<P> The first published study in this area was an experiment in 1898 by Norman Triplett, on the phenomenon of social facilitation . During the 1930s, many Gestalt psychologists, most notably Kurt Lewin, fled to the United States from Nazi Germany . They were instrumental in developing the field as something separate from the behavioral and psychoanalytic schools that were dominant during that time, and social psychology has always maintained the legacy of their interests in perception and cognition . Attitudes and small group phenomena were the most commonly studied topics in this era . </P> <P> During World War II, social psychologists studied persuasion and propaganda for the U.S. military . After the war, researchers became interested in a variety of social problems, including gender issues and racial prejudice . Most notable, revealing, and contentious of these were the Stanley Milgram shock experiments on obedience to authority . In the sixties, there was growing interest in new topics, such as cognitive dissonance, bystander intervention, and aggression . By the 1970s, however, social psychology in America had reached a crisis . There was heated debate over the ethics of laboratory experimentation, whether or not attitudes really predicted behavior, and how much science could be done in a cultural context . This was also the time when a radical situationist approach challenged the relevance of self and personality in psychology . Throughout the 1980s and 1990s social psychology reached a more mature level . Two of the areas social psychology matured in were theories and methods . Careful ethical standards now regulate research . Pluralistic and multicultural perspectives have emerged . Modern researchers are interested in many phenomena, but attribution, social cognition, and the self - concept are perhaps the greatest areas of growth in recent years . Social psychologists have also maintained their applied interests with contributions in the social psychology of health, education, law, and the workplace . </P> <P> In social psychology, attitudes are defined as learned, global evaluations of a person, object, place, or issue that influence thought and action . Put more simply, attitudes are basic expressions of approval or disapproval, favorability or unfavorability, or as Bem put it, likes and dislikes . Examples would include liking chocolate ice cream, or endorsing the values of a particular political party . </P> <P> Social psychologists have studied attitude formation, the structure of attitudes, attitude change, the function of attitudes, and the relationship between attitudes and behavior . Because people are influenced by the situation, general attitudes are not always good predictors of specific behavior . For example, for a variety of reasons, a person may value the environment but not recycle a can on a particular day . </P>

Which of these is the main interest of social psychologists