Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:56:11.704Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Social Psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2019

By
Cathy Faye
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Wade E. Pickren
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Wade E. Pickren
Affiliation:
Ithaca College, New York
Get access

Summary

Social psychology is commonly defined as the study of the social aspects of cognition, emotion, and behavior. This chapter traces the history of this field of study in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. Early twentieth-century social psychologists sought a field of inquiry that answered the pressing social questions of the day, suited the individualistic climate of the United States, and corresponded with the ethos of the new scientific psychology. By the 1920s, many psychologists were practicing a social psychology that focused on the scientific study of the social aspects of individual life. In the years between the two World Wars, the field expanded, with the founding of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the application of social psychological research to real-world problems, and the expansion of research topics. World War II brought funding, interdisciplinary collaboration, and expanded research opportunities, resulting in unprecedented growth for social psychology. By the 1950s, the field was well established as a permanent and prominent part of the landscape of the behavioral sciences. Though its subject matter, practices, and methods have repeatedly been the subject of debate and critique, social psychology continues to thrive as a subfield of psychology.

Keywords

social psychologypsychologyhistory of sociologyhistory of psychologyhistory of sciencehistory of social sciencesindividualismcollectivism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Intellectual History of Psychology , pp. 318 - 344
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allport, F. H. (1920). The influence of the group upon association and thought. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 159–182. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0067891Google Scholar
Allport, F. H. (1924). Social Psychology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Allport, F. H., & Allport, G. W. (1921). Personality traits: Their classification and measurement. Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, 16, 6–40. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0069790.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W. (1935). Attitudes. In Murchison, C. (Ed.), A Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. 798–844). Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W. (1954). The historical background of modern social psychology. In Lindzey, G. (Ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology: Vol. 1 (pp. 3–56). Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W., & Boring, E. G. (1946). Psychology and social relations at Harvard University. American Psychologist, 1, 119–122. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061868.Google Scholar
Aronson, E., & Aronson, J. (2012). The Social Animal (11th ed.). New York: Worth.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193(5), 31–35. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1155-31.Google Scholar
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 70, 1–70.Google Scholar
Baldwin, J. M. (1896). A new factor in evolution. American Naturalist 30, 441–451, 536–553. https://doi.org/10.1086/276408.Google Scholar
Baldwin, J. M. (1897). The psychology of social organization. Psychological Review, 4, 482–514. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0072331.Google Scholar
Barberis, D. (2003). In search of an object: Organicist sociology and the reality of society in fin-de-siècle France. History of the Human Sciences, 16, 51–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/09526951030163004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R. R. (2016). Charting the future of social psychology on stormy seas: Winners, losers, and recommendations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 153–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.02.003.Google Scholar
Benschop, R., & Draaisma, D (2000). In pursuit of precision: The calibration of minds and machines in late nineteenth-century psychology. Annals of Science, 57, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burnham, W. H. (1910). The group as a stimulus to mental activity. Science (New Series), 31, 571–567. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.31.803.761.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. S., Goodnow, J. J., & Austin, G. A. (1956). A Study of Thinking. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Capshew, J. H. (1999). Psychologists on the March: Science, Practice, and Professional Identity in America, 1929–1969. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cartwright, D. (1948). Social psychology in the United States during the Second World War. Human Relations, 1, 333–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674800100305.Google Scholar
Cartwright, D. (1950). The Research Center for Group Dynamics: A Report of Five Years’ Activities and a View of Future Needs. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Cartwright, D. (1979). Contemporary social psychology in historical perspective. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 82–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/3033880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Case, C. M. (1922). Instinctive and cultural factors in group conflicts. American Journal of Sociology, 28, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1086/213423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, K. B., & Clark, M. P. (1947). Racial identification and preference in negro children. In Newcomb, T. & Hartley, E. (Eds.), Readings in Social Psychology (pp. 169–178). New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Collier, G., Minton, H. L., & Reynolds, G. (1991). Currents of Thought in American Social Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribner.Google Scholar
Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the Mind: How Psychology Found Its Language. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danziger, K. (2000). Making social psychology experimental: A conceptual history, 1920–1970. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 36, 329–347. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(200023)36:4<329::AID-JHBS3>3.0.CO;2-5.Google Scholar
Dashiell, J. F. (1935). Experimental studies of the influence of social situations on the behavior of individual human adults. In Murchison, C. (Ed.), A Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. 1097–1158). Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, J. (1884). The new psychology. Andover Review, 2, 278–289.Google Scholar
Earp, B. D., & Trafimow, D. (2015). Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology. Frontiers of Psychology, 6, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00621.Google Scholar
Ellwood, C. A. (1899). Prolegomena to social psychology: I. The need of the study of social psychology. American Journal of Sociology, 4, 656–665. https://doi.org/10.1086/210838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elms, A. C. (1975). The crisis of confidence in social psychology. American Psychology, 30, 967–976. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.30.10.967.Google Scholar
Faye, C. (2007). Governing the grapevine: The study of rumor during World War II. History of Psychology, 10, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/1093-4510.10.1.1.Google Scholar
Faye, C. (2012). American social psychology: Examining the contours of the 1970s crisis. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 43, 514–521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2011.11.010.Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gault, R. H. (1921). The standpoint of social psychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, 16, 41–46. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0073113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gergen, K. J. (1973). Social psychology as history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 309–320. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0034436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Good, J. M. M. (2000). Disciplining social psychology: A case study of boundary relations in the history of the human sciences. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 4, 383–403. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(200023)36:4<383::AID-JHBS6>3.0.CO;2-L.Google Scholar
Graumann, C. F. (1986). The individualization of the social and the desocialization of the individual: Floyd H. Allport’s contribution to social psychology. In Graumann, C. F. & Moscovici, S. (Eds.), Changing Conceptions of Crowd Mind and Behavior (pp. 95–116). New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Green, C. D. (2009). Darwinian theory, functionalism, and the first American psychological revolution. American Psychologist, 64, 75–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013338.Google Scholar
Greenwood, J. D. (2004). The Disappearance of the Social in American Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Guérin, B. (1993). Social Facilitation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heider, F. (1958). The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Herman, E. (1995). The Romance of American Psychology: Political Culture in the Age of Experts. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Herskovitz, M. J., & Willey, M. M. (1923). The cultural approach to sociology. American Journal of Sociology, 29, 188–199. https://doi.org/10.1086/213579.Google Scholar
Hocking, W. E. (1921). The dilemma in the conception of the instinct, as applied to human psychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, 16, 73–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0073287.Google Scholar
House, J. S., Juster, F. T., Kahn, R. L., Schuman, H., & Singer, E. (2014). A Telescope on Society: Survey Research and Social Science at the University of Michigan and Beyond. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Hovland, C. I., Lumsdaine, A. A., & Sheffield, F. D. (1949). Experiments on Mass Communication. (Studies in Social Psychology in World War II), Vol. 3. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Humphrey, G. (1922). The conditioned reflex and the elementary social reaction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, 17, 113–119. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0065331.Google Scholar
Jackson, J. P. Jr. (2001). Social Scientists for Social Justice: Making the Case against Segregation. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Judd, C. H. (1910). Evolution and consciousness. Psychological Review, 17, 77–97. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0071801.Google Scholar
Kantor, J. R. (1922). How is a science of social psychology possible? Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, 17, 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1037.h0066777.Google Scholar
Kelley, H. H. (1980). The causes of behavior: Their perception and regulation. In Festinger, L. (Ed.), Retrospections on Social Psychology (pp. 78–108). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kevles, D. J. (1968). Testing the army’s intelligence: Psychologists and the military in World War I. Journal of American History, 55, 565–581. https://doi.org/10.2307/1891014.Google Scholar
Klautke, E. (2010). The mind of the nation: The debate about Völkerpsychologie, 1851–1900. Central Europe, 8, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1179/174582110X12676382921428.Google Scholar
Klineberg, O. (1927). Racial differences in speed and accuracy. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 22, 273–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074665.Google Scholar
Klineberg, . (1935). Negro Intelligence and Selective Migration. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Krech, D., & Crutchfield, R. S. (1948). Theory and Problems of Social Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Kruglanski, A. W., & Stroebe, W. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of the History of Social Psychology. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Leahey, T. S. (2012). A History of Psychology: From Antiquity to Modernity (7th ed.). New York: Pearson.Google Scholar
Lindzey, G., & Aronson, E. (1985). Handbook of Social Psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Marrow, A. J. (1969). The Practical Theorist: The Life and Work of Kurt Lewin. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Martindale, D. (1976). American sociology before World War II. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 121–143. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.02.080176.001005.Google Scholar
May, M. A. (1971). A retrospective view of the Institute of Human Relations at Yale. Cross-Cultural Research, 6, 141–172.Google Scholar
McDougall, W. (1908). Introduction to Social Psychology. New York: John W. Luce.Google Scholar
McKenzie, R. D. (1922). The neighborhood: A study of local life in the city of Columbus, Ohio – Concluded. American Journal of Sociology, 27, 780–799. https://doi.org/10.1086/213416.Google Scholar
Mead, G. H. (1910). Social consciousness and the consciousness of meaning. Psychological Bulletin, 7, 397–405. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0074293.Google Scholar
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 371–378.Google Scholar
Miller, G. A. (2003). The cognitive revolution: A historical perspective. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 141–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00029-9.Google Scholar
Murphy, G., (Ed.) (1945). Human Nature and Enduring Peace. New York: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Murphy, G., & Murphy, L. B. (1931). Experimental Social Psychology. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Myers, D. G. (2012). Exploring Social Psychology (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
National Science Foundation (2015). Science and engineering doctorates: Doctorate recipients by subfield. www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/data.cfm.Google Scholar
Nicholson, I. (1997). The politics of scientific social reform, 1936–1960: Goodwin Watson and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 33, 39–60. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1520-6696(199724)33:1<39::AID-JHBS2>3.0.CO;2-F.Google Scholar
Open Science Collaboration (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4716.Google Scholar
Park, R. E. (1921). Sociology and the social sciences: The social organism and the collective mind. American Journal of Sociology, 27, 1–21. https://doi.org/ 10.1086/213265.Google Scholar
Ritzer, G., & Stepnisky, J. (2018). Modern Sociological Theory (8th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M. J. (1965). When dissonance fails: On eliminating evaluation apprehension from attitude measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1, 28–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0021647.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1969). Artifact in Behavioral Research. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ross, D. (1991). The Origins of American Social Science. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press.Google Scholar
Ross, E. A. (1908). Social Psychology: An Introduction and Source Book. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rudmin, R. (1985). William McDougall in the history of social psychology. British Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 75–76. https://doi.org/10.111/j.2044-8309.1985.tb00662.x.Google Scholar
Ryan, J. W. (2013). Samuel Stouffer and the GI Survey: Sociologists and Soldiers during the Second World War. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.Google Scholar
Schweber, L. (2001). Manipulation and population statistics in nineteenth-century France and England. Social Research, 68, 547–582.Google Scholar
Seashore, S. E. (1958). The Institute for Social Research. In Shaw, W. B. & Donnelly, W. A. (Eds.), The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey (Vol. 4) (pp. 1549–1558). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Sewell, W. H. (1989). Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology. Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 1–16.Google Scholar
Sherif, M. (1935). A study of some social factors in perception. Archives of Psychology (Columbia University), 187, 60.Google Scholar
Sherif, M., & Sherif, C. W. (1953). Groups in Harmony and Tension. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Smith, R. (1997). The Norton History of the Human Sciences. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Smith, S., & Guthrie, E. R. (1923). General Psychology in Terms of Behavior. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Stangor, C., & Lemay, E. (Eds.) (2016). Special issue: Rigorous and replicable methods in social psychology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 1–166.Google Scholar
Tarde, G. (1903). The Laws of Imitation. Translated by Parson, E. C.. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Triplett, N. (1898). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507–533.Google Scholar
Tryon, R. C. (1963). Psychology in flux: The academic-professional bipolarity. American Psychologist, 18, 134–143.Google Scholar
Van Ginneken, J. (1992). Crowds, Psychology, and Politics, 1871–1899. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Van Lange, P. A. M., Kruglanski, A. W., & Higgins, E. T. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology (2 vols.). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Wansink, B. (2002). Changing eating habits on the home front: Lost lessons from World War II research. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 21, 90–99. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.21.1.90.17614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washburn, M. F. (1903). The genetic function of movement and organic sensations for social consciousness. American Journal of Psychology, 14, 73–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/1412306.Google Scholar
Washburn, M. F. (1908). [Review of the book Social Psychology]. Philosophical Review, 17, 666.Google Scholar
Young, P. T. (1923). Individual, racial and social psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 20, 642–649. https://doi.org/10.1037.h0064334.Google Scholar
Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Cognitive theories in psychology. In Lindzey, G. & Aronson, E. (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (2nd. ed., pp. 320–411). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×