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Social Psychology

What is Social Psychology?
Draft 4 - 18/7/05

A definition is no proof.
- William Pinkney, American diplomat (1764-1822)

What is Social Psychology?

(overview)

  • Social psychology studies and seeks to understand human beings in their social context. 
  • Social psychology studies people's thoughts, feelings and behavior and how they influence and are influenced by social phenomena.

What is Social Psychology?

(adapted from Allport, 1935)

Social psychology is the study of human behaviour in its social context.  It involves scientific investigation of how the...

  • thoughts [cognitions]

  • feelings [emotions] and

  • behaviours [observable]

of individuals are influenced by the...

  • actual

  • imagined or

  • implied

presence of others.

What is Social Psychology?

(adapted from Googlism, 17/5/05)

  • Social psychology is one of the broadest areas of psychology.
  • Social psychology is a broad field in psychology and encompasses many different approaches to studying human behavior.
  • Social psychology as the scientific study of social behavior is a relatively new discipline.
  • Social psychology is a large and very active field.
  • Social psychology is one of the most popular university subjects in the Western world.
  • Study of social psychology is likely to be heterogenous in order to familiarize students with as many fields of social psychology.
  • Social psychology is pertinent to the lives of everybody.
  • Social psychology is concerned with people's everyday life.
  • Social psychology is the study of social behavior.
  • Social psychology is the study of individuals in interaction with other individuals.
  • Social psychology is concerned with human behaviour in its social context.
  • Social psychology is a branch of psychology that studies individuals in the social context.
  • Social psychology seeks to explain the ways in which interaction between people affects the way they think and behave.
  • Social psychology is the study of the mental operations that underlie individuals' perceptions of, influence over, and interactions with other people.
  • Social psychology predicts how social situations affect individuals.
  • Social psychology is the systematic study of human-human influence.
  • Social psychology is the science of the relations between the individual and society.
  • Social psychology is a field of psychology that is concerned with how social conditions affect the individual.
  • Social psychology is the scientific field that systematically investigates the nature and causes of individual thought and behavior in social situations.
  • Social psychology is the study of social influences; the influences that people have upon the beliefs and behaviors of others.
  • Social psychology is a discipline concerned with the systematic study of humans in interaction with their social environment.
  • Social psychology is concerned with how people's feeling, thinking and behavior is influenced by the real or imagined presence of others.
  • Social psychology is the scientific study of how the real or imagined presence of other people affects an individual's behavior.
  • Social psychology is the scientific study of the influences that people have upon the thoughts and experiences of other people.
  • Social psychology is a discipline concerned with the systematic study of persons in interaction within their social, cultural and material contexts.
  • Social psychology is the science of interrelations amongst humans.
  • Social psychology is the study of human behavior as influenced by groups.
  • Social psychology is the study of human behaviour in small group situations such as the workplace.

What is Social Psychology?

(Google Definitions)