Editing Social psychology (section)

===20th century ===
According to [[Wolfgang Stroebe]], modern social psychology began in 1924 with the publication of a classic textbook by [[Floyd Henry Allport|Floyd Allport]], which defined the field as the experimental study of social behavior.<ref>Stroebe, W. (2012). The truth about Triplett (1898), but nobody seems to care. ''Perspectives on Psychological Science'', ''7'', 54-57.</ref>
[[File:Sculpture of Kurt Lewin, 2011-2.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of Kurt Lewin]]
An early, influential research program in social psychology was established by [[Kurt Lewin]] and his students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kurt Lewin: groups, experiential learning and action research – infed.org |url=https://infed.org/kurt-lewin-groups-experiential-learning-and-action-research/ |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=infed.org}}</ref> During [[World War II]], social psychologists were mostly concerned with studies of [[persuasion]] and [[propaganda]] for the U.S. military (see also [[Psychological warfare#World War II|psychological warfare]]). Following the war, researchers became interested in a variety of social problems, including issues of [[gender]] and [[Racism|racial prejudice]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howard |first=Judith A. |date=August 2000 |title=Social Psychology of Identities |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.367 |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=367–393 |doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.367 |issn=0360-0572}}</ref> [[Social stigma]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blodorn |first1=Alison |last2=O’Brien |first2=Laurie T. |last3=Kordys |first3=Justin |date=2011-11-29 |title=Responding to sex-based discrimination: Gender differences in perceived discrimination and implications for legal decision making |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430211427172 |journal=Group Processes & Intergroup Relations |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=409–424 |doi=10.1177/1368430211427172 |issn=1368-4302}}</ref> which refers to the disapproval or discrimination against individuals based on perceived differences, became increasingly prevalent as societies sought to redefine norms and group boundaries after the war. 

During the years immediately following [[World War II]], there were frequent collaborations between psychologists and [[sociologist]]s. The two disciplines, however, have become increasingly specialized and isolated from each other in recent years, with sociologists generally focusing on high-level, large-scale examinations of society, and psychologists generally focusing on more small-scale studies of individual human behaviors.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Sewell |first=W. H |year=1989 |title=Some reflections on the golden age of interdisciplinary social psychology |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |volume=15 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1146/annurev.so.15.080189.000245 |s2cid=143901573|doi-access=free }}</ref>

During the 1960s, there was growing interest in topics such as [[cognitive dissonance]], [[Bystander effect|bystander intervention]], and [[aggression]]. These developments were part of a trend of increasingly sophisticated laboratory experiments using college students as participants and [[analysis of variance]] designs.<ref>Higbee, K. L., & Wells, M. G. (1972). Some research trends in social psychology during the 1960s. American Psychologist, 27(10), 963–966. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0033453</ref>

In the 1970s, a number of conceptual challenges to social psychology emerged over issues such as ethical concerns about laboratory experimentation, whether attitudes could accurately predict behavior, and to what extent science could be done in a cultural context.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gergen|first=Kenneth J|author-link=Kenneth Gergen|year=1973|title=Social psychology as history|journal=[[Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]]|volume=26|pages=309–320|doi=10.1037/h0034436|issue=2|url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/kenneth-gergen/available-manuscripts|access-date=17 November 2019|archive-date=22 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022100757/https://www.swarthmore.edu/kenneth-gergen/available-manuscripts|url-status=live}}</ref> It was also in this period where [[Situationism (psychology)|situationism]], the theory that human behavior changes based on situational factors, emerged and challenged the relevance of self and personality in psychology.<ref name="social-psychology">{{cite web|url=http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/|title=Social Psychology|date=2020|website=Psychology|publisher=iResearchNet|access-date=8 February 2017|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416075749/http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/|url-status=live}}</ref> 

By the 1980s and 1990s, social psychology had developed a number of solutions to these issues with regard to [[theory]] and [[methodology]].<ref name="social-psychology" />