Overview of Social Psychology, Sociology & Related Fields

The article that I chose is titled “Overview of Social Psychology; Sociology & Related Fields”. It begins with a detailed definition of Psychology; stating Psychology or the study of human behavior is an amply sized, expansive field that encompasses several distinct factions, each of which offers its own unique brand of specialization (Gibson, 1994). Throughout the articles overview it speaks on the different branches of psychology, counseling psychology, clinical psychology and developmental psychology. This article is a review of existing research and psychological experiments. I can tell that the information in this article is based from existing research due to the article making reference several times to different classic studies, insights and experiments that were conducted to implement the study of “Social Psychology”. The main purpose of this article was to conduct classic social psychological studies including Stanley Milgram’s experiment on obedience; the study also examined the Bystander Effect and also addressed cognitive dissonance to better understand how one’s behavior changes through a social psychological lens. Stanley Milgram’s Experiment on Obedience was titled “Behavioral Study of Obedience”, and was designed to uncover material encompassing the darker side of human behavior. Throughout the Milgram experiment they used fake actors who assumed various roles within the framework of a man made scenario to receive psychological insight towards human obedience and authority. The repercussions of the Milgram experiment showed the offset of this study, and social psychologists scrutinized the compelling sway that those in positions of power may demand, solely by virtue of their roles, which may be exacerbated by extraneous factors such as personality traits and environmental considerations (Hodson, Roscigno & Lopez, 2006). The next interesting topic in this article was on “The Bystander Effect”, which is described as a social psychology concept