Social Psychology (redirected from Social psychology (interdisciplinary))

social psychology

Branch of psychology concerned with the personality, attitudes, motivations, and behaviour of the individual or group in the context of social interaction. The field emerged in the U.S. in the 1920s. Topics include the attribution of social status based on perceptual cues, the influence of social factors (such as peers) on a person's attitudes and beliefs, the functioning of small groups and large organizations, and the dynamics of face-to-face interactions.

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social psychology [′sō·shəl sī′käl·ə·jē]

(psychology)

The study of the manner in which the attitudes, personality, and motivations of the individual influence, and are influenced by, the structure, dynamics, and behavior of the social group with which the individual interacts.

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Social Psychology 

the scientific discipline that studies psychological traits of social groups and the regularities of human behavior as determined by people’s membership in these groups.

For a long time, the issues raised by social psychology were studied within the context of various philosophical doctrines. The sources of many contemporary sociopsychological problems may be traced back to concepts developed by Plato and Aristotle. Elements of social psychology were formed within the framework of specific scientific disciplines, mainly psychology and sociology, but also anthropology, ethnography, criminology, and linguistics. The first attempts to establish independent sociopsychological concepts were made in the late 19th century. During this period, the German philosophers M. Lazarus, H. Steinthal, and W. Wundt developed the concept of ethnic psychology, the lawyer S. Sighele and the French sociologist G. Le Bon the concept of crowd behavior, and the American psychologist W. MacDougall the theory of the instincts of social behavior. Social psychology is considered to have come into existence in 1908 with the simultaneous publication of works by MacDougall and the American sociologist E. Ross; these works included the term “social psychology” in their titles.

Non-Marxist social psychology was further developed by 20th-century American social psychology, which was given a new social mandate after World War I to develop methods for controlling sociopsychological phenomena in industry, the army, and the mass media. A program was established for structuring social psychology as an experimental scientific discipline (F. Allport, USA; W. Moede, Germany), which found its greatest practical applications in the USA.

American social psychology has developed within the frame-work of the experimental tradition and has been oriented toward the solution of applied problems. It has made considerable achievements in the study of many specific phenomena, including the structure and dynamics of small groups, interpersonal relationships, and the means and mechanisms of communication. The methods used in studying these phenomena have been effective, resulting in the accumulation of reliable primary data. However, American social psychology abandoned the European tradition of analyzing the psychology of large groups (nations, masses), gave absolute preponderance to laboratory experiments, and placed too much emphasis on small groups. As a result, research in American social psychology was modeled after individual psychology, whose principles and methods were automatically applied to social psychology. American psychology has now come under increasing criticism in the West from many European authors, including S. Moscovici and H. Tajfel, as well as by some American authors, for underestimating theoretical, including sociophilosophical, issues and disregarding present-day social problems.

The principal initial premises of Marxist social psychology were expressed in the classics of Marxism-Leninism. They include a materialist understanding of history and the relationship between individual and social consciousness and a view of personality as an aggregate of social relationships. In the 1920’s the materialist restructuring of social psychology was keenly debated in the USSR within the framework of general discussions on the future of the psychological sciences. The practical development of sociopsychological research based on Marxist methodology was initiated in the late 1950’s. Soviet social psychology is based both on the principles of Marxist sociology and materialist psychology (the principle of the unity of consciousness and action). The Marxist tradition in social psychology is also being developed in other socialist countries. Of great importance are the controversies over such trends as neobehaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitivism, and interactionism.

Contemporary social psychology mainly deals with general issues in the theory, methodology, and history of social psychology, the laws governing social interactions (in particular, the connection between social relations and interpersonal relations), and the characteristics of large social groups (nations, classes). Studies are also made of small groups, including their structure, conditions of their formation, and their influence on personality, leadership, and group decisions. Personality studies include studies of socialization and attitudes. The field of applied studies is presently concerned with the sociopsychological problems of management, the mass media, and antisocial behavior. Sociopsychological issues arise in the development of many contiguous scientific disciplines, including linguistics, criminology, demography, and ethnography.

From a Marxist perspective, the main goal of social psychology is not the elaboration of methods for manipulating personality, as is the case, for example, with the “behavioral technology” of B. F. Skinner (USA). The main goal is the improvement of the system of managing social processes. From this point of view it is important to define the degree to which social psychology may contribute to the solution of specific problems facing society, to develop adequate methods and techniques and cease viewing laboratory experiments as the only adequate method of research, and to apply methods permitting the analysis of the laws of human behavior in real social groups and under the real conditions of human activity. In addition to experiments, social psychology employs sociologic methods, including surveys, observations, and tests.

REFERENCES

Problemy obshchestvennoipsikhologii. Moscow, 1965.
Kuz’min, E. S. Osnovy sotsial’noi psikhologii. [Leningrad] 1967.
Shibutani, T. Sotsial’naia psikhologiia. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English.)
Parygin, B. D. Osnovy sotsial’no-psikhologicheskoi teorii. Moscow, 1971.
Petrovskii, A. V. “Na putiakh razvitiia sotsial’noi psikhologii v SSSR.” Voprosy psikhologii, 1971, no. 6.
Hiebsch, H. and M. Vorwerg. Vvedenie v marksistskuiu sotsial’nuiu psikhologiiu. Moscow, 1972. (Translated from German.)
Andreeva, G. M. “Metodologicheskie problemy sovremennogo razvitiia amerikanskoi sotsial’noi psikhologii.” Voprosy psikhologii, 1974, no. 2.
Sotsial’naia psikhologiia. Moscow, 1975.
The Handbook of Social Psychology, 2nd ed., vols. 1-2, 4-5. Reading, Mass., 1968.
McDavid, J., and H. Harari. Social Psychology: Individuals, Groups, Societies. New York, 1968.
Sherif, M., and C. Sherif. Social Psychology. New York, 1969.
The Context of Social Psychology: A Critical Assessment. Edited by J. Israel and H. Tajfel. London-New York, 1972.

G. M. ANDREEVA