The field of social psychology began in the 1930’s. Social psychology explores the interactions of individuals within groups and society as a whole. Social psychology looks at your personality, interpersonal relationships, and group behavior. The people around you influence your personality and behaviors.
Among the first to make a systematic study of the psychology of social groups was German-American Kurt Lewin, considered to be “the father of social psychology”. After the Second World War, behaviorism fell out of favor and Lewin’s ideas about how the environment affected people provided an alternative. The way we see and interpret the behavior of other people is known as attribution. This became an area of study. From these studies cam a theory of conformity of Solomon Asch that says that people will act out certain behaviors to suit the impression they want to give to others. As the Bible says: “Bad associations spoil useful habits.”
How are some of these ideas used out there? Businesses, industries, and social organizations used models pioneered by social psychologists. For example, the nudge theory has been adopted to reform social and political landscapes. Nudge Theory is based upon the idea that by shaping the environment, also known as the choice architecture, one can influence the likelihood that one option is chosen over another by individuals.
Kurt Lewin established his field theory which states that behavior is determined by the totality of a person’s situation. Lewin is considered to be the father of social psychology. The concept of attribution is the way we see and interpret the behavior of other people. From that came the theories of conformity and cultural norms. For example, Erving Goffman’s theory states that we act out certain behaviors to suit the impression we want to give to others. Expressions like keeping up with the Jones’ or keeping up appearances come to mind. Lewin believed that we all need each other and are interdependent on each other.
Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments suggest that people will override their own judgement in order to conform. Who you keep company with matters. People feel compelled to fit in. A person’s tendency to conform can be stronger than their values or basic perceptions. Erving Goffman says that we try to create a favorable impression of ourselves through our choice of words, setting, wardrobe, skills and props. We have public personas and private ones. We do this to manipulate and control the way others perceive us. He says the way we present ourselves in the real world is like the performances of dramatic actors on a stage or movie set.
William Glasser (1925-2013) says that we are all, by nature, social beings. He focused on achieving greater happiness through personal choice, responsibility and transformation. He was goal-oriented. He developed choice theory, which states that we are all motivated to act in ways that increase pleasure and decrease pain (proceeding according to their own desires). He goes on to say that we want to think and behave in ways that will make us feel better. We have needs of survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun. Our very nature is that we are social beings. Choice theory is about self-control, not trying to directly control others.
Melvin Lerner put forth his just world theory. It states that many of us tend to believe that people get what they deserve. It states that world is orderly and fair. As a result of this, we tend to blame thew victims of misfortune, which helps us believe that if we behave well, we will not be vulnerable to misfortune. We can ignore the plight of others if we believe that they are ultimately responsible for their own misfortune. This plight could be homelessness.