What Can I Do With A Masters In Social Psychology?
Some of these include:
- Industrial-Organizational Psychologist.
- Human Resource Specialist.
- Political Strategist.
- Public Relations Specialist.
- Social Services Director.
- Technology Designer.
- Marketing Director or Manager.
- Researcher.
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Contents
All About Social Psychology – Social psychology is the study of how individuals affect and are affected by other people and by their social and physical environments. The work of social psychologists allows us to have a better grasp of how group dynamics influence our choices and actions and provides insight into how our social perceptions affect our interactions with other people.
A Word From Verywell – Learning more about social psychology can enrich your understanding of yourself and the world around you. By learning more about how people view others, how they behave in groups, and how attitudes are formed, you can gain a greater appreciation for how social relationships influence individual functioning.
- Böckler A. Why we share our cookies: Prosocial behavior from a psychological perspective, Anthropol Anz.2019;76(3):181-194. doi:10.1127/anthranz/2019/0880
- Xu X, Chen Y, Zhao Y, Yang J. The neural evidence of the reflected appraisal process as a main path for learning about one’s self-knowledge of personality, Biol Psychol.2015;110:85-90. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.06.017
- Meier A, Schäfer S. Positive side of social comparison on social network sites: How envy can drive inspiration on Instagram, Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw.2018;21(7):411-417. doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.0708
- Ounjai K, Kobayashi S, Takahashi M, Matsuda T, Lauwereyns J. Active confirmation bias in the evaluative processing of food images, Sci Rep,2018;8(1):16864. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-35179-9
- Böhm G, Pfister HR. How people explain their own and others’ behavior: a theory of lay causal explanations, Front Psychol,2015;6:139. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00139
Additional Reading
- Hu Y, Parde CJ, Hill MQ, Mahmood N, O’Toole AJ. First impressions of personality traits from body shapes, Psychol Sci.2018;:956797618799300. doi:10.1177/0956797618799300
- Li J, Liu X, Ma L, Zhang W. Users’ intention to continue using social fitness-tracking apps: expectation confirmation theory and social comparison theory perspective, Inform Health Soc Care.2019;44(3):298-312. doi:10.1080/17538157.2018.1434179
By Kendra Cherry Kendra Cherry, MS, is the author of the “Everything Psychology Book (2nd Edition)” and has written thousands of articles on diverse psychology topics. Kendra holds a Master of Science degree in education from Boise State University with a primary research interest in educational psychology and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Idaho State University with additional coursework in substance use and case management.
Types of Psychology – Social psychology and clinical psychology have large areas of overlap, but they approach mental well-being differently. Social psychology relies on understanding the role human behavior plays in mental well-being. Clinical psychology, on the other hand, uses a person-in-environment approach, emphasizing how biological, social, and psychological factors can affect a patient’s mental state.
Answer and Explanation: The correct answer is (d) intelligence.
Traced back to the late 19th and early 20th century, social psychology is a field of empirical science that attempts to answer questions about human behavior and how it is affected by social interaction. The focus is to identify thoughts, feelings, mental states, and behaviors, and explain how they both influence and are influenced in social situations and interactions between people.
A typical day for a psychologist includes interviewing and accessing patients, recording assessments, performing diagnostic tests, servicing patients through psychotherapy, and administering programs. There are a number of sub-specialty areas within psychology that may give some variance to psychologists’ daily work routines. 
How Does Sociology Differ from Psychology? – While both study human behavior, psychology and sociology approach this subject on a different scale. Psychology is focused on understanding the individual, while sociology — like its name suggests — focuses on social groups, communities, and cultures.
- As a psychologist, you’ll be focused on researching, analyzing, and managing the factors that drive or impact individual behavior, such as mental illness, mood disorders, substance addiction, or family and romantic relationships.
- As a sociologist, you’ll be focused on large-scale societal issues, such as globalization, poverty, racial injustice, gender inequality, workplace dynamics, or public health concerns.
It might be helpful to think of psychology like microeconomics, which “zooms in” to look at people, households, or businesses, while sociology is more like macroeconomics, “zooming out” to deal with entire economic systems. Psychologists evaluate the ways in which individuals interact with each other or their environments, whereas sociologists are more concerned with social structures and policies.
Application of social psychology 
The application of social psychology is now gaining momentum in the contemporary world.Many of the modern social psychologists are currently working in hospitals, government offices,business organizations and other semi-academic and non-academic institutions to assess, control and predict human behaviour under different settings and solve social problems.
- In view of the applied bias attached to social psychology today Rodin (1985) has defined social psychology as the utilization of social psychological principles and research methods in real world settings in the attempt to solve social problems.
- The social psychology has in a major way concentrated its attention on the following areas.
Role of social psychology in legal system,Health psychology, Psychology in work setting i.e., organizational behaviour, Consumer behaviour, Solution of social problems, Social psychology in education, Social psychology in crime and delinquency, Social psychology in community and national affairs, Social psychology in military etc.1.
Role of Social Psychology in Legal System In a society, there is enough scope for interaction and when people interact their behavior and judgment etc. are affected by various factors like attitudes, emotions, beliefs and cognitions. In the court room or in the legal system, these attitudes and beliefs affect the participants like the judges, and jury,pleaders,attorney, dependants and witnesses in a major way.Huge Munster berg started investing the accuracy in the statements of eyewitnesses at the turn of the century.On the basis of his observations, he pointed out that people have by and large a tendency to reconstruct events in ways that do not match what actually occurred.He opined that emotions strongly affect the memories of witnesses as a result of which accounts of what occurred or happened were very often greatly distorted or transformed by fear, anxiety and anger etc.
Recently there was an effort to increase the accuracy of the testimonies of eyewitnesses.Munster berg devises a physiological instrument to detect lying and also investigated the application of the technique of hypnosis as means to bring accuracy in the testimony of the witnesses.Both lie detection and hypnosis are the centre of current research efforts in this field (Juckerman,Driver andKoestner, 1982, Sanders and Simmons 1983, Spiegel, 1985).
- Munster berg further believed that not only witnesses but also judges and juries were subject to the effects of suggestibility and persuasion.
- Thus applied research on the legal system provides convincing evidence that psychological factors influence witnesses, jurors and defendants, attorneys and judges according to Baren and Byrne (1988).2.
Health Psychology It refers to the social psychological aspects of health care. Gundola (1985) views that some personality variables predispose a person having certain illnesses. Increase inphysical fitness leads to an improvement in psychological characteristics such as creativity.Thus according to Rogers (1983) health psychology studies the psychological processes that affect the prevention and treatment of physical illness.
- Prevention being always better than cure, preventing illness is always desirable than treating illness.
- Irscht (1983) holds that any health programs must deal with individual differences in the willingness to follow medical advice.Analysis of the problem led to the development of health belief model.
It means that an individual’s beliefs about health and threat of illness are used to predict his health related behaviour. Weinstein (1904) noted that college students hold unrealistically optimistic beliefs about their health risks.These findings may lead one to hold lack of knowledge on the part of the students which is not actually correct.
- Rudy and Salovey (1984) further say that the problem lies not in having the information but in applying it to oneself.
- One of the important applications of social psychology is in the area of mental health and psychotherapy.As a branch of behaviour sciences, it attempts to apply basic psychological knowledge to both the prevention and cure of individual behaviour disorders which threatens the security of either the individual or the society in which he lives.3.
Social Psychology and Work Setting The study of organizational behaviour involves what people do in organizational settings. In business, behaviour is influenced not only by economic factors, but social psychologyas well.Weber’s theory of bureaucracy was conceived without any regards for interpersonal dynamics of awork setting.Later Haw thorne studies indicated that worker’s productivity was increased by social factors such as attention paid to the workers.
Most of the people spend their half of the time at a job outside the home.Thus, the study of organizational behaviour has broad consequences for both employees and employers.This field seeks to understand and predicts human behaviour in organizational settings by means of the scientific study of individuals, groups and the structure and functions of organization.The social psychologists play a significant role in achieving job satisfaction and assessing its effects, selecting the right employee, and solving the industrial disputes etc.4.
Social Psychology in Community and NationalAffairs Social psychology is very much useful to the human affairs particularly at the community, national and international levels.For example, at the community level, meetings are conducted to expand the social awareness of the community and motivates the community to work jointly for the fulfillment of desired goals.5.
Social Problem in Military The application of research on group dynamics may also be drawn in connection with military job performance and military organizations.The performance of such social units as bomber crews and submarine crews has been explored in terms of variables of leadership, group cohesiveness and role relationships.The application of social psychological research to military organizations are essentially parallel to those in business and industry, although more formalized and rigidly structured military organizations are essentially analogous to industrial communities (Paliwal, 2003).6.
Consumer Behaviour The behaviour of the individual in advertising, product information, packaging, brand names and all other factors involved in marketing products and services come under applied social psychology.Consumer psychology is that field which deals with the factors affecting consumer behaviour (Betlman, 1986).
All these discussions lead one to conclude that application of social psychology to organizational and consumer behaviour is of crucial importance in every aspect of one’s life. It would really be difficult to conceive any human behaviour where the findings of social psychology would be inapplicable and irrelevant.The science of social psychology as an applied science contributes a lot indealing with the problems of national and international tension,communal and social prejudice,discrimination, and conflicts relating to socio-economic status in uncovering the relevant causes of these problems in specific situations.The concrete details of various problems of social psychology are to be known for applying social psychology to the concrete situation.
For all these work, careful research on applied social psychology is essential. The various problems of social psychology change from time to time and form culture to culture and even to some extent in the same culture depending upon the parental and neighbourhood and inter personal problems influence various social problems which are also studied by applied social psychologists.
However, it is reasonable to hold that the findings of social psychological research with certain exceptions can bewidely generalizable and potentially useful to all human beings of the society provided they have an applied bias.Only formulating theories and principles on social psychology is not enough.7.
Social Psychology and Social Problems Social psychology deals with immediate everyday social problems.Of course, it doesn’t directly offer solutions, but in many ways it contributes useful guidance towards possible ways of understanding andworking with these problems.8.
Social Psychology in Education Education is a process of social learning.Education is a joint endeavor of home, school and society to bring about a desirable behavioural change among children so that they become responsible citizens. Social psychology deals with the behaviour of the individual in a ‘social context’.
School is a “miniature society” where deliberately planned educational programmes are executed. The teacher uses verbal communication in attempting to shape attitudes, opinions and values of students. The continued interaction of students with teachers for a longer period shows properties of organized groups.
Social Psychology has proved again and again that it can be a source of amazing psychology facts. Indeed, some of the most interesting revelations are discovered after studies and experiments were done in this field. Social Psychology deals with the way people deal with each other, and it involves the communications and the connections human beings form with one another.
Social Psychology
| Social Psychology | |
| Advantages High Ecological Validity Useful Participant Observation – lowers demand characteristics/socially desirable answers | Disadvantages Generalisability Lack Aetological validity? Lacks control Low ethics |
Personality Psychology – Personality psychology is the study of the development of personality and individualistic traits. Personality psychologists look at people as individuals rather than as members of society. The aim of personality psychology is to find out why people differ from each other in their beliefs, attitudes and personalities.
developing and administering personality testsserving as consultants for sales companiesserving as hiring experts for human resources departmentstraining law enforcement personnel in the handling of stressful situationsconsulting corporations or governmental agencies that need insight into what makes people tick
Here is a brief description of a few of the major branches of personality psychology and their theories on personality. Psychoanalytic theories are largely based upon the finding of Sigmund Freud, who believed that human personality was composed of three primary components: the id (pleasure principle), ego (principle of realism) and super-ego (moral principle). According to Freud, the channeling of sexual libido also played a major role in the development of personality.
Psychoanalytic psychologists stress the importance of a person’s unconscious motivations, frequently using free association techniques to try to uncover those motivations. Behaviorism, also called behavioral psychology, stresses the importance of observing outward behavior; behaviorists believe that the study of internal cognitive functions is secondary or even useless because cognition is too subjective in nature.
Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning from interactions with the environment. Cognitive theories stress the mental side in the development of personality. They believe that a child’s thought processes are quite different from an adult’s.
Social psychology focuses on three main areas: social thinking, social influence, and social behavior. Each of these overlapping areas of study is displayed in Figure 1.1. The circles overlap because, in our everyday lives, these three forces blend together as they influence us.
Social psychology is the study of how individual or group behavior is influenced by the presence and behavior of others.
How difficult is it to study psychology? – The degree is difficult no matter what aspect of psychology you happen to be studying, don’t take this too hard, no university degree is easy. A psychology degree tends to focus more on coursework, exams and lectures, although there will be the occasional need for practical work too.
- But the rewards from a degree in psychology are far more rewarding.
- Just be prepared for a lot of work.
- Psychology will always have an element of difficulty regardless of what level of university or college you’re studying it in, just make sure you read as much as possible before you start work.
- It is possible to have your workload lightened slightly if you are studying an online psychology degree.
The modules will change depending on the university you are at and in which particular discipline of psychology you are studying, however, the usual psychology modules are:
Introduction to social and differential psychology Language and communication Neural basis of vision and action Research methods C Research methods D Social and cognitive development
These modules are studied in a more in-depth nature at a postgraduate level. Some of the careers listed below require you to have studied these modules at a postgraduate level before. 
For more than three decades, social psychologists and other social scientists have been studying love. The type of love that has been most frequently measured and studied is the love experienced for a romantic partner.
Do you have to be good at math to be a psychologist? – There are certain specializations in psychology where being good at math is useful, but it’s not a requirement. Psychologists who go into research or social psychology usually end up dealing with a lot of statistics and other math-driven analytical techniques. Although it’s definitely math, it’s not rocket science. You’ll be just fine!
Six topics studied in social psychology are aggression, discrimination, group behavior, interpersonal relationships, prejudice, and violence. The four major perspectives of social psychology are sociocultural, evolutionary, social learning, and social-cognitive.
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Your behavior doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You live within a society. Your environment and the people in it affect your psychology. That’s when social psychology comes in. Social psychology is the study of your mind and behavior with other people.
Social psychology looks at your personality, interpersonal relationships, and group behavior. Humans have always been social creatures, but particular interest in social psychology popped up in the 18th-century. Formal research and writing about social psychology didn’t appear until the 1930s. The people around you influence your personality and behaviors.
Think of how you act around your family at a holiday dinner versus coworkers at a work event. These social adjustments are minor, but some social psychology concepts can influence your entire belief system. The following are just a few. Conformity. Conformity occurs when you’re influenced to change your beliefs and behaviors to fit into a group,
Real pressure like being around other people or imagined pressure like social norms can influence you to conform. There are three types of conformity. Internalization is when you accept the group norms around you. This type typically occurs when you believe that the people around you are more informed.
Identification is a form of conformity where you retain your personal beliefs regardless of the majority. For example, a police officer may have to criminalize a specific action even if they believe otherwise. Ingratiational conformity is when you conform to the majority to earn favor or acceptance.
It’s typically motivated by the desire for a social reward. Obedience. Obedience occurs when you follow commands and a person’s ability to influence you. When researching it, social psychologists specifically look at the relationship between perceived authority figures and other people. Obedience and conformity are similar.
The main difference is that obedience needs a hierarchy that includes commands. An authority figure can be anyone in power. Your boss, teacher, doctor, or someone in a better-informed position can be perceived as an authority figure. Self-concept. Your self-concept describes how you perceive, think of, and judge yourself.
How you view yourself (self-image) How you value yourself (self-esteem) The person you’d like to be (ideal self)
Your self-concept ultimately influences how you behave around other people. Discrimination. Discrimination describes behaviors and actions toward a group of people. The behaviors are typically negative and target the group’s sex, race, class, or other traits.
People often confuse discrimination with prejudice, but the two concepts are slightly different. Discrimination is a behavior, whereas prejudice is a belief that isn’t necessarily acted on. Bystander effect. This social psychology theory poses that you’re less likely to help a person in need when other people are present.
A person feels less personally responsible in an emergency the more people there are. Many factors influence how you react to an emergency, though. The type of situation, the people involved, and your capabilities play a part in how you react to a situation,
Many influential studies have shaped social psychology, starting in 1898. Social facilitation and inhibition experiment. Social psychologist Norman Triplett investigated how cyclists responded to being around other people. Triplett determined that people tried harder when in front of other people or if it was implied that other people were witnessing their performance.
Triplett speculated that their performance improved, but follow-up studies determined that the presence of others can inhibit performance, Autokinetic effect experiment. Muzafer Sherif experimented with the concept of conformity in 1935. He presented the participants with a visual illusion and asked them what they saw.
Regardless of what the illusion showed, the participants eventually agreed on what they saw—even if it was wrong. The experiment demonstrated that people in ambiguous scenarios would look to the people around them and conform. Later experiments showed slightly different results. For example, one experiment determined that members of western cultures are less likely to conform than eastern cultures.
Obedience experiment. Social psychology developed quickly after World War II as German soldiers claimed they were “obeying orders” during their post-war trials. Social psychologist Stanley Milgram examined the concept of obedience. The Milgram shock experiment in 1961 determined how far an ordinary person is willing to go based on the demands of a perceived authority figure.
- Participants were told to electrocute another (fake) participant if they answered a question incorrectly.
- The electrocution grew in intensity with each wrong answer, and the (fake) authority figure became more demanding throughout the experiment.
- Milgram found that many people would dangerously shock the other participant when they were told to by the fake doctor in the experiment, regardless of their beliefs.
Milgram determined that people don’t typically follow blindly, though. They make critical judgments before obeying an order. For an ordinary person to obey an authority figure, there are two requirements:
The person believes that the person giving orders is qualified to do soThe person believes that the person giving orders will take responsibility for whatever their orders are
Bystander effect. The clearest example of the bystander effect was the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. Onlookers saw or heard Genovese attacked but relied on others to help. This tragic event displayed the bystander effect. It’s opened discussions about decision-making, perception of emergencies, and more.
- Social psychologists focus on human behavior, but it’s not all research.
- Social psychology has extended into many fields as an applied strategy.
- Employees and social psych.
- Social psychologists apply their understanding of human behavior to help organizations like companies or nonprofits.
- They help the organizations hire, train, and lead their employees using social psychology.
School and social psych. Schools are complicated social environments. Social psychologists look at education programs critically, help teachers understand the social dynamics of their classroom, teach about the authority of administration, and so much more.
GovernmentMedical facilitiesSocial service agenciesPrivate organizations
Wherever humans go, social psychology goes with them!
Other Fields and Social Psychology Sociology: the study of human relationships and institutions within a society. Psychology: the study of the mind and subsequent behaviors. Personality psychology: the study of personality traits and human characteristics that stem from biology and/or environmental conditioning.
Which is more better sociology or psychology?
Sociology vs Psychology: How to Choose? – According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the median annual earnings of recent graduates with a bachelor’s in psychology is $41,400. That’s marginally lower than sociology, which comes in at $43,100.
Similarly, in 2018, the average unemployment rate for all bachelor’s degrees was 2.9%, while those with a psychology degree had a rate of 3.2% and those with a sociology degree had an unemployment rate of 2.7%. Psychology degrees are nearly twice as common as sociology degrees, which can make the latter more valuable in some circumstances.
However, outside of career path differences, choosing between sociology vs psychology will also come down to a matter of personal interest. If you want to learn more about social structures and human society at the macro-level, sociology will be worth exploring.
Social Psychology – Social psychology is the study of how people’s behavior and thought patterns are influenced by social situations. While personality psychologists examine the individualistic side of human personality, social psychologists look at the social aspect of human personality.
Though social psychologists borrow theories and inspiration from sociology, social psychologists mainly focus upon the interaction of a person with small groups, while sociologists mainly focus upon a person’s involvement with society-at-large. Social psychologists study the interactions of people in small groups like families, church groups, gangs, clubs and friendship circles; they study how these groups affect each individual member.
Social psychologists study conformity and “groupthink” in situations where people think and act differently than they do when they’re alone. Social psychologists also study the influences that social media—television in particular—have upon people. Social psychologists study the formation of personal beliefs with regard to social situations, such as personal biases, prejudices and stereotypes; they also study the influence that a circle of friends has in the formation of those beliefs.
While social psychology is largely concerned with experimental study and the formation of theories, it also has an applied side. Many of the theories of social psychology are applied in areas like advertising, law enforcement and criminal justice. Social psychologists have also helped alleviate racism, stereotypes and gender discrimination in employment settings, court systems, law enforcement agencies and other governmental agencies.
Social psychologists sometimes work in advertising or as expert witnesses in court systems. Others administer personality tests, help design educational courses, teach or serve as consultants for governments or corporations.
Abstract – In this review, Shaver suggests that social-psychology is essential for the study of enterprise because the creation of a new venture is a truly social enterprise. Social-psychology is the scientific study of the personal and situational elements affecting people social behavior.
As psychology concentrates on dependent variables smaller than the person, sociology concentrates on structures and procedure larger than any single individual. Social-psychology investigates the socially meaningful actions of individuals. This research aims to examine four significant areas of theory and research in social-psychology and discuss how each fits into the study of enterprisers activity: cognition, attribution, attitudes, and the self.
These topics are included because these are the traditional concerns of social psychologists and are the subject of numerous articles in entrepreneurship. The self, “Who are you” and “How did you get that way,” both “Is” and “does.” In the improvement of our social selves, we must often choose among accuracy and distortion.
The Person and the Social Situation – Social psychology is the study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them. Each of us is different, and our individual characteristics, including our personality traits, desires, motivations, and emotions, have an important impact on our social behavior.
- But our behavior is also profoundly influenced by the — the people with whom we interact every day,
- These people include our friends and family, our classmates, our religious groups, the people we see on TV or read about or interact with online, as well as people we think about, remember, or even imagine.
Social psychologists believe that human behavior is determined by both a person’s characteristics and the social situation. They also believe that the social situation is frequently a stronger influence on behavior than are a person’s characteristics.
- Kurt Lewin formalized the joint influence of person variables and situational variables, which is known as the person-situation interaction, in an important equation:
- Behavior = f (person, social situation).
- Lewin’s equation indicates that the behavior of a given person at any given time is a function of (depends on) both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation.
What does a sociologist do?
Duties – Sociologists typically do the following:
Design research projects to test theories about social issues Collect data through surveys, observations, interviews, and other sources Analyze and draw conclusions from data Prepare reports, articles, or presentations detailing their research findings Collaborate with and advise other social scientists, policymakers, or other groups on research findings and sociological issues
Sociologists study human behavior, interaction, and organization. They observe the activity of social, religious, political, and economic groups, organizations, and institutions. They examine the effect of social influences, including organizations and institutions, on different individuals and groups.
They also trace the origin and growth of these groups and interactions. For example, they may research the impact of a new law or policy on a specific demographic. Sociologists often use both quantitative and qualitative methods when conducting research, and they frequently use statistical analysis programs during the research process.
Their research may help administrators, educators, lawmakers, and social workers to solve social problems and formulate public policy. Sociologists may specialize in a wide range of social topics, including, but not limited to:
education and health; crime and poverty; families and population; and gender, racial, and ethnic relations.
Sociologists who specialize in crime may be called criminologists or penologists, These workers apply their sociological knowledge to conduct research and analyze penal systems and populations and to study the causes and effects of crime. Many people with a sociology background become postsecondary teachers and high school teachers,
