Social psychology studies human thought and behavior within a social context. Before diving into the similarities and differences between social psychology and sociology, it’s necessary to define what social psychology is and how it differs from any other subfield of psychology. First, you’ll recall that psychology studies human thought and behavioral patterns. However, those thoughts and behavioral patterns do not occur independently in a vacuum; external forces, such as aggression, prejudice, conformity or leadership, can influence them.
In other words, social psychology studies how human thoughts and behaviors can change in response to external stimuli, such as the presence of other humans. Note that the “presence of other humans” may be actual, imagined or implied (e.g., another human might physically be present, or their presence might be suggested, such as in a surveillance camera).
An example of behavioral changes in response to human presence may help you better understand how much others can influence people. Imagine that you have a white-collar office job. You dress up for work, sit in your cubicle and use relatively formal language to address your co-workers and supervisor.
When you return home in the evening, you change into comfortable, less formal clothes, sprawl out on the couch, prop your feet up on the coffee table and hang out with your friends. Perhaps you turn the TV on, watch a game and then yell at the TV when your team does poorly.
In this environment, surrounded by your friends, it seems perfectly natural to yell at the TV and use harsh language. In contrast, you’d never think of yelling at your computer screen when something goes wrong because your co-workers and supervisor would likely hear you. This is just one scenario that illustrates how the people around you influence you.
There are some similarities between social psychology and sociology. For example, both fields explore human behaviors in groups and different situations.
However, there are also some differences. Sociologists study larger groups, such as whole societies or significant segments of society. They may study whether the availability of mental health services in urban areas leads to decreased crime.
Although social psychologists study groups to some extent, their primary focus is on the individual. They seek answers to the question: How does the individual change their behavior in response to social pressures from the group?
