What is social psychology?

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people influence each other’s thoughts and behaviours. These influences can be both obvious, like how your parents raise you, and subtle, like the advertisements on television.

Where does social psychology originate?

The first social psychologists tried to come up with scientific answers to questions about humanity that arose during the world wars. However, the very first social psychologists stem from the late 1800s when Wilhelm Wundt set up the first scientific laboratory for human thought and experience in Germany. Another early psychologist is Sigmund Freud. In that same century, most psychologists in the United States studied nonhuman animals to find out more about human behaviour, because their behaviour was easier to observe and measure.

Nowadays, social psychologists study modern problems like global warming and cyberbullying, but they also look at positive human interactions like love and cooperation between strangers. The study of human strengths, positive emotions and achievements is called positive psychology.

What are the domains within social psychology?

Social psychology can be divided into three domains:

• Social thinking: this domain is about how one defines themselves and others.
• Social influence: this domain investigates conformity, prejudice and persuasion
• Social behaviour: this domain focuses on social behaviour towards others

Social psychology should not be confused with similar fields. Firstly, sociology is the study of human society and social behaviour at group level. Secondly, anthropology is the study of culture and human behaviour over time. Thirdly, clinical psychology helps people with disorders or other problematic behaviour.

How can Lewin’s equation be applied in social psychology?

Kurt Lewin was focused on action research. This is the application of scientific principles to social problem solving in the real world. He came up with the equation B=f(P,E). This means that all behaviour (B) is function (ƒ) of both the individual person (P) and their immediate environment (E). His view on human behaviour still exerts an influence on social psychology today.

What is the importance of diversity?

Diversity is crucial to get a complete view of human behaviour. Robert Guthrie came up with the idea of intersectionality theory. This is the study of how multiple identity factors like race and gender combine to form how people are perceived and treated by others. This theory shows how all people are treated differently because of their unique combination of identity factors.

What are the main questions social psychologists want to answer?

After the two world wars, social psychology started to exist from two parts. The first one being the understanding of how thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced by others. The second one being the application of those insights to social problems. Following this, six questions arose.

• Is behaviour shaped more by nature or nurture? This question is about what part of human behaviour can be devoted to biological factors (nature) and what to environmental factors (nurture). Some psychologists describe this debate as a false dichotomy, meaning that there could be more solutions to this problem than solely these two options.
• How can we explain why good people do bad things – and vice versa?
• How do humans think?
• Why do humans live in groups?
• Why do stereotypes and prejudices exist and persist?
• Is science the best way to learn about social behaviour? In the last century, it has come to light that there is a replication crisis in the science of psychology. The results of some studies aren’t found again when scientists try to repeat them, making the results of the original studies questionable. A false positive (or type I error) is an error in which you believe a finding exists while in reality it does not. This is often the case in the replication crisis. However, in recent years psychologists try to fix this problem by encouraging the use of replication studies and peer review.

How can you apply social psychology in your own life?

All the information from social psychology can also be applied to one’s personal life. All topics are relevant in daily life. Because of this, the information will become more interesting and easier to remember.