Few would disagree that human aggression is a very pressing social problem that leads to violent criminal acts, and that it is important to understand the causes of aggression before we can intervene to reduce it

How would a social psychologist approach this phenomenon? How would a social psychologist's approach differ from the approach of a personality psychologist or a sociologist?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: First, like a personality psychologist, a social psychologist would focus on the individual, instead of on larger structural variables like socioeconomic status or the availability of handguns. Unlike a personality psychologist, however, a social psychologist would be more likely to focus on specific social situations or on people's construals of those specific situations. Social psychologists put far less emphasis on enduring personality characteristics or traits, and are more interested in how people are like one another in those situations. This approach also differs from a sociologist's approach. Sociologists—unlike social psychologists—tend to focus not on the individual, but on larger segments of society. Still, like social psychologists—and unlike personality psychologists—sociologists would consider how people in different groups are different from one another when it comes to aggressive behaviors.

Psychology

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In order to satisfy ethics, the first task of the scientist is to:

a. get informed consent from participants. b. debrief participants. c. debrief other scientists. d. justify deception to potential participants.

Psychology

Which of the following was not identified as a central topic (process) in the analysis of groups?

  a.  morality   b.  formation   c.  influence   d.  conflict   e.  performance

Psychology

Identify three challenges that researchers today face when they plan to conduct phone surveys.

What will be an ideal response?

Psychology

________ refers to the way people understand and make sense of others and themselves.

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Psychology