Towards a More Social Social Psychology 211SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A DISCIPLINE
The American Psychological Association or APA (2019) defines the
discipline of social psychology in individualistic terms. “How individuals
think about, influence and relate to one another and how those interactions
affect issues as wide-ranging as prejudice, romantic attraction, persuasion,
friendship and aggression” (emphasis added). In contrast, the American
Sociological Association or ASA (2019) defines social psychology as a
social discipline: “the way groups and social structures shape
individuals—their perceptions, beliefs, identities, attitudes, emotions, and
behaviors—and how individuals acting together create, maintain, and
change social structures” (emphasis added).
Based upon the above definitions, Gough, McFadden, and McDonald
(2013) make a distinction between psychological social psychology (PSP)
and sociological social psychology (SSP). These perspectives are in some
ways quite opposite. In presenting one of the major, classical studies such
as Asch’s conformity experiments, the PSP approach would emphasize
personality over peer influences and the SSP approach would probe how
the group shapes the individual’s response. A case can be made that having
an over-emphasis on individuality, as typical in PSP, creates inaccurate
representations of conformity. PSP explanations reside too wholly upon
individual responses rather than incorporating the power of social
influences to explain such response. Conversely, an emphasis on SSP may
inform textbook authors to look more closely at, for instance, the influence
of culture on conformity in the Asch classic line-judgement experiments.
This chapter will examine which emphasis, whether PSP or SSP, is
highlighted in social psychology chapters of selected introductory
psychology texts.
In examining the difference within PSP versus SSP portrayals, this
analysis will look foremost at the consideration of, and handling of culture
as a social influence. Using C. Wright Mills’ (1959) insight regarding the
inter-connectedness of social reality, coupled with Berger and Luckmann’s
(1966) contention that reality is socially created would argue conformity is
more than simply an individual’s perception of a social group situation,