Social Psychology

Social Psychology

Tenet 1 - “We Construct Our Social Reality”

The social construction of reality is one of the most important theoretical works and influential of contemporary sociology. The social construction of reality attempts to show that all social reality is nothing other than a building society itself. Man himself is the one who builds his own nature, he is the one that produces itself and that construction will, by necessity, always a company (construction) social. The sociology of knowledge defines the vision of the reality of inter-cultural and ecological environment as a construction which mediates between perception and representation of objects of reference, a set of elements. People inhabit a personal world that we set to participate in conversations with others. In this age of social networks this process is very observable. For example, according to those who are our friends from Facebook will be exposed to certain messages, photos or links that offer our "contacts" or "friends." These people, family, colleagues and interest groups contribute to shaping our personal universe.

The newspapers we read, the radio stations we listen to, and especially the television channels we watch, also shape our universe of possibilities. In the process, the media generate a common universe of ideas and representations for millions of people. The public hearings assume these fragments as "reality" which includes not only what, but how to look at. These environments determine our personal and common options and / or decisions. As we know, what we believe, what we recommend friends and the media decide what to eat, what neighborhood to live, what music to listen, for which candidate to vote whether to approve or reject a law or a project (Myers, 2011).

Socially, these universes are the truth of a community at a time. That truth will lead to a collective community, through its system of representation, more or less legitimate, to make decisions that affect long life of the community and the people who constitute it. For example the adoption of a law on abortion or divorce, to define the copper royalty, or to extend application of television to certain groups of media entrepreneurs. In the process of social construction of reality everyday life undoubtedly has the primary role. So the actions are specified, incidents and accidents of being and existence.

The knowledge of this world is based on patterns of thought that predict a certain type of behavior. Language is the primary means of sharing and transmitting these typifications. These elements allow a dialectic description of the social construction of reality that capitalizes including the contributions of Max Weber (social facts have a subjective sense), Emile Durkheim (social facts are things) and Karl Marx (the man produces world that produces it). It is summarized in a synthetic formulation: "The Company is a human product. The company is an objective reality. Man is a social production. "

Tenet 2 - “Our Intuitions Are Powerful But Sometimes Perilous.”

Human intuition as opposed to human reason is able to perceive the world around us as ...