Social Phsycology

Social psychology is the study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others. The people in our social groups influence our ideas, behaviors and attitudes through persuasion and behaviors of their own. We may choose to conform or 'go along' with the groups' status quo, or we may choose not to conform, and hold on to our own ideas and attitudes. Social psychology includes a broad range of social topics, including group, social perception, leadership, non-verbal behavior, conformity, aggression and prejudice

Attitudes are evaluations of a person, behavior, belief, or concept. They represent our feelings on topics, such as religion, and people, such as the U.S. President. We can be persuaded to change our attitudes through persuasion from others, though the ease in which that change occurs depends on several factors. The message source has a great impact on our thought process if they are physically or socially attractive and trustworthy. The message is more likely to be heard if it is two-sided and includes both the communicator's position and the one she's arguing against. Finally, the target must decide if the message is accepted. This decision may rely on the target's intelligence level and trust in the message source.

Recipients' receptiveness to persuasive messages relates to the type of information processing they use. Psychologists have discovered two primary processing routes. The first is the central processing route, in which people are swayed by the logic, merit, and strength of the argument. In general, people who are highly involved and motivated use this processing to comprehend a message. The result is that once the information has passed through their understanding, it is more likely to develop into a stronger, lasting attitude change.

The second processing route is called peripheral route processing, which occurs when people are persuaded on the basis of factors unrelated to the quality of the content of a persuasive message. Instead, factors that are irrelevant to the message become persuasive, such as the person providing the message, and the length or emotional appeal of the argument. These factors become more important when the person receiving the argument is uninterested, unmotivated, bored or distracted. People may also revert to this processing if their need for cognition is low, meaning they become impatient when forced to spend too much time thinking about an issue. The result is a weaker, less persistent attitude change or possibly no change at all.

The attribution theory says we take samples of a person's behavior and try to determine its specific causes. These causes may be situational, that is, directly related to the environment, or they may be dispositional, or prompted by personality. We tend to have bias, however, when trying to determine another's behavior. The halo effect is a phenomenon in which we take a person's positive characteristics to infer other positive traits. We also use the assumed-similarity bias, in which we assume people are like ourselves, even if we have just met them. One of the more common biases is the fundamental attribution error, in which we exaggerate dispositional causes of behavior and underestimate situational causes. For instance, we may believe that our short-tempered neighbor just has a mean disposition, when her situation is actually one of chronic pain.

We need look no further than today's headlines to see examples of aggression in society. Aggression is defined as the intentional causing of injury or harm to another person. There are several viewpoints on aggression and the ways in which we might go about reducing its damaging effect on society.

One theory on aggression is the instinct theory, which notes that aggression is prevalent in both humans and animals and posits that it is instinctual. Sigmund Freud was one of the first to suggest that aggression is instinctual. Konrad Lorenz expanded Freud's notions to include a fighting instinct, which in earlier times ensured protection of