The importance of research in social psychology cannot be overemphasized as social psychologists know that it is critical to understanding behavior. In this paper, the article discusses the importance of research in social psychology, and why social psychologists rely on research as opposed to forming conclusions based perception or wisdom. The paper also describes two different research designs used by social psychologists and the kind of information that they gather from each, and their limitations.
Importance of research in social psychology
While social psychology is a social science because it deals with human behavior, thoughts and feelings, scientific research plays an important. Further, research is essential in psychology because human beings are not always reliable and predictable. Research is important because it enables psychologists to understand the conduct of people; how they behave, think, and feel among other things (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Secondly, research is important in social psychology since it helps in the categorization of psychological disorders to improve the understanding of their symptoms, and their impact on a person and society. Furthermore, research is essential because it helps in the development of effective treatment therapies aimed at improving the quality of life for people and communities. Research allows psychologists to empirically study social behavior in relation to understanding how intimate relationships, peers, and family, and religion affect people in society (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014).
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Why social psychologists rely on research
Social psychologists rely on research for different reasons. One, the research carried out is scientific and because of its nature, it helps them to study the development and external factors and how they affect an individual’s wellbeing. Social psychologists rely on research as opposed to conclusions and wisdom since it allows them to study people with particular psychological disorders, characteristics and symptoms. Through research, they develop tests to assess specific psychological situations (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Again, social psychologists rely on research to develop treatment alternatives that are aimed at enhancing one’s mental health. In most instances, scientific research in social psychology has three goals. These include description, prediction, and explanation or understanding. For instance, description denotes to procedures used to classify, define and group subjects and their link. Further, social psychologists rely on research to get better and proven explanations for human actions instead of “common sense” that many believe is enough to describe human behavior (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014).
Different research designs used by social psychologists
While there are different kinds of research designs, the main types of studies include descriptive, experimental, and correlational research designs. In correlational social psychologists search for and test hypotheses concerning relationships between two or more variable. The essence of this reaserch design is that a relationship exists between the variables (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Therefore, in this research design, social psychologists gather information that will indicate the kind of relationship between the variables. Correlational research design allows researchers to collect information by studying people’s daily activities. Using this information, the researchers can predict the occurrence of certain behaviors among individuals.Secondly, descriptive research is used to explain what exists already in a population. Researchers gather information concerning people’s opinion, their thoughts and use their findings to make predictions (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Descriptive designs gives researchers information on people cultures, norms, and why they conduct some practices from a personal perspective. Using descriptive research design, social psychologists collect information on behavior patterns within a community and their interpretation.
Conclusion
It follows that scientific research in psychology is essential because of the role that it plays. Further, social psychology is critical to understanding society and how its people behave. Social psychologists require different types of research designs to collect relevant information.
Reference
Baumeister, R.F. and Bushman, B.J. (2014). Social Psychology and Human Nature , 3 rd ed.
Belmont CA: Thomas Wadsworth .
