Article summary of Social psychology as history by Gergen - Chapter

Psychology is defined as the science of human behaviour, and social psychology is defined as the branch that deals with human interaction. A goal of science is to establish general laws through systematic observations. Social psychologists thus want to discover causal relationships to establish basic principles that explain the phenomena studied in social psychology. The idea behind this goal was that if general principles of human behaviour could be established, it might be possible to reduce social conflict, mental illness, and to create optimal social conditions that would benefit society. Some even hoped to translate these principles into mathematical forms. However, in contrast to events in the natural sciences, concepts in the social sciences are not stable. Instead, social concepts are nonrepeatable and fluctuate a lot over time. This means that knowledge cannot accumulate. In this paper, the author discusses how social psychology is a historical inquiry.

What was the impact of science on social interaction?

Social science can be viewed as a communications system. The scientist receives messages, transmitted by humans. These messages are ‘noise’, which need to be decoded with the use of scientific theories. This were Back’s (1963) ideas. However, his ideas had to be extended by including another task of the scientist: he or she needs to be a communicator. When a scientists discovers ideas, he or she needs to communicate these, so to help others. Thus, science and society are in a feedback loop.

What is the prescriptive bias of psychological theory?

When social scientists generate knowledge about social interactions, they also communicate personal values. This means that he or she sends a dual message: messages that describe what happens, and messages that prescribe what is desirable. Consider research on personal dispositions. Many people would not like to be characterized as compulsive, or close-minded. This is because of cultural processes. However, these reactions are also created by psychologists who describe certain concepts. For example, when psychologists state: “The authoritarian personality tries to combine societal beliefs with irrational beliefs”. This communicates that an authoritarian personality is undesirable. Findings may also drive people’s behavior, for example when females read that they are more persuasible than males, they might try to overcompensate. In sum, the concepts in the field of psychology are not value-free. However, value-free terms are not as interesting to the reader. In addition, psychologists themselves are also humans, who try to express themselves in their writings. Therefore, it is hard to change this labelling of concepts in terms of values. The author suggests to maintain as sensitive as possible to biases and to communicate them as openly as possible. Even if it is unavoidable to express values, one can avoid labelling them as objective reflections of truths.

What is the relationship between knowledge and behavioral liberation?

Based on Rosenthal’s (1966) research that found that even subtle cues about experimenter expectations can alter the behaviour of the subject, it is now common practice to avoid telling the participant about the theory behind an experiment. There are thus ‘naïve subjects’ required. This is also a difference between the natural and social sciences, in which communication in the latter can have a vital impact on behavior. However, when people learn about psychological processes, they might become more knowledgeable in terms of thinking about alternatives. Thus, being conscious of certain behaviors may modify behaviours and thus lead to ‘behavioral liberation’.

 However, knowledge can also become power to others. When people can predict your behavior, they can manipulate you. Humans don’t like to be controlled, they strive for autonomy. Therefore, the stronger a theory is (the more it is able to predict behaviour), the more people will try to invalidate the theory. This is a disadvantage for social psychology, because there is a high drive for people to invalidate theories that predict human behaviour.

What can we do about it?

Since humans try to invalidate strong social psychological theories, it seems that the science might be removed from the public. However, another way is to find out how people react to theories. This might help the science to predict and control the effects of knowledge. This is called a psychology of ‘enlightenment’. However, this is hard. This theory may also be rejected because of its threats to feelings of autonomy.

What about psychological theory and cultural change?

Another argument for that social psychology is based on historical circumstances is resembled in the fact that many predictors change over time. For example, variables that successfully predict political activism during the Vietnam war do not predict activism during later periods. Thus, the factors changed over time.

What are the implications for an historical science of social behavior?

The author states that the study of social psychology is an historical undertaking. Scientists are often engaged in describing contemporary affairs. They utilize scientific methodology, but the results are not scientific principles. The author describes five alterations to the field that could help scientists.

Alteration 1: Toward an Integration of the Pure and Applied

Academic psychologists seem to be prejudiced against applied researchers. It is seen as being limited to solving immediate problems, and pure research is seen as contributing to basic and enduring knowledge. However, as you now know, pure research is also not endurable. However, one shortcoming of applied research is that the terms used are often very specific. In academic psychology, the explanatory language is more general and can be used more broadly. The author suggest to focus on contemporary social issues which are based on the application of scientific methods and tools for broad generality.

Alteration 2: From Prediction to Sensitization

The author describes that the traditional aim in psychology to predict and control behaviour is misleading. Therefore, it should be play more a role as a ‘sensitizing device’, with which it can elucidate the range of factors that potentially influence behaviour under various conditions. Social psychology can sharpen one’s sensitivity to subtle influences and pinpoint assumptions about behaviour which are not proved useful in the past. When a social psychologist is asked for advice, the best thing to do would be to inform the inquirer about a number of possible occurrences, and thus expand the inquirer’s sensitivity.

Alteration 3: Develop Indicators of Psycho-Social Dispositions

The author suggests that concepts in social psychology should not be viewed as basic as in the natural sciences. Therefore, there is a high need for methodologies that tap into the prevalence, strength, and form of psychological dispositions over time. This means that a technology of psychologically sensitive social indicators is required.

Alteration 4: Research on Behavioral Stability

Phenomena vary in the extent to which they are subject to historical change. This signals the need for methods that determine the relative durability of social phenomena. For instance, scientists could employ cross-cultural methods. Content analytic techniques could also be used to study accounts in earlier historical periods.

Alteration 5: Toward an Integrated Social History

The author concludes by stating that there should be more focus on the interrelation of events over extended periods of time. Thus, the history should be studied in a broad context, including political, economic, and institutional. This can help to achieve understanding in an integrated way.

BulletPoints

• Psychology is defined as the science of human behaviour, and social psychology is defined as the branch that deals with human interaction. A goal of science is to establish general laws through systematic observations. Social psychologists thus want to discover causal relationships to establish basic principles that explain the phenomena studied in social psychology. The idea behind this goal was that if general principles of human behaviour could be established, it might be possible to reduce social conflict, mental illness, and to create optimal social conditions that would benefit society. Some even hoped to translate these principles into mathematical forms. However, in contrast to events in the natural sciences, concepts in the social sciences are not stable. Instead, social concepts are nonrepeatable and fluctuate a lot over time. This means that knowledge cannot accumulate. In this paper, the author discusses how social psychology is a historical inquiry.

• Social science can be viewed as a communications system. The scientist receives messages, transmitted by humans. These messages are ‘noise’, which need to be decoded with the use of scientific theories. This were Back’s (1963) ideas. However, his ideas had to be extended by including another task of the scientist: he or she needs to be a communicator. When a scientists discovers ideas, he or she needs to communicate these, so to help others. Thus, science and society are in a feedback loop.

• Based on Rosenthal’s (1966) research that found that even subtle cues about experimenter expectations can alter the behaviour of the subject, it is now common practice to avoid telling the participant about the theory behind an experiment. There are thus ‘naïve subjects’ required. This is also a difference between the natural and social sciences, in which communication in the latter can have a vital impact on behavior. However, when people learn about psychological processes, they might become more knowledgeable in terms of thinking about alternatives. Thus, being conscious of certain behaviors may modify behaviours and thus lead to ‘behavioral liberation’.