Current Research in Social Psychology

Current Research in Social Psychology

Description of the Topics

Self-esteem is the perception that one has about who they are and what they are worth. It is how one values him or herself. On the other hand, self-efficacy is the belief that one can control behavior, social environment, and motivation. To follow this, self-serving bias is a mental bias where a person distorts reality to guard their ego by directing successes to self and failures to others, while self-perception is the image one has in their mind about who they are. Hence it is what one believes to be their traits. Subsequently, cultural diversity is the scenario where various cultures characterize a society. In other words, it is a state of having different cultures together in one larger community, while gender in psychology is the masculine or feminine nature regarding psychological and social conditions. In other words, it makes one male or female based on their psychological and social understanding. Consistently, persuasion in psychology is a state where one is influenced to do or be something else, while conformity/obedience in psychology is a state where one changes their behavior to fit in with a larger group.

Article review

The three topics chosen for the article review are self-esteem, cultural diversity, and gender.

Self Esteem

This study by De Moor et al. (2018) examines the relationship between self-esteem and psychological problems among teenagers. The study goes further to examine this issue of self-esteem based on gender. The results show a connection between self-esteem and the ability to internalize and externalize problems. To begin, the approach taken by the researchers worked well because using the qualitative study gave results that can be generalized. The researchers’ arguments on self-esteem issues are also correct and connect with the theories and ideas discussed in class. For instance, self-esteem is indeed more connected with a person’s mental state. It is also correct to claim that the internalization and externalization of problems also affect one’s self-esteem. This is correct because it is evident that people use circumstances surrounding them or internalized issues to determine their self-worth. Therefore, De Moor et al.’s (2018) research only aligns with the theories and ideas discussed in class and supports these ideas in its findings.

Cultural Diversity

In this study, Masuda et al. (2020) have looked at the connection between cultural psychology and the business world. While this study may lean towards the business environment, it is very useful for social psychologists since it gives a deeper understanding of people’s behaviors which is one significant factor for social scientists. The first thing that shows that this research is appropriate for people taking social psychology is that it examines certain cultural constructs such as independence vs. interdependence, tightness vs. looseness, individualism vs. collectivism, vertical vs. horizontal orientation, and analytic vs. holistic cognition. These social constructs are not only caused by the beliefs in society, but they are also psychologically influenced. As such, this article not only adds to the existing knowledge on social constructs but also reveals how business personalities can use social psychology to succeed in business. Through social constructs, business personalities can convince people. These findings align with the idea that social constructs sometimes influence people unconsciously, even when they might not be very significant.

Gender

Social psychology scholars believe there is a difference in psychological development between genders. It is thought that girls develop psychologically much earlier than boys. However, this idea is taken much further by this study done by Matud, López-Curbelo, and Fortes (2019) because their study reveals a difference in the psychological well-being between men and women or male and female gender. The research found that despite no significant differences in the well-being of men and women, adherence to traditions can play an important role in creating this difference in psychological well-being. In the study, it was found that men who were working or who were in a profession had higher psychological well-being. Married men and women also had more increased psychological well-being than single and divorced. Hence, this study corroborates the ideas, concepts, and theories studied in class regarding mental well-being concerning gender.

References

De Moor, E. L., Hutteman, R., Korrelboom, K., & Laceulle, O. M. (2018). Linking stressful experiences and psychological problems: The role of self-esteem. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(7), 914-923. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618795167

Masuda, T., Ito, K., Lee, J., Suzuki, S., Yasuda, Y., & Akutsu, S. (2020). Culture and Business: How Can Cultural Psychologists Contribute to Research on Behaviors in the Marketplace and Workplace?. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1304. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01304

Matud, M. P., López-Curbelo, M., & Fortes, D. (2019). Gender and Psychological Well-being. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(19), 3531. https://doi.org/10.3390/

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Instructions
Current research in Social Psychology
For the past 5 weeks, we have covered a variety of topics that are central to understanding social psychology. To gain a better understanding of these topics in social psychology it is important to review current research.

For this assignment, you will first provide a detailed description of each of the following topics.

Topics
Self-esteem
Self-efficacy
Self-serving bias
Self-perception
Cultural diversity
Gender (in terms of social psychology)
Persuasion
Conformity/obedience
Article review:
Choose 3 topics from the list above and find a scholarly journal article for each.
Find current (not more than 5 years old) scholarly research articles from the South University Library databases only.
Remember the articles must be related to psychology.
Provide an in-depth analysis for each article, integrating information from your course and text readings.