Topic > Evolution of Social Psychology - 1662

IntroductionSocial psychology is one of the youngest subdisciplines in the field of psychology. In the short span of time that social psychology has existed, it began with the work of Norman Triplett in the late 1890s. Triplett's work at Indiana University consisted primarily of experimenting with people in competitive settings. Gordon Allport followed Triplett's experimentation with his observations on the attitudes of individuals and the study of the self. Although these contributions to the history of social psychology have been important, the question still remains as to what was the most significant event in the history of psychology. This article will discuss whether a murder was the most significant event in the history of social psychology. The murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 may have been the event that caused social psychology to be incorporated into other subdivisions of psychology and studied by other social and medical constructs. His murder, which occurred over 40 years ago, led to the use of social psychology in the study of people and their behavior in a multitude of social contexts. This event can currently be studied and applied to other social contexts in an attempt to prevent these types of acts from happening again. History of Social Psychology Norman Triplett is considered one of the first social psychologists towards the end of the 19th century. While at Indiana University, Triplett in 1898 experimented primarily with children with measuring competition. The children were part of an experiment in which they wound a fishing reel alone and then with another child present. The results of the experiment showed that the children performed better with another child present rather than alone. Triplett concluded that children perform… middle of paper… 2008). 21st Century Psychology: A Reference Manual, Volume2.Sage Publications. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=tMv1EbXGen4C&dq=currends+in+21st+century+social+psychology&source=gbs_navlinks_sDelamater, J. (2006). Handbook of social psychology. Springer Publications Retrieved April 8, 2011, from http://books.google.com/books?id=xnVAuljbRcQC&dq=applying+social psychology+to+the+world+today&source=gbs_navlinks_sLatané, B., & Darley, J.M. (1968) . Group inhibition of bystander intervention in the event of an emergency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10, 215–221. Retrieved from EBSCOhost on April 8, 2011. Manning, R., Levine, M., & Collins, A. (2007). “The murder of Kitty Genovese and the social psychology of helping: the parable of the 38 witnesses”. American Psychologist, 62,555-562. Retrieved April 6, 2011, from EBSCOhost