Psychology Essay

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY
Psychology Essay
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PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY1
Executive Summary:
This paper discusses the basics of social psychology and explains in brief the concepts with
which the methodological framework of social psychology has been established. It discusses
the history of social psychology, outlining the important theoretical developments within the
discipline. The paper then tries to understand the nature of the differences between Western
and African perspectives in social psychology, noting that the former has a dominance over
the latter. The paper concludes by stressing on the need to develop an African perspective of
social psychology.

PSYCHOLOGY ESSAY2
Introduction
“Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the
relations within which these individuals stand.”
-Karl Marx
Human psychology is often thought to be the internal mental and psychological
processes are unique to every individual, which distinguishes one individual person from
another (Owe et al., 2013). However, as individuals are not separate from the society in
which they live, it is important to recognize the sociological origins and dimensions of
individual, human psychology (Gerrig et al., 2013). This is the basis upon which the
foundations of social psychology has been built. Social psychology makes use of sociological
approaches to understand the psychological make-up of individuals and seeks to understand
how social relations shape the psychology of a person, it investigates the interaction of social
relations have on the psyche of an individual’s mental and thought processes (Shaver, 2015).
This paper shall deal with the basic concepts of social psychology, the various theories which
have dynamically shaped the understanding of social psychology, the ways in which African
and Western perspectives on social psychology are either the same or different and identify
issues within the context of South Africa that informs the understanding of social psychology.
Discussion
Fundamentals of Social Psychology
Although the earliest iterations of social psychology were witnessed in the writings of
the Islamic philosophy Al-Farabi, as a discipline, social psychology in its modern form
emerged in the United States in the early years of the 20th century (Gough, McFadden &
McDonald, 2013). Social psychology looks at the social factors that go on to inform and