Getting Used to the Social Psychology Network Website

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The theoretical side of social psychology known as Phenomenological is represented by Doctor Katherine B. Starzyk. (Social Psychology Network, 2016) Doctor Starzyk has a Ph.D. in Social Personality Psychology from Queen’s University in 2004 and currently is an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. Doctor Starzyk is looking at different relationships and reactions of groups of people around the world. One research tries to understand how different groups of people react to an injustice. She believes that understanding what pushes people to respond to what they view as an injustice will help to guide and maybe even deter panic and destruction when a legitimate or even perceived wrong has been done. Doctor Starzyk developed and uses an eighteen item Personal Acquaintance Measure or PAM to see how individuals react differently to the same situation when in different group environments. (Starzyk, 2006) Another theory that Doctor Starzyk looks at is why people place judgements not only towards another person or group but how their personal culture pushes them to those judgements. Dr. Starzyk’s work looks at how people see each other and how those judgements affect how they approach other people. By looking at the method a person uses to inquire about another person consciously based on the premise of objects, events and history can alter how someone is perceived to be.

The last theoretical perspective that will be looked over within this essay is Social Cognition. Doctor Linda Acitelli received her Ph. D. in Psychology at the University of Michigan and now is an Associate Professor and the University of Houston. (Social Psychology Network, 2016) Doctor Acitelli focuses on the connection between cognition and communication in different relationships. Her work takes a deep look at how a person’s culture can ultimately affect how they think and talk within a given relationship and how these actions can lead to happiness or failure within the relationship. Doctor Acitelli did a study on perceptions of happiness after a couple is married. This started at the first year and then progressed into the third year of marriage. She found numerous factors that either continued the feeling of happiness or got in the way of the couple’s happiness. (Acitelli, 1997) Doctor Acitelli works with numerous ethnic groups to really get a good look at the social psychology of relationships not just a snap shot of one group over the other. Doctor Acitelli’s work deals with a lot of relationship situations. She talks about young and old couples but also talks about the workings of interracial relationships. These are topics that need recognition to produce happier individuals and then hopefully a happier society as a whole.

Understanding culture is important when choosing a research method involving humans because you have to understand where they will be coming from that will give you specific results. If you did research on the feelings about premarital sex with a group, the answers and feelings would be very different if the group held very strong religious beliefs or if they did not. Culture is tied into everything that people think, say, and do so if you do not understand where a certain culture may have pushed an individual towards ideas and feelings your research results would be tainted. On the other hand, if you are trying to get results based on a particular culture you need to know how to find and see those traits in an individual.

References

Acitelli, L. V. (1997). The changing influence of interpersonal perceptions on marital well-being among black and white couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14,291-304.

Ackerman, J. G. (2011). Let’s get serious: Communicating commitment in romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100,1079-1094.

Bilewicz, M. (2007). HIstory as an obstacle: Impact of temporal-based social categorizations on Polish-Jewish Intergroup contact. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 551-563.

Glaveanu, V. &. (n.d.). Bridging History and Social Psychology: What, How and Why. Integrative Psychological and Behavior Science, 46(a4), 431-439.

Social Psychology Network. (2016, September 28). Retrieved from Map of Experts: http://www.socialpsychology.org

Starzyk, K. H. (2006). The Personal Acquaintance Measure: A tool for appraising one’s knowledge of and familiarity with any person. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90,833-847.

Stone, V. B.-C. (1998). Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 640-656.

Tesser, A. &. (2002). Social Psychology: Who We Are and What We Do. Personality & Social Psychology Review, 6(1), 72-85.