The social approach is studying individuals in a social context such as family, friends, institutions and wider society. Social behaviour may involve activity within a group or between group. Concerned with the way our interactions with other people affected the way we think, feel and behave. (Social obedience & conformity.)
How we make sense & judge ourselves (self-perception & identity) considers how we relate to others & so includes areas such as conflict, cooperation & relationships. Behaviour is influenced by actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
Social psychologists are interested in the way people affect each other in terms of ‘social influence’, This can refer to influence of a group, majority influence (conformity) or the influence of an individual with perceived authority to ask you to do something (obedience) Can influenced can result in a change in the thinking, attitudes or behaviour of others.
Group Influence on the self: When discussing group influence, social influence is important as it means any changes in the way an individual acts, thinks or behave as a result of interaction with another person or group of people. When someone tries to persuade another person it is the intention of the individual to do so, while social influence can come from influential as well as unintentional acts. The rules of society, societal norms, play a significant role in social influence as do conformity & obedience.
Key Beliefs/ assumptions: The effect of interaction between individuals: we are heavily influenced by individuals and as a group. E.g an authority figure affect behaviour of an individual. Less emphasis on biological & cognitive causes. States that people around us is what causes our behaviour. Each society & culture will have it’s own set of rules or guidelines telling us how to behave (social values)
Culture is more often used in relation to a larger group such as the society in which we live or our ethnic group. Our culture will affect our response to the individual.
Our relationships with other people are a major influence on an individual’s behaviour. Thought processes and emotions (take on different roles when we are with different people) Our social role dictates our behaviour. We all play different roles (parent, daughter) and interact with other people according to the behaviour associated with that role.
The situation we are in has an effect on our behaviour, we don’t always act accordingly to our free will. (Environment determines our behaviour) You may act in a way that is deemed acceptable in society. All human behaviour occurs in a social context even when no one else is present (act dependent on situation we are in).We behave in ways we believe are appropriate to the social setting, so although you’d take your top off for your doctor in the surgery, you’d not do it in the supermarket.
We learn how to behave through our upbringing, understanding the unwritten rules of society. Each context/situation/environment had a set of social norms to follow which we adhere to in order to keep society stable.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Use of field experiment on real life situations when studying behaviour. Interested in human interaction this is best studied in real situations where ppts have opportunity to interact. High eco V.
Contributes it makes about understanding social behaviour. Makes useful applications because it can explain and even offer solutions to problems in the real world. Shows the power that social forces can have shaping behaviour & thinking. Environment we develop in is central to who we are. Shows we are all individual is somewhat artificial as we all behave similar depending on our situation. Powerful as we can change social phenomena’s which is difficult in Bio & cog. |
Ethical issues as difficult to study social behaviours without neg effecting the participants in the study. Nowadays we have ethical guidelines which they should follow to conduct studies.
Low generalisability – social approach tries to make generalizability but usually uses opportunity samples of small sample which don’t account for ID. Deterministic- it does not recognise other influences on our behaviour such as genetics, physiological or psychodynamic influences. Reduces idea people have autonomy or ability to decide their own behaviour. (social reductionism) Low gen – normally conducted in the west especially USA. Issue as we know human cultures can be different. |