Author: John W. Thibaut

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-09-14

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 9781333582784

Excerpt from The Social Psychology of Groups Some of the implications of Ross's injunction, to begin with social interaction, may be seen by considering the distinctive aspects of social interaction that are revealed when it is compared with the simpler situation with which individual psychology has traditionally dealt. In the typical experiment in psychology the subject is in some manner under the management of the experimenter, who controls the presenta tion of stimuli, the Opportunities for behavior available to the subject, and, most importantly, the provision of diverse incentives and rewards for behavior. In general, by these various means, the experimenter exerts control over the behavior of the subject, and the procedures by which he does so constitute the independent variables of the experi ment. The behaviors that the subject actually, emits constitute, of course, the dependent variables. In these experiments it is usually assumed that the subject has no counter-control over the experimenter. What the subject does makes no difference to the investigator (at least if he is thoroughly in his scientific role of impartial seeker of truth), and even if it does make a difference it cannot be permitted to cause him to deviate from his pre arranged schedule of activities. This assumption must be valid if the two sets of variables are to have the status of independent and depend ent, in which the former can be viewed as antecedent to the latter in causal efficacy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.