Abstract:
This thesis investigates the historical origins of modern social psychology. Firstly, the emergence of social psychology in Germany, Britain, France and the United States in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century is documented. Secondly, a detailed examination is made of American social psychology in the crucial decade of the nineteen-twenties when, under the impact of contemporary positivist thought, social psychology assumed its modern form, that of an experimental discipline closely allied with psychology. Thirdly, there is a review of the growth of the major research problems that were to dominate social psychology during that decade: the study of suggestion, groups and attitudes, as well as of various topics on the interface between social psychology and neighbouring branches of experimental psychology. In conclusion it is suggested that social psychology emerged from a great variety of nineteenth century traditions, psychological, sociological and anthropological, and by around 1930 had discarded its rich and varied intellectual heritage and had become largely the experimental study of the social behaviour of the individual.