Using Social Psychology as an Informed Clinician - Essay Example

For most psychologists who have seen patterns of behaviors, making conclusions regarding their hypotheses may be easy with the knowledge derived from research. Such knowledge may be very helpful to counselors and clinicians in understanding client problems, as these are backed up by intensive study. What is the effect of people on other people? How do various situations affect human behavior? These are questions psychological researchers have attempted to answer in the past decades. Subjects ranged from young children to very old people.

Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961) have explored how children respond to aggressive models and have concluded that such models greatly influence children’s aggressive behaviors. In the absence of supervision that may hinder the natural behavior of children, those exposed to aggression apply their observations of aggression to a bobo doll. Clinicians may use this information to inform their clients how powerful their behaviors are in influencing their children’s behavioral and personality development.

Aggression is not the only thing that children can imitate from adults. Expressions, mannerisms, behaviors, value systems, and a whole lot more may readily be absorbed by children as much as aggressive behaviors discussed in Bandura et al’s study. Clinicians involved in the therapy of children can use this information to guide parents to be good role models to their children. Likewise, children exhibiting unlikely adult behaviors may be probed on how adults around them have been influencing their behaviors.

Sessions with those adults, then, may be arranged too. Consciously or not, other people’s behaviors have an effect on ours. People subjected to intimidation may readily yield to pressure. The classic experiment of Stanley Milgram (1963) on obedience is one study that has created much controversy in the science of Psychology. The uncomfortable experimental