|







 

 

‡


‡ Examine meta-theoretical underpinnings (ontology,

epistemology, methodology) of both µmainstream¶
and Critical Social Psychology (CSP)

‡ Examine definitions and commitments of CSP

 



‡ Social psychology is the scientific study of the way individuals

think, feel, desire and act in social situations (Brehm & Kassin,
1996).

‡ Studying social psychology:

‡ How we study social psychology has important implications

for the kinds of knowledge we gather about people and social
behaviour






 



 ! set of fundamental beliefs

(ontology, epistemology, methodology) researchers
bring to the research endeavour (world-view, way of
seeing the world, our place in it and the relationship
we have with it)





‡ Questions relating to reality or being

‡ What is the nature of the world and people who inhabit it?
‡ Nature and form of reality
‡ What is there that can be known?
‡ What sort of things exist?
‡ What are things really like?
‡ What is our fundamental nature?
 



 



‡ Realist (or, positivist, materialist, essentialist, empiricist

ontological position)

‡ Existence of a single reality from which it is possible to

obtain time and context free generalisations

‡ Objects in the physical, social and psychological world

exist and have properties independent of our concepts of
them and theoretical discourses about them
 



 

 "#$

‡ Individualism:

‡ individual is the proper object of study

‡ individualism in isolation from society
‡ analysis of the individual needs no reference to the outside
environment
 
   

‡ Social constructionism, Marxism, Feminism(s),

ethnic studies, cultural studies, Discourse Analysis,
humanism, idealism, some qualitative research

‡ Generally, the most prominent is Social

Constructionist perspective
 
   "#$

‡ %&#&'

‡ there are multiple realities which are socially, historically and

culturally based, i.e., the realities are °
° entities

‡ these realities may change as reconstructions and

understandings shift

‡ realities are constructed through interaction and social practice

- hence focus on language
 
 




‡ Major ontological differences involve:

‡ CSP views the nature of personhood not as some already existing

entity but as something shaped and formed by the social world

‡ CSP/social constructionism - individuals and the world are one and the
same thing

‡ Research aims to explain this reality, not in terms of the relationship

between two separate phenomena but in terms of totality or whole
  



‡ Questions relating to our knowledge of the world

‡ What can we know and how can we know it?
‡ What sort of knowledge can we have of the world?
‡ Can we assume our knowledge is a reflection of a
more objective reality or is it more
subjective/socially determined phenomenon?
‡ What assumptions underpin psychology¶s
acquisition of knowledge?
‡ What is the relationship between the knower and the
knowable?




 



‡ How does it choose to gain knowledge about the

world?

‡ Acceptance of two philosophical traditions:

‡ Empiricism
‡ Positivism
 

‡ Knowledge as gained through experience (sensory),

through observation (as opposed to, e.g., innate knowledge
or knowledge from God). Empiricists adhere to a realist
ontology and hold that objective knowledge of this reality
can be acquired through the senses (under experimental
conditions using particular techniques and methods of
measurement). Hence, theory should be generated and
assessed using empirical data.
 


‡ A particular form of empiricism developed from the

µlogical positivism¶ of the 1920s. This approach can be
characterised by its strong belief that objective knowledge
can be attained only through   
°
°

 °, particularly through °
 





 


 . Through adherence to rigorous
procedures, scientific methods can verify or falsify the
truth of logical prepositions. If we look at the world
carefully enough (right techniques), it will µgive up¶ its
nature to us and we will have an objective and bias-free
view of it.
 (%%)%$$$

‡ Researchers seek generalisations, aim for value-free results

by excluding experimenter bias, holding variables constant
and using replications

‡ Seek causal properties of structures. The emphasis is on

measurement and cause-effect relationships.
 
*

   

‡ +(%'"(%#,#+&%%-.%&'

‡ Social constructionists deny that theoretical descriptions or psychological

science are linguistically objective that they are true or false because of
independent facts about the natural or psychological world
‡ Thus, researchers seek to gain knowledge about the world through
constructionist processes (the world and knowledge of it are constructed)
‡ Researchers recognise that their inevitable involvement in research influences
and helps construct the findings produced. Thus, knowledge derived through
research is created by both the researcher and the researched.
‡ Particular focus on 
  as a functional system which does more than
transparently reflect reality - rather, it functions to create (construct) social
reality through the process of social exchange and shared meanings.

*

   

†The world is not already categorised by God or

Nature in ways that we are all forced to accept. It is
constituted, brought into being, in one way or
another as people talk it, write it, argue it´ (Potter,
1996, p. 98).
 
 




‡ Positivist psychology - knowledge is objective reflection

of reality

‡ Critical psychology - knowledge about world is not

objective reflection of reality but depends on various
historical arrangements and constructionist processes -
whose interests are supported and who has the power to
legitimize particular forms of knowledge over others?
  




‡ Questions relating to how we study the phenomena we

wish to investigate

‡ Which methods do we adopt in our investigation of the

world?




 



‡ % %#/.%'/% (#"&%#%&#

‡ Example (Holte & Mikkelson, 1991) - Study aim - †To test the
validity of association between menopausal development and
menopausal complaints´

‡ Does this relationship exists †in reality´ in the population?

‡ A sample of 1886 women. Factors such as complaints, menopausal

development, coping style and social network were quantified through
questionnaire responses. The assumption is that if a relationship
exists, the µtruth¶ of that relationship will be apparent in a sample,
given the methods employed. Results are viewed as objective and
value-free.
 *





‡ &'#%)#.&" %(/%$$/".%#&'/%.&#&'/
#%#&'/"%.%

‡ Example (Martin, 1997)

‡ Examined the social construction of the menopausal body in medical texts. Shows how
the metaphor of the factory is used in describing physiological events. However, the
factory metaphor constructs events as failing in their purpose, e.g., †The fall in blood
progesterone and oestrogen deprives the highly developed endometrial lining of its
hormonal support´. Terms such as †degenerate´, †decline´ and †deteriorate´ are
frequent. Conclusions suggest that the propensity of medical profession to view the
menopause as a pathological state comes in part from its construction in the medical
textbooks. At the end of her analysis, Martin provides alternative, more positive medical
constructions of the menopause (freedom, maturity).
 
 




‡ Critical psychology¶s beliefs about ontology and epistemology lead to the

adoption of a different methodology from that of mainstream social
psychologists (positivists).

‡ If accept social rather than individual nature of phenomena, experimentation is

inadequate

‡ Knowledge exists between instead of within people

‡ See language as primary from of social activity/action

‡ Critical psychologists view language as primary medium that creates,

maintains, contests and transforms social reality

 

 

‡ Examined main assumptions underlying positivist and critical

psychologies

‡ Examined problems associated with positivism in social psychology

and advanced Critical Social Psychology as a fruitful alternative