During the era in which social psychology was emerging as a discipline, it was caught between two opposing camps: behaviorism and Freudian psychoanalysis. Explain how social psychology did not fit neatly into either of those camps, and how it ultimately integrated features from both as it emerged as an independent field

What will be an ideal response?

a . Behaviorism sought to explain all human behavior in terms of learning principles and reinforcement contingencies (i.e., rewards and punishments). Behaviorists were opposed to talking about inner processes such as thoughts and feelings as they felt such processes were unobservable and thus "unscientific.". They preferred to study human behavior using observation and the scientific method. Social psychology, however, was interested in how thoughts and feelings influenced, and were influenced by, social context.
b. Freudian psychoanalysis sought to generate elaborate interpretations of individuals' subjective experiences. In contrast to behaviorists, psychoanalysts were very interested in examining inner processes. However, scholars from this camp rarely engaged in scientific study of these processes; rather, they relied on case analyses from clinical patients. Social psychology appreciated the emphasis on inner processes, but was not aligned to the more subjective methodologies the Freudian psychoanalysts tended towards.
c. As social psychology came into its own in the 1970s, it was able to integrate the Freudian interest in inner processes with the behaviorist commitment to the scientific method. Social psychologists found ways to study thoughts, feelings and behaviors using the scientific method rather than case studies.