5.1 Introducing Social Psychology

Have you ever wondered why people act differently in a group compared to when they are on their own? Or why you would behave differently among your co-workers compared to when you are with some of your closest friends? Or why you may hold prejudice and stereotypes against certain groups and how these may affect your behaviour?

We will consider some of these questions and theories that try to explain these phenomena in this last chapter by turning our attention to social psychology. We will start the chapter by defining social psychology. Definitions and perceptions as to what social psychology encompasses vary substantially. For this chapter, we will work with the definition provided by Kassin et al. (2020):

Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context. (p. 4)

All three areas, thinking, feeling and behaving are critical to the emergence, escalation and management, and resolution of conflicts. For example, if you have undertaken studies in conflict management, you may have heard about the “ABC triangle”, which is a model that was initially developed by Johan Galtung (1969) to help explain different sources of conflict. A stands for attitudes, which are defined as “positive or negative reactions to people, objects and ideas”. Formation, persistence and changes in attitudes involve both emotions (feeling) and cognition (e.g., thinking). B stands for behaviours and C  for contradiction, which can involve perceived and real contradictions. As the triangle suggests, understanding people’s thinking, feelings and behaviour in conflict is central to the analysis and resolution of conflict, making social psychology extremely relevant to this eBook.

Social psychology has shown that there is a dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them.  Our social situations create a “social influence”, which then impacts the way we behave. For example, social identity theory proposes that in many social situations, people’s behaviours are motivated by their sense of group membership – their “social identities” – rather than by individual reasons (Ellmers & Haslam, 2012; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This theory helps to analyse, for example, why people may comply with public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will revisit this example later in this chapter.

Please watch the following video now and think about how social psychology relates to understanding people in conflict (including what you have already learned in your degree so far and beyond what we mentioned above):

VIDEO: What is Social Psychology? An Introduction [12:41]:

As a more detailed introduction to the topic, please watch the video below featuring social psychologist Dr Madelyn Pardon summarising the essence of social psychology

For some further insights into social psychology, please read: