Tanvi Ranpariya

F.Y. B.P.T.
“we cannot live for ourselves
alone.”
- Herman Melville

Social psychology
- scientific study of how we think
about, influence, and relate to one
another
 Social psychology is the study of
interdependence, interaction and influence
among persons.
 Social psychology is the study of human
interaction and the way it affects behaviour.
 Interdependence → produces interaction →
produces influence.
 We depend on other persons for goods and
services.
 For ex.. milk, paper, etc.
 Throughout a day we interact with our
friends, parents and so on. Our parents,
friends and so on influence us. The result of
these will give rise to social behaviour , e.g.
election campaign , the leaders influence the
people
 Social psychology studies the behaviour of the
individual in his face-to-face interactions with other
persons.
 Gives attention to individual behaviour
 Interested in the problem of learning, perception
,motivation ,etc.in the context of social
interaction.
 Studies the individual behaviour in social
environment or social situations (behaviour
settings) ,e.g. classroom ,playground.
 Itstudies how the individual perceives the norms ,
sanctions and roles in the group in which he lives
and works
 Studies the impact of individual on the group and
the system.
 “A period exchange of ideas and
thoughts among the group or
between two members is called
Social Interaction.”

 An individual has basically 4 types of

interaction,
(1)Man to (3) Group
man to group

(2)Man to (4)Group
group to man
It is the reciprocal effect of one
person on another in social
interaction.
It occures whenever one individual
response to the actual or potential
presence of other human beings.
Man’s personality, his beliefs,attitudes
and values are all based on social
interaction.
 Itgives rise to the problem of conformity,
prejudice , leadership and other group
phenomena.
- person on person – leadership
-group on person – prejudice conformity
- group on group – this influence may be
lead to cooperation and conflicts
(between villages ,nations etc., social
problems , tensions)
One of the key concepts of social
psychology is that of attitude.

 “ Attitude is a predisposition to
think, feel &act in a specific
way towards an object ,
individual or a society.”
 Attitude has got 3 components,
which are as follows:

 Cognitive [ what a person knows of

it and his belief about it (awareness
,knowledge) ]

Affective (how he feels about it)

 Conative ( behavioural tendency
both verbal and non verbal towards
the objects)
 parents

Attitude
balance developm peer
ent

Conditioning
-operant
-classical
Family is the first formation of
attitudes.
Information provided by the parents
in the earliest stages of life is very
difficult to forget.
Attitudes accompanied by strong
feelings are called sentiments.
This kind of process is called social
learning ,which occurs through the
following process.
Classical conditioning
Instrumental conditioning
Balance theory
Social comparison
Cognitive response approach.
Attitudes are the evaluations and
associated beliefs and behaviors
towards some object.

They are not stable , and because of

the communication and behavior of
other people , are subject to change
by social influences.
The source of attitude change is by
obtaining new information , what
may come from other people or
through the media.

The attitude change involves the

following elements….
 sources
communicator

Changing message

communication

Attitude change

audience
• Target characteristics:
• These are characteristics that refer to
the person who receives and processes
a message.
• intelligence- more intelligent people
are less easily changed by one side
messages.
• Self-esteem-those who higher in self-
esteem are less easily persuaded
Attitude change can be done by…
 Experts
 Attractive communicators
 Low self esteem people can be persuaded
easily
 New information
 Two-sided communication approach
 Inconsistency between two attitudes
The attitudes which are potential and
extreme are not easily
changeable. It is very useful to
sustain that kind of attitude.
for ex., if you firmly believe that
u will get that such thing , you do
not get information against such
an attitude.
Emotion is a common component in
social influence and attitude
change.
Emotion works hand in hand with
the cognitive process , or the way
we think about an issue or situation.
Emotional appeals are commonly
found in advertising , health
campaigns & political messages.