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social psychology
noun
: the study of the manner in which the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups
social psychologist
noun
Examples of social psychology in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In 2015 Brian Nosek, co-founder of the Center for Open Science, spearheaded an effort to replicate 100 prominent social psychology papers, which found that only 36.1 percent could be replicated unambiguously.
—Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2019
Understanding the rise of violence against Asian Americans, for instance, requires knowledge of the U.S. wars in Asia and their connection to individual Americans’ social psychology.
—Pawan Dhingra, The Conversation, 21 May 2024
In a TikTok video posted last week, Sarah Hensley, who holds a Ph.D. in social psychology according to her website, says the reason has to do with women not getting their attachment needs met inside of their relationships.
—USA TODAY, 27 Mar. 2024
In social psychology, that’s an attributional bias called the actor–observer asymmetry.
—Mary C. Murphy, Fortune Well, 15 Mar. 2024
There are three general reasons, says Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology who researches conspiracy theories at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom.
—Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 10 Mar. 2024
Lindgren’s scholarly interests included the methodologies of fieldwork, social psychology, shamanism, human-animal relations and material culture.
—Naï Zakharia, New York Times, 23 Dec. 2023
Students at Arizona State University can now study social psychology through the filter of Taylor Swift lyrics.
—Ed Masley, The Arizona Republic, 16 Aug. 2023
But as these ideas began to intermingle with those in the adjacent field of social psychology, the reasonable notion that some small changes could have large effects at scale gave way to a vision of individual human beings as almost boundlessly pliable.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'social psychology.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1880, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of social psychology was
in 1880
Dictionary Entries Near social psychology
Cite this Entry
“Social psychology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20psychology. Accessed 18 Jun. 2024.
Medical Definition
social psychology
noun
: the study of the manner in which the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the individual influence and are influenced by social groups
More from Merriam-Webster on social psychology
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about social psychology
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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