"Social psychology is above all others the romantic science. The youngest in years and yet the most enveloped in legend. Like a true hero of romance it has inflamed the imagination of all humanistic scholars. Not only is it cultivated by sociologists and psychologists, but its acquaintance is extensively sought by anthropologists, economists, and political scientists also. Of one thing we are certain, social psychology was born of great expectations. Those who attended at its birth foretold that it would be mighty and perform great deeds. When this science first glimpsed the dawn it was predicted that social psychology would fashion the key with which to unlock all the secret chambers of the humanistic sciences. The intricate problems concerning the nature of language, custom, morals, religion, and law were to be speedily solved by its great skill. That these promises were rudely dashed rather added to, than detracted from, its epic character. So romantic, indeed, is social psychology that its very identity is an enigma. Is it a branch of sociology or psychology? Many believe that what masquerades as politics and economics is really social psychology. Perhaps the mystery here is occasioned by the fact that, like so many romantic heroes, social psychology bears upon its escutcheon the baton sinister. By whom was it sired? By philosophy, philology, anthropology, or psychology? All of these and others graced the scene of its early development. Thus are set the problems for the present book. All those who are interested in our subject and believe it is important will agree that we ought to know of what it really treats. Romance in science is not so desirable as information and critical thinking. As students of psychology, therefore, we deem it our task to divide off quite clearly psychological facts from the data of the other branches of the social sciences. In this work, accordingly, we attempt to keep distinct the facts of human behavior from the data of sociology, politics, anthropology, and economics with which they are all too frequently confused. It is our aim likewise to distinguish social psychological happenings from the materials of general psychology. If social psychology is to justify its existence as a separate discipline it must deal with a distinct form of data. It is only after we have thus isolated cultural psychological events that we can study them effectively. The central task of the present volume is to present as satisfactory a statement as possible of the psychological facts of social psychology"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).