How others influence you
A classical definition of social psychology proposed by field pioneer Gordon W. Allport (1954) is that
“Social psychology is the scientific attempt to explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings" (Allport, 1954a, p. 5).
By “implied presence,” Allport referred to behavior people exhibit because of their roles in society and their membership in cultural groups. Fiske (2010) summarized this classical definition as a formula that depicts others influencing the individual, as follows:
Actual, imagined, or implied presence of Others > Individual thoughts, feeling, and behavior (p. 5). [Emphasis added]
This definition's foundation is the influence of others on the individual, implying that the “others” influence “individual” to do something they would not have done alone. Influence from others' presence “enormously powerful” (Fiske, 2010, p. 4). Even the imagined or implied presence of others can influence individuals. Differentiating between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors help to identify three key variables that explain social psychology phenomena: cognition, affect, and action, as follows:
- Cognition represents thought
- Affect means feelings
- Action is behavior.
From Allport’s definition, social psychology attempts to explain how interaction influences the way people think and behave. Key questions social psychologists explore from this definition are
- How do others influence us?
- Why do we allow others to influence us?
- What impacts the effectiveness of social influence?
- Is social influence permanent or temporary?
- Why do we like or dislike others?
- Why does prejudice develop?
A fundamental limitation of Allport’s definition is that it shows human social interaction as a unidirectional process. However, this perspective remains influential. For example, social psychologists Kenrick, Neuberg, and Cialdinia (2007) built their textbook on the definition that social psychology is “the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people” (p. 5). Using Allport’s model, the Kenrick, et al. (2007) definition shows
people < other people
Aronson (2008; 1972) expanded on these definitions by suggesting that influence is not only from others to individuals but can also be from group to group. Offering a definition of social psychology as “the influences that people have upon the beliefs, feelings, and behavior of others” (p. 6), this also represents a one-way interaction:
people > others
While establishing “influence” as a common theme throughout all definitions of social psychology, these classical definitions are insufficient for understanding the dynamic and reciprocal process of human interaction. David Meyers (2008) approached a more feasible description by defining social psychology as “the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another” (p. 4). Meyers’ description provides a two-way interaction, as follows:
people <> others