Harris, Lasana;
(2025)
The Who of Social Psychology: The Challenges of Humans Studying Human Behavior.
In: Gilbert, Daniel T and Fiske,, Susan T and Finkel, Eli J and Mendes, Wendy B, (eds.)
Handbook of Social Psychlogy 6th Edition.
Situational Press
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Abstract
Social psychology is among the most challenging of scientific pursuits because the object of scientific inquiry changes due to the investigation, and has thoughts about it. The scientist is a human being trying to discover how behavior is shaped by the social context. The “who” of scientists is shaped by their context, so a brief historical account of the field focuses on its origins, the various revolutions, and their possible impact on social psychologists’ identity. The difficult problem lies at the center of this chapter: How have human beings as humans been able to study human thought, emotion, and behavior empirically? As examples in the field will show, human nature influences social psychological scientists. The self-perception of social psychologists depends in part on the perspective of other psychologists, academics, and the public. More broadly, structural bias influences samples, narrows scientific definitions, and defines careers. Next, academic identity drives norms within the discipline—including those of best practice—and allows social psychology to influence a wide variety of other disciplines, including law, mental and physical healthcare, policy and political science, business, media studies, communication science, and education. Finally, social psychologists likely will continue to overcome the challenges of studying human beings while being human. Non-human machines and algorithms may have a central role in collecting and analyzing data, and a more prominent role for social psychological theories that are generalizable across a range of behaviors, social contexts, and people. Throughout, best practices for researchers will address the impact of being human on the research and the discipline.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Who of Social Psychology: The Challenges of Humans Studying Human Behavior |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.70400/NYKH3013 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.70400/NYKH3013 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Experimental Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10213153 |
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