Area's of Research

Here are some different/most popular area's of research Social Psychologists can go into:

Social Cognition: The way we process, store, and use our social information. It's the process of our mental shortcuts and the different associations which impact our social behaviour.


Attitude Change: The study of how certain attitudes are developed and attributed to different people, and how they can change. They have found three different components of attitude: an effective component, a behavioural component, and a cognitive component.


Violence and Agression: This area looks into why people become violent. It looks at the social aspect as well as media influence.

Prosocial Behaviour: It looks at the type of person who will help others around them or will not. Why some people become cooperative members of society and why some rebel. This has to do as well with "The Bystander Effect".

Prejudice and Discrimination: Social Psychologists in this area are interested in the origin of prejudice, the causes and the actions of prejudice, and the overall outcome afterwards. Social Psychologists will looks at discriminations that remain, even though evidence can prove otherwise.

Social Identity: How do our own self-perceptions influence our social cognitive skills? Social Psychologists take a look at what kind of person you are, and how that affects your views and actions in social situations.

Group Behaviour: Within Social Psychology, group behaviour is one of the most popular fields to enter into. It is evident that people react differently in groups rather than on their own. Social psychologists look at things such as group dynamics, leadership, groupthink, conflicts, cooperation, and influence.