Social Psychology Concept Matrix

Social Psychology Concept	Definition	Application to Society Provide Example	Application to Criminal Justice Provide Example	Application to the Individual Provide Example
Survey Research	This is A method of sociological study   that uses statistical or question based surveys to collect data about how people act or think. It is used to assess thoughts, feelings and opinions (Marsden, & Wright, 2010).	In the society, survey research is used to analyze behaviors and meeting more pragmatics media needs such as evaluating public health officers, political candidates, marketing directors and professional organizations.	In criminal justice it used in large scale surveys of  justice and law enforcement programs, operations and management of criminal justice agencies.	The concept of survey research is used by individuals as a gambling policy and behavior (Marsden, & Wright, 2010).
Self-Esteem	This is the overall evaluation of one’s self worth. Self esteem takes in emotions and beliefs. It depicts one of the essential human motivations. Psychologist Maslow recommended that people need both value from inner self respect as well as from other people. For one to grow as person and achieve self actualization, both these needs must be satisfied (Mruk, & Mruk, 2013).	An example in the society is when students in school are praised for their hard work their self esteem increases while when they abused by a friend or a teacher the self esteem goes down.	In criminal justice, inmates jailed for violent and drug offenses or those with extensive criminal histories have low esteem.	People with low self esteem depend on how they are currently to determine how they feel about themselves.
Self-Handicapping	This is a strategy by which people shun efforts in anticipation of keeping would-be failure from hurting self value.  Self handicapping bias occurs when people try to explain about a possible future failure by giving a reason that may be true or false (Elliot, & Dweck, 2009).	An investor may admit to  have not spend  enough time  researching about stock  as  he  has normally done before so that incase the investment does not do well  he can have an excuse for that.	In criminal justice, police officers may start blaming lack of enough time for investigation so as to have an excuse if a suspect is found to be not guilty (Elliot, & Dweck, 2009).	An example is when an athlete tries to reveal about an injury before a race so that in case he does not perform well he can have an excuse.
Hindsight Bias	This is a terminology used in psychology as an explanation of the tendency of people to overrate their capability to have foreseen an event that could not possibly have been foretold. It is sort of saying “I knew it” when an event occurs and the belief that the event was correctly predicted. It may cause memory distortion in cases where the content can lead to untrue theoretical outcomes (Oliver, 2010).	An example in the society is when politician try to suggest they had foreseen a terrorist attack and suggest that it could have been prevented (Oliver, 2010).	An example in criminal justice is when a police officer predicts during a snowy night that that this is the ideal condition for a young driver to be involved in an accident. In case the police scanners indicates  that a  driver who had received a license a few days ago slipped into a mailbox, the police officer he had foreseen that thing happen on that particular night.	. An example is when a lady waits for a call from a man they exchanged phone numbers some time back. Despite the man not calling for four nights, he finally calls on the fifth night. Then her best friend says that she knew that the man was to call eventually.
External Attribution	This is a theory that explains people’s perception of the causes from their behaviors where the situational reactions to circumstances are considered to be different from the reaction of other people to the same situation (Borkowski, 2011).	In the society, an employee can use external attribution to explain to her boss why she is late. She might tell him that the party lasted longer than she thought. The employee might also point out that her alarm clock was not working so she did not wake up on time. She can also place the blame on your friends and traffic.	This concept suggests that the public understanding of criminal behavior causes may influence the attitude of the public towards criminal sanctioning. An example in criminal justice is a tendency to give the responsibility to a victim for his victimization instead of the offender.	An example is a star player downplaying his athletic talent in interviews, saying that the support and love for his family the key to his success.
Cognitive Dissonance	This is used in psychology to mean excessive mental discomfort and stress experienced by a person with two or more contradicting belief, values and ideas at the same time. This discomfort and stress may arise in an individual with a belief and performs contradicting actions (Sanderson, 2009).	An ideal example in the society is when a driver refuses to use the safety belt despite being aware of the requirement s by the law and extend to which it can save lives.	An example in criminal justice is when police officers later realize that they have jailed an innocent person and despite the evidence they still continue believing that they were right (Sanderson, 2009).	A person is likely to experience dissonance if addicted to smoking and continue smoking despite being aware that it is unhealthy.
Media Persuasion	This is the deliberate attempt by one party to partly influence the behaviors or attitudes of the other party in order to attain some predetermined end. The media in this case sends a message to the target group with the intention of getting certain response (Dill, 2013).	The society is confronted by media persuasion every day. For example, producers of food products are always persuade the people to use their products through adverts in the media.	In criminal justice, there is a notable correlation between the crime related television consumption and criminal profiling. An application of media persuasion is the use of television shows to conduct forensic research and give empirical evidence for criminal profiling (Dill, 2013).	Media persuasion is used in achieving prestige and feeling of accomplishment. One may also be persuaded by a friend or coworker to watch a certain movie.

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