Research in Social Psychology: The Influence of Events and Trends

Running Head : INFLUENCE OF EVENTS AND TRENDS

The Influence of Events and Trends on Social Psychology

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Influence of Events and Trends on Social Psychology

Social Psychology has been heavily influenced by historical events . The sole purpose of social psychology is to study how we think and act in social environment and how , in turn , social environments influence our behaviour (Atkinson , 1981 . The example of stereotyping can be used to elaborate this point . Stereotyping can be so subtle that we can be unaware

that we hold them (Atkinson , 1981 . The most common type of stereotype influencing all cultures is of sexism . Sexism was not acknowledged until the women 's movement began to raise the issue of discrimination . This had a great influence on social psychology and many researches were done to study the phenomenon efforts were made to minimize the effects of stereotyping on research

A historical event which had an influence on social psychology is the execution of Jews in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 . Hitler may have the mastermind behind the plan but he many couldn 't have done it alone . Many people helped him in the process to carry out his plans . According to Hannah Arendt , a political theorist , most of the men in The Reich were ordinary people following s . The power of obedience to authority was then explored by Stanley Milgram in a series of controversial experiment (Milgram , 2010 . He found that 65 of his subjects followed s...