Psychology / Understanding Social Psychology Concepts
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Understanding Social Psychology Concepts
This paper explores five social psychological concepts to explain human attributes and personal character. Also, it discusses individual characteristics that define and describe actions and decisions. It helps readers change perspectives in life and consider some reasons to uphold improved personal character. Hence, understanding social psychological concepts is imperative as it helps readers realize situations.
- Fundamental Attribution Error
This specific concept points out the tendency of people to overemphasize personal characteristics. Based on this idea, people tend to disregard situational factors when judging others’ attitudes and behavior. People make immediate decisions to judge others based on their attributions. They attribute others’ actions to their characters without considering external circumstances. Instead of considering external circumstances, influences, and variables that may have influenced their attitudes and behavior, people tend to judge others based on their actions. For example, I quickly judged a teammate as disorganized and irresponsible when she once came in late to a meeting. Later, I discovered that she was late for a meeting because of a family emergency. This specific awareness stresses my tendency to make a fundamental attribution error by assuming that her lateness is due to personal traits rather than considering situational factors and variables.
- Cognitive Dissonance
This concept refers to an experience of psychological discomfort. When people hold two conflicting attitudes, beliefs, and values, cognitive dissonance transpires. This discomfort leads people to change one of the incompatible cognitions to diminish the discrepancy and re-establish mental harmony (Carpenter, 2019, p. 2). For example, I advocated to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle. I even made this advocacy public; however, I found myself frequently using plastic bags at home and in the office for convenience. Another example is when I promoted the idea and the importance of environmental health; however, I failed to display it when disregarded programs to rebuild the environment. The presence of dissonance between my beliefs and my actions made me uncomfortable. To reconcile, I started carrying reusable bags to align my actions with environmental values and participated in environmental programs to reduce the cognitive dissonance. Hence, this concept makes people reconsider changing acts to align their conflicting attitudes, beliefs, and values.
- Conformity
This concept signifies an act of changing one’s behavior and beliefs to observe group cultures or social norms. Conformity, as an idea, occurs because of real or perceived social pressure. When people want to avoid being noticed and seen to be contradictory, they want to obey the norms and conform to the beliefs to gain social acceptance. These people follow the norms and rules even if they do not like them to avoid further disagreements and gain social recognition. One way or another, these people want to adhere to the rules to avoid further social rejection. When the majority of the people consider new policies and rules as necessary and valuable, other individuals will accept and follow them to avoid dismissal. For example, I had to participate in a fashion trend despite my indifference. I joined a fashion trend that I did not like because of my friends’ obsession. Moreover, I had to engage in that fashion trend and lived with it for a while. Indeed, my friend’s obsession with that fashion trend made me conform to the group’s behavior to fit in and avoid standing out. It made me follow and observe even if I did not like the style.
- Social Loafing
This concept is ubiquitous in the group task. It refers to a phenomenon where group members do not pay attention to the given tasks and exert less effort to complete them. These group members exert less determination and energy when they work in the group. However, they exert well enough as they perform their tasks individually. Social loafing, in other words, takes place when people do not care about the outcomes of the group tasks. They behave that way because they feel less accountable for the outcome in a group setting. They are the group members who do not exert much effort because they assume that other members will pick up the slack. In a group project, for example, I noticed that I was not doing well or putting in as much effort as I would have if were working alone. Moreover, knowing that other group members were more proactive to the task, I did not unintentionally perform the tasks well, relying on the collective effort to accomplish the desired outcome.
- Bystander Effect
The bystander effect as an idea is a social psychological phenomenon. People are less likely to offer assistance to the victims when other individuals are present. When victims need help, individuals tend to show this bystander effect (Kvalnes, 2023). They believe others can save these victims better than they are. In effect, they tend to exhibit this bystander effect. When there are more bystanders available, these people feel that they have less responsibility to help victims take action. Aside from that, these people assume that other people will step in to save these victims. One simple scenario permitted me to draw attention regarding this bystander effect. For example, while I was walking through a jam-packed shopping mall, I became upset how people inside the mall did not help one elderly person who struggled to pick up her dropped belongings. Seeing that situation, I hesitated to help. I assumed that some people would come to the rescue to help the elderly. This specific moment of inaction echoed the bystander effect in which the presence of other people inside the shopping mall dispersed my sense of concern and obligation to assist the elderly.
Indeed, studying these five social psychological concepts helps explain attributes and characters. Experts and readers can describe individuals based on personal characteristics. Also, they can define these people based on their actions. Therefore, understanding social psychological concepts helps individuals appreciate these situations.
References
Carpenter, C. J. (2019). Cognitive dissonance, ego-involvement, and motivated reasoning. Annals of the International Communication Association, 43(1), 1-23.
Kvalnes, Ø. (2023). Bystander Effects. In Communication Climate at Work: Fostering Friendly Friction in Organisations (pp. 21-28). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
2018/5363
