magazine issue 6 2007 / Issue 3

Five Social Psychology Essentials

• written by Dennis Fox

V. Recognizing Social Psychology as a Form of Technology

When considering the researcher’s responsibility for developing techniques of social control that can be used in negative ways, introductory textbooks generally conclude that most researchers today appropriately balance the pros and cons and that, in any case, scientists are not personally responsible for what others do with their findings. Thus, with institutional oversight and within the law, social psychologists can legitimately manipulate subjects for experimental purposes, and they can legitimately manipulate members of the public afterwards. Not surprisingly, the introductory course emphasizes the positive (resolving environmental problems, resisting deceptive advertising, reducing prejudice) and minimizes the negative (deceiving consumers, increasing obedience, maintaining injustice). Ironically, it is often the more hidden uses that bring home to students just how relevant social psychology really is. If market researchers and the CIA are recruiting social psychologists, there must be something to it! (“The Central Intelligence Agency can provide a fulfilling career for the curious and skilled researcher. Immediate openings are available for generalists in applied behavioral research. Duties will involve the practical application of professional knowledge and experience to exciting real-world situations….” - CIA, 2007).

An introductory class should consider more directly the assumptions that social psychological knowledge is neutral and that the benefits outweigh the harms. It is not unreasonable to conclude that the societal and global consequences of many forms of technology have been predominantly negative (Fox, 1986). Even positive technologies, though, transform society without democratic debate and decision making. The lack of public input gains additional significance when the technology in question is explicitly created to shape behavior without our awareness or permission.

Conclusion

Many students would find introductory social psychology more interesting and its important lessons more memorable if the course emphasized general themes crucial for an informed public rather than an amalgamation of disconnected research findings. Those who plan to become professional social psychologists would also benefit from thinking about the field’s broader implications. It makes sense, thus, for discussion of behavior’s context to routinely consider societal assumptions about which behaviors are natural and expected, about who benefits and who loses from existing institutional arrangements, and about how and why those assumptions and institutions differ across cultures. It’s comforting to assume social psychology will help improve our world, and especially reassuring to find examples such as Ignacio Martín-Baró’s (1994) Latin American liberation psychology. Success, however, is more likely if students and teachers explore together just what social psychology is, and what it should be, about.

References

Aronson, E. (2004). The social animal (9th. ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
CIA (2007). https://www.cia.gov/careers/jobs/view-all-jobs/research-psychologist.html, June 8, 2007.

Fox, D. R. (1985). Psychology, ideology, utopia, and the commons. American Psychologist, 40, 48-58.

Fox, D. R. (1986). Technology, productivity, and psychological needs. In J. W. Murphy & J. T. Pardeck (Eds.), Technology and human productivity: Challenges for the future (pp. 59-66). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Fox, D. R. (1993). Psychological jurisprudence and radical social change. American Psychologist, 48, 234-241.

Fox, D. & Prilleltensky, I. (Eds.). (1997). Critical psychology: An introduction. London: Sage.

Hepburn, A. (2003). An introduction to critical social psychology. London: Sage.
Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology (A. Aron & S. Corne, Eds.), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Penguin Books.
Myers, D. G. (2002). Social psychology (7th. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pancer, M. (1997). Social psychology: The crisis continues. In D. Fox & I. Prilleltensky (Eds.), Critical psychology: An introduction(150-165). London: Sage.