History of social psychology

PSYCHOLOGY 305 / 305G

Social Psychology

History of Social Psychology

2005

Lecturer: James Neill

Overview

?Long past, short history

?Social Darwinianism

?‘Group mind’–late 19th century ?Volkerpsychologie –‘folk psychology’

?Le Bon (1895) ‘crowd psychology’?Triplett’s first experiment (1897)

?Post WWI & Attitude Scaling

?Group Processes & WWII: 1930’s –1950’s ?Cognitive, Crisis, Social Identity Theory & Social Constructionism: 1960’s -present

Long past, Short history “Psychology has a long

past, but only a short

history.”

-Herman Ebbinghaus,

Summary of Psychology

Long past, Short history

“People have probably been asking social psychological questions for as long as humans could think about each other. Certainly, Plato offered keen insights into many social psychological issues. But no systematic and scientific study of social psychological issues developed until the end of the nineteenth century.”

-Brehm, Kassin, & Fein (2005, p.12)

Long past, Short history

90% of social psychologists who had

ever lived were still

alive in 1979

-Dorwin Cartright (Brehm, et al, 2005)

Long past, Short history

‘Social psychology’as a term came into common usage around

the turn of the 20th

century.

Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory

mid-late 1800’s -1

?“Origin of Species”(1859) didn’t

contain social psychological

theory, but it laid a vital academic

platform for scientific study of

human behavior and for

understanding humans socially

and psychologically.

?“The Descent of Man”(1879) was

more psychological, essentially

proposing that modern humans

had stone age brains. This

furthered evolutionary theory as

a significant platform for the

development of scientific

psychology.

Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory

mid-late 1800’s -2

Darwin prophesized

that psychology

would one day be

based on a new foundation, an

evolutionary

foundation.

Herbert Spencer

?Leading Social Darwinian

(1820-1903) and 19th century

self-taught academic.

?Coined the term “survival of

the fittest”

?Viewed evolution as

occurring at inorganic levels,

including in groups, societies

and cultures.

?Layed important academic

foundations for psychology,

sociology, and economics.

“Group Mind”-Late 19th Century

‘Emerging academic

consciousness’of

‘group mind

phenomena can be

found in Europe &

North America, late

19th-early 20th

century.

e.g.,

–Volkerpsychologie

–Le Bon’s “The Crowd”

Volkerpsychologie -1

?‘Folk psychology’or

‘cultural psychology’

?Study of the “collective

mind”in Germany mid-late

1800’s

?Wilhelm Wundt named

volkerpsychologie to

distinguish it from

individual psychology

Volkerpsychologie -2?Examined social psychological

(communal) phenomenon, including

–Language

–Myth

–Religion

–culture &

–"higher" mental functions.

?Wundt believed volkerpsychologie was

to be pursued through comparative &

historical analysis, not experimentally as was the case of individual psychology.

The Crowd (Le Bon, 1895) -1

?“La Foule”, an early, well-

received, landmark social

psychology book

?“The Crowd: A Study of

the Popular Mind”

?1st major study of crowd

psychology

The Crowd (Le Bon, 1895) -2

?Focused on pathology of crowd behavior ?Why do people sometimes lose their

rationality when in groups?

?Believed in the lack of intelligence in

group action and the organic, powerful

nature of a ‘group mind’

The Crowd (Le Bon, 1895) -3

“Crowds can never

accomplish acts

demanding a high degree

of intelligence and are

always intellectually

inferior to the isolated

individual.”

The Crowd (Le Bon, 1895) -4 Array?Influenced Freud & inspired modern

theories of group dynamics

?Influenced G?bbels, Mussolini, & Hitler

Triplett (1898)

1st Social Psychological Study ?Classically attributed as the first experimental social psychology study (see Research)?Demonstrated effects of ‘social influence’

?At the time Triplett’s study wasn’t considered a social psychological study (it is only in retrospect

that the study has been redefined as the 1st

social psychological study)

?The overemphasis on this as the first empirical social psychological study may be an “origin myth”(Danziger, 2000)

Post WW1 & Attitude Scaling

?rise of individual behaviourism & experimentation

?social psychology splits off

e.g., by studying attitudes (Thurstone, 1930s)

?social psychologists were interested in studying mental constructs, like attitudes, and not simply behaviour.

?Increasing interest in studying group

phenomenon after the Great Depression ?Gestalt theorists (e.g., Asch, Sherif, Lewin) studied group processes & dynamics

?Post WW2 -motivation to explain atrocities committed e.g.,

–authoritarian personality (Allport),

–obedience (Milgram),

–roles (Zimbardo).

Group Processes & Post-WWII:

1930’s –1950’s ?1960’s -rise of attribution theory, cognitive dissonance (Festinger)?Developments in European social psychology -Tajfel (social identity theory), Moscovici (minority influence)?1970’s crisis over limits of scientific method in social psychology

?1970s to now -rise of social cognition, information processing and alternative approaches via social constructionism and discourse analysis

Cognitive, Crisis, Social Identity &

Social Constructionism:

1960’s –present

References ?Brehm, S. S., Kassin, S., & Fein, S. (2005). Social psychology (6th ed.) Houghton Mifflin: Boston.?Danziger, K. (2000). Making social psychology experimental: A conceptual history, 1930 -1970. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences , 36, 329 -347.?Haslam, S. A., & McGarty, C. (2001). A 100 years of certitude? Social psychology, the experimental method and the management of scientific uncertainty.British Journal of Social Psychology , 40, 1-21.?Richard, F. D., Bond, C. F., Jr., & Stokes-Zoota, J. J. (2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology , 7, 331-336. ?Ellwood, C. A. (1900). Prolegomena to social psychology III: The Nature and Task of Social Psychology. American Journal of Sociology, 98-109.