The social psychology is branch of psychology. She studies characteristics of social groups of people and also regularities in behavior and human activity under the influence of the fact of its inclusion in these groups.
All questions studied by social psychology follow from various forms of contacts between people. This science finds regularities of knowledge by people of each other, creation of the relations between them and also regularities of interference as a result of these relations.
Works of antique philosophers Aristotle and Platon are considered as sources of social psychology. The analysis of observations of behavior of people is provided in their works, the set of reasonings on interrelation between features of the person and his situation in society, about influence of people at each other is written. Further their ideas became a basis for development of the system of provisions of social psychology.
Social psychology as science helps to understand other people, to influence contacts and to establish the most acceptable relations in educational, political, economic and other industries of activity of the person. An object of research of social psychology are various contacts between people. The social psychology divides direct contacts ("face to face") and mediate contacts (with use of mass media). All of them can be casual and short or have systematic character. Both small groups of people, and the whole nations, parties, regular personnel of various firms can be an object of researches of this science. All these groups can be various degree of organization (for example, crowd on squares and military unit). As an object of researches the relations between certain people in groups and between the whole groups act. The social psychology investigates, for example, such relations as mutual understanding, confrontation. In social psychology select the following sections: - social psychology of the personality; - social psychology of communication and interpersonal interaction; - social psychology of groups. The psychology of the personality deals with problems of the public nature of the personality, her socialization, motivation of behavior. Types of means of communications and their mechanisms are studied by social psychology of communication and interaction between persons. The psychology of groups considers processes, the phenomena, dynamics, structure of groups, studies various stages of their activity and also relationship between groups. This knowledge allows not only to understand each group of people in the system of the relations of society, but also to turn it into collective. The main practical task of social psychology is optimization of management of social processes in an educational system, in the sphere of life and family, in economy and in other spheres of society.