Social psychology (sociology)

About: Social psychology (sociology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 18151 publications have been published within this topic receiving 907731 citations. The topic is also known as: Social psychology & sociological social psychology.

Social Psychology: Attitudes, Cognition and Social Behaviour

Abstract: Written principally for students at the intermediate level, this text provides a broad critical review of the various empirical and theoretical traditions from which contemporary social psychology derives and, as the subtitle implies, offers balanced (though necessarily selective) insights into the perspectives that different researchers have adopted. It derives from J. Richard Eiser's previous textbook, Cognitive social psychology, which has been thoroughly revised and reorganized, incorporating fresh material that reflects the changes that have been taking place in the field since the beginning of the decade. The approach is broadly cognitive, though by no means narrowly so, the three main parts - 'Attitudes', 'Judgement and Interference' and 'Identity and Interaction' - indicating the principal emphases. Although it is North American research that has made the greatest contribution to our understanding of social behaviour, significant European work is not neglected in Richard Eiser's exposition. It is this awareness of the dynamism of the field and of the cross-fertilization taking place between different disciplines that gives this text its distinctive flavour and attraction for students and professionals alike.

Mass media, social control, and social change : a macrosocial perspective

Abstract: Are mass media an agent of social control or social change? To varying degrees, the contributors to this book take up this question. Some place greater emphasis on control; others on change. But all share the view that the media processes and effects cannot be explained solely as a function of either control or change. The contributors to this volume also share a commitment to explaining media processes and effects from a structural, macro, or systemic perspective -- a sorely neglected level of analysis. The 17 chapters in this book are written by both established and emerging scholars from the fields of media studies, political communication, and media sociology. They examine a number of important topics, including social conflict, guided and secular social change, media and public opinion, civic communication, coverage of social groups, social movements, media impact on individuals, groups and institutions, and news making. This book is a must read for advanced students and scholars in mass communication, journalism, sociology, and political science.

Whatever Happened to the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis?

Abstract: There is a fairly common pattern in the way social psychology’s major theoretical conceptions have changed in the past four decades. The Hegelian view of history envisions a regular sequence: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis; a proposition is advanced which generates opposing ideas and the apparent contradiction is then reconciled at a higher order of abstraction. This last step is not particularly obvious in recent social psychological theorizing. Thesis leads to antithesis but the final result, more often than not, appears to be a narrowing of the original conception rather than a broader synthesis. The conditioning formulations of the 1930s and 1940s have now been confined to a relatively limited sphere, primarily involving some types of involuntary emotional and attitudinal reactions. Cognitive dissonance theory seems more and more to be concerned mainly with the individual’s attempt to preserve his pride and is no longer king of all it surveys. The frustration-aggression hypothesis advanced by Dollard et al. in 1939 has seen the same developments. Although this formulation is best known for its central notion-that frustrations produce an instigation to aggression-the I939 statement was actually a far-ranging collection of interrelated ideas that grew out of a mixture of psychoanalysis and the dominant stimulus-response orientation of the prewar era. Helped by this amalgam and the fame of its authors, but also aided to a considerable extent by its sweep and simplicity, this statement has attracted a great deal of attention. It offered a readily grasped account of one ofthe most important aspects of life, aggression. However, the thesis was also quickly countered by antithesis as other social scientists rushed in with opposing arguments. The outcome has been not a broader synthesis but a sharper analysis. As a consequence, we must now restrict the scope of the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

Habit in Personality and Social Psychology.

Abstract: Habits are largely absent from modern social and personality psychology. This is due to outdated perspectives that placed habits in conflict with goals. In modern theorizing, habits are represented in memory as implicit context-response associations, and they guide responding in conjunction with goals. Habits thus have important implications for our field. Emerging research shows that habits are an important mechanism by which people self-regulate and achieve long-term goals. Also, habits change through specific interventions, such as changes in context cues. I speculate that understanding of habits also holds promise for reducing intergroup discrimination and for understanding lay theories of the causes for action. In short, by recognizing habit, the field gains understanding of a central mechanism by which actions persist in daily life.