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By Gordon Allport’s classic definition, social psychology is the scientific attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport 1954). This definition has been influential and instructive for researchers’ partitioning of the field at many stages of its development from the earliest defining works of Ross and McDougall in 1908 through the conceptual and methodological pluralism of contemporary researchers. The attributes Allport chose as descriptors of the field also summarize a significant portion of current work, including cognitive models of attitude change, links between emotional response and aggressive behavior, interpersonal interaction in close relationships, and the implications of...
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Uldall, B.R. (2013). Social Psychology. In: Runehov, A.L.C., Oviedo, L. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_1047
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_1047
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