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Critically assess the Social Constructionist Critique of Experimental Methods in Psychology
The constructivism theory can be described as a theory that deals with the way people create meaning of the world through a series of individual constructs. Therefore, social constructionism is a social theory of knowledge that considers how social phenomena develop in social contexts. By definition, constructs make sense out of the chaos in realities of life. Burr, (1995) states that, a major focus of social constructionism is to investigate into the different ways in which individuals shape their social reality. Experimental methods in psychology involve manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. In this method, there are independent and dependent variables to be tested. According to Riger (1992) therefore, experimental psychology is concerned with discovering the processes underlying behavior and cognition. Historically, experimental psychology emerged around the 19th century through a scientist, Wilhelm Wundt in Germany.
Social constructionists believe that every method offers an epistemologically privileged view of reality as the constructionist approach is less associated the idea of own set of methods.(Gergen,1973). It has also been seen that, Social constructionists have criticized researchers with experimental approach on both methodological and ideological grounds. Although the differences are found in both the approaches, it is also argued that the complementary of social constructionism and experimental psychology have connection to each other. Further, it is also assumed that analysis of their joined potential could enormously contribute to the field of psychology to conduct in-depth researches in future.
This approach also presents a developmental foundation in which people are viewed as active storage of social environments that are changing in nature. At this point, the view of social constructionists and experimental researchers is found to be similar, as they believe that the cognitive perspective in social psychology can be seen as the constructive nature of social cognition (Markus and Zajonc, 1985). These efforts of researchers produced a common concern focusing on the subjective and social outcome of cultural forms, which allows researchers to use social as well as psychological theories in order to address the social and cognitive outcomes.
The intellectual concepts of experimental psychology and social constructionism are initially introduced by some researchers including Hegel, Marx, Weber, Dewey and Mead are considered to share similar origin. However, it is also a fact that both the worlds of social constructionism and experimental psychology are both from the same origin, which is also endorsed by the earlier opinions. In addition, the modern and existing research in psychology was found to be congruent with the opinions of earlier researchers who focused on the different ways or environments in which children start their journey of intellectual life within the framework of reality and social interaction. Kenneth Gergen was among the strongest critiques of the experimental methods in psychology. His critique of experimental social psycho logistics has been used in many other publications and theories of psychology. One, Gergen and his associates, question the experimental psychologists’ approaches as not being methodological enough. Gergen (1973) accuses them of not “using objective methods to separate fact from fiction”
Another faction strongly opposing the idea of experimental psychology is the FrankfurtSchool .This group names its ideas “Critical theory”. Lindsey (1999) is of the opinion that experimental psychology describes humans as independent variables that have constant features. In doing this, they assume that man is separate from their cultural, historical and economic context in which they live. These human mental process contexts are therefore done away with and for critical psychologists; here is where the problem lies. The experimental psychologists displayed men as incomplete entities, that man has no life outside his very self. Solso (1950) also states they also filtered out most of human life in a bid to reduce the variables for their testing and in the process, only served to lend support the prevailing social order.
In the psychological experiment, the interaction among subjects cannot be avoided. Consequently, it breaks the scientific purity of the results as was purported by Markus (1985). The results received in the course of manipulation of participants” experiences in experimental studies by using treatment and control groups are not very reliable and can not be applied in all cases in real life. This is because in the lab, there is an artificial environment, which may inhibit natural behavior. The experimental method does not lend itself well to studying emotions, mental states, or behaviors, which are subjective by nature. Experimental method in psychology is a bit unrealistic. When compared to physics or chemistry, psychology is a pseudoscience where researchers present numbers as if there is a precision or certainty that does not really exist. There is always bias present in a study. Therefore, experimental psychology deals with the ideal rather than the real. There is also another major flaw in experimental psychology in that there is a tendency of over-ascription to an entire population of a property that has been demonstrated in a sub-group. This occurs when finding in one experiment having particular conditions are attributed to the whole society in general.
Another main critique in view of social constructionists is that, experimentalists assume themselves as investigators, and every kind of knowledge that is constructed by experimental social psychologists is to be limited to certain historical, cultural, and ideological contexts. Furthermore, critiques can also be seen in the political aspect, which says that experimentalists are not only epistemologically wrong about the capacity to develop universally applicable theories of the abstract individual, but they are also generally on the side (Riger, 1992).
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that both the experimentalists and social constructionist share the same origin and are determined to accomplish one agenda that encourages people to become active to build representations of their social environments. Since both the social constructionism and experimentalism have some commonalities, social constructionists should make efforts to receive gains from the theories and experiments of experimental psychologists. The researchers, on the other hand, can also get benefits by studying relevant contents of social constructionism perspective and improve weaknesses in their so far work. By working together, both the disciplines of psychology would be able to minimize their differences and could develop creative, sustained progress as well as strength a mutual agenda of analyzing the human behavior.
Work Cited
Burr, Vivien. An Introduction to Social Constructionism. London: Routledge. 1995, Print.
Gergen, K. J. Social psychology as history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973 26,309-320.Print.
Gergen, Kenneth J. An Invitation to Social Construction. London: Sage, 1999. Print.
In G, Lindsey, & E. Aronson. (Eds). The Handbook of Social Psychology. (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 127-230). 1999. Print.
Markus, H., & Zajonc, R. B. The Cognitive Perspective in Social Psychology. 1985. Print
Riger, S… Epistemological Debates, Feminist Voices. American Psychologist, Vol. 47,
730 – 740. 1992. Print.
Solso, Robert L. & MacLin, M. Kimberly. Experimental Psychology: A Case Approach (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 2001. Print.
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