Privacy: A Hidden Variable in Experimental Social Psychology

The experimental social psychological literature addresses many issues that bear upon the behavioral antecedents and consequences of privacy. As illustrations, theory and research in the area of social facilitation are discussed; the implications and promise of the recent sociobiological orientation within psychology for an understanding of privacy are outlined; and a number of major traditional areas of social psychological interest, which have implications for privacy theory and research but which are often overlooked as privacy related, are considered. It is concluded that because behavioral questions and theoretical issues of privacy thread throughout social psychology, the development of theory and research directly focused upon privacy will enrich even well‐established areas of social psychological inquiry.