The Field of Social Psychology and Its Application to Helping Professions

Social Psychology
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Social Psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how other people influence the behavior of an individual in social interactions. This field of psychology employs the scientific method to investigate thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and how they are constructed within the social context (Baumeister & Bushman, 2020). The field also attempts to explain how people behave due to their perceived or actual interaction with other people. Consequently, this field of psychology can effectively investigate such topics as group processes, stereotyping, discrimination and attitudes.
Social psychology has numerous applications, especially in helping professions such as counseling and nursing. The following is a discussion of how social psychology can be applied in counseling. The first application would be helping the counselor avoid bias or discrimination. For instance, if a counselor is dealing with a delinquent child, they would be slow to have an iota of judgment on the child. With an understanding of social psychology, the counselor would understand that there must be some social dynamics that have influenced the child. Consequently, the goal would be to identify them and then help the child adopt positive behaviors. Although bias or negative judgment are abhorred in counseling, an understanding of social psychology would particularly help in avoiding these them.
Secondly, understanding social psychology confers the counselor the skills necessary to establish and maintain a good rapport with the client. In most cases, the client may feel that few or no people understand them. With the ability to establish a good rapport, the counselor can create an ...