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After reading this opening chapter, you should have a pretty good feel for social psychology as the scientific study of the social experiences and behaviors of individuals. I hope you share my fascination for learning what people do and understanding why they do it, and for how social psychology is particularly suited for investigating these topics. Note that social psychology is more than simply a sum of its individual research findings; rather, it is a theoretically driven, empirically based process for pursuing answers to fundamental questions of human nature. The six questions that we’ll return to again and again are: Do we have free will? Are we independent or conformist? Are we rational beings? What is the self? Do we need other people and, if so, why? Are we inherently altruistic or selfish? Returning to our opening story, consider how the various perspectives incorporated into social psychology help us explore such topics as same and opposite sex romantic attraction, how we think about ourselves and other people, the roles of biology and culture in shaping human thought and behavior, attitudes and attitude change, the formation and maintenance of prejudice, stereotypes, and altruism, among many others.