Social Psychology Essay Research Paper social sol

Social Psychology Essay, Research Paper

so-cial (sol) adj. [[ OE secg , man, warrior]] 1 of or having to do with human beings living together as a group in a situation in which their dealings with one another affect their common welfare [social consciousness, social problems] 2 living in this way; gregarious [man as a social being] 3 of or having to do with the ranks or activities of society, specif. the more exclusive or fashionable of these [a social event] 4 getting along well with others; sociable [a social nature] 5 of, for, or involving friends, companionship, or sociability [a social club] 6 offering material aid, counseling services, group recreational activities, etc. to those who need it; of or engaged in welfare work [a social worker or agency] 7 living or associating in groups or communities [the ant is a social insect] 8 [Now Rare] of or between allies or confederates [a social war] 9 Bot. growing in clumps or masses –n. an informal gathering of people for recreation or amusement; party –social-ly adv. psy-chol-o-gy (si kal je) n. , pl. -gies [[ModL psychologia: see PSYCHO- & -LOGY]] 1 a) the science dealing with the mind and with mental and emotional processes b) the science of human and animal behavior 2 the sum of the actions, traits, attitudes, thoughts, mental states, etc. of a person or group [the psychology of the adolescent] 3 a particular system of psychology Fused together these two words carry the title of one of the most exciting, most fascinating, and most frightening schools of psychology. Social Psychology is the scientific study of the influence of other people on personal behavior. The way society influences idea of beauty, the way teachers can influence performance by increasing expectations, and the total influence by Adolph Hitler over Germany are different aspects in life and history that are studied by social psychologists. Dr. Phillip Zimbardo has published others research, and his own in the videos The Power of the Situation , and Constructing Social Reality . VIDEO SUMMARY: Social psychology is defined as the scientific study of the influence of other people on personal behavior. We need a social environment to reach full potential, but can be used to threaten the integrity of human lives. THE POWER OF THE SITUATION: Leaders have a way of controlling their followers. In some cases, dictators have turned individuals into zombie like followers who will do or believe anything the leader says. Hitler is an example of one such leader. He was able to do what he did by changing the social structure in his country. If you feed propaganda to citizens, through the repeated exposure to information, people will tend to start to believe it. Uniforms also change to social structure, rendering human minds numb, and in the control of anyone with authority. Kurt Lewin is a refugee of Nazi Germany and a social psychologist who has done research in the affects of leadership on society. Lewin assembled three separate groups of children and assigned each group a leader. Each leader was instructed to lead in a different style. Autocrat, Lazzez-Faire, and Democratic were the three styles. The autocratic group was hard working when the leader was present, but showed little personal motivation. The Lazzez-Faire group accomplished nothing and showed the least motivation, but did have a lot of fun. The democratic group accomplished a lot of work, had the best quality work, had the most fun, personal motivation, and originality. The democratic group had worked the best for the reason that the children were happy to work. Lewin s conclusion was that human behavior is a function of individual and social environment. Solomon Asch performed an experiment to test social conformity. He assembled a group of men, all but one were part of the experiment. The group was told to analyze and respond to a very obvious display. The results showed that 70% of the test subjects conformed to the group opinion, when it was obvious that they were wrong. The experiment showed that even the most obvious perceptions can be manipulated my social groups. Stanley Milgrim wanted to see weather or not the German attitude had any influence on total conformity and blind obedience. Milgrim s conformity test was set up with a person in the place of a teacher. The teacher was instructed to give an electric shock anytime the wrong answer was given, increasing the voltage for each consecutive wrong answer. Two thirds of the subjects proceeded to the potentially lethal 450 volts. A common response was I m not responsible for this. The experiment s conclusion was that total conformity was not a character flaw in Germans of a part of Fascism, but part of the basic human structure. The importance of the situation can be explained by The Fundamental Attribution Error. Which is an error we have or will all make in our lives. It can be defined as the attribution of unusual behavior of others to personality flaws with out considering the influence of the situation. However, tending to focus on our own mistakes as being caused by the situation at no fault of personality flaws. More on the positive side of situational power, Tom Moriaty s beach experiment proved that good things do come form situational influence. During Moriaty s beach experiment, a man was set up to steal a radio from a woman as soon as she left. No one reacted. However, when the women asked the man to watch her radio, thus changing the situation