social psychology

Branch of psychology concerned with the behaviour of individuals in groups and the ways in which they relate to one another and to the societies of which they are a part.

Different kinds of social act are studied, as are the attitudes and assumptions that lie behind them and make them meaningful. There are two main approaches. One considers individuals as viewers, or perceivers, of the social environment, learning about it and forming judgements and attitudes, and so links up with general experimental psychology and other biological sciences. The other views individuals as participants in the social environment, influencing it and being influenced by it, and thus overlaps with sociology and other social sciences.