what is social psychology and how do we define it What are some of the \"folk wi
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what is social psychology and how do we define it What are some of the "folk wisdom's" or common sense generalizations that you have grown up with? How valid does the text suggest that these generalizations are likely to be? Pick a common sensege neralization that seems valid and useful to you and tell us of a way to test it experimentally. How do social psychologists go about trying to resolve the contradictions embodied in this folk wisdom commonsense knowledge? Is empirical research particularly helpful for this purpose? How do social psychologists search for the truth in the face of such and other contradictions? read chapter one and in five hundred words, please provide a well written, organized and thoughtful response. Please limit your answer to roughly five hundred words. Thank you due date: Jon or before 1159 pm june 4 for those who do not know any examples of common sense contradictions, here's a few Misery loves company or cry and you will cry alone? Spare the rod, spoil the child or very wrong to use capital punishment? The squeaky wheel gets the grease or actions speak louder than words? Birds of a feather flock together or opposites attract?Explanation / Answer
1. Social Psychology is a branch of Psychology that deals with social interactions including their origin and effects on individual. In other words, social psychology is the study of how people act, think and feel in the context of society. That is, how people’s thought, feelings and behaviours are influenced by presence of others.
Allport has defined Social Psychology as “The Scientific study of how people’s thought, feeling and behaviours are influence by actual, imagined or implied presence of others.”
2. Some Common sense generalizations or folk wisdom familiar to me are “Absence makes the heart grow fonder", “Birds of a feather that flock together” and "Out of sight, out of mind"
The suggestion is that Psychology is just re-inventing what folk wisdom already knows. But here is the problem: For every piece of folk wisdom, there is typically a completely contradictory piece of wisdom.
According to me the folk wisdom “Birds of a feather flock together” is valid. It means that similar people are attracted to one another. But there is also the folk wisdom of "Opposites attract." They both can't be right. So which is it? This is where psychology, and psychology research, enters into the picture. Research in social psychology makes it clear that similar people are more often attracted to one another, opposites rarely attract.
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