History of Social Psychology Essay

As a scientific castigate, neighborly mental light is al unitedly a bit older than iodin hundred historic period, with or so of the harvest-feast occurring during the past five decades (McGarty & Haslam, 1997). By most standards, fond psychological science is a relatively young science.In discussing the redresss history, it should be historied that there argon deuce fond psychologies, one in psychological science and the different in sociology, with the larger of the two being the psychological set-back (Jones, 1998). The central focus of psychological affable psychology is how the private responds to mixer stimuli, whereas sociological complaisant psychology focuses on larger company or societal variables, a good deal(prenominal) as peoples socioeconomic status, their favorable roles, and cultural norms (Stryker, 1997). Although there call for been calls to merge the two friendly psychologies into a single intimacy domain (Backman, 1983)-and even a jo int psychology-sociology doctoral political program at the University of Michigan from 1946 to 1967their different orientations make it doubtful that this will flux in the foreseeable future. In this historical overview, the psychological branch of the discipline will be highlighted.Wundt and The Dawning of a Scientific Discipline 1862-1894German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1921), who is full(a)ly regarded as the fo low of psychology, had a hand in the un meterlyish development of what would become kindly psychology. In 1862, Wundt proposed that there should be two branches of psychology physiological psychology and tender or folk psychology (Vlkerpsychologie). Largely due to his influential literature, by 1900 Ger galore(postnominal)s annual bibliography of the psychological literature listed over 200 articles per year under the heading companionable psychology. in spite of his find in shaping companionable psychology in Europe, Wundts ideas had little electrical s hock on the Statesn kindly scientists because his writings were not translated into English and his conception of psychology as the science of the straits was incompatible with the wise styleist spatial relation in the fall in States that emerged during the early years of the 20th century.Underlying behaviorism was a philosophy cognize as logical positivism, which contended that k in a flashledge should be expressed in damage that could be verified empirically or through direct observation. This impudent science of behavior had little use for Wundts conception of kindly psychology. This was especially true for the neighborly psychology developing in psychology in America, but less so for sociological kind psychology. Thus, psychological kind psychology in America, which would become the rational core of the discipline, develop largely right(prenominal) the realm of Wundtian influence.The Early historic period 18951935An American psychologist at Indiana University, N orman Triplett, is generally credited with having conducted the first empirical well-disposed psychological study. In 1895 Triplett asked the following capitulum How does a persons performance of a task change when separate people are present? The question was prompted by Triplett noticing that a bicycle racers speed was faster when he was paced by opposite cyclists than when he raced further when. cosmos a racing enthusiast and desiring to learn what caused these different race successions, he devised the first amicable scientific experiment.In this study, he asked children to quickly annul line on a fishing reel either alone or in the presence of other children performing the corresponding task. As he had predicted, the children wound the line faster when in the presence of other children. Published in 1897, this study is credited with introducing the experimental method into the hearty sciences. Despite the significance of this study, it took a full generation for q ueryers to transform the friendly psychological dynamics underlying Tripletts findings (see the chapter 10 discussion of amicable facilitation). Despite this accomplishment, Triplett did nothing to establish sociable psychology as a distinct subfield of psychology.Credit for this achievement goes to the first authors of textbooks object that title, namely, English psychologist William McDougall and American sociologist Edward Ross, who each published separate texts in 1908. Consistent with the contemporary perspective in psychological socialpsychology, McDougall considered the individual to be the principal unit of analysis in this new science, composition Ross, true to the contemporary sociological social psychology perspective, highlighted groups.Despite the inauguration of this new subfield inwardly psychology and sociology, social psychology still lacked a distinct individuation. How was it different from the other subdisciplines at bottom the two larger disciplines? Wh at were its methods of inquiry? In 1924 a leash social psychology text, published by Floyd Allport (older brother of Gordon Allport), went a considerable way in answering these questions for psychological social psychology. Reading his lyric today, you can see the emerging perspective that would one day filtrate the psychological branch of the fieldI believe that only within the individual can we find the behavior mechanisms and consciousness which are first harmonic in the interactions between individuals. There is no psychology of groups which is not fundamentally and entirely a psychology of individuals. psychological science in all its branches is a science of the individual. (Allport, 1924, p. 4)Allports conception of social psychology was proposed eleven years after potty Watson ushered in the behaviorist era in American psychology. Allports brand of social psychology emphasized how the person responds to stimuli in the social environment, with the group but being one of legion(predicate) such stimuli. Beyond this emerging individualist and behaviorist stamp, Allport further cause the identity of American social psychology by extolling the virtues of the experimental method in studying such topics as conformity, nonverbal colloquy, and social facilitation. The pursuit of social psychological knowledge through carefully controlled experimental procedures would increasingly qualify the field in the coming years.As Allports conception of social psychology gained American adherents, German social psychology was being shaped by the Gestalt perspective, which rejected some(prenominal) the existing European-inspired notion of a group mind and the American individualist stand that groups were not real in themselves. Instead, Gestalt social psychologists contended that the social environmentis made up not only of individuals, but of relations between individuals, and these relationships have great psychological implications. Thus, Gestalt social psy chologists promoted an understanding of groups as real social entities, which directly led to the customs duty of group processes and group dynamics that still exists today. These two schools of thought within psychological social psychology, one in America and the other in Germany, which were developing independent of one another, would soon be thrust together due to events on the humankind scene.The Coming of Age 19361945During the first cardinal decades of the twentieth century, Allports conception of social psychology emphasized staple fiber look, with little consideration given to addressing specialised social problems or broader issues bearing on reform. However, by the mid-1930s, the discipline was poised for further growth and expansion. The events that had the superior impact on social psychology at this critical crossroads in its history were the Great Depression in the unify States and the social and political upheavals in Europe generated by the counterbalance and Second demesne Wars.Following the stock market crash of 1929, many young psychologists were ineffectual to find or hold jobs. Experiencing firsthand the impact of societal forces, many of them adopted the liberal ideals of the Roosevelt New Dealers or the more radical left wing political views of the socialist and communist parties. In 1936 these social scientists formed an brass dedicated to the scientific study of important social issues and the support for modern social action (Stagner, 1986).This organization, known as the companionship for the psychological hold of affable Issues (SPSSI), contained many social psychologists who were interested in applying their newly highly-developed theories and political activism to real-world problems. single of the important contributions of SPSSI to social psychology was, and quells to be, the infusion of morals and values into the discussion of social life. Its immediate impact on social psychology in the 1930s was to infuse a more apply character to question. New areas of research spawned during this decade were intergroup relations, leadership, propaganda, organizationalbehavior, voting behavior, and consumer behavior.In other countries, world events triggered changes that further distinguished American social psychology from its scientific cousins abroad. For example, the communist revolution in Russia at the end of the First World War led to a purging of individualist-oriented research and theorizing, a development that stood in stark contrast to the increasing focus on the individual within American social psychology. In 1936, the Soviet piths Communist Party forbids the use of psychological tests in motley applied settings, which effectively prohibited the study of individual differences. At the same time, the rise of fascism in Germany, Spain, and Italy created a strong anti-intellectual and anti-Semitic ambience in these countries.To escape this persecution, a physical body of Europes sta r social scientists, such as Fritz Heider, Gustav Ichheiser, Kurt Lewin, and Theodor Adorno, immigrated to America. When the United States entered the war, many social psychologistsboth American and European applied their knowledge of human behavior in a wide variety of wartime programs, including the selection of officers for the Office of Strategic go (the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency) and the undermining of enemy morale (Hoffman, 1992). The constructive meet resulting from this collaboration demonstrated the practical public-service corporation of social psychology.During this time of international strife, one of the most influential social psychologists was Kurt Lewin, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. Lewin was instrumental in founding SPSSI and served as its president in 1941. He firmly believed that social psychology did not have to make a choice between being either a pure science or an applied science. His oft-repeated maxim, No research with proscri bed action, and no action without research continues to influence social psychologists interested in applying their knowledge to new social problems (Ash, 1992). By the time of his death in 1947 at the age of 57, Lewin had provided many of social psychologys defining characteristics (Lewin, 1936 Lewin et al., 1939).With the end of the war, prospects were bright for social psychology inNorth America. Based on their heightened stature in the scientific community, social psychologists established new research facilities, secured government grants, and, most important, trained graduate students. These future social psychologists were predominantly white, male, and middle class. many an(prenominal) of their mentors were the European scholars who had fled their native countries and then remained in America following the war. Yet, while social psychology was flourishing in this country, the devastating effects of the world war virtually destroyed the discipline afield. In this postwar p eriod, the United States emerged as the unchallenged world power, and just as it exported its material goods to other countries, it exported its social psychology as rise up. This brand of social psychology reflected the political ideology of American society and the social problems encountered within its boundaries (Farr, 1996).Rapid expanding upon 19461969With its infusion of European intellectuals and the recently trained young American social psychologists, the maturing science of social psychology grow its theoretical and research base. To understand how a civilized society like Germany could fall under the influence of a ruthless demagogue like Adolf Hitler, Theodor Adorno and his colleagues (Adorno et al., 1950) study the psychological parameters of the despotic record. Some years later, Stanley Milgram (1963) extended this line of research in his now famous obedience experiments, which examined the conditions that make people more likely to adjust destructive authorit y figures. brotherly psychologists also focused their assist on the influence that the group had on the individual (Asch, 1956) and of the power of persuasive communication (Hovland et al., 1949). Arguably the most significant line of research and theorizing during this period was Leon Festingers theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). This theory asserted that peoples thoughts and actions were motivated by a desire to maintain cognitive consistency. The comfort of the theory and its often surprising findings generated interest and enthusiasm both within and outside of social psychology for many years. amicable psychologys concern with societal prejudice continued to assert itself during the 1950s. For example, the 1954 U.S. Supreme address decision to end the practice of racially segregated education was partly based on Kenneth Clark and Mamie Phipps Clarks research indicating that segregation negatively change the self-concept of Black children. In that same year, Gordon Allport (brother of Floyd Allport) provided a theoretical outline for how integrating might reduce racial prejudice. What came to be known as the meeting hypothesis was a social psychological blueprint for reducing hostility between groups by manipulating situational variables. This perspective toward understanding and fixing prejudice remedy fit the behaviorist social psychology practiced in America than the earlier developed authoritarian temper approach.The decade of the 1960s was a time of turmoil in the United States, with the country caught in the keep of political assassinations, urban violence, social protests, and the Vietnam War. People were searching for constructive slipway to change society for the better. Following this lead, social psychologists devoted more research time to such topics as aggression, helping, attraction, and love. The groundbreaking research of Elaine Hatfield and Ellen Berscheid (Berscheid & Hatfield, 1969 Hatfield et al., 1966) on so cial and sentimentalist attraction, for example, was not only important in widening the circumstance of social psychological inquiry, but it also generated considerable controversy outside the field. A anatomy of public officials and ordinary citizens thought social scientists should not try to understand the mysteries of romance. Less controversial was the bystander intervention research conducted by Bibb Latan and John Darley (1968), which was inspired by the 1984 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City.Despite the wariness of some, during the 1960s the federal government expanded its attempts to cure societal ills with the guidance of social scientists. Within this cultural context, the number of social psychologists rose dramatically. Among these new social scientists were an increasing number of women and, to a lesser degree, minority members. Whole new lines of inquiry into social behavior commenced, with an increasing interest inthe interaction of the social situation wi th personality factors. The multitude and diversity of these lines of research would continue into the following decades (Pion et al., 1996).Crisis and Reassesesment 19701984When social psychology first emerged from World War II and embarked on its rapid expansion, one of the pioneers in the field, Theodore Newcomb (1951), expressed concern that expectations were greater than anything that could be delivered in the pricy future. By the 1970s, when solutions to societal problems were no closer to being solved, and as the usefulness and ethics of experimental research came under increased scrutiny, a crisis of cartel emerged (Elms, 1975). When this disappointment and criticism was followed by accusations from women and minorities that past research and theory reflected the biases of a white, male-dominated view of reality, many began to reassess the fields basic premises.Fortunately, out of this crisis emerged a more vital and inclusive field of social psychology. much rigorous eth ical standards were established, and although experiments remained the method of choice, researchers began conducting more correlational studies, as well as employing other methods. Regarding accusations of racial and sex activity bias, social psychology began sorrowful toward more responsible positions, but such biases have yet to be eliminated from the discipline (Graham, 1992 Tesser & Bau, 2002). Another important development during this time period was the trade of ideas from cognitive psychology in explaining social behavior.This cognitive revolution (see p. 00) greatly enhanced theory and research in all areas of social psychology, and its impact persists today. Accompanying the social cognitive emphasis was renewed interest in the concept of the self, which previously had been the focus of only sociological social psychologists. However, with the wane influence of behaviorism, psychological social psychologists rediscovered the insights of founding social scientists such as William James, John Dewey, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead. Soon the self became a central concept within psychological social psychology.An Expanding Global and Interdisciplinary View of friendly psychology 1985presentBy the 1970s, both European and Latin American social psychological associations had been founded, and in 1995, the Asian Association of Social psychology was formed. The social psychology that developed overseas placed more emphasis on intergroup and societal variables in explaining social behavior than did its American cousin. In the mid-1980s, this overseas influence began to reshape the discipline, as social psychologists throughout the world actively exchanged ideas and collaborated on multinational studies (Fiske et al., 1998 Vala et al., 1996). Many of the new ideas about social behavior were generated by scholars from collectivist cultures who were raise within societies that have a very different perspective on the relationship between t he individual and the group than that within the societies of traditional social psychologists.Subsequent cross-cultural research found that certain social beliefs and behaviors that were previously considered universal were in actuality specialised to the socialization practices of individualist cultures. Based on these findings, considerable research attention was devoted to determining which aspects of human behavior are culture specificdue to conditions existing within a particular cultureand which ones are due to humans shared evolutionary heritage. Although social psychologys professional center of gravity still resides in the United States, European and Third World social psychology offers the entire field opportunities to escape what some consider the limitations of this gravitational pull to perceive new worlds of social reality (Shinha, 2003 Tam et al., 2003). This multicultural perspective will continue to guide research in the coming years.Contemporary social psychologi sts have also continued the legacy of Kurt Lewin and SPSSI by applying their knowledge to a wide arena of everyday life, such as law, health, education, politics, sports, and business (Ellsworth & Mauro, 1998 Kinder, 1998 Salovey et al., 1998). This interest in applying the principles and findings of social psychology is a natural outgrowth of the search for understanding.Despite the dominance of social intelligence in the 1980s, some social psychologists raised concerns about the relative lack of focus on emotions and motives in explaining social thinking. These critics of existing social cognitive theories argued that to think of motives and affect as merely end products in a central processing system was to demean social psychology. In the early 1990s, a number of social psychologists sought-after(a) to establish a more balanced view by mingle the traditional hot and cold perspectives into what some have termed the Warm Look. These revise social-cognitive theories proposed th at people employ multiple cognitive strategies based on their current goals, motives, and needs. Theorists typically developed dual-process exemplifications, meaning that social thinking and behavior is set(p) by two different ways of understanding and responding to social stimuli.One mode of learning processingrelated to the cold perspective legacyis based on effortful, reflective thinking, in which no action is taken until its potential consequences are properly weighed and evaluated. The alternative mode of processing cultivationrelated to the hot perspective legacyis based on nominal cognitive effort, in which behavior is impulsively and unintentionally activated by emotions, habits, or biological drives, often below the radar of consciousness. Which of the two avenues of information processing people take at any given time is the subject of ongoing research.This attention to both explicit and implicit comprehension has recently prompted social psychologists to explore ho w neural activity in the sensation is associated with various social psychological processes, including self-awareness, self-regulation, attitude formation and change, group interaction, and prejudice. Although the song of social psychologists who pursue such research is still relatively small, the knowledge they acquire concerning the biology of social behavior will undoubtedly influence a role in reshaping existing theories. Indeed, the U.S. federal governments National Institute of Mental Healthwhich has an annual budget of 1.3 zillion dollarshas recently given priority to research grants that combine social psychology and neuroscience.In concluding this historical overview, if the life of a scientific discipline is analogous to a persons life, then contemporary social psychology is best thought of as a young great(p) in the social sciences. Compared with some of the more established sciences, social psychology is barely dry behind the ears and still subject to growing hurt (Abrams & Hogg, 2004 Brewer, 2004 Rozin, 2001). Yet it is a discipline where new and innovative ideas are unco welcome, where new theoretical approaches and scientific methods from other scientific disciplines are on a regular basis incorporated into the study of social thinking and behavior, and where members of the discipline regularly question the social significance of their findings. In this ongoing critical self-assessment, most social psychologists are confident that their still-young science will continue revealing important insights into how we function as social creatures. Some of the milestones of the field are listed in table 1.Table 1Some Milestones in the Field of Social PsychologyThe Dawning of a New Discipline and Early long time1862 Wilhelm Wundt proposes that psychology establish human or social sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) to study the high mental processes involving language, social practices and customs, religion, and art.1897 Norman Triplett publishes th e first scientific study of social behavior, on a topic that was later called social facilitation.1900 Wundt publishes the first lot of what would become a classic 10-volume set of Vlkerpsychologie (folk or social psychology) which analyzed a wide variety of social thought and behavior.1908 Psychologist William McDougall and sociologist Edward Ross individually publish social psychology textbooks.1920 Willy Hellpach founds the first Institute for Social Psychology inGermany. Hitlers rise to power leads to the institutes transfer in 1933.1924 Floyd Allport publishes the third social psychology text, clearly identifying the focus for the psychological branch of the discipline and covering many topics that are still studied today.1925 Edward Bogardus develops the social distance scale to measure attitudes toward ethnic groups. Shortly, Louis Thurstone (1928) and Rensis Likert (1932) further throw out attitude scale development.1934 George Herbert Meads book Mind, Self, and Society is published, stressing the interaction between the self and others.The Coming-of-Age Years1936 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues is founded. Muzafir Sherif publishes The Psychology of Social Norms, describing research on norm formation.1939 John Dollard and his colleagues introduce the frustration-aggression hypothesis.19411945 Social psychologists are recruited by the U.S. government for the war effort.Rapid Expansion Years1949 Carl Hovland and his colleagues publish their first experiments on attitude change and persuasion.1950 Theodor Adorno and his colleagues publish The bossy disposition, which examines how extreme prejudice can be shaped by personality conflicts in childhood.1951 Solomon Asch demonstrates conformity to false majority judgments.1954 Gordon Allport publishes The Nature of Prejudice, which provides the framework for much of the future research on prejudice. Social psychologists provide key affirmation in the U.S. Supreme Court desegrega tion case, Brown v. Board of Education.1957 Leon Festinger publishes A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, emphasizing the need for consistency between wisdom and behavior.1958 Fritz Heider publishes The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, laying the groundwork for attribution theory.1963 Stanley Milgram publishes his obedience research, demonstrating under what conditions people are likely to obey destructive authority figures.1965 The Society of Experimental Social Psychology is founded. Edward Jones and Kenneth Davis publish their ideas on social perception, excite attribution and social cognition research.Rapid Expansion Years1966 The European Association of Experimental Social Psychology is founded. Elaine (Walster) Hatfield and her colleagues publish the first studies of romantic attraction.1968 John Darley and Bibb Latan present the bystander intervention model, explaining why people often do not help in emergencies.Crisis and Reassessment Years1972 Attribution Perceiving th e Causes of Behavior, written by six influential attribution theorists, is published. Robert Wicklund and Shelley Duval publish Objective Self-Awareness Theory, describing how self-awareness influences cognition and behavior.1974 The Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) is founded. Sandra Bem develops the Bem Sex Role line and Janet Spence and Robert Helmreich develop the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, both of which measure gender roles.1981 Alice Eagly and her colleagues begin conducting meta-analyses of gender comparisons in social behavior, reopening the debate on gender differences.1984 Susan Fiske and Shelly Taylor publish Social Cognition, summarizing theory and research on the social cognitive perspective in social psychology.The Expanding Global and Interdisciplinary View Years1986 Richard Petty and John Cacioppo publish Communication and Persuasion Central and Peripheral Routes, describing a dual-process model of persuasion.1989 Jennifer Crocker and Br enda Major publish their Psychological Review article on Social Stigma and Self-Esteem, examining how people respond to being the targets of discrimination.1991 Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama publish their Psychological Review article on how culture shapes the self.1995 Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson publish Stereotype brat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, presenting their research on how negative stereotypes can shape intellectual identity and performance.1996 David Buss and Neal Malamuth publish Sex, Power, Conflict, an edited text offering evolutionary and feminist perspectives on sex and gender interactions. A growing number of social psychologists attempt to integrate these previously divergent perspectives.(Because the passage of time ultimately determines what events significantly shape a field, I will expect a few years before adding any more milestones to this list.)