Social psychology

Social psychology is the study of how other people and social situations shape thought, feeling and behaviour. It examines people’s interpretations of one another as well as the effects of relationships, groups and cultural expectations. Its questions connect individual mental processes with the social settings in which they occur.

Subject matter

Social psychologists investigate such matters as the formation of attitudes, attraction, belonging, cooperation and social influence. A person’s response can depend both on their characteristics and on the situation: who else is present, what behaviour is expected and how the person understands the encounter. The field therefore overlaps with personality psychology, cognitive psychology and the study of culture, while concentrating on social interaction.

Research

Research turns broad questions into testable hypotheses and specifies how the relevant concepts will be measured. Laboratory experiments allow researchers to vary selected features of a situation while controlling others. Field experiments study interventions in everyday settings, where the degree of control differs from that available in a laboratory.

Other methods include surveys, observation and the analysis of existing records. Experience-sampling studies ask participants to report their activities or feelings at repeated points during ordinary life. These methods answer different questions: observing an association does not by itself provide the control over competing explanations available in a well-designed experiment. Clear measures and a description of the participants and setting help readers judge what a finding actually establishes and allow researchers to attempt replication.

Attribution

Prepared with reference to the structure and linked topics of the English Wikipedia article, revision 1374180313. Rewritten and checked against the sources cited above; changes have been made. Wikipedia contributors’ material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.