The society of experimental social psychology: an historical note.

Psychologists, as much or more than scientists in other disciplines, have been experiencing in recent decades the mixed blessings of rapid growth. The convention programs of our large scientific societies, such as the American Psychological Association, have reached intimidating dimensions. Even the subunits of the societies tend to be so large as to make personal contact and communication unwieldy. For example, Division 8 of APA, which houses most of the psychologists interested in social and personality research, currently has about 4,000 members. The size of such entities at the very least complicates the attainment of certain vital goals of scientific societies, a situation which gave rise to the founding of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. Discussions some years ago with my Buffalo colleague, W. Edgar Vinacke, and then with many other social psychologists, suggested that it would be useful if the larger associations could be supplemented by an "interest group" among social psychologists. In December, 1964, Vinacke and I wrote 35 social psychologists, soliciting their views regarding the formation of a society that would include a relatively small number of social psychologists whose interests were primarily research-oriented. The common focus and smaller size of such a group would allow more flexible organization and would permit the group to engage in more intimate and informal dialogue than is possible at the conventions of the larger associations. In this way, social psychologists could conduct pro-