SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

the scientific study of human behaviour in its social and cultural setting. It was in the 1920s that empirical methods first came to be used to provide data on the relation between social forces and individual behaviour. The pioneering work in social psychology was done in the United States. Although social psychology has since become an international discipline, U.S. researchers have continued to have a major influence in the field. Social psychology includes a wide range of studies. Among these is the relation between social factors and perception. Social psychologists, for example, examine how a person judges the social status of other people on the basis of perceptual cues and how a person's own social circumstancessuch as membership in certain groupsaffects his or her perceptions in general. A related area of study involves the influence of social factors on a person's attitudes and beliefs. One of the principal concerns of social psychologists is the functioning of groups. Studies of small groupse.g., families, committees, or groups of workers in a factorygather data on such matters as the relative effectiveness of groups and individuals at accomplishing certain tasks, the different forms of group leadership, and conformity to standards set by the group. Researchers examine the dynamics of large social organizationse.g., an army or the labour force at a factoryto determine such matters as the procedures for communicating within the organization, the distribution of decision making and other forms of power, and the interaction of different influences on members' behaviour. Contemporary research, especially in industrial relations, has considered how the structure of an organization can be changed and what the effects of such changes are likely to be. Social psychologists frequently investigate socialization, i.e., the ways in which social factors shape an individual's personality and the ways in which an individual's behaviour varies according to changes in the social setting. A variety of influences on personality formation have been studied, many having to do with childhood. Sigmund Freud's views on children's psychological development, for example, have led some social psychologists to consider how social forces act on children at each stage of growth. There are two principal sources of the data used in social psychologyexperiments and fieldwork. Researchers devise experiments to be performed on subjects in a laboratory setting. This procedure has been criticized as being artificial, since such experiments lack the richness of actual social interactions and can be strongly affected by the subjects' awareness of being observed. Fieldwork, in which researchers collect observations of social interactions in their actual setting, also has limitations, however. Researchers are not always welcome in certain settings, and, as in the laboratory, the presence of observers may influence those being observed. As the discipline has grown, social psychology has found numerous applications, particularly in the many areas of social work. Mental health agencies, for example, often employ social psychologists to investigate the social aspects of psychiatric problems and to devise effective programs of treatment. Social psychology also has proved useful in business, particularly in employee relations. Social psychologists may be used to advise companies how to choose, train, and reward workers and how to organize production processes to lessen worker dissatisfaction. Social psychologists' research on consumer attitudes is often used to help design advertising campaigns. the scientific study of the behaviour of individuals in their social and cultural setting. Although the term may be taken to include the social activity of laboratory animals or those in the wild, the emphasis here is on human social behaviour. Once a relatively speculative, intuitive enterprise, social psychology has become an active form of empirical investigation, the volume of research literature having risen rapidly after about 1925. Social psychologists now have a substantial volume of observation data covering a range of topics; the evidence remains loosely coordinated, however, and the field is beset by many different theories and conceptual schemes. Early impetus in research came from the United States, and much work in other countries has followed U.S. tradition, though independent research efforts are being made elsewhere in the world. Social psychology is being actively pursued in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Scandinavia, Japan, and Russia. Most social psychologists are members of university departments of psychology; others are in departments of sociology or work in such applied settings as industry and government. Much research in social psychology has consisted of laboratory experiments on social behaviour, but this approach has been criticized in recent years as being too stultifying, artificial, and unrealistic. Much of the conceptual background of research in social psychology derives from other fields of psychology. While learning theory and psychoanalysis were once most influential, cognitive and linguistic approaches to research have become more popular; sociological contributions also have been influential. Social psychologists are employed, or used as consultants, in setting up the social organization of businesses and psychiatric communities; some work to reduce racial conflict, to design mass communications ( e.g., advertising), and to advise on child rearing. They have helped in the treatment of mental patients and in the rehabilitation of convicts. Fundamental research in social psychology has been brought to the attention of the public through popular books and in the periodical press. Additional reading Excellent general textbooks include Edwin P. Hollander, Principles and Methods of Social Psychology, 2nd ed. (1971); and Roger W. Brown, Social Psychology (1965). A comprehensive account of research is G. Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology, 2nd ed., 5 vol. (196869). A useful account of theories is Marvin E. Shaw and Philip R. Constanza, Theories of Social Psychology (1970). Social psychology approached through detailed analysis of social interaction is described in Michael Argyle, Social Interaction (1969). Research on social psychology in industry is described in Bernard M. Bass, Organizational Psychology (1965). Social behaviour in relation to personality is dealt with in Edgar F. Borgatta and William W. Lambert (eds.), Handbook of Personality Theory and Research (1968). A so-called symbolic interactionist approach is represented by Gregory P. Stone and Harvey A. Farberman, Social Psychology Through Symbolic Interaction (1970); and by Erving Goffman, Relations in Public (1971).