The Definition Of Social Psychology

When a social psychologist is asked to explain the meaning of their field they generally refer to a definition once quoted by Gordon Allport “Social psychology is the attempt to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or applied presence of other individuals”. Social psychology concerns the relationships between individuals and their society or culture, considered both synchronically & diachronically. A relatively recent field, social psychology has nonetheless had a significant impact not only on the academic worlds of psychology, sociology, and the social sciences in general, but has also affected public understanding and expectation of human social behaviour.

Many of which would not be considered social psychology today. Behavioural and psychoanalytic schools were dominant in the USA at this time very much concerned with behaviouristic theories. B. Watson and B.F. Skinner denied the scientific validity of explanations for behaviour thta invoke mental events like thoughts, feelings and emotions.Radical behaviousrist ideas like scuh believed human activitys may only be explnaed by means of observing the influence of their surrounf=dunding environmenatal stimuli. Such views are very much distinct from the focus of social psychology today which addresses processes involving individual perception and cognition. Adolf Hitler was once said to be the character who has had the greatest impact on the field of social psychology. His part in World War 2 greatly stimulated interest in social psychological research. He changed the idea of social psychology in the USA as people became interested and sought explanation for the newly developed Nazi

During and after the war many social psychologists studied attitude. The 1940s and 1950s, in social psychology very much concentrated on group influences, attitudes and attitude change.. The conditions crated by the war drew social psychologists into the search for solutions to immediate practical problems. During this tome many psychologists were recruited to conduct experiments on the effectiveness of information and training programs on the motivation and change of attitude of individuals. Nazi Propaganda sparked interest in persuasion and social co-operation research. Propaganda tools such as films, poster, magazines, radios etc. were assessed to monitor how they might instil attitude change among a population and sunsequently benefit the USA in this time of crisis. Problems facing the USA at the time included a war, food shaortages and a ever growing breeze of depression. Finding solutions to answer the problems at hand were only ging to be solved by actually understanding reasons for public behaviour . Public opiionin polls were set up in 1936 by George Gallup to capture the public view on the