Who is Not a Social Psychologist?

                At first, our definition of social psychology seems to include everyone as a social psychologist. All of us, with varying degrees of success, attempt to understand, explain, and predict how people are affected by one another.

As Fritz Heider (1958) has written:

                In everyday life we [all] form ideas about other people and about social situations. We interpret other people’s actions, and we predict what they will do under certain circumstances. Though these ideas are usually not well formulated, they often function adequately. They achieve in some measure what a science is supposed to achieve: an adequate description of the subject matter which makes prediction possible (p. 5).

                Too often, social scientists point out how people in trying to explain and predict others’ behavior. But people are often amazingly accurate. We all know about the obvious errors in social coordination that lead to collisions on highways and freeways, but have you ever thought about the much more typical, fantastic accuracy as drivers speed along at 55 (or more) miles per hour, anticipate lane changes by other drivers, and adjust accordingly? We see how miscalculating the behavior of others has led to wars that no one wanted, but we do not give ourselves credit for the economic and social coordination among billions of diverse people that has contributed a substantial, if imperfect, prosperity.

                To get some sense of your own rather remarkable ability as a social psychologist, try to solve the following hypothetical problem: You and a companion have unexpectedly had to parachute into an area with which neither of you is familiar; however, each of you has a map of the area. After landing, you look at the surrounding territory carefully and study the map; you conclude that you are probably at point y. You have no idea where your companion has landed, and you have no way of communicating with him. Yet the two of you must get together quickly if you hope to be rescued. Think about this, and look at the map very carefully. Where would you go to meet him? Write down your answer on a sheet of paper before reading further.

                When the game strategist Thomas C. Schelling (1960) gave this problem to pairs of Yale University men, one member of each pair was told (as you were) that he had landed at point y. The paired partner was told that he landed at point x (at the lower right-hand corner of the map). Eighty-eight percent of the pairs succeeded in getting together by indicating a common meeting place. These successful “parachutists” understood their partners and the way in which they perceived the situation and the terrain; they were able to predict successfully what their partners’ behavior would be, even in this highly ambiguous situation. Thus, they were able to coordinate behavior to match that of their partners. Would you have been successful? As social psychologists, we think that you probably have been—that you would have immediately set out for the bridge where, according to Schelling, you would meet your partner. Some of us, of course, are more effective than others at predicting other people’s behavior. Many people in leadership positions have been particularly effective.

(Source: Raven, Bertram H., Rubin, Jeffrey Z. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1983. John Wiley & Sons, Inc: United States of America. 2nd Edition)

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