Social psychology concepts and applications

Social Psychology Concept Matrix

Social Psychology Concept

Application to Society

Provide Example

Criminal Justice

Provide Example

Application to the Individual

Provide Example

The researcher selects a certain number of people from the population that he/she wants to study and presents them with a list of questions on the topic asking them to respond in order to elicit their opinion.

The survey can be conducted in writing, over the phone, as face-to-face interview, or in a small-group oral format

The survey can be used to, for instance, discover the expectations that citizens wish from their new president.

The citizens of the country can be polled and asked what they wish the president to accomplish for them / their country in the new term. Results can tell the government what the citizens most wish to be implemented in their country.

Tjaden and Thoennes (2000) surveyed men and women to find their comparable experience with violence. Apparently more men than women (66.4% to 55.6%) had been physically assaulted as a child. Stalking was more prevalent than previously thought with women being 5 times more likely to be stalked than men. American Indian and Alaska Native women and men experienced more violence than did individuals of other ethnicities. Women experienced more intimate partner violence than did men, and other results of the survey as a whole showed that violence against women was increasing. The application of the survey to criminal justice was helpful in that it showed that more attention should be given to preventing violence against women in the U.S.A.

An individual may wish to decide which college he/s he should attend. He may, therefore, decide to randomly survey a few people, and interview them either face-to-face, over the phone, or via written questions. He would ask them questions that most concern him regarding selecting a college. He would then choose the college based on the response.

Self-Esteem

The person's overall evaluation or attitude of himself. How much we respect, or esteem, the self.

A society, too, can have self-esteem in the way that it dignifies, or does not, dignify itself. For instance, some societies may lack self-esteem because they are abused (e.g. slaved or colonialized by others). Some see Africa as lacking esteem due to its experiences with poverty, war, and natural disaster.

One criminal theory states that criminals become so due to social labeling that derogates them and fixes them into a cycle of low self-esteem.

In fact, Pilsbury (1998) examined self-esteem in three groups of 25 adults with and without a criminal history by having they complete the Self-Esteem Inventory. Results showed people with three or more convictions had a lower sense of self-esteem than those with no criminal history. Applications include the fact that helping individuals gain self-esteem may be preventative to criminal history

Self-esteem can help an individual achieve success in his or her life. Sometimes people have to work against huge odds to achieve their dreams and to become successful. Take KJ Rowlign, for instance (author of Harry Potter). Saddled with so many challenged including poverty and single motherhood, she was rejected time and again until an agent accepted her manuscript. It was her self-esteem in her writing and herself that encouraged her to persist.

Self-Handicapping

People avoid efforts due to the fear that they will be hurt / rejected and their self-esteem will suffer.

Edward E. Jones and Steven Berglas theorized that people place obstacles in their path (both consciously and unconsciously) in order to fail

Some people see the holy cows in India as a self-handicapping concept for the country. The people are starving; yet meaty cows walk untouched in the streets. Sri Lanka's rule, in fact, is that anyone who slaughters such a cow is killed.

One of the "myths" about psychopaths is the notion that they self-handicap in that they make foolish mistakes despite their intelligence.

This notion was used to explain instance such as when a president or powerful leader of a corporation engages in and rationalizes acts that undercut his career (such s Clinton with Monica). The opinion (now disputed) is that psychopaths may rise in power with illness undetected until they err.

Any achievement oriented context that emphasizes intelligence may have the person practice self-handicapping In order to subconsciously fail and then later to blame it on the substance. A student, for instance, wishing to pass and be cleaver may drink before a test or not study the night before, or wake up late.