The field of social psychology began in the 1930’s. Social psychology explores the interactions of individuals within groups and society as a whole. Social psychology looks at your personality, interpersonal relationships, and group behavior. The people around you influence your personality and behaviors.

Among the first to make a systematic study of the psychology of social groups was German-American Kurt Lewin, considered to be “the father of social psychology”. After the Second World War, behaviorism fell out of favor and Lewin’s ideas about how the environment affected people provided an alternative. The way we see and interpret the behavior of other people is known as attribution. This became an area of study. From these studies cam a theory of conformity of Solomon Asch that says that people will act out certain behaviors to suit the impression they want to give to others. As the Bible says: “Bad associations spoil useful habits.”

How are some of these ideas used out there? Businesses, industries, and social organizations used models pioneered by social psychologists. For example, the nudge theory has been adopted to reform social and political landscapes. Nudge Theory is based upon the idea that by shaping the environment, also known as the choice architecture, one can influence the likelihood that one option is chosen over another by individuals.