SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social Psychology

Social Psychology

Introduction

Social psychology is one of the 4 main branches of psychology dating back to the early sixteenth century. Its beginnings date back specifically in 1879, with the appearance of the social psychology or psychology of peoples, developed by Wilhelm Wundt and is now one of the majors, focusing on the individual in society and the incidence of the individual as I human and social are closely related and complement each other.

Social psychology is the scientific study of thoughts; feelings and behaviors of individuals. According to this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings and behaviors include all psychological variables that can be measured in a human. The claim that other people may be imagined or implied suggests that, so inevitable, we are influenced socially, even when:

a) There are no other individuals present, as when we watch TV-or

b) We follow cultural norms internalized.

Social psychology can also be defined as the science of social phenomena and attempt to discover the laws governing cohabitation. Investigate the social organizations and seeks to establish patterns of behavior of individuals in groups, the roles they play and all situations that influence their behavior. Every social group adopts a form of organization dictated by the same company in order to address more effectively the problems of subsistence. Typically, social psychologists explain human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and immediate social situations. In the heuristic famous Kurt Lewin, the behavior can be seen as a function of the person and the environment.

Description and Analysis

Social psychology is an interdisciplinary domain that bridges the gap between psychology and sociology. Making a broad generalization, one can say that, traditionally, U.S. researchers have focused more on the individual, whereas Europeans have paid more attention to the phenomena at the group level. Social psychology shares many areas of study with other disciplines, especially sociology and cultural anthropology. However, they differ in that the sociologist study social groups and institutions, and human cultures, and social psychologist study how the above two affects the behavior of the individual (Allport, 1985).

Approaches in Social Psychology

Psychoanalysis: Also from the psychoanalytic tradition means the social psychology as the study of drives and repressions collective influence from within the individual unconscious to the collective and social.

Postmodern Psychology: From the perspective of psychology postmodern social psychology is understood as the analysis of the different components that constitute the expression of diversity and plurality and social fragmentation are valid where all forms of analysis of the different stakeholders and subgroups of society.

Focus of dialectical materialism: In Soviet Psychology, C. Marx - economist, Makarenko - psychologist, as well as S. Leontiev - psychologist, stand to demonstrate the importance of individual and collective needs. The concept of need is important to dialectical materialism, as in the social context created new needs. The moral needs, the needs of the community would be those that motivate individuals to transform. In this evolution, the structure of personality is in the ...