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History of Social Psychology

Social Psychology is a scientific study of human behavior in social groups. It attempts to understand that how an individual’s behavior, thoughts and feelings are influenced by others in different social situations.

Social Psychology emerged as a new discipline in the 19th century. The theory of Social Psychology is a product of the scholastic contributions of Psychologists and Sociologists. For this reason, Social Psychology is generally viewed as a branch of both Psychology and Sociology. Psychologists focus on understanding the underlying psychological factors of human behavior such as emotions, feeling, cognition, attitudes memories, learning, and unique experiences. On the other hand, sociologists focus on understanding social factors of human behavior such as social experience, norms, values, customs, social dynamics, social interactions, and social influence. The growing focus of social scientists on human behavior by considering the psychological as well as sociological dynamics of behavior under a single discipline led to the emergence of Social Psychology.

The history of Social Psychology can be explained in terms of the following periods:

  1. Dawn of Social Psychology (1964 – 1934)
  2. Early-stage of Social Psychology (1935 - 1945)
  3. Expansion stage of Social Psychology (1946 – 1984)
  4. The modern stage of Social Psychology (1985 – onwards)

   DAWN OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1962 – 1934)

The German Psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1921) is viewed as the founder of Psychology. He was the first Psychologist to propose social psychology as a branch of general psychology in 1868. He published many articles under the title of ‘Social Psychology’ to explain that apart from mental processes and psychological factors, there are also social factors that shape human behavior. In spite of his widely accepted efforts for establishing the discipline of Social Psychology, his ideas had little influence on American Social thinkers because his literary works were not translated into English.

The year-wise contributions of renowned social scientists towards the establishment of social psychology are as follows:

1898: Norman Triplet conducted the first laboratory experiment to understand the mutual impact of actions of individuals and published the results which were later on known as social facilitation.

1900: Wilhelm Wundt published the first volume to explain social behavior which later on emerged as a  significant theory of Social Psychology (Volkerpsychologie).

1908: The textbooks of Social Psychology were published by William McDougal, a Psychologist and Edward Ross, a Sociologist.

1920: The first Institute of Social Psychology was founded by Willy Hellpach in Germany in 1920.

1924: The third volume of Social Psychology was published by Floyd Allport which covers the important areas of modern Social Psychology.

1925: The Social-Distance Scale was developed by Edward Bogardus to measure an individual’s or group’s attitude towards (individuals of) another ethnic group. This scale was further advanced by Louis Thurstone in 1928 and Rensis Likert in 1932.

1934: The known book ‘Mind, Self & Society’ was published by G.H Mead which focused on the interaction of self and others.

   EARLY STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1935 – 1945)

This early stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1936: The Psychology of Social Norms was published by Muzaffar Sherif.

1938: The frustration-aggression hypothesis was introduced by John Dollard to understand the nature of frustration leading to aggression in social interactions.

1941 to 1945: U.S government recruited many Social Psychologists to help the victims of world war and to understand the socio-psychological factors leading to and controlling wars.

   EXPANSION STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1946 – 1984)

This expansion stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1949: An experiment on attitude change and persuasion, the important area of Social Psychology, was conducted and findings were published by Car Hovland.

1954: Prejudice is an important topic of Social Psychology that was explored and published by Gordon Allport.

1957: The theory of Cognitive Dissonance was published by Leon Festinger. The theory of Cognitive Dissonance is an important area of the subject matter of Social Psychology.

1958: ‘The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships’ as a base for attribution theory was published by Fritz Heider.

1963: The research findings to explore ‘the phenomena of obedience towards authoritative individuals’ were published by Stanley Milgram.

1965: ‘The Society of Experimental Social Psychology’ was founded.

1966: ‘The European Association of Experimental Social Psychology’ was founded.

1968: Bibb Latane & John Darley presented the ‘Bystander Intervention Model’ to explain why an individual may not help in an emergency.

1968: The Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) was founded.

1981: A study with the title ‘The meta-analysis of gender disparities in behavior’ was conducted by Alice Eagly along with her collaborators.

1985: Shelly Taylor & Susan Fiske published ‘Social Cognition Theory’ to elaborate cognitive perspectives of Social Psychology.

   MODERN STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1985 – onwards)

This modern stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1986: The theory of ‘Communication & Persuasion – Central & Peripheral Routes’ was published by John Cacioppo and Richard Petty. It explains the two dimensions of Persuasion for an attitude change in Social Psychology.

1989: An article with the title of ‘Social Stigma & Self Esteem’ was published by Brenda and Jennifer Crocker. It focuses on how an individual responds to being a target of stigmatization and discrimination.

1991: An article on the important area of Social Psychology ‘How culture shapes the self’ was published by Shinobu Kitayama and Hazel Markus.

1995: An article with the title of ‘Stereotype Threat & Intellectual-Test Performance’ was published by Joshua Aronson & Claude Steele. It explains how a negative stereotype shapes intellectual performance and identity.