Social Psychology-Simply Psychology, Essay Example

In my opinion, the three most profound ideas of Social Psychology which have been introduced are the following: we construct our social reality, social influences shape our behavior, and personal attitudes and dispositions also shape behavior (Myers). The reason as to why these appear to be the most appealing to me is because of the grand manner in which the are all intertwined in order to formulate an individual. For example, they all deal with the individual self-image and opinion. This is to say that the three of the Social Psychologies which have been selected have to do with an individual’s subjective opinion and circumstance, as opposed to that of an objective circumstance. Therefore, Social Psychology deals more with the individual as opposed to the individual’s environment.

To start off, the first Social Psychology that was analyzed was that of “we construct our social reality”. (Myers)The reason this holds true is because of the fact that individuals force themselves into believing what they want to believe. If, say, a mother’s son were to create a crime and were to find out about his son’s crime on television before her son told her about what happened, the mother would inevitably say that the television was wrong because her son would never do something like that. In this case, the mother would be creating her own social reality, believing whatever she would want to believe and putting aside the facts.

The second Social Psychology that was found interesting is that of “Social Influences Shape Our Behavior.” (Myers) What was most fascination about this type of psychology is the fact that this is where individuals often creature their own failure. For example, a child might smoke for the first time due to his social influences (friends) and a little bit of peer pressure. What this psychology attempts to portray is that the environment in which an individual is placed in plays a huge role in determining the kind of actions that will be carried out by the individual. Despite the fact that this psychology places a lot of interest on the surrounding environment, the individual is really the on who makes all of the decisions.

The reason personal attitudes and dispositions also shape behavior is because of the way that Social Psychology has all to do with the individual (Myers). If he or she is having a bad day, for example, then all other outcomes are bound to be negative. Therefore, the manner in which an individual thinks about certain things can usually predict the outcome of something even before any action takes place. If, for example, a Catholic priest is placed in a war zone, one might expect the priest to do Anointing of the Sick to all of the individuals who are minutes away from dying in order to purify their soul. In this manner, it is proven how this third Social Psychology deals with the manner in which an individual responds to his or her environment.

Social Psychology deals more with the individual as opposed to the individual’s environment. The reason this holds true is because everything is set in motion by the individual. Without him or her, society would not be what it is today. Therefore, it is always up to each individual’s everyday decisions to decide what the outcome of a certain thing should be. Overall, Social Psychology has a lot to do with the way certain people think.

Works Cited

“Social Psychology | Simply Psychology.” Simply Psychology – Articles for Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2015.

Myers, David G. Exploring Psychology. 7th ed. New York: Worth, 2008. Print.