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Social psychology is the science that is responsible for studying, through scientific methods, the influence that the social context has on the behavior and mind of individuals.
This psychological discipline attempts to understand people's actions in social situations, establishing the behavior patterns of individuals in groups, the roles they have; and the situations that intervene in their behavior.
For example, when a person lives alone and goes out into the street, their clothing and behavior change, since unconsciously, their actions are affected by the social context.
Examples of social psychology
1. The halo effect
The halo effect is a cognitive bias consisting of define the image, assessment or global opinion of a person or object, based on specific features.
This effect is based on the idea that it is enough to identify a positive trait in someone we have just met, so that generalize the rest of the features.
The same thing happens when we see advertising campaigns where celebrities appear advertising a product; in this case, we usually value the product for what we think of the celebrity, and not so much for the characteristics that the product possesses.
2. The bystander effect
The bystander effect It is that when we are in dangerous or emergency situations, there is less chance of a bystander or witness intervening if you are in a group than if you are alone.
This is based on the fact that each person tends to believe that someone else will help. Likewise, when in these cases, someone takes the first step and helps, it is more likely that other people will also do so.
They also increase the chances of help in a dangerous situation or accident, when the victim screams.
3. The endowment effect
The endowment effect is a cognitive bias, by which people give more value to the objects that belong to them than to other equals that are not theirs.
For example, people increase the value of a product that belongs to them when they are going to sell it, but when they have to buy an equal product, they value it at a lower cost.
4. The effect of round numbers
According to some studies, people prefer round numbers to irregular ones, even when irregular numbers can benefit them.
It is a fact that when irregular numbers are used, the subjective evaluation of people causes the associated attributes to decrease.
The effect that round numbers tend to have is commonly exploited by traders; who play with our subconscious so that we buy.
For example, many prices ending in 99 are posted to make the consumer believe that it is bought at a lower value and that therefore he is saving, although we know that he is not.
Likewise, this idea is based on the theory that people usually memorize the first number of a figure, and leave the others in the background. For example, if there is a product with a price of 2,99, the buyer usually rounds to 2 and not to 3 accordingly.
5. The Reciprocity Effect
The reciprocity effect It explains the fact that the human being feels obligated to respond to the favors or attentions that are given to him, even if this action does not benefit him.
While it is true that this effect helps to have a fairer society; most people take advantage of this principle to make a profit.
For example, many merchants offer a free sample of their product to their potential customers, in order to get them to buy.
6. The Conformity Effect
People have a tendency to change their opinions or attitudes to fit in with a group; in this way, they give up their criteria to agree with others.
There are usually various types of conformism. For example, there are people who tend to adopt the opinion of the group but do not give up theirs, they just keep it private.
While there are those who adopt the opinion of the group only when they are with it; or on the contrary, there are those who continue to agree with the opinion of the group, even when they are not with it.
7. The Effect of Being Observed on Performance
Being observed by other people when we carry out some simple activity, which does not have any difficulty; can positively influence in our performance.
While when we carry out complex activities or learn a new task, the fact of being observed by others can have a negative influence; in such a way that our performance decreases.
8. The false consensus effect
The effect of false consensus is that the human being has the tendency to believe that most people think the same or similar to him.
People overestimate the support they have from others, and in this way they feel more confident in themselves or seek to protect the confidence they have.
9. Cognitive dissonance
The cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon where we experience discomfort, when we have contradictory thoughts, or when our actions go against our values.
Cognitive dissonance induces us to justify our actions. For example, if you go on a diet and eat sweets, even though you experience cognitive dissonance, you usually justify your action by saying: “for one day that I break the diet, nothing happens”.
Social psychology looks for what makes us equal, the generalities between people; so understand human nature. For this reason, social psychology is more experimental than differential.
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