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1Chapter 1: Introducing social psychology
So what is social psychology?
Social psychology: The study of an individual as a member of a social group. It
studies behaviour in groups, organizations and populations, how people think
about, influence and relate to one another, and the mutual influence
between groups and individuals. It contains several subdisciplines, such as
cognitive, neurological, organizational, clinical, personality, health and
developmental psychology.
A brief history of social psychology
The first social psychology experiments were reported in 1898 in France, Italy,
Germany and the USA. Social psychology does however, have a much longer
history. 200-300 years ago, social psychology was also studied, but in a different
way: by the rationalistic-tradition; now > empirical.
FOCUS ON
Empiricism: All evidence must be observable by the senses.
Rationalism: Philosophy, the Socratic inquiry. The truth cannot be reached
through the use of sense, but is intellectual and deductive. Some rationalist
researchers state that, in principle, all knowledge, including scientific knowledge,
could be gained through the use of reason alone, especially in areas such as
mathematics.
ENGLAND: Hume (1937) in Treatise on Human Nature dealt with passions and
strong emotions and the relationship between the self and others. In an essay, he
stated that there are differences in national traits, which was the forerunner of
Alport’s The Nature of Prejudice (1954). In 1957, Adam Smith reasoned that our
self is largely influenced by other people, which was adopted by other
psychologists.
GERMANY: In the 18th century, Kant studied knowledge, the self, manipulation,
power. Kant argued that these topics should be studied as anthropology, as
psychology could never be mathematically tested. His ideas formed gestalt
psychology: studies a holistic theory of mind and brain, focussing on
perceptions and impressions. It is not just about the sum of parts, but about the
whole. In the 1930s, Lewin thought that social psychology should be about social
change and reform; this idea is still influential today.
Völkerpsychologie: Beliefs that the same social groups tend to think the same
way, invented by Herbart. He thought the human is nothing outside the society.
Because of this finding, he is now seen as the founder of social psychology.
Wilhelm Wundt studied Völkerpsychologie as well, and he made a distinction
between individual and social psychology. He thought psychology should be
studied in a lab and is therefore called the father of experimental
psychology.
FOCUS ON: Wilhelm Wundt and Völkerpsychologie
, 2
He thought that the main concern for the psychologist should be the individual
consciousness. He recognized that social customs and morals influence individual
thought and behaviour; later, however, he argued that these were the product of
his own instinct. Völkerpsychologie is tied to mental collectivities; it is not just the
study of a whole society, but it must be seen as to complement the study of
individual psychology. Gustav Jahonda (2007) noted that even Wundt was later
embarrassed by his own claims (people in the north feel cold because of an
abundance of alcoholic beverages, while people in warmer countries are more
lazy because of an abundance of food). Wundt said that the individual mind
should be studied by experimentation, however, he did not think that the
collective mind could ever be studied in the same way. Jahonda also noted that
Wundt is now probably seen as one of the founding fathers of social psychology,
because the name Völkerspychologie can be translated into social psychology.
Otherwise, it is not very logical to have called him the founding father, beause
Wundt focussed more on the individual than on the social.
FRANCE: Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is regarded by many as one of the
founders of social psychology. He claimed social psychology could be studied
with the same methods any other scientific study could be studied (positivism:
knowledge can only be achieved through sense perception and empirical
investigation). Le Bon wrote a very influential book and Durkeim was influential
as well, because he made a distinction between individual thought and
collective thought, which shaped Moscovici’s social representations theory.
Triplett (1898) is credited with the first psychology experiment that studied how
people’s behaviour is influenced by other people’s behaviour (cyclists cycled
faster when competing against others than when competing against the clock,
tried this with winding up fishing rods).
USA: William James is seen as the founder of North American psychology and he
dealt with the “social self” (the recognition a man gets from his mates) > A man
has many social selves.
George Herbert Mead also studied the self (published in 1930); he combined
Darwinism with other scientific issues, such as communication.
1908: A crucial year?
Two textbooks with the title “social psychology” were published.
- McDougall’s book was influenced by evolutionary theory and Darwinism. He
thought that humans have a certain disposition (acquired through evolution) that
enabled social life. Evolutionary psychology: Tries to explain behaviour and
cognition by means of evolutionary processes;
- Ross: He studied the relationship between individuals and their group.
In Europe, social psychology is more focussed on group relations. In the USA,
social psychology concerns itself more with social psychology of individuals
(Allport).
The crisis in social psychology
In the 1960s/70s, two criticisms of social psychology arose:
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