"Academic sociologists have been trained to conceive of their discipline - sociology - as the scientific study of society, and to remit to the sister discipline of psychology the study of individuals"

This quote by Richard Wall suggests that academic sociologists have actually been taught to view sociology as the scientific research study of society, and to leave the study of people to the field of psychology. This implies that sociology is worried about the cumulative habits of individuals, while psychology is concerned with the individual habits of people. This difference is essential due to the fact that it permits sociologists to focus on the bigger patterns of habits that emerge from the cumulative, while psychologists can concentrate on the specific motivations and experiences that contribute to those patterns. By understanding the distinctions between sociology and psychology, sociologists can much better comprehend the social world and how it works.