The relationship between Sociology and Psychology - Social Psychology

The relationship between Sociology and Psychology - Social Psychology

The relationship between Sociology and Psychology - Social Psychology: Scientific Concepts and Objectives

Introduction

Some people might think that sociology is interested in studying the group while psychology is concerned with the study of the person, but this tendency does not determine the whole truth. Groups are only a few or more people who only think, feel or act in a sensual way. The overlap between sociology and psychology is clear in the branch of social psychology based on the boundary between the two sciences. In fact, each of the two sciences adopts different ideas. Psychology is concerned about studying the needs and capabilities of a person and arranging them in terms of his personality, while sociology is related to each other in a different way. In this article, we will discuss, what are the differences and similarities between sociology and psychology and describe the importance of social psychology and its goals and objectives.

Psychology:

  Psychology is an applied and academic study of perception, behavior, and mechanisms. It works on human analysis and can be used on animals and intelligent systems. It is a scientific study of the mind, thinking, behavior and personality. The aim is to seek to understand the individual's behavior and interpretation and work to solve its problems.

Sociology:

Sociology is a study based on the social status of human being in the form of separate groups, or it is the study of a whole society. The study of social interactions has developed sociology in the first period of the nineteenth century.  Sociology deals with social processes, and laws that link people. There are many scientists studying several disciplines related to it, including social organization, social class division, social change, gerontology, population and many more.

Scientific concepts

 Differences between psychology and sociology are illustrated by the definition of each of them, and the statement is as follows:

Definition of psychology: It is the science that is based on the study of all aspects of behavior in a scientific way, it includes all forms of behavioral responses; kinetic and verbal, which appear on the individual during the interaction with the environment, in addition to the study of emotional activity, sensory experience, unconscious, mental activity and mental processes such as thinking, perception, remembering, and others

Definition of sociology: It is the science that studies human interaction primarily, it may affect the interpersonal relationships in the social environment, it influences trends, feelings or actions, as well as studying the social system in which all forms of human relations exist, In addition to understanding and studying the social phenomena in human society and all social patterns, and the relationship of man to society and culture.

Social Psychology: Definition, Importance, and Applications

Social psychology is a branch of general psychology. It is concerned with studying the social behavior of individuals in their social situations, i.e. the scope and social system,  in which the individual lives, and the extent of his influence on thinking, behavior, feelings, and patterns of interaction with all external stimuli.  Social psychology is concerned with the study to understand the psychological processes, psychological ways in which they interact with social influences and variables, and psychological extent in which they contribute to the development and formation of the individual personality. Social psychology also examines the situations of individuals and their social and behavioral patterns through experience and observation in the personality and social framework.

The importance of social psychology

The importance of social psychology appears in all the interactive aspects of the individual's social life and all the environments in which he coexists. It can affect the individual's interactions and character-building and highlight the importance of social psychology directly in everyday life situations; national and international issues experienced by people in the form of war, slavery, freedom, and security.  

Direct practical importance

 All people who engage in groups and individuals need to constantly study the principles of social psychology in order to understand and guide social behaviors. The importance of these groups is as follows:

Teacher: The teacher in the classroom needs to understand the social-behavioral characteristics of the students as a micro-social environment based on the relationships and interactions among them. He would like to identify the steps of socialization that are manifested in the behavioral interaction among them such as competition, cooperation, learning, and collective thinking.

 Social Specialist: Social specialists would like to understand and study social organization and its orientation towards social cohesion, trends, intolerance, and leadership.

 Businessmen: Social psychology helps to understand the nature of the laws of human relations between groups of workers and boss in a good manner, and provides the important relationship between the level of the moral spirit, mental health and the level of production and achievement.

Normal Human: The study of social psychology in everyday life helps to achieve as much as possible the individual's understanding of his own behavior and the external behavior of other individuals, thus understanding the dynamics of interaction and communication with others, as well as the cultural and social backgrounds in which patterns and behavior are determined.

Global importance

 Since the first emergence of social psychology, it deals with future issues by warning against crises and inevitable problems such as optimism about the sound construction of this future, and presents suggestions and predictive and therapeutic plans for economic and political problems, such as the problems of war, aggression and their consequences, global financial crises. Global Inclusiveness seeks to create an excellent society in which the opportunities available in all fields are equal to all members of society.

Social psychology also plays an important role in spreading the highest human ideals among Individuals within a society and psychological and social phenomena research and experimental study; it is possible to outline these points as follows:

Predict and warning of future epidemics

It is possible to warn of future problems and crises by predicting initial signs and signals that may indicate the possibility of a specific problem in a given area and warning people without intervening in the course of events.

building the future tagline

Scientists emphasize that man can change the course of his life by directing his activities appropriately with achieving his goals and solving problems. Just as he uses biological sciences to raise the level of health effects, it is possible to use social psychology to seek social justice and the bright future.

Addressing political and economic challenges
 These problems arise from the imbalance in the distribution of tasks, works, resources, and efforts inappropriate activities. This results from ignorance of the understanding of the social characteristics of man, which is the subject of psychological and social research, which in turn creates the basic laws and principles of social life together.

The difference between psychology and sociology

Psychology and sociology are two important branches of the humanities, and although these two fields are intertwined by the overlap of human sciences in general, each of them follows different principles and laws, and the difference and similarity between the two branches is apparent through the issues dealt with by each In particular when studying the specific axes of them carefully, when comparing their definitions, the topics they discuss, the goals they aim at, and the historical context of their origin.

Links between psychology and sociology

Links between psychology and sociology

 Despite the differences between sociology and psychology, there are commonalities between them. Psychology examines the behavior of the individual, the experience conducted by the individual with the surrounding social environment, and examines the individual through attention to the characteristics and processes that grow in human, and how to do his functions, While sociology is concerned with the experience and social behavior that is produced through things, work, and social organizations, and works to develop them, and the psychological state is reflected on the social side. There is a direct relationship between the two parties, and also the community and culture, both of them determine how the individual thinks, how he behaves, and how he expresses himself. People living in cities differ from those living in villages. Social factors affect the personality of the individual. This shows that there is a close relationship between psychology and sociology. Hence social, and psychological states and human lifestyle are interrelated.

Topics addressed by each science

 Topics covered by psychology and sociology differ as follows:

Psychological topics: Man is the subject dealt with psychology, it is within the framework of interactive, responsive, verbal and dynamic dealing with the social and cultural environment, it teaches the human being as well as a living being to feel, want, think and accomplish, and topics that concern psychology also understood and interpreted the mechanism of mental processes skills, and natural and acquired skills possessed by the individual such as the level of mental intelligence, and the various talents that he enjoys, in addition to studying the topics of responses, behavioral patterns and psychological phenomena, and the extent of it psychological state of physical health. It shows that psychology is confined to the study of human activity and forms the internal and external, mental, verbal behaviors.

 Sociological topics: Sociology is concerned with the study of social phenomena in particular as phenomena that are totally different from psychological, biological or other human phenomena. Sociology deals with the study of the social phenomenon in general and collectively away from the individual frames in a particular society. Examples of social phenomena that are received from the external environment are religious beliefs, rituals, congenital and political phenomena.

Psychology and Sociology: Goals and Objectives 

 The objectives of science vary according to their subjects, and it is possible to clarify the differences between psychology and sociology by knowing the goals that each science seeks to achieve. It can be summarized as follows:

Objectives of psychology:

 Understanding and explaining the behavioral phenomenon: The interpretation of the behavior includes:

• Knowledge of the motives and factors that led to their emergence
• Knowledge of degrees of deviation and standards of judgment on normal and abnormal behavior
• Knowledge of personality traits and characteristics, and identify strengths and weaknesses
• Predictability of a particular behavior appears when certain triggers and factors exist, ie, predict the time of behavior and the rate of its appearance in different and known circumstances.
• Control behavior is subjected to the factors that affect the efficiency of the phenomenon of behavior required.

Objectives of sociology:

 Sociology seeks to fully understand the social behavioral patterns of a particular society while examining the influencing factors of these patterns on the individual and society.

 Sociology aims to explain the components and parts of social construction with the analysis of its components to the institutions of society, as in the political, family, economic and religious institutions, and understand the importance of interdependence with each other in an integrated manner, any change in any of them show its effects directly on the other social development.

To strengthen the link between the social construction institutions in society in terms of their development and strengthen their associations with individuals in terms of their role in providing appropriate services that help them achieve their goals.

Sociology aims to diagnose general social problems and try to understand them and explain them with the appropriate methods, solutions and treatment plans to eliminate them. It also includes Knowledge of the laws and principles of social transformation phenomena.

Conclusion

Regardless of the apparent differences between the two sciences, they meet in the interests of many similar topics such as studying incidents and suicidal thoughts, for example, to identify the causes, motives, and objectives of this behavior. The social attitude in which behavior occurs is interested in the study of the group because it affects the behavior of individuals. Several branches of psychological studies concerned with the study of individual personality affected by environmental events.

References

1. Mesoudi, A. (2007). Using the methods of experimental social psychology to study cultural evolution. Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology.
2. Perloff, R. M. (2007). The dynamics of persuasion.Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
3. Schaller, M., Simpson, J. A., & Kenrick, D. T. (2006). Evolution and social psychology. New York: Psychology Press.
4. Rieber, R.W., Takooshian, H., & Iglesias, H. (2002). The case of Sybil in the teaching of psychology. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless.
5. Sewell, W. H. (1989). Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology. Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 1–17.

 By: Mahtab Alam Quddusi