Scientific method in social psychology.

Abstract

The student of social psychology has attempted to use the same scientific approach as in the exact sciences--considering the subject as remote, or apart, from himself. The data of the social sciences are found to be those of experience--common experience--which can be recognized by the individual only as he lives them. The expression may be pathological and non-functioning, as in unfounded fears and hopes, or it may be more healthful and socially integrated, as in the coordinated performance of a common task, but in either case it is the experience which becomes the subject-matter of a social investigation. For the social psychologist, the only possibility for investigation of his material lies in submitting the conditions of control those social interrelationships of which he is an element. The social scientist, within the social organism of which he is a part, may become sensitive to the presence of those attitudes and impulses which, in their extreme form, are responsible for the major social disorders of the day. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)