Critically discuss the usefulness of the three individual visions of social

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Critically discuss the usefulness of the three individual ‘visions’ of social

psychology.

        

        Social psychology is characterised by a variety of perspectives, with different theoretical underpinnings.  These multiple perspectives have been born from the influence of social psychologists from different traditions and subsequently, have diverse views surrounding the scope and aims of the discipline.  This paper will concisely define three influential schools of thought; experimental social psychology, critical social psychology and experiential social psychology.  These theoretical frameworks will be investigated by considering the case study of Leonard.  In evaluating these perspectives, marked differences between them will become evident; their attitudes to scientific methods; whether the individual can be considered as autonomous or determined and what is the core purpose of social psychology.  Their ideologies will be contrasted and inter-related to show us that no one perspective presents us with an ‘ideal’ but by combining the different epistemologies we are presented with a more enhanced understanding of the self.  Firstly, a brief insight into each of these perspectives.

        The experimental approach comes from a scientific angle and concerns itself with cause and effect relationships and functional analysis.  This vision concerns itself with the “most scientifically efficient and intellectually rigorous methods for understanding human social behaviour” (McGhee, 1996, p.7).  The foundation stone of this perspective is essentially based on; measurement, reliability and objectivity: and carefully controlled empirical investigations such as experiments are favoured.  It adopts a nomothetic approach, which primarily concerns itself with identifying patterns of human behaviour and making predictions, in order to generate laws that can be applied to populations of people.  It has a deterministic view of the self and views our behaviours, as a product of certain forces i.e. the factors that we encounter will determine our behaviour.

        The critical approach concerns itself with the study of people as intrinsically part of the social environment and favours methods such as observation, interviews and records of naturally occurring events.  Its foundation stone is the ever-present influence of the ‘social’ and the belief that humans, gregarious by nature, are hugely influenced by the social pervasiveness of our existence.  Social relationships, as described by Wetherell (1996, p.11), are “complex and multi-layered” and therefore it is argued that most aspects of ones life can only be understood in terms of the social practices and ways of thinking and being, which constitute ones particular society.  In studying the self, careful consideration must be given to relationships, gender, ethnicity, race, class, and organisation in society.  Therefore, viewing social psychology as a political science with the influence of power being of paramount importance.  The person is seen as distributed rather than fixed where ones development is continual and dependent largely upon the nature of ones complex interactions.  However, unlike the experiential perspective, personal agency is constrained in the sense that ones development is governed by the social norms and the discourses available to them.

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        The experiential approach is more closely related to philosophy, literature and counselling than to natural sciences like the experimental approach.  Adopting an idiosyncratic approach, it regards people’s experiences and understanding of their own behaviour and the behaviour of others as the core of psychology.  The capacity for agency and choice is much greater than the other two perspectives.  It takes a more autonomous view of the person where one strives to reach self-actualisation.  Thus, highlighting the experiential approach as a moral science.  Experiential methods are holistic and adopt a qualitative consideration of meanings to what people experience, rather than ...

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