Analysis at the social level refers to: the influence of other people as cause for behavior. the influence of the culture one is raised in as cause for behavior the influence of a social network as cause for behavior. the influence of prior experience with the environment as cause for behavior.​

In e. c. tolman's experiment, some rats were trained to run through mazes for standard food goals, while other rats were allowed to explore the mazes for 10 days without food goals or other rewards. later, when food rewards were placed in a box at the far end of the maze, the previously unrewarded rats reached the food box as quickly as the rewarded rats after only one or two trials. this experiment demonstrated that the rats had the ability to form of their surroundings.