Social Psychology

Abstract

Social psychology has been defined by Allport as the scientific study of how “the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.” Social psychological topics permeate all aspects of social life. The main focus of this discipline has been scientific and positivistic – studying what is, for the most part, observable and measurable, with an emphasis on empiricism. This entry examines the sociohistorical events in American and British social psychologies, which helped to create the discipline's scientific basis. It also considers some well‐known experiments in the history of social psychology, the “crisis” years, and concludes with the current status of social psychology as a discipline where social cognition and social neuroscience, evolutionary social psychology, collectivist/cultural, and discursive theories are popular explanations for social behavior.