BRIEF SUMMARY-Social psychology looks at the relationships between people, and how people's behaviour changes due to the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.
Principles of the Social Area - 1. all human behaviour occurs in a social context and is influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others 2 Other people and the environment influence our behaviour and thought processes.
It takes the nurture side of the nature/nurture debate as it believes that behaviour is influenced by social situations.
Strengths 1. Helps us understand how behaviour can be influenced by other people and the situation you are in 2. It can provide explanations for lots of behaviours – so is useful ,3. Prefers research being conducted in natural environments
Weaknesses- 1. Deterministic and there is a lot of Snapshot studies 2. Reductionist - underestimates the power of individual differences – e.g. some people will never obey. 3. Its studies often raise ethical issues through deception or lack of withdrawal (Milgram, Zimbardo)
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