Albert Pepitone

Albert Pepitone describes the wide range of subjects studied by social psychologists in
the field's early years (a point Leonard Berkowitz has made earlier in this volume).
After reviewing the most influential books published in the field before World War II,
Pepitone concludes that the range and diversity of the subject matter in those early
days, with special emphasis on "macrosocial phenomena at the level of society and
culture," extended well beyond what is covered in contemporary texts. He next con-
siders the wartime period, during which there was particular reference to social in-
fluence, judgments, reference groups, and group membership. Most of the chapter
covers what Pepitone calls the "golden age," the postwar period up to approximately
the late 1980s. Pepitone offers a critical analysis of some of the most significant re-
search programs during this period. Pepitone is critical of the excess of experimental-
ism in testing hypotheses derived from narrow theories rather than suggested by field
observations. He is also concerned with the disappearance of theoretical systems that
synthesize a wide diversity of social phenomena. Finally, although he acknowledges
advances in the specification of fundamental cognitive processes, he believes a more
comprehensive understanding of social human beings requires that the discipline ad-
dress theoretically and methodologically a broader range of phenomena, particularly
through real-life observations of cultural and mass behavior.

If one were to make an end-of-century assessment of social psychology -- a
sort of state-of-the-field report -- the most relevant desiderata would certainly be
the findings of the major experimental research programs, the theories used to
interpret them, and the contributions made to enduring bodies of knowledge.
But without looking at the historical development of the field, especially the
philosophical and methodological ideas that have driven it, even a detailed re-
view of research would not provide a full understanding of what we social psy-
chologists are, what essentially we have done, and where the field is going. For

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