Understanding

Social Psychology
by
Dr. Rashmi Singh
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology

B.A. II, & M.A. Sem- III

Paper I: Unit- I,
Fundamental Social Psychology
Outline of the discussion

•What is social psychology?

•Definition of social psychology
•Nature of social psychology
•Three ‘S’ of social psychology
•Social Interaction
•Types of Social Interaction
•Scope of social psychology
•Theoritical Perspectives
What is social psychology?
▫• A field within psychology that strives to understand the
social dynamics of everyday living in social situations.

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 ▫Social psychology is the scientific study of how
people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are
influenced by other people.

thoughts

behavior
feelings

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 DEFINITION OF
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

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 According
to
R.J.Fisher, 1982 Social psychology is the scientific
study of how behaviour of an
individual is influenced by and
turn, influences the actions of
others in the social environment
people think about, influence, and
relate to others .
According to
Kimbal Young
(1961) ▫Social Psychology is a study of
person in their interaction with one
another and with reference, to the
effects of interplay upon the
individual as thoughts, feelings
emotions and habits

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 Great Psychologist Gordon Allport who is also
called Father of Personality Psychologist

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 ▫Social psychology is an
According attempt to understand and
to Gordon explain how the thought,
Allport
feeling, and behavior of
individuals is influenced by
the actual, imagined, or
implied presence of others.
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 According to
David G. Myers,
1996

▫Social psychology is the

scientific study of how people
think about, influence, and
relate to others .

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 Nature of Social Psychology

Scientific methods
What does it
mean, though,
to say that social Verifiability
psychology is
“scientific”?
Objectivity

Power of Prediction

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Universality
 ▫The tasks of a scientific social psychology into two general
categories: description and explanation.
▫Social Psychologists develop reliable and valid methods to help
them avoid careless or biased descriptions.. Social psychologists
also seek to explain why people influence one another in the ways
they do. A good scientific explanation can connect many
thousands of unconnected observations into an interconnected,
coherent, and meaningful pattern.

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 Social Psychology is…more than common sense •
It is a collaborative, integrative science. – Drawing on insights
from sociology, anthropology, biology, neurology, political science,

“
and economics to describe and explain social behavior

Psychological Social Psychology: focus is on

individuals and how they respond to social stimuli.

Sociological Social Psychology: focus is on larger

group or societal variables, such as socioeconomic
13 status, social and cultural norms.
 THE THREE ‘S’
OF SOCIAL
SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY COGNITION

SOCIAL SOCIAL
INFLUENCE INTERACTION

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 Individual and
Individual and Group
Individual

Types of
Social
Interaction
Group and Group

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 •SOCIAL INFLUENCE ▫ SOCIAL COGNITION

Conformity Attribution
compliance Attitude and behavoiur
Obedience Cognitive dissonance

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 SCOPE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

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 INDIVIDUAL
PROCESSES
social psychological phenomena internal to an individuals. In general
social psychology is the scientific study of how people come to
understand individuals, groups, and themselves as social entities. Social
psychological processes influence how we perceive, judge, remember,
and behave toward people. These processes shape, and are shaped by,
our social expectations, social roles, social goals, and social interactions.
Areas to be covered include: social cognition emotion the self
19attitudes altruism aggression conflict , prejudice etc
 INTERPERSONAL
PROCESSES
▫social psychological phenomena among individuals. In general social
psychology is the scientific study of how people come to understand
individuals, groups, and themselves as social entities. Social
psychological processes influence how we perceive, judge, remember,
and behave toward people. These processes includes
▫interpersonal attraction , Aggression, persuasion, altruism,
relationships, social influence etc,
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GROUP PROCESSES

▫social psychological phenomena among group dynamics. In general

social psychology is the scientific study of how people come to
understand individuals, groups, and themselves as social entities. Small
group dynamics and decision-making; intergroup conflict and
negotiation
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 In the next session we will learn about the
perspectives of Social Psychology

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THE THREE ‘S’
OF SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY SOCIAL
COGNITION
Psychoanalysis

SOCIAL SOCIAL
INFLUENCE INTERACTION

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 Any questions?

You can find me at

▫ drrashmi.mgkvp@gmail.com

THANKS

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