Philosophy

The scientific study of how individuals consider things, manipulate others as well as relate to one another is referred to as Social psychology. This discipline deals with a wide range of social issues. These include behaviors portrayed to or by a group, perception of social aspects, non-oral behavior, guidance, conventionality, violent behavior and discrimination. Serious research on social psychology started after the Second World War. The holocaust and its aftermath led researchers to undertake studies that were aimed at illuminating the effects of social manipulation, conventionality, and compliance. The growth of social psychology in the 20th century has continuously inspired research thereby contributing to understanding of social conduct and know-how. Currently, the United States government has realized the benefits of using concepts of social psychology to influence citizens.

Verbal information has been the main reliant determinant in social psychology. This approach led to the development of proper experimental models and inductive orientation. Social cognition developed some time in the past and this led to the addition of chronometric procedures which were often used together with other trial methods such as priming. The main importance of social cognition at the time generated a theoretical structure for inquiring about the representation of mechanisms used in processing information underlying the aspects of social psychology.

According to Cacioppo (2006), social neuroscience emerged later and shed an interesting illumination of the fact that biological as well as psychological approaches regarding behavior portrayed by man are interconnected areas. It was believed that at some point, the human behavior was biologically determined. The relationship between biological and social aspects was critically analyzed. Social psychology developed to put more emphasis on multivariate schemes, situational manipulation, and realistic use. Neuropsychological studies were conducted to discover the function of neural structures in the process of thinking in man.

Santuzzi, Metzger,  Ruscher (2006) states that current research are being conducted to illuminate the relative factors necessary for perceiving conduct between individuals involved in social interaction. They are aimed at understanding more knowledge on stigma and social interaction. Current studies have looked at the prospect of future interaction.  Future studies will look at and interpret the interaction between actions and reactions portrayed during interaction.