Social Psychology

Social Psychology Definition

Social psychology helps us understand other people, ourselves, and the world around us. It can be defined as the study of social interactions and how those interactions impact an individual’s ideas, behaviors, and emotions.

Social psychology is a broad area of psychology and is extremely useful in understanding a large array of ideas. There may be times when you’re studying a social psychology concept and have the thought that feels familiar – you know you’ve never studied it before but it’s almost as though you have. That's because a lot of the main ideas are already familiar, so almost everything makes sense. Social psychology uses scientific principles and methods to help you understand why things happen in your daily life.

Key Characteristics of Social Psychology

While many concepts can fall under the umbrella of social psychology, it is important to remember that a few important characteristics set it apart. Since it is social psychology, people and their interactions will always be at the forefront of research for social psychologists. There is also a focus on the mental state of the person doing those social interactions, as well as the social norms that are in place. Since social norms differ between cultures, being aware of and accounting for these differences is another important aspect of social psychology.

Of course, since psychology is a social science, following the scientific method is a necessity in producing results. Additionally, social psychologists need to remember to follow the ethical guidelines set in place by the American Psychological Association (APA) to ensure the safety of all participants.

Types of Social Psychology

Social psychology encompasses a lot of ideas and concepts, so here is a brief overview.

Social Influence

Social influence is a general term that refers to the way social surroundings affect people. Their environment could be other people, cultural norms, or even authority figures. The effect of social influence can vary in scale – it could impact what clothes you buy based on what your friends say, or it could cause you to take part in dangerous actions that seem confusingly out of character.

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are beliefs, often incorrect and misattributed, about a group of people. The most prevalent stereotype is racism - when people display prejudice and discrimination towards people based on their racial background.

An important part of stereotyping is the concept of outgroup homogeneity. This is the tendency to assume that there is a greater similarity among members of an outgroup rather than an ingroup.

Okonofua and Eberhardt (2015) conducted an experiment about stereotypes and racism on teachers. They presented the teachers with a story about a misbehaving boy. The only difference in the differing stories presented was the name of the boy – one was a name that is often associated with white people, and the other often associated with black people. While the teachers showed no bias and stereotyping upon a first infraction, the social psychologists found that the teachers would have a more negative reaction to the black boy if this incident happened again.

Fg.1 Social influences has many examples, flickr.com

Conformity

Conformity also understood as social pressure, is when people change their ideas or actions to fit in with a group. It can happen on a large scale, but also without you even noticing.

A renowned conformity study was conducted by psychologist Solomon Asch. He was curious about the effects that strangers had on conformity. He gathered a group of eight college students and showed them three lines of different lengths. He then gave them one line to compare it to. The participant didn’t know that the other seven people in the experiment were confederates – actors who were told what answer to give. In the beginning, they answered correctly, but in the last 12 trials, they were incorrect.

Asch ran multiple trials with the same participants, and 75 percent of the participants conformed at least once, showing that people conform to a group of people they don’t even know just to fit in.

Deindividuation

The concept of deindividuation can be categorized under conformity. Deindividuation happens when people become so engrossed in social norms or a group that they lose all sense of self.

Social Psychology Examples

Sticking with the concept of stereotypes, let’s pretend you’re the water person for a basketball team. From attending all the games, you notice that the black athletes play more, even though players from other races are equivalent in ability. You would begin to think about stereotypes; perhaps the coach is unknowingly stereotyping the black people to be better athletes than the others?

You could test this theory by showing the coach statistics from a game with names associated with black people, and comparable statistics from a person who does not have a name typically identified with black people. Then, you could ask the coach who the starting lineup should be. Would the coach choose more black players than not?

Now let’s imagine you’re talking with a friend at lunch. Someone walks by in pants and your friend mentions that they look great. Late, you see the pants again. This time you mention that you like them to a large group of people you are with (including the friend from earlier). The group disagrees, saying that the pants are unattractive and they can’t believe that someone would wear them. Your friend, who agreed with you earlier, now agrees with the group that the pants are ugly.

What happened? You realize that he conformed to the group, rather than being one of the only ones who dissented from the majority opinion. You were able to see the different social pressures that your friend fell into when interacting with a larger group, and the effects the group had on his behavior.