ANSWER: | Max Ringelmann was a French agricultural engineer who, around the beginning of the 20th century, found that individuals who carry out simple tasks in the presence of other people tend to perform worse than they would if they carried out the task by themselves. Because this finding represents an effect of social factors on performance, it is social psychological in nature. Thus, Ringelmann is often considered one of the founders of the field. Floyd Allport wrote one of the first social psychology textbooks, and helped establish the use of the scientific method and the focus on individuals in a social context as part of the field’s doctrine. Kurt Lewin emphasized the importance of seeing behavior as an interaction between an individual’s personality and the situational factors influencing that individual, and also argued that social psychology must be applicable to important, practical issues. Social psychology today is applied to many domains, including advertising, business, education, environmental protection, health, law, politics, public policy, religion, and sports, as well as other disciplines. |