The priority of the social We are not, in social psychology, building up the behaviorof the social group in terms of the behavior of separate individuals composing it; rather we are starting out with a given social whole of complex group activity, into which we analyze(as elements )the behavior of each of the separate individuals composing it. We attempt, that is, to explain the conduct of the social group, rather than to account for the organized conduct of the social group in terms of the conduct of the separate individuals belonging to it. For social psychology, the whole(society) is prior to the part(the individual), not the part to the whole; and the part is explained in terms of the whole, not the whole in terms of the part or partsThe Priority of the Social • We are not, in social psychology, building up the behavior of the social group in terms of the behavior of separate individuals composing it; rather, we are starting out with a given social whole of complex group activity, into which we analyze (as elements ) the behavior of each of the separate individuals composing it. We attempt, that is, to explain the conduct of the social group, rather than to account for the organized conduct of the social group in terms of the conduct of the separate individuals belonging to it. For social psychology, the whole (society) is prior to the part (the individual), not the part to the whole; and the part is explained in terms of the whole, not the whole in terms of the part or parts