Social psychology - Essay Example

Social Psychology in 21st Century and Modernization The paper “Social Psychology in 21st Century and Modernization” is the way to fulfill my desire of scrutinizing the Social Psychology in the 21st Century. After all, I wanted to learn its purpose in the past and to plot its path in the modern times. Psychologist Gordon Allport (1985) defined Social Psychology as a discipline “to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings” (qtd in Cherry).

This always interests me, especially when I got to examine fields that are of immense importance not only to me, but also to the humanity. In the turn of the twentieth century, depression, poverty, hatred, and belief systems, moralities and behavior were always the question and concern of many scholars in the field of Sociology and Psychology. Unsurprisingly, this is the time of the Holocaust, World War II and America’s 1930’s deep economic recession. This led many sociologists to study the very fabric of Social Psychology.

Although Plato exhibited interest in Social Psychology during his time and though there were some intermittent studies after him, “it wasnt until after World War II that research on social psychology began in earnest.” And “the horrors of holocaust” triggered a comeback of Social Psychology (Cherry) as a Science in many universities in Europe. In America, it is the means to “influencing citizens” of Social Psychology which led the government to be interested. Nowadays, the process of urbanization and development has changed the purpose and essence of the study of Social Psychology.

It is getting more essential to media giants, power brokers, business conglomerates, and all the more, the governing authority. Social Psychology was ushered in “a new evolutionary stage in the human condition […] postmodernism." The evolving facets of Social Psychology have to deal with the altered “social life, with new rules, new strategies, new players, and a new realm of unintended consequences […] future shock and perhaps accounts for our current millennial angst.” (“The Social Psychology of Modernization”).

Moreover, since people always interact with one another, Social Psychology takes a center-stage, however along with this opportunity is a myriad of challenges of man-made “everyday realities preoccupying individuals.” It has to make do with individuals who are increasingly “individualistic, other-directed, narcissistic, atomistic, and unable to develop intimacy with others” (“The Social Psychology of Modernization”).In the first we see that it is use by the government to “influence citizens” and to explain the “horrors of holocaust.

” In the second, as we see that it deals with social interaction, consequences and personality, undoubtedly Social Psychology has the capacity to engage, involve and take part in our human lives in whatever condition nowadays. We can fairly see the facelift the Social Psychology has went through; from its beginnings to becoming a need for the society; from gravitating around the prevailing human condition to everyday human conditions and realities; and from dealing with the dysfunctional to being utilitarian.

I have learned that studying Social Psychology should not be restricted and confined, but innovative and inclusive encompassing all relevant grounds of the social interaction, consequences and behavior.Works CitedCherry, Kendra “What is Social Psychology” Psychology.about.com. n.d. Web. 07 May 2012“The Social Psychology of Modernization” Trinity.edu. n.d. Web. 07 May 2012