A Quick Resource on the Traditional Schools of Social Psychology

Social psychology is the study of the behavior of groups in social situations, and the effect of the greater social situation on the individual. There are three major schools of theory that govern social psychology: symbolic interactionism, social cognition, and social exchange.

Symbolic interactionism, based on the works of George Herbert Mead and Max Weber, emphasizes the notion that human life is governed by meaningful interactions between individuals. The term "symbolic interactionism" was termed by Herbert Blumer, one of Mead's students. The main principle of symbolic interactionism is that people behave toward things and situations based on the meaning that those things hold for them. This meaning comes from previous interactions, and each interaction modifies the original meaning. For example, if a person who was raised solely by men meets a woman for the first time and that woman smacks them in the face, they may interpret that women are violent. As they meet more women, women who are nurturing and kind, they will alter the definition accordingly.

With symbolic interactionism, there are two schools. The first, structural symbolic interactionism focuses on social knowledge at the institutional level to explain interactions and psychological processes at the individual level, such as focusing on the law enforcement system to explain individuals behavior when it comes to crime.

Process symbolic interactionism, on the other hand, sees social interactions to be constantly changing and not connected to larger social structures, such as institutions or organizations. Individuals behavior is dependent on what they are personally experiencing each day, and does not depend upon what is happening in larger scale organizations.