Critical Social Psychology

Question 1

what is critical social psychology?

Answer 1

believes the scientific method is only one way to understand social phenomena

Question 2

what does critical social psychology use?

Answer 2

qualitative methods to explore the utility and function of language

Question 3

critical social psychology consists of a theoretically informed way of…

Answer 3

conceptualising the person and their experiences of the social world, to explore a range of social issues

Question 4

what is social constructionism?

Answer 4

the social world is built through blocks of understanding, acting as knowledge systems in everyday language

Question 5

how is the person conceptualised in experimental social psychology?

Answer 5

people are a product of innate instinct, moulded by social and cultural forces, and lack free will

Question 6

how is the person conceptualised in critical social psychology?

Answer 6

sees the person as an intentional actor within their social world, with the capacity for free will

Question 7

what is the social construction of reality?

Answer 7

argues that social realities are built through interactions, which build a sense of the world that can be mediated through language

Question 8

stages of social construction

Answer 8

1. externalisation
2. objectification
3. internalisation

Question 9

externalisaton

Answer 9

how cultures make sense of their social world, informed by institutions and constructs

Question 10

objectification

Answer 10

how these constructs are presented as real, through ‘thingification’

Question 11

internalisation

Answer 11

the objectified world becomes known and adopted by individuals, through socialisation and enculturation

Question 12

what does social constructionist psychology involve?

Answer 12

an interpretative approach of how and why people make sense of their social worlds, and the consequences of their reality

Question 13

how does social constructionist psychology involve an active approach?

Answer 13

by questioning tacit knowledge and motives

Question 14

what does postcolonial psychology focus on?

Answer 14

how social knowledge and power is influenced by the aftermath of colonisation

Question 15

what does postcolonial psychology aim to question and disrupt?

Answer 15

frames of power within the discipline, which originated from the prejudicial assumptions of researchers

Question 16

deconstructive tool

Answer 16

emboldens researchers to question and problematise taken-for-granted knowledge

Question 17

critical social psychologists argue social behaviour is the product of…

Answer 17

the social context and interaction in which they are made meaningful

Question 18

what is personality?

Answer 18

the dynamic organisation within the individual that determine unique adjustment to the environment

Question 19

individual differences and personality

Answer 19

• measures observable psychological differences that represent one self
• personality measures are objective
• assessments have relative stability

Question 20

critical social psychology and personality

Answer 20

• personality is an unreliable construct to categorise people
• informed by discriminatory lenses
• problematic in work contexts

Question 21

issues with MBTI

Answer 21

developed by non-psychologists in the 1950s, where nobody with an IQ under 100 or women were measured on the same scale

Question 22

what was MBTI constructed on?

Answer 22

the personalities of white, middle-class men used in educational contexts

Question 23

what is the big five involved in?

Answer 23

hiring decisions to identify good employees

Question 24

big five personality predictors of mental health

Answer 24

high neuroticism- depression and anxiety

high neuroticism and low extroversion- social anxiety

low patterns of response- autism

Question 25

alternative approaches to personality

Answer 25

• the relational being
• goffman’s dramaturgical approach

Question 26

the relational being (gergen, 2002)

Answer 26

self-identity is shaped by reproducing socially constructed understandings, through interactions and language

Question 27

goffman’s dramaturgical approach, 1959

Answer 27

there is not one true self, as people perform who they are with the audience in mind
- achieved by the use of masks and prompts

Question 28

what is aggression?

Answer 28

a behaviour intended to harm another individual

Question 29

hostile aggression

Answer 29

performed with the primary goal of intentional injury

Question 30

proactive (instrumental) aggression

Answer 30

harm is inflicted as a means to a desired end

Question 31

reactive (emotional/affective) aggression

Answer 31

harm is inflicted for its own sake

Question 32

why are men considered to be more aggressive than women?

Answer 32

because conceptualisations of aggression follow male-orientated behaviour

Question 33

what forms of aggression are preferred by women?

Answer 33

non-physical forms, which cause social harm and lead to low-self esteem

Question 34

what is the construction of aggression informed by?

Answer 34

assumptions of traditional explanations of gender differences, as methodology adheres to masculine forms of aggression

Question 35

what has the construction of aggression reinforced?

Answer 35

a new understanding of aggression, with female aggression being pathologised