Future Implications for Social Psychology

PSY-362 Social Psychology and Cultural Applications

Topic 8-Future Implications for Social Psychology

Directions: Provided are three prominent researchers/theorists and their respective research. Through scholarly research, analyze the implications for each of the researched areas in the past and present. Use one to two outside resources. Use APA formatted in-text citations and list the references at the bottom of the document.

Researcher/Theorist

Researched area

Summary of research

What impact did the research have on past and present social psychological ideals?

How did the media, past and present, influence societal behavior?

Stanley Milgram

Obedience to Authority Figures (1961)

By administering electro-shock, Milgram observed and recorded to what extent people would continue an action of harm if encouraged to do so by an authority figure (McLeod, 2007)

Philip Zimbardo

Aggression-good to evil (1971 & 2007)

Zimbardo embarks on explaining, through psychological theories and practices, why seemingly ordinary good people commit despicable acts; in essence they turn evil. This research is the follow up to Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment was supposed to last 2 weeks, but was stopped after 6 days (Zimbardo, 2006)

Solomon Asch

Conformity (1951)

Asch reconstructs Sherif’s (1935) conformity study to determine if an individual will conform to a group norm if pressure is applied from the majority of the group (McLeod, 2008).

References:

McLeod, S. (2008). The Asch experiment. In Simply Psychology.

McLeod, S. (2007). The Milgram experiment. In Simply Psychology.

Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer effect. Retrieved from http://www.lucifereffect.com