Was 1898 a "great date" in the history of experimental social psychology?

Abstract

It is customary for modern social psychology textbooks to claim that experimental social psychology began in 1898, the year in which Norman Triplett published the results of his investigation into the dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. An historical enquiry shows this claim to be quite without foundation, and it is postulated that the Triplett experiment functions as an “origin myth” which is sustained by inductivist approaches to the history of psychology. Early experimental studies of suggestion are here examined in order to demonstrate the difficulties involved in tracing the origins of experimental social psychology.