The scope of social psychological research. Adapted from Cote and Levine (2002). ^[1]

Social psychology is the study of how social conditions affect human beings. Scholars in this field are generally either psychologists or sociologists, though all social psychologists employ both the individual and the group as their units of analysis. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" As commonly used, individual refers to a Person or to any specific object in a collection In Sociology, a group can be defined as two or more Humans that interact with one another accept expectations and obligations as members of the group and share a The unit of analysis is the major Entity that is being analyzed in the study. ^[2] Despite their similarity, the disciplines also tend to differ in their respective goals, approaches, methods, and terminology. They also favor separate academic journals and societies. An academic journal is a peer-reviewed Periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular Academic discipline is published A learned society is an Organization that exists to promote an Academic discipline or group of disciplines

Social psychology is an interdisciplinary area. In Academia, Pedagogy, Physical sciences, Earth sciences, Human sciences and Social sciences The greatest period of collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II. ^[3] Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and influence remains between the two disciplines. ^[4]

Psychology

Main article: Social psychology (psychology)

Most social psychologists are trained within psychology. Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's Thoughts Feelings and Behaviors are influenced by the actual imagined or Their approach to the field focuses on the individual and attempts to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by other people. Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both The word feeling has several possible definitions The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of Touch either through experience Behavior or behaviour (see spelling differences) refers to the actions or Reactions of an object or Organism, usually Psychologically oriented researchers emphasize the immediate social situation, and the interaction between person and situation variables. Social interaction is a dynamic changing sequence of Social actions between individuals (or groups who modify their actions and reactions according to the actions by their Their research tends to be highly empirical and quantitative, and it is often centered around laboratory experiments. A central concept in Science and the Scientific method is that all Evidence must be empirical, or empirically based that is dependent on evidence In scientific inquiry an experiment ( Latin: Ex- periri, "to try out" is a method of investigating particular types of research questions or

Psychologists who study social psychology are interested in such topics as attitudes, social cognition, cognitive dissonance, social influence, and interpersonal behaviors such as altruism and aggression. Attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's like or dislike for an item Social cognition is the study of how people process social information especially its encoding storage retrieval and application to social situations In Psychology, cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling or stress caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously Social influence is when the actions or thoughts of individuals are changed by other individuals Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others It is a traditional Virtue in many cultures and central to many religious traditions In Psychology and other social and Behavioral sciences aggression refers to behavior that is intended to cause harm Two influential journals for the publication of research in this area are the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (often referred to as JPSP) is a monthly psychology journal of the American Psychological Association. The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (JESP is a scientific journal published by Psychology Press and is distributed as part of dues to the membership of the Society of Experimental There are also many other general and specialized social psychology journals.

Sociology

Main article: Social psychology (sociology)

A significant number of social psychologists are sociologists. Sociological social psychology, also known as psychological sociology, is a specialty area of Sociology that relates macrosocial phenomena (e Their work has a greater focus on the behavior of the group, and thus examines such phenomena as interactions and exchanges at the micro-level, group dynamics and group development, and crowds at the macro-level. In Sociology, a group can be defined as two or more Humans that interact with one another accept expectations and obligations as members of the group and share a Symbolic interactionism is a major sociological perspective that is influential in many areas of the discipline Social exchange theory is a social psychological and Sociological perspective and that explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between Group dynamics is the study of groups and also a general term for group processes The goal of most research on group development is to learn why and how small groups change over time Crowd psychology, or social facilitation theory, is a branch of Social psychology. Macroscopic is commonly used to describe physical objects that are measurable and observable by the Naked eye. Sociologists are interested in the individual, but primarily within the context of larger social structures and processes, such as social roles, race and class, and socialization. They use a combination of qualitative research designs and highly quantitative methods, such as procedures for sampling and surveys.

Sociologists in this area are interested in a variety of demographic, social, and cultural phenomena. Some of their major research areas are social inequality, group dynamics, social change, socialization, social identity, reactance (Boomerang effect), and symbolic interactionism. Social Psychology "The theory of psychological reactance (that people act to protect their sense of freedom is supported by experiments showing that attempts to restrict The key sociological journal is Social Psychology Quarterly.

See also

• List of social psychologists

References