Introduction to Social Psychology

This important book aims to define social psychology by identifying the assumptions it uses in research and by directing and coordinating its efforts. It employs two methods to achieve this purpose: The first: studying the psychological views of scientists "Auguste Comte," "Durkheim," and "Tarde." The second: analyzing real mental life. The vast majority of issues concerning mental life, emotional life, and volitional life, which general psychology usually addresses, either wholly or in part, belong to the domain of social psychology research. Thus, the study of this science alone enables us to identify the elements independent of group influence in every mental activity. Consequently, this study attributes such elements to human species traits or to individual-specific characteristics. Applied social psychology studies psychological processes and their numerous connections with social life. It emerged as a new, independent science between 1890 and 1900 AD, a development that reflected the true requirements of scientific methodology and thinking—a long-anticipated emergence. The specific section of this book discusses the group's role in mental life, covering: perception, memory, and emotional life.