Persons in Groups and Society as a Focus

The discipline of social psychology has much in common with both sociology and psychology. Psychology is generally concerned with the ways in which an individual is affected by the environment, while social psychology focuses on the ways in which individuals are affected by their social environment—namely other people. In that sense, social psychology is often considered a subdiscipline of psychology.

                Sociology, on the other hand, is the study of social aggregates and groups, their internal forms and organization, and the factors that encourage their stability or produce change. Sociologists are particularly interested in social structure and the relationship among units in a social system. In analyzing social structure, they often focus on the individual in the social system. Accordingly, social psychology is often considered an important subdiscipline of sociology.

                At various time, therefore, social psychology has been claimed by university departments of sociology and psychology. However, knowledge does not come in neat packages; nor does it easily fit into academic pigeonholes. Social psychology as a discipline has drawn heavily from both sociology and psychology, as well as from political science, economics, and anthropology; it has much to offer these areas in return.

                Since World War II, the boundaries of social psychology have expanded to an unprecedented extent. In the area of psychology, social-psychological research has been conducted in social learning, personality development, psycholinguistics, language development, and psychological adjustment and maladjustment. In the area of sociology, social-psychological research has encompassed communication and mass media, political behavior, international relations, culture and national character, economics, and industrial organization.

                In this book, our initial focus is on the person as an actor and an observe, as an initiator of actions from others, gradually broadening our scan to groups and society: we begin with a study of the lone person, since one cannot really understand fully the impact of groups and society without considering them in their absence. We then turn to the person as a perceiver of others—for only through perceiving others can we really understand ourselves. We next examine the two-person group, the dyad—how persons can be attracted or repelled by one another, how they may try to help one another or resist their influence. From the dyad, we move to persons in groups, how a person is molded by the group or changes the group, how persons in groups collaborate in making decisions and solving problems. Logically, our attention turns to the way groups relate to other groups, in intergroup collaboration and conflict. Finally, we review how persons, dyads, groups, and society operate within a non-social physical environment. More specifically, we will cover questions such as the following:

   The Person Alone. What is it like to be alone? Is a person ever really alone? Can one be alone even when there are others present? What are the causes of loneliness? Why are social contacts so important? When do social contacts become oppressive or inappropriate?

   Finding Out about Others. How do we get to know others? What is the role of first impressions? How is new information about another person integrated into the information that we already have? How does stereotyping work, and what functions does it serve? How do we go about discovering what other people are really like? And what are the underlying causes of their behavior? How do we select and control the information that others receive about us? How do we evaluate ourselves in relation to others?
   Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behavior. What are attitudes, beliefs, and values? Why do some beliefs become more central than others? Where do attitudes come from? When do attitudes lead to behavior, and vice versa? How do people maintain consistency between their attitudes and their behavior?

   Changing Attitudes by Persuasive Communication. What factors lead people to change their attitudes? In particular, how is attitude change affected by who does the communicating? How is attitude change shaped by what is said, and in what context? What kinds of people tend to be more persuasible than others? How can people be “protected” from high-powered persuasion?

   Interpersonal Attraction: Liking and Loving. What determines whether we like another person? Why do we seek out the companionship of some people and avoid others? When do “birds of a feather flock together,” and when do “opposites attract?” Why do people fall in love? Why do they break up?

   Hostility and Aggression. What is aggression, and what forms can it assume? Why do people aggress against others? What kinds of people are likely to aggress? How is aggression affected by the presence of social or situational factors that may “invite” aggression? What is the relationship between violence in the media and aggressive behavior?

   Altruism and Prosocial Behavior. Why do people behave prosocially, in ways that may benefit another person or group? How can such prosocial behavior be explained? How do the characteristics of those people who need help affect the likelihood that such help will be forthcoming? What kinds of people are likely to help others? What are the environmental factors that make helping more or less likely? What are the after-effects of helping?

   Moving with Others: The Interdependence of Persons. What determines whether we cooperate or compete with other people? What effects does cooperation or competition have upon our relationship with these others? When does competition make people more productive, and when, less? What is bargaining, and when does it occur? What are some of the key determinants of bargaining success?

   Interpersonal Influence and Social Power. By what means do we attempt to get other people to do as we wish? What are the effects of different methods of influence—promise of reward, threat of punishment, expertise, legitimacy, mutual identification, and information? Who is responsible for the change that occurs: the person who attempted to influence another or the person who decided to accept it? What secondary changes follows in the wake of social influence? How may social influence be enhanced?

   Social Structure. How can we study communication, attraction, role assignment, interdependence, and power as structural dimensions of groups? More generally, how can we examine the structural patterning of groups and the interrelationships of structure? What is a leader? What factors produce a leader? What are the functions of leadership? How is leadership developed and maintained?

   Sex Roles and Sex Differences. What is sex stereotyping? What are the origins and consequences of sex stereotypes, and how may stereotyping be reduced? What differences exist in the social behavior of men and women? How can such differences be understood in the context of a society in which real differences exist in the treatment of men and women?

   Collective Influences on Individual Behavior. Under what conditions will people in groups engage in activities that they would object to or avoid as individuals? Why do groups often choose riskier courses of action than do individuals? Under what conditions does an individual’s identity become lost in a group, and what are the effects of such deindividuation?

   Group Decisions, Group Performance, and Leadership. What factors influence the performance and effectiveness of small groups? In particular, under what circumstances does group decision making lead to problem solving of higher quality than would occur when people work alone? Under what circumstances does group problem solving lead to inferior, faulty decision making? How is group performance affected by the quality of its leadership? What are the determinants of good or bad leadership? How does the style of leadership affect the members of a group?

   Conflict and Its Resolution. Why do conflicts escalate between groups and between nations? What are the consequences of such conflict escalation for the behavior and perceptions of groups and their members? How can intergroup and international conflicts be managed more effectively? How can conflict be redefined or restructured in ways that make settlement more likely? What can third parties do to facilities issues identification and movement toward settlement?

   Social Psychology and The Environment. How do people use the physical space in which they live in order to define and control their relationships with others? What are the major environmental stressors to which people are subjected? What are the effects of these stressors, and how may these effects be offset? What can we do to preserve our environment more effectively?

(Source: Raven, Bertram H., Rubin, Jeffrey Z. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1983. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: United States of America. 2nd Edition)

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