Social_Psychology

Social psychology is a science that studies the influences of our situations, with special attention to how we view and affect one another. More precisely, it is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another (Myers2010)”. “Social psychologists study attitudes and beliefs, conformity and independence, love and hate (Myers2010)”. Principles of persuasion influence group behavior. A social psychology experiment which I believe is a good example of how a person can influence the behavior of another person is Stanley Milgram's "pseudo" experiment. The "pseudo" experiment tested for obedience to authority. What shocked me was the way the "teachers" continued to inflict pain on the "learners" just to comply with the person conducting the experiment, the authoritative figure. I believe that the results would be similar if the experiment was to be re-created here, in U.S., in our current time; because no matter what the test subjects’ personality is he/she will be obedient to the authoritative figure. The implications Milgrams' 1960s work and Brown's "pseudo" re-creation in 2007 have on our understating of the human condition are that we all are influenced by the authoritative figure. If the conductor was not to be in the same room as the "teacher", the "teacher" would have stopped the experiment earlier and many wouldn’t have done through giving the "learners" the highest volts available. Though it is said that those that went through the whole thing are good and compliant people but then again if the authoritative figure wasn’t to be present I am positive that they wouldn’t have went through with it. Evaluating this experiment helped me to better understand the concepts discussed in this course: self-efficacy, self-perception, and persuasion.