social science

Examples of social science in the following topics:

• Evolutionary Psychology

  • Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective.
  • Proponents of evolutionary psychology suggest that it seeks to bridge the division between the human social sciences (such as psychology and sociology) and the natural sciences (such as biology, chemistry, and physics).

• Defining Psychology

  • Most psychologists can be classified as social, behavioral, or cognitive scientists.
  • Psychologists attempt to understand not only the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, but also the physiological and biological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.
  • Psychology has been described as a "hub science" because psychological research has links to the social sciences, natural sciences, medicine, and the humanities (such as philosophy).

• Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology

  • The roots of I–O psychology trace back nearly to the beginning of psychology as a science, when Wilhelm Wundt founded one of the first psychological laboratories in 1876 in Leipzig, Germany.
  • In 1910, Munsterberg and Walter Dill Scott helped industrial psychology gain recognition as a legitimate part of the social sciences through their research.

• Undergraduate and Graduate Study in Psychology

  • Some psychologists (such as clinical and counseling psychologists) provide mental health care, while others (such as social or organizational psychologists) conduct research and provide consultation services.
  • Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MS) in counseling psychology, clinical psychology, or educational psychology.
  • Studying psychology at the bachelor's level can yield a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS), or Bachelor of Social Work (BSW).
  • While it is common for students who earn bachelor's degrees in psychology or social work to go on to graduate school, students who major in concentrations other than psychology or social work may still qualify for entry into psychology graduate programs.
  • Bachelor's degree holders are often great candidates for careers in administrative support, public affairs, education, business, sales, service industries, health, the biological sciences, or computer programming; they may also find jobs as employment counselors, analysts, probation officers, or writers.

• Social Cognition

  • Social cognition is a specific approach of social psychology (the area of psychology that studies how people's thoughts and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others) that uses the methods of cognitive science.
  • Similarly, a notable theory of social cognition is social-schema theory.
  • In social cognition, salience is the degree to which a particular social object stands out relative to other social objects in a situation.
  • Social psychologists have become increasingly interested in the influence of culture on social cognition.
  • Studies have found that culture influences social cognition in other ways too.

• History of Cognition

  • These processes can be analyzed through the lenses of many different fields: linguistics, anesthesia, neuroscience, education, philosophy, biology, computer science, and of course, psychology, to name a few.
  • For example, in psychology, "cognition" usually refers to processing of neural information; in social psychology the term "social cognition" refers to attitudes and group attributes.
  • These numerous approaches to the analysis of cognition are synthesized in the relatively new field of cognitive science, the interdisciplinary study of mental processes and functions.

• Introduction to Social Psychology and Social Perception

  • Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others through social interactions.
  • Social psychology includes the subfields of cognitive social psychology and social neuroscience.
  • Social psychology focuses on the importance of individual or social influences on a person's perception of the world around them.
  • This includes areas like social perception, social interaction, and social influence (including trust, power, and persuasion).
  • It involves questions about the nature of social behavior: for example, does social behavior ultimately stem from the individual, or is it largely a product of socialization, interaction, and greater social structures?

• Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

  • Social anxiety disorder is marked by intense fear and avoidance of social situations in which one might be negatively judged.
  • Social anxiety disorder (formerly called social phobia) is characterized by extreme and persistent fear or anxiety and avoidance of social situations in which the person could potentially be evaluated negatively by others (APA, 2013).
  • When people with social anxiety disorder are unable to avoid situations that provoke anxiety, they typically perform safety behaviors: mental or behavioral acts that reduce anxiety in social situations by reducing the chance of negative social outcomes.
  • Research into the causes of social anxiety and social phobia is wide-ranging, encompassing multiple perspectives from neuroscience to sociology.
  • Worry and fear of social situations in which one may be negatively judged is a defining feature of social anxiety disorder.

• Cognitive Psychology

  • Much of the work derived from cognitive psychology has been integrated into various other modern disciplines of psychological study, including social psychology, personality psychology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, and behavioral economics.
  • The development of the field was heavily influenced by contemporary advancements in technology and computer science.

• Social Psychology

  • Social psychology studies individuals in a social context and examines how situational variables influence behavior.
  • Social psychology typically explains human behavior as a result of the interaction of mental states and immediate social situations.
  • Thus, social psychology studies individuals in a social context and how situational variables interact to influence behavior.
  • Social psychologists assert that an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are very much influenced by social situations.
  • Essentially, people will change their behavior to align with the social situation at hand.