What is social psychology? Before I started this class, I asked myself that and then I believed it was a study of how we interact with others. Social psychology “is the study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context” (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2017, p. 6). After reading about social psychology the way I would define it would be how we act and react to things when we are out with people. We may change subtly when we are around friends, family, and people we do not know because we adapt to our surroundings.
Social psychology relates to my career path because I would like to become a psychologist and I need to understand how people may act, think, and feel while I am in a session with them. This will help me to relate to them better and show a proper level of understanding, so they are comfortable with me. Social psychology will play a role in their behavior while they are speaking with me as well. If I can pick up on how they are feeling and thinking I will be better able to work with them.
Social psychology might change the way we interact with others. We are learning the reasons behind people following others even if they do not agree or fully understand the situation. Most of us have acted in a way that we normally would not when in a group because we do not want to be the odd one out especially as teenagers. Some smoke because others are doing it, some drink because others are doing it, and there are many more examples that go along with this. One reason I have found this to be true is out of fear of not being cool, popular, or losing their friends.
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The fear-then-relief strategy is one technique is a good strategy to show why this happens. “In many experiments, it has been shown that when people experience a source of fear that is then rapidly removed, they are more likely to comply with a subsequent request” (Dolinski, Dolinska, & Bar-Tal, 2017, p. 1). This shows that when we are afraid of something like losing our friends or even something more serious we will behave in a way that is out of character if given the opportunity.
At this point in our lives we all primarily communicate with some form of technology with someone. We depend on technology more than anything else when it comes to communication today. “The growing dependence on technology is allowing each individual to become more and more ‘self’-sufficient. This gained autonomy has allowed the individual to become more isolated and reclusive. The need for social contact, in many cases, is being fulfilled by the media” (Mcquillen, J.S., 2017, p.622). This is already happening today because we use texting, instant messaging, and email to communicate mostly. We will eventually come to a point where we only chat face to face on the computer or our smart phones.
Social psychology is a fascinating study that effect our lives in many ways. We will learn more about each other and our actions as this area advances. I am looking forward to seeing how social psychology advances and the effects it will have on us even in this age of technology.
References
- Kassin, S. M., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2017). Social psychology (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
- Dolinski, D., Dolinska, B., & Bar-Tal, Y. (2017). Cognitive Structuring and Its Cognitive-Motivational Determinants as an Explanatory Framework of the Fear-Then-Relief Social Influence Strategy. Frontiers in Psychology, 08(114), 1. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00114
- McQuillen, J. S. (2003). THE INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE INITIATION OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS. Education, 123(3), 616.
