the norms of a…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    psych
    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages

    psych

    1. Social psychology: the study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence, and are influenced by, the behavior of others…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Socail Identity Theory and the Discursive
    • 2293 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Socail Identity Theory and the Discursive

    Social psychology deals with how people make sense of the social aspects of the world they live in and how they make sense of themselves and others. This sense of being and belonging is not only about themselves and others but also how and why social interactions take place and how these interactions influence individual’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.…

    • 2293 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Influence Of Social Psychology
    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Influence Of Social Psychology

    Social psychology can be defined as social influence. Such influence could impact the beliefs, values, behavior or feelings of others. People influence others or are influenced by them. Professional social psychologists study and conduct research and experiments to further understand the nature of this influence and to understand the human social behavior. Unlike professional social psychologists, armature social psychologists - and people as a whole – tend to think they comprehend, predict or speculate how people would act or behave as they overestimate their power of prediction; the hindsight bias. While in fact, their hypotheses of most basic and simple social experiences’ outcomes are wrong. Similarly, in the experiment where experimenters found that people tend to desire more the forbidden behavior after being severely threatened, while armature social psychologists thought they would, reasonably enough, that subjects wouldn’t engage in that forbidden behavior. Therefore, professional social psychologists can based upon evidence and detailed data taken from maintained and controlled experiment draw more precise conclusions and analysis of human social behavior and how influence contributed to that behavior. Social psychology showed with concrete evidence that people who act crazy are not necessarily crazy. People when put in intense situations and undergo social influence that might trigger an abnormal behavior were merely responding to that influence.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Social Psychology
    • 2355 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Social Psychology

    Social psychology is an area in which investigations are made into the effects of behavioural differences of individuals and how they reflect…

    • 2355 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cultural Influences On Social Psychology
    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cultural Influences On Social Psychology

    Social psychology focuses on what makes us who we are. Studies how each individual person develops their own set of feelings, behaviors, and thoughts. Understanding how people use these unique characteristics in everyday life social situations. Social psychologists try study out explain the social behavior of the human mind. In today’s time we have many social inputs on our minds. There are social influences everywhere social networking such has: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other internet sites. Television pushes masses amount of culture and social sway society. According to Daily News.com we spend 34 hours weekly on television and 24hours month on social sites. Knowing that we must know that social psychology has changed and impacted greatly by social networking than ever before. Culture and social media have changed social psychology.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Edexcel Psychology Social Approach
    • 12088 Words
    • 42 Pages

    Edexcel Psychology Social Approach

    1. Social Psychology: social approach, obedience, prejudice, key issue, how science works, and a practical…

    • 12088 Words
    • 42 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics