Comments and Queries: What Social, What Psychology, in Social Psychology?

Abstract

According to the Directory of the American Psychological Association, the largest division is No. 8, Personality and Social Psychology, thus indicating the great interest in that phase of psychology. Nevertheless, a survey of recent literature reveals a serious lack of clarity concerning the data and the theory of social psychology and their relation to the social sciences. Psychological events are frequently confused with the data of sociology, a circumstance which impedes appreciation of social psychological events as factors in scientific psychology. Despite much investigational industry it is still necessary to inquire into the basic nature of social psychology and what the significance is of social-psychological hyphenation.