Social Psychology Definition Paper

Social Psychology Definition

Shayolonda Herron

University of Phoenix

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Environmental science suggest the theory of natural selection and adaptation as causal explanations for human mating practices to anything, and sociology offers explanations for social structure and organization, but it is to social psychology that falls the task of explaining how people think about, affect, and interact with one another on a psychological, biological, and social level (Myers, 2008; Pinel, 2007). If genetic and biological predisposition is the violin and environmental factors the violinist, then the bow of social interaction is the instrument by which the two conjugate to create music (i.e. cognition and behavior). Though, in light of an examination of the main ideas and research methods of social psychology, as well as a comparison between related fields, the particular function of social interaction, as it relates to biology and psychology, comes into focus.

Main Ideas of Social Psychology

Social psychologists study a set of strategies for answering questions related to attitudes and beliefs, how we interpret our world, and conformity and independence; rather than simply an objective collection of findings.

English: Social psychologists study interactions w...

Emile Durkheim

Personality and Social Psychology Review

Some of the main ideas that social psychology seeks to address are: the construction of our social reality; social intuition; how social influences, personal attitudes, personality, and biology shape our behavior; and how social psychology's principles can be applied in everyday life (Myers, 2008). The structure of our social reality rests on the acquisitive assumption that an objective world exists quite separate from our subjective interpretation of that world, but that we can only view reality through the lens of our beliefs and values. In addition, it is clear that the system of social intuition; automatic processing, heuristics, and implicit memory; can be influential when utilized for fast and frugal snap judgments, but can...