What is social psychology? Social psychologists examine the cognitions, perceptions, and behavior of individuals within the social context. The psychological processes of individuals are affected not only by the actual presence of others. Rather, the imagined or symbolic presence of others, social norms, and values can be equally influential. Social influence is at the core of social psychology.
Individuals react to social influence by construing their social environment based on social stimuli, by forming judgments, making decisions, etc. They identify with certain social groups and prefer their ingroup to outgroups. Social psychology encompasses all phenomena related to these processes. On a phenomenological level, there is little difference between social psychology on the one hand and related subjects such as sociology, education, biology, anthropology on the other hand. Nonetheless, social psychology specifically focuses on subjective, cognitive, motivational, and affective processes within the social context.
Social psychology is an empirical science. Thus, theories about human behavior are subjected to experimental testing. Furthermore, social psychology provides a knowledge basis for applied disciplines such as health psychology, legal psychology, clinical psychology, consumer psychology, or educational psychology. For example, insights into social psychology may help to ease illness via social support, to treat social phobia, to understand the mechanics behind advertising, to improve civil and military leadership, to improve social learning, to judge witnesses’ credibility, and so forth.
Letzte Änderung: 14. September 2021