What Is Social Psychology? The Construal Principle

Standard definitions of social psychology, such as the study of the way in which people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (Aronson et al., 2019, p. 3), fail to capture much of what social psychologists actually do and do not capture the basic theoretical foundations of the field. I suggest the field is founded on the construal principle, which holds that to understand and predict human behavior, one must focus on people's proximate (current) construals of themselves and their environment. The construal principle empowers social psychology in three key ways: It (a) accounts for the power of the situation, by acknowledging that construals are highly attuned to social norms; (b) is amenable to study with the experimental method; and (c) provides a unique theoretical framework for how to change human behavior. I discuss the origins and implications of the construal principle and how it distinguishes social psychology from related subdisciplines, including evolutionary social psychology, personality psychology, and social neuroscience. Whereas each subdiscipline is good at accomplishing the tasks it has set for itself, social psychology has unique advantages.

Automated summary

Standard definitions of social psychology fail to capture the field's actual work and its basic theoretical foundations. This article suggests that the field is founded on the construal principle and discusses its origins, implications, and distinctions from other subdisciplines.