Importance of Social Psychology in Contemporary Society - An Overview

Social psychology is a branch of general psychology that has great importance in the modern world. 

Social psychology is concerned with the study of an individual's social behavior in his social attitudes.

Social psychology helps people manage their stress, depression and other social issues and improve their decision making and predict accurate future behavior based on the understanding of past behavior.

What is the importance of social psychology in society?

Importance of Social Psychology in Contemporary Society - An Overview

Nature of Man and Society

Social life is based on human interaction between individuals and this interaction is the cooperation of members of this community to achieve external security and peaceful coexistence.

Thus, there is a need to form a social system based on controlling the relationships and contacts of the people among them, resulting in different interactive social behaviors that vary according to the nature of the social structure.

Therefore, there is a need to give a branch to sociology in the form of an independent science from the various psychologies.

Social Psychology

Social psychology is one of the branches of general psychology.

Social psychology is concerned with the study of the individual's social behavior in his social attitudes, ie the scope and social system in which the individual lives, and the extent of his influence on thinking, behavior, feelings, and patterns of interaction with all external stimuli.

Social psychology deals with the study and understanding of psychological processes, the ways in which they interact with social influences and variables, and their contribution to the development and formation of the individual personality.

Social psychology also examines the situations of individuals and their social and behavioral patterns through experience and observation in the individual's personality, and the level of interaction with the individual.

Definition of Social Psychology

At the end of the 1920s, many procedural definitions of social psychology emerged and crystallized.

These definitions differed according to the direction in which they were taught.

Some of them were focused on the group more than the individual, including those who studied the individual without neglecting the group and including the group's interactive behavior in general.

The most prominent of these definitions are:

1.  Social psychology is a science that addresses and examines the general behavior of the community and the mutual interaction between the individual and the community.

2. Social psychology studies the interactions of individuals with the environment to understand the positive and negative effects of this interaction on the individual and his trends.

3. Social psychology is a science that studies the behaviors, responses, and interactions of the individual during his communication with the group.

4. Social psychology is a social science that studies the behavior of an individual and his responses within a particular group.

5. Social psychology studies the psychological characteristics of the groups and the interactive social behavioral patterns that connect different societal groups, such as studying the relationship between parents and children within the family.

6. Social psychology studies the behavioral patterns and interactions of individuals and groups during different social events and situations, as well as the forms of such responses and the expected consequences.

Sources of Social Knowledge

The foundations of social psychology, research, and studies are based on several sources, including:

Psychology: Psychology is the primary reference of social psychology in studying the effects of all psychological motivations and trends that may have an impact on social behavior as a whole, such as studying the spirit of competition and cooperation as social behaviors, their impact on the production of individuals in a particular environment, or the extent to which a person's behavior and responses are subject to the customs and laws of society.

Sociology, Economics, and Politics: The important role of sociology in guiding scientists and researchers in social psychology is that it highlights the importance of studying the methodologies and patterns of small groups, public opinion, social issues, and other important matters.

The importance of economics and politics in social psychology is that it also highlights that social psychology addresses and analyzes social behavioral indicators in different situations; such as patterns and responses that are subject to analysis, study and treatment.

For example, the general patterns of the individual and society in buying and selling positions, or during elections and electoral movements, as well as the characteristics of some major groups and the status of people within certain categories.

Social Psychology Topics 

Social psychology deals with many topics and issues. Most important topics you might consider include:

The nature of relationships between individuals within a particular group, the distribution of roles among members of the group, the assignment of tasks to persons appropriate to the nature of the task, as well as the mechanism of decision-making, leadership, and its implications.

Study the normal and abnormal behavior of the group as a whole, or individuals within a particular group.

Study of trends and values and their effectiveness, and their impact on human behavior.

Analysis and measurement of the views, trends, and tendencies of public opinion, knowing the factors affecting society negatively and positively, in addition to understanding the human nature and how it affects the community and the environment.

Social Psychology and Philosophy

Social psychology emerged as part of the social philosophy whose main focus was human nature.

The most prominent of these philosophies is Plato's and Aristotle's interpretation of human nature.

Plato considered that human behavior is the result of interaction with the exigencies of the external society by its different types, methods, and intensity. Its composition and its aims on society, as Plato said that educational and social institutions are capable of changing human nature.

Aristotle's interpretation of human behavior was due to genetics and biological research; the individual controls the biological responses of multiple stimuli in all its different forms and interactions, that the Aristotelian group is subject to individual behavior, and therefore it is very difficult to make changes in society, and community.

What is the Importance of Social Psychology in Society?

 The importance of social psychology is shown in all the interactive aspects of the individual's social life and all the environments in which he coexists, which can affect the individual's interactions and personality.

As social psychology studies the behavior of individuals and groups, everyone who deals with and communicates with different community groups needs this science; to understand and guide individuals and to study various responses within the community.

For example, the teacher needs in his class to analyze the students' personalities and their interdependence and understand the relationships between them, and strategies that fit the patterns and mechanisms to convince them for a particular idea, in addition to the partnership among themselves and cooperation and competition and behaviors based on their presence within the group.

Social psychology also requires social specialists to understand the philosophy of society, the secrets of its composition, the relative appearance, and absence of phenomena, and link to societal behaviors.

The individual in his daily life is able to explain his behavior and self-behavior around him properly, understanding the interaction and harmony that takes place between the individual among others.

Thus the understanding of social and cultural being, which in turn determines the expected behavioral patterns in different social attitudes, in addition to this science, gives the individual the ability to differentiate between people, the possibility of accepting a certain category and move away from another category.

The importance of social psychology was highlighted directly in daily life situations, in addition to its great importance in the field of life of the international community and the world and social issues experienced by people from situations of war, slavery, freedom, and security. 

These are separated as follows:

Practical importance

All people who engage in groups and individuals need to study the principles of social psychology continuously in order to understand and guide social behaviors. The importance of these groups is as follows:

Teacher: The teacher in the classroom needs to understand the social-behavioral characteristics of the students as a micro-social environment based on the relationships and interactions among their members, as well as the importance of identifying the steps of socialization that are manifested in the behavioral interaction among individuals such as competition, cooperation, learning, and collective thinking.

Social Specialist: The importance of social psychology to social specialists in understanding and studying social organization and its orientation towards social cohesion, trends, intolerance, and leadership.

Businessmen: Social psychology helps to understand the nature of the laws of human relations that exist between categories of workers in a given domain, and the important relationship between the level of moral spirit and mental health and the level of production and achievement.

Normal Human: The study of social psychology in everyday life helps to achieve as much as possible the individual's understanding of his own behavior and the external behavior of other individuals, thus understanding the dynamics of interaction and communication with others, as well as the cultural and social backgrounds in which patterns and behaviors are determined.

Good judgment in using the proper way to deal with others, either by accepting and sacrificing in some situations or with distaste and dislike in other situations.

Global importance

Since the first emergence of social psychology, it deals with future issues by warning against crises and inevitable problems, optimism about the sound construction of this future, and providing suggestions and predictive and remedial plans for economic and political problems such as the problems of war and aggression and its consequences and global financial crises.

Global Inclusiveness seeks to create a society of excellence in which the opportunities available to individuals in all fields are equal to all members of society.

It also has an important role in spreading the highest human ideals among individuals within one society in the effective study of psycho-social phenomena, research, and experimental study.

The following points can be summarized as follows:

Warning of future problems: It is possible to warn against future problems and crises by predicting initial signs and symptoms that may indicate the possibility of a particular problem in a given area and warning people without intervening in the course of events.

However, it is possible to direct social activity in light of current events.

Building the future: Human scientists emphasize that a person can change the course of his life by directing his activities appropriately with achieving his goals and solving problems.

Just as human beings used biological sciences to raise the level of health efficiency, it is possible to use social psychology to seek social justice and the future.

Addressing political and economic problems: These problems arise as a result of the imbalance in the distribution of tasks, work, resources, and efforts in appropriate activities.

This results from ignorance of the understanding of the social characteristics of man, which is the subject of psychological and social research, which in turn creates the basic laws and principles of social life together.