Stanley Milgram's obedience study, alongside others that involved deception and potential emotional harm, catalyzed the development of strict ethical guidelines for conducting psychological research. These guidelines discourage the use of deception unless it can be argued not to cause harm, and they universally require researchers to obtain the informed consent of participants.

Ethical Impact of Milgram's Obedience Study

Before Stanley Milgram conducted his research, most psychologists agreed that few people would be willing to inflict extraordinary pain and suffering on another person simply because they were obeying orders. Milgram designed his experiment specifically to determine whether or not this widespread assumption was true.

Expectations Prior to Milgram's Experiment

In Stanley Milgram's obedience study, participants received payment for simply showing up. Despite having the option to withdraw from the study to avoid inflicting pain on another person, nearly two-thirds of the participants chose to deliver what they believed were lethal shocks simply because they were instructed to do so by an authority figure.

Participant Agency in Milgram's Obedience Study

Stanley Milgram, an American social psychologist, conducted a famous and controversial study on obedience to authority. Following the Holocaust and the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Milgram investigated the defense of 'following orders' by demonstrating that nearly two-thirds of his participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be lethal shocks to another person simply because an authority figure instructed them to do so.

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Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. A key focus is on how people conceptualize and interpret situations, and how these interpretations, along with other situational variables, interact to influence behavior within a social context. The field examines how people affect one another, emphasizing the power of the situation in shaping human actions, and explores all facets of personality and social interaction, particularly the influence of interpersonal and group relationships. It encompasses the full range of human interactions, from moments of conflict and confrontation to acts of collaboration and helping others.

Social psychology

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

- Organizations
- Articles
- Books
- Newspapers
- Dictionaries

Social Psychology References

- Self-categorization theory
- Social Motives
- Social Identity Theory
- Honneth's theory of social recognition
- Social proof 
- Autism as "mind-blindness"
- Social presence theory 
- Terror management theory
- Rule of 150
- Attribution theory
- Emotion
- Social Influence
- Situationism
- Social roles and Social Role Theory
- Social norms
- Prejudice and Discrimination
- Attitudes and Persuasion
- Aggression
- Prosocial behavior

Theories and Focuses of Social psychology

The social psychology discipline has intensively studied how situations impact human states including the study of attitude and behavioral consistency, which are the common variables that UX researchers study. Overall, understanding and applying social psychology theories would help UX researchers and designers create products for specific situations and human states. 

Social Psychology and UX Research 


Social Psychological Research Examples

As per the biopsychosocial model, the biology, psychology, and social elements of a person interact, which influences that person's health.

Biopsychosocial Model

Which of the following topics DO NOT fall under social psychology?

Which of the following best describes the focus of social psychology?

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the concept of social psychology?

Which of the following research questions would a social psychologist most likely investigate?

Important figures in social psychology include: 
- Philip Zimbardo
- Leon Festinger
- Stanley Milgram
- Solomon Asch

Important Figures in Social Psychology

Social psychology examines topics from two primary perspectives: the intrapersonal level, which concerns processes within the individual, and the interpersonal level, which deals with interactions and relationships between people, including dyads and groups.

Social Psychology Focuses

Social cognition refers to the ways in which individuals think about themselves and others. As a key intrapersonal topic in social psychology, it focuses on the mental processes involved in perceiving, interpreting, and remembering information about the social world.

Social Cognition

Human behavior is understood as the result of an interaction between two main types of influences: situational factors, such as cultural norms and the presence of others, and personal factors, which include individual personality characteristics.

Behavior as a Product of Person and Situation

Social-personality psychology is an emergent subfield of psychology dedicated to studying the intricate interaction between internal factors, such as personality, and situational factors that collectively influence human behavior.

Social-Personality Psychology

Social psychologists conduct research on a wide variety of topics regarding how people interact and relate to others. Key areas of study include prejudice, interpersonal attraction, conflict resolution, how being around others alters an individual's behavior and thinking, and the differences in how people explain their own behavior versus the behavior of others.

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