SOCIAL BEHAVIOR comprises the stimulations and reactions arising be-
tween an individual . . . and his fellows. . . . Social psychology must
not be placed in contradistinction to the psychology of the individual; it
is a part of the psychology of the individual, whose behavior it studies
in relation to that sector of his environment comprised by his fellows. . . .

F. H. Allport, Social Psychology, 1924

In one sense, this chapter is anti-climactic; in another, it is
preparatory. Your introduction to the problems of general
psychology was essentially completed with the discussion of
motivation and emotion. The present chapter represents in a
small way how our basic principles may be extended into
areas of behavior which, though complex, are compelling in
interest and importance. Psychologists have painstakingly
amassed a large body of information about the social conduct
of animals and human beings. It will be our task here to show
how this area may be approached with the analytical tools now
at your command. Only considerations of space prevent our
doing the same thing for other special areas, such as abnormal
psychology, developmental psychology, and so on.

We have said before (page 257) that social stimuli do not
differ from other stimuli in their dimensions. Rather, the
difference is one of origin. They arise from other organisms,
their behavior, or the products of their behavior. Moreover,
social stimuli do not differ in their function from those of
inanimate origin; they act as eliciting, reinforcing, discrim-
inative, and so on. Social life arises because social stimuli come

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