1. Define and examine social psychology. - Social psychology is basically the study of how people’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all of the psychological variables that are measurable in a human being. Following this, it is easier to see how social psychology is closely related to sociology. Social psychology interest has been growing recently, as it has become an active form of empirical investigation. Many psychology texts focus heavily on social psychology. Works analyzing on-the-job behavior, friendship, and romantic attachments address social psychology. 2. Examine why and how some people may think that social psychology is just common sense. - Social psychology and common sense may seem like more or less the same thing by someone who …show more content…
Use the internet, locate some important facts about the book The Nature of Prejudice by Gordon W. Allport. - First published in 1954, The Nature of Prejudice remains the standard work on discrimination. According to Allport we think in categories. By this he means that the human brain processes information by lumping things together. Some important ideas were also shared throughout the book. For one, "Juan Story" in the book is a great example of generalizations and race. During this part, the employer assumes a certain behavior is characteristic of Juan's entire group, so he develops a stereotype of Mexicans. The thing is, he really only has a hostility with Juan. Saying you experience prejudice not because of who you are as an individual, more so because you belong to a particular group (Allport 1954) is an important saying in the book that emphasizes this well. This book is basically a landmark study on the roots and nature of prejudice. Allport explores all kinds of prejudice-racial, religious, ethnic, and economic problems in the book, and offers suggestions for reducing the devastating effects of