ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a theory of interpersonal relations and group functioning. It discusses some of the events reported to have reward value in studies of interpersonal relations. One of the most commonly used procedures in social psychology involves the presentation to an individual subject of a social stimulus fixed by the experimenter. The adaptations of interest to social psychology are necessarily carried on jointly because the common problems of interdependency impinge upon all of the members, though in somewhat different ways. Because the existence of the group is based solely upon the participation and satisfaction of the individuals comprising it, the group functionalism becomes an individual functionalism. The adaptations of interest to social psychology are necessarily carried on jointly because the common problems of interdependency impinge upon all of the members, though in somewhat different ways.