Social Psychology
Social psychology is a very important branch of psychology dealing with behavior
of groups and the influence of different social factors on individuals. It is
particularly important nowadays when the relations between social groups and
individuals get to be more and more complicated due to unparalleled progress
of the social relations and technological development that evidently has changed
the life of the whole society.
At the same time social psychology is quite a big field to explore but in the
focus of its attention are three basic aspects which are particularly interesting
to explore, namely they are: interrelationship between individuals within social
group, the influence of individuals’ perception and behavior on social
groups, and social groups themselves as behavioral entities influencing each
other.
Speaking about the interrelation between individuals within social groups, it
is necessary to underline that it is quite a complicated phenomenon for each
individuals is obviously influenced by others. To put it more precisely, an
individuals thoughts, feelings, emotions are to a significant extent influenced
by surrounding people whom he/she communicates with. This influence may be real,
actual or it may be imaginary and the product of an individual’s mind
but still the presence of other individuals naturally influences directly or
not the individual’s behavior that may be observed in everyday life when
people behave correspondingly to the rules, social and cultural norms dominating
in the society. For instance, democratic and liberal behavior of Western people
may be and often is absolutely unacceptable for Oriental cultures. At this respect
it is extremely important to understand the influences an individual has on
beliefs attitudes and behavior of other individuals, for it provides people
with the possibility to better understand and possibly predict behavior of individuals
in certain circumstances, including social and cultural background in order
not to behave intolerant in relation to each other.
Furthermore, it is also important to understand the influence an individual
perceptions and behavior have on behavior of social groups. Actually it is the
question concerning the role of individual in the society and to what extent
an individual may be influential on the social groups. In fact the research
of this aspect permits to reveal the factors influencing work productivity and
group decision making as well as it reveals the reasons for such individual
behavioral trends as conformity, diversity and deviance and its influence on
social groups behavior. Obviously the better understanding of such influence
will provide the possibility to prevent negative individual’s behavior
securing the whole social group from negative behavioral experience and developing
positive ones. For instance, on preventing deviant behavior of individuals it
is possible to prevent the development of antisocial trends in behavior of certain
social groups.
Finally, the interrelation between social groups is also extremely interesting
because it reveals the complexity of relations that exist between different
social groups within one and the same society. The research of this problem
provides ample opportunities to understand basic reasons that make people hostile,
neutral or civil to one another, as well as it permits to find the extent to
which an individual’s behavior may be different outside the group. In
actuality it can really help to understand the reason of social conflicts in
wider scale. In fact, it is not a secret that the causes of civil wars are traditionally
a conflict between different social groups this is why the understanding of
the interrelations between groups is extremely important for prevention of such
conflicts. And it also provides a possibility to understand how an individual
may be changed in a different social surrounding.
In conclusion, it is possible to say that the thee main concepts mentioned in
terms of this paper, being very significant, need further research along with
the development of social psychology at large.
Bibliography:
1. Michener, A.H. Social Psychology. Toronto: Wadsworth, 2004.
2. Peterson, L. Social Psychology Basics. New York: Touchstone, 2002.
