The best way to define what is Social psychology is to use the definitions made by great psychologists. Proshansky: "Applied Social Psychology includes research that, while focusing on a specific problem, is carried out in the real contexts in which it is produce the facts, and seeks to obtain the theoretical and empirical knowledge necessary to understand the factors that intervene in the possible solution of the trouble". Oskamp: "Applications of the methods, theories and principles or findings of the investigation to the solution of real problems". White and Cut: Ways of approaching the reality of the various aspects and manifestations of human social behavior
The specific applications most studied in the manuals They are:
- Environmental.
- Legal.
- Politics
- Educational
In the magazines, the fundamental topics have been: Health, basic processes and sexuality. Other areas of application: Education, community, environment, media, military, prejudice, discrimination and racism. Division made by Semin and Fiedler:
- Specific behaviors (health behaviors and decision-making).
- Social institutions (political, legal and organizations).
- Social issues (relationship with violence, aggression, discrimination, immigration and similar problems).
Political psychology
Castellani: "A discipline that studies the mental functioning and actions of political actors, that is, of any subject (potential or current) seen as a citizen, leader or member of a group or movement, whose objective is public or collective". Evolution of the studies carried out (follows the mainstream in social psychology):
- Role of personality factors in the exercise of political activity.
- Voting attitudes and behaviors.
- Mechanisms underlying information processing.
Today an important part of political psychology is more genuinely social than political cognition. The political cognition has led to a large number of important studies: Perception of politicians, political knowledge, political skills, political attitudes and beliefs.
Legal Psychology The importance of activity in legal psychology is valued by the appearance of manuals and the activity of psychologists as experts or experts. However, the legislation only allows the psychologist to act within very limited frameworks (Bernal). Lösel identified these trends:
- Increased empirical research.
- Emphasis on theoretical support.
- Increase in conducting research on conduct of the legal system and on legal practice.
- Extension of the investigation on criminal law to civil law.
Most outstanding work areas The most classic studies: They try to find variables that are related to crime. Sobral: Aspects related to crime consistently:
- Impoverishment and social disorganization.
- Personality aspects: Social intelligence.
- Psychosocial factors: school failure, inadequate family model, inadequate family control guidelines, parental unemployment.
- Susceptibility to immediate reward.
- Lack of social skills: Training in social competence of offenders.
Interrogations of the criminal investigation, reliability and credibility of visual witnesses, decision-making processes of judges and juries, effects of the media and consequences of the crime for the victims, jail as organization and treatment of the offender.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
