Have you ever wondered, why do people behave differently when in front of a group of people? Or, what makes some people better leaders than others? In correspondence with Martinez (2018), most of the decisions in politics, problematic behaviors such as harassment or intergroup prejudices and even marketing, are some of the topics studied by a very interesting branch of psychology: social psychology.
What is Social Psychology?
Within psychology, a division can be drawn between applied psychology and basic psychology (Muelas, 2021). On the one hand, basic psychology studies basic psychological processes such as perception, attention, memory, language and learning. On the contrary, applied psychology focuses on the study of other characteristics of psychology more related to problem solving (Muelas, 2021). In correspondence with Rodriguez et al. (2005), within applied psychology there are different aspects, with social psychology being one of the most important fields of study.
Social psychology can be defined as the study of human interaction, especially in groups and in social settings, and emphasizes the influence of social situations on human behavior (Muelas, 2021). More specifically, according to Rodriguez et al. (2005), social psychology focuses on the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings and behaviors are affected by ties, which can be defined as the relationships they have with other people.
This is why the importance of the collective must be emphasized: the scenario in which a person develops is not only the place and space of their growth, but also the constitution of the subject as such (Rodriguez et al., 2005 ). In short, according to Maristany (2019), social psychology is a discipline that uses scientific methods to understand and explain how an individual's thoughts, feelings and behavior are influenced by real, imagined or implicit existence of other human beings.
What is the Goal of Social Psychology?
This form of psychological science aims to reveal the social existence of the human being, in order to understand it, so that, on the one hand, new and better ways of socializing are created, and on the other hand, it is liberated and expands the personality of individuals (Salcedo, 2006). Furthermore, human beings, as autonomous beings, capable of self-evaluation and public influence in the surrounding environment, have always been trying to answer thousands of questions that arise in the course of social development. In correspondence with Salcedo (2006), questions are asked such as: what are we?, where do we come from? and where are we going?
Likewise, according to Salcedo (2006), the following questions are relevant: why do people behave in their own way in certain social contexts?, what happens when our environment changes suddenly?, do humans have the ability to adapt to new needs?, what is society itself?, and what does the relationship between man and society mean?
History
The history of social psychology goes back to the history of human thought (Adamson, 2005). Therefore, the origin of psychosocial thought can be located in ancient Greece, in the Republic of Plato or Aristotle, especially in Aristotle´s Rhetoric, or at the beginning of modernity, in Machiavelli. However, according to Adamson (2005), it is chosen to begin the history of social psychology by tracing it to thinkers, who in a more conscious and systematic way, tried to contribute to the analysis of the relational field or to the analysis of social production.
Therefore, the emergence of social psychology is located in the course of the nineteenth century and is impregnated by a fundamental issue, which had also permeated the production of knowledge in other social sciences (Guzmán, s.f.). In correspondence with Guzmán (s.f.), this question is the following: what is it that keeps people together within a given social order?
Influenced by mainstream psychology and sociology, mainly based in Europe, the answers to this question were found around the idea of a group mind, which maintains people with each other beyond individual interests and differences (Guzmán, n.d.). Even so, initial attempts to understand human behavior focused more on the study of individuals and their inner world than on the influence of groups. According to Rodriguez (n.d.), this is because until now it is not known how to study people scientifically, and it is necessary to work with the subjective experience of each one.
It was not until the 40´s and 50´s, when several psychologists developed the experimental methodology that would give rise to the true beginning of this discipline as an empirical science (Rodriguez, n.d.). In correspondence with Rodriguez (n.d.), researchers such as Kurt Lewin and Leon Festinger were some of the main promoters of this development; Lewin is considered, in fact, the father of social psychology.
These two researchers began to study the interactions between people and those variables that influence them (Rodriguez, n.d.). In addition, according to Rodriguez (n.d.), they began to create experimental designs that allowed them to isolate some of these factors in the laboratory, and emphasized the need to better understand what effects relationships have.
However, it was not until the end of World War II, in the second half of the 20th century, that social psychology really appeared (Rodriguez, n.d.). The researchers wanted to understand how the emergence of ideologies as radical as Nazism is possible and why many apparently normal people had carried out terrible behaviors in their name (Rodriguez, n.d.). In accordance with Guzmán (n-d.), the Frankfurt School and critical theory emerge here, whose greatest exponent is Theodore W. Adorno.
In the same vein, during this time, experiments were started on topics such as aggression, altruism, obedience to rules, persuasion and authority (Rodriguez, n.d.). In correspondence with Rodriguez (n.d.), this discovery formed the basis of the discipline and the development of the results has continued to this day.
Some of the most considerable experiments carried out at this time were Milgram's obedience experiments, or the execution of Zinmbardo in Stanford prison (Rodriguez, n.d.). According to Rodriguez (n.d.), social psychology quickly expanded its interest to other areas, such as, the influence of the group in decisions, prejudice and discrimination and the way in which one learns from the surrounding environment.
In the second half of the 20th century, social psychology expanded enormously in areas such as attitudes and psychological processes (Rodriguez, n.d.). At this time the first persuasion models were developed, which formed the basis of current disciplines, such as marketing. According to Rodriguez (n.d.), the idea of cognitive dissonance also emerged, which is one of the most important ideas in this field.
In the 1980s, the cognitive process of individuals received more decisive attention, which led to the development of a discipline called social cognition (Rodriguez, n.d.). This, in correspondence with Rodriguez (n.d.), studies how thoughts, decisions and beliefs are influenced by the surrounding environment and by society.
One of the most important authors of this period is the economist Daniel Kahneman, who studied the way in which people make irrational decisions due to how certain unconscious processes affect them in their daily lives (Rodriguez, n.d.). According to Rodriguez (n.d.), in the 21st century, new changes take place in the field of social psychology research.
Scientists began to study how social conditions affect areas such as health or happiness, or the importance of evolution and culture in people´s behavior (Rodriguez, n.d.). Finally, according to Rodriguez (n.d.), for more than a century, fields such as social neuroscience have tried to combine the knowledge of the human brain with the knowledge accumulated in traditional psychology.
References
Adamson, G. (2005). ¿Qué es la psicologia social?. Obtenido 1 Noviembre 2020, de https://www.funlam.edu.co/revistas/index.php/poiesis/article/view/439/414
Guzmán, G. Historia de la psicología social: fases de desarrollo y autores principales. Psicologiaymente.com. Recuperado 10 August 2021, a partir de https://psicologiaymente.com/social/historia-psicologia-social
Maristany, A. (2019). ¿Qué es la Psicología Social?. Obtenido 1 Noviembre 2020, de https://psicologoscordoba.org/que-es-la-psicologia-social/
Martinez, E. (2018). La Psicología Social, en qué consiste. Obtenido 1 Noviembre 2020, de https://www.psicoactiva.com/blog/la-psicologia-social-en-que-consiste/
Muelas, R. (2021). ¿Sabes qué es la psicología social y por qué es tan importante?. La Mente es Maravillosa. Recuperado 10 August 2021, a partir de https://lamenteesmaravillosa.com/sabes-que-es-la-psicologia-social-y-por-que-es-importante/
Rodriguez, A. (s.f.). Psicología social: historia, objeto de estudio y áreas. Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://www.lifeder.com/psicologia-social/
Rodriguez, C. et al. (2005). Psicología Social. Obtenido 1 Noviembre 2020, de https://bdigital.uncu.edu.ar/objetos_digitales/1373/psisocpolimodal.pdf
Salcedo, E. (2006). LA PSICOLOGÍA SOCIAL: FUNDAMENTOS DEL ORDEN Y CAMBIO SOCIAL. Obtenido 1 Noviembre 2020, de https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/4975/497552138006.pdf
