5 Important Social Psychology Concepts

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Key social psychology concepts focus on different aspects of social behavior, including topics such as social cognition, social influence, prejudice, groupthink, and attitude formation.

Social psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how social influences affect how people think, feel, and act. The way we perceive ourselves in relation to the rest of the world plays an important role in our choices, behaviors, and beliefs. Conversely, the opinions of others also impact our behavior and the way we view ourselves.

At a Glance

Understanding social psychology can be helpful for many reasons, including giving us a better understanding of how groups impact our choices and actions. This article explores some fundamental aspects of social behavior that play a significant role in our actions and how we see ourselves.

Social Behavior Is Goal-Oriented

One essential social psychology concept is that our interactions serve goals or fulfill needs. Some common goals or needs include:

  • The need for social ties
  • The desire to understand ourselves and others
  • The wish to gain or maintain status or protection
  • The need to attract companions

The way people behave is often driven by the desire to fulfill these needs. People seek friends and romantic partners, strive to gain social status, and attempt to understand the motivations that guide other people's behaviors.

Situations Help Determine Outcome

Another key social psychological concept is that people often behave very differently depending on the situation. To fully understand why people do what they do, it is essential to look at individual characteristics, the situation and its context, and the interactions among all these variables.

For example, someone who is usually quiet and reserved might become much more outgoing when placed in a leadership role. Another example is how people sometimes behave differently in groups than they would if they were alone.

Environmental and situational variables play an essential role in how people behave. Both can have a strong influence on our behavior.

Social psychology allows us to gain a greater appreciation for how our social perceptions affect our interactions with other people.

Social Situations Form Self-Concept

Another important social psychological concept is that social interactions help form our self-concept and our perceptions.

  • Reflected appraisal: One method of forming self-concept is through the reflected appraisal process, in which we imagine how other people see us.
  • Social comparison: Another method is through the social comparison process, whereby we consider how we compare to other people in our peer group.

Sometimes we engage in upward social comparison where we rate ourselves against people who are better off than us in some way. In other instances, we might engage in downward social comparison where we contrast our abilities to those of others who are less capable.

We Analyze the Behavior of Others

Social psychology is also concerned with understanding how people think about what others are thinking, feeling, and doing. This area of social psychology is known as social cognition, and it involves the processes that allow us to interpret and respond to the social signals around us.

Expectation confirmation is one common social psychological concept that can influence how we interpret other people's behavior. It happens when we tend to ignore unexpected attributes and look for evidence that confirms our preexisting beliefs about others.

This helps simplify our worldview. However, it also skews our perception and can contribute to stereotyping.

If you expect people to behave in a certain way, you might look for examples that confirm your belief while at the same time ignoring evidence that conflicts with your existing opinions.

We Believe Behavior Reflects Personality

Another influence on our perceptions of other people can be explained by the theory of correspondent inferences. This occurs when we infer that the actions and behaviors of others correspond to their intentions and personalities.

For example, if we see a woman helping an elderly person cross the street, we might assume she is kind-hearted. While behavior can be informative, it can also be misleading.

If we have limited interaction with someone, the behavior we see may be atypical or caused by the specific situation rather than by the person's overriding dispositional characteristics.

In the previous example, the woman might only be helping the elderly person because she has been employed to do so instead of out of the kindness of her heart.

What This Means For You

Learning more about social psychology can enrich your understanding of yourself and your world. By learning more about how people view others, how they behave in groups, and how attitudes are formed, you can gain a greater appreciation for how social relationships influence individual functioning.

6 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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Additional Reading

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd
Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."