The category of science in which social psychology essay can be classified has postulated various notions. This has led scholars to come up with various social psychology essay based on the kind of science social psychology is. Many social psychology essays have been based on investigations that examine the different behaviors that strive to establish the origin of various laws.
Another class of social psychology essay has been focused on the experimental versus human factors. In particular, the social psychology essay has focused on the actual life experiences of individuals and the society. They have also tried to examine some of the meanings behind people’s actions. One of the significant of conclusions of these human/ experimental essays is the idea that individuals construct their varying experiences through the exercise of personal autonomy.
The idea of individuals being influenced and defined by their social environments has also been the focus of some social psychology essays. These essays have emphasized that individuals play significant role in shaping the society. Through this approach, various scholars have viewed the social psychology as branch of political science.
Social psychology essay has also taken the biological perspectives and have investigated people in the society as biological beings. However, the approach and methods employed by these essays seems to classify social psychology under natural science. The biological perspectives have been criticized as a more complex explanation essays and have never been favored by different critiques.
Generally, there have been numerous approaches aimed at classifying social psychology as a science. Interestingly, most of the approaches have confirmed and categorized social psychology as a science. However, the main area of controversy still revolves around the type of science that it is.
Social Psychology essay example
“Social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods to explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings’ (Cherry, K. n.d.). First developed by Norman Triplett in the United States, social psychology has continued to exist even in present day. A field that is intended to be distinct from psychoanalytic and behavioral schools, social psychology studies a person’s attitudes as well as persuasion, social cognition, cognitive dissonance and the interpersonal phenomena such as relation with others and social influence.
Social Psychology differs from other disciplines in the sense that folk wisdom relies on an interpretation that is subjective whereas social psychology makes use of scientific methods. Personality psychology on the other hand gives attention to the individual character, thoughts and traits of a person while social psychology focuses on situations their subjects are into. It is more interested in knowing how group involvement and the environment influence a person’s behavior and attitude.
It is the goal of social psychology to have a better understanding at behavior and cognition as they occur naturally; however, it is difficult to get the right behavior of the person once he is aware that he is being closely observed. Most people get conscious of their actions and their behavior is altered. Because of this, deception had been used during experiments; however, it earned negative feedbacks. At present however, all social psychology research have all undergone an ethical review process which makes sure that no harm is ever experienced by the participants and that their welfare is given much consideration.