Social area:
Concerned with the interactions between people. Looks for explanations of behaviour in
terms of social communications, social judgements and social relationships.
Key concepts:
Self-perception- looking at how we perceive ourselves. It is influenced by an
individual’s beliefs about what other people think about them, however the mirror is
not always accurate. It has been suggested that incompetent people overestimate
their own ability
Social perception- often if you ask 2 people to describe the same event they will
come up with different accounts. We commonly explain our behaviour in terms of
situations while believing that other people are personally in control of theirs.
Social interaction- looks to understand people in the context of their interactions
with others. Being in competition with others often improves our performance than
if we were doing the same activity alone.
Social influence- how we are influenced by external factors in our lives. If you ask
people if they are influenced by adverts they would usually say no but that would
mean lots of money is being wasted on adverts. There are some problems with
ethics when observing social influence as we want to observe peoples behaviour
without them knowing
Similarities:
Cognitive- both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Milgram, Loftus
and Palmer)
Developmental- both have been known to use small, unrepresentative samples
(Milgram, Bandura)
Biological- Both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Sperry,
Milgram)
Individual differences- both have practical applications to help people making them
useful (Baron-Cohen, Milgram)
Differences:
Cognitive focuses more on individual factors (internal mental processes, Loftus and
Palmer) but social focuses more on situational factors (other people, Milgram)
Developmental is more likely to use longitudinal research (Kohlberg) but social uses
snapshot studies (Piliavin)
Biological focuses on individual factors (Casey) but social focuses on situational
factors (Milgram)
Individual differences focuses on individual factors (Baron-Cohen) but social focuses
on situational factors (Milgram)
Strengths:
Well controlled research can be conducted (Bocchiaro), therefore valid conclusions
can be drawn because extraneous variables are controlled
Social phenomena is important to our everyday lives so has real world applications
Concerned with the interactions between people. Looks for explanations of behaviour in
terms of social communications, social judgements and social relationships.
Key concepts:
Self-perception- looking at how we perceive ourselves. It is influenced by an
individual’s beliefs about what other people think about them, however the mirror is
not always accurate. It has been suggested that incompetent people overestimate
their own ability
Social perception- often if you ask 2 people to describe the same event they will
come up with different accounts. We commonly explain our behaviour in terms of
situations while believing that other people are personally in control of theirs.
Social interaction- looks to understand people in the context of their interactions
with others. Being in competition with others often improves our performance than
if we were doing the same activity alone.
Social influence- how we are influenced by external factors in our lives. If you ask
people if they are influenced by adverts they would usually say no but that would
mean lots of money is being wasted on adverts. There are some problems with
ethics when observing social influence as we want to observe peoples behaviour
without them knowing
Similarities:
Cognitive- both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Milgram, Loftus
and Palmer)
Developmental- both have been known to use small, unrepresentative samples
(Milgram, Bandura)
Biological- Both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Sperry,
Milgram)
Individual differences- both have practical applications to help people making them
useful (Baron-Cohen, Milgram)
Differences:
Cognitive focuses more on individual factors (internal mental processes, Loftus and
Palmer) but social focuses more on situational factors (other people, Milgram)
Developmental is more likely to use longitudinal research (Kohlberg) but social uses
snapshot studies (Piliavin)
Biological focuses on individual factors (Casey) but social focuses on situational
factors (Milgram)
Individual differences focuses on individual factors (Baron-Cohen) but social focuses
on situational factors (Milgram)
Strengths:
Well controlled research can be conducted (Bocchiaro), therefore valid conclusions
can be drawn because extraneous variables are controlled
Social phenomena is important to our everyday lives so has real world applications
