Difference Between Sociology and Psychology
In spite of the fact that the two terms SOCIOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY are related to humans and human behaviour, the aspect of humans that these two terms refer to are totally different. On one hand where Psychology refers to the study of the human mind (emotions, perception, on the other, sociology refers to the behaviour of an individual when he id in a particular community or population. In short, sociology is the study of human behaviour in society.
Sociology is all about the study of the reasons why a particular society of community of people originated and started functioning as a different and a unique one owing to the difference in the behavioural patterns and the effect of external factors on the same, of the individuals forming a part of that society. This study is totally based on the observation of the examiner and does not involve any conducting of experiments and analysing and interpretation of results etc.
On the other hand, Psychology is all about the study of how the human mind perceives different things in the surroundings and reacts to it. Psychology, in fact is the study of analysing and interpreting the reactions that and individual gives to any kind of external stimulus in the form of emotions like Anger, Sadness, Joy, Fury etc. The study of Psychology is completely an experiment based one and involves a lot of Experiments to be conducted and an analysis of results.
Sociology has determined the fact that the behaviour of any individual is greatly influenced by the community or the society he/she comes from. This means that the way and the manner in which an individual behaves is indicative of the society and culture he hails from. On the other hand, the mind of an individual is not dependent on any society rules or cultures. It has its own individual and unique way of perceiving things going around and of reacting to them. Psychology is all about finding the reason as to why a particular individual’s mind reacts as it does, to everything that the individual perceives. Where on one hand Sociology believes the fact that the group of people forming a society affects the behaviour of all the individuals that from a part of it, Psychology believes that whatever a person is, he/she is due to his own mind and its uniqueness in perceiving things around.
In short, we can say that Psychology is all about answering the question as to why an individual’s mind reacts to things as it does and why do people think the way they do, and why are there different emotions present? Sociology is all about determining the society to which an individual belongs based on the study as regards the different characteristic and unique features of different societies. In short, a proper and accurate relationship of an individual can be made with the groups of individuals of a society, based on the sociological study of the same.