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The Social Psychological Approach

Origins and History
Researchers can be said to the taking a social psychological approach when they focus their research on social behaviour (between individuals or groups) and tend to regard other people and social contexts as just as, if not more, important influences upon people as their dispositions and personality characteristics.
Social behaviours include those behaviours that are most important to us, such as attraction, helping, prejudice and aggression, while the influences studied include those of individuals (e.g. leadership and obedience), groups (e.g. conformity and crowding), societies (e.g. social norms and expectations), and culture (e.g. history, politics and language).
Social Psychology has a long history with scientific psychology, e.g. Norman Triplett (1st October 1861 - 1934), he carried out an experiment into social facilitation. Like most of psychological research, social psychologists began by investigating social processes and influence as they applied to the individual. Most of this research came from America and dominated social psychology, but a more sociological and European approach was gradually incorporated to take more account of social, historical and political contexts and collective/shared representations and identities.
Social Constructionism has taken the social approach one step further by suggesting our society, culture and language, affect the very way that we define psychological concepts and the process of scientific investigation itself - making unbiased study difficult if not impossible.

Assumptions
Social Psychologists ass ume that, for anyone who has been raised in a society that all of their behaviour occurs in a social context, even when no-one else is physicaly present.
The assume that a major influence on people's behaviour, though processes and emotions are other people and the society they have created.

Methods of Investigation
Social psychologists have used a vareity of methods, including:
Field Experiments - e.g. Irving Piliavin (9th April 1928 - 19th November 2009) carried out an investigation into helping behaviour on the New York Subway.
Laboratory Experiments - Stanley Milgram (15th August 1933 - 20th December 1984) carried out the famous obedience study and change some of the variable to see the effect on obedience under controlled conditions.
Surveys - e.g. questionnaires have been used on many people to measure the frequency and reasons for prejudiced attitudes.
Observation/content analysis - e.g. to record discriminatory behaviour.

Contributions to Psychology
Social psychology has tried to explain Social Influence e.g. conformity and obedience.
Has tried to explain Social Cognition - e.g. social identity/categorisation, attitudes, attribution, stereotyping and emotion.
Social psychology has tried to explain Social Behaviour - e.g. inter-personal and inter-group aggression, discrimination, attraction and helping.
Social psychollogy has treid to explain Social Development - e.g. gender, self, attachment and intellectual development over time as a result of changing roles, social expectations, social circumstances and cultural influences.