1. The subject, tasks and methodology of social psychology

Social psychology as an independent branch of scientific knowledge began to take shape at the end of the 19th century, although the concept itself became widely used only after 1908.

Some questions of social psychology were posed long ago within the framework of philosophy and had the character of understanding the peculiarities of the relationship between a person and society.

However, the study of socio-psychological scientific problems began in the XIX century, when sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, literary critics, ethnographers, and physicians began to analyze the psychological phenomena of large social groups and the peculiarities of mental processes and human behavior depending on the influence of the people around them.

The problems posed were difficult to study only within the framework of the then existing sciences. It was necessary to integrate sociology and psychology, because psychology explores the human psyche, and sociology - society.

The main stages of the development of social psychology as a science.

The first stage is the development of social psychology as a science (from the middle of the 19th century to 1908). The subject of study and the main problems are determined.

The first fundamental works on major issues of social psychology are published.

At this stage, the solution and theoretical analysis of social and psychological problems attract the attention of specialists in various fields: psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, literary critics, ethnographers, etc.

Most of the works on social psychology were published in the first period of development of this science.

The second stage (until the mid-40s of the xx century) is characterized by the emergence of scientific socio-psychological schools, focused both on the development of the fundamental theory and on the applied aspects of the research.

One of the most influential social psychologists of this period is K. Levin , the creator of the theory of group dynamics.

He investigated the problems of social factors of will as purposeful behavior; social psychology of small groups, leadership, individuals in a group, etc.

A large number of experimental studies were carried out and at the same time fundamental theories were developed that have not lost their relevance in our time.

The third stage (from the mid-1940s to the present day). He is associated with the solution of practical problems, work on the social order. Experimental psychology continues its development, fundamental theoretical developments recede into the background.

Social psychology is gaining wide popularity, is introduced into general educational programs of higher education institutions and is one of the mandatory subjects of study for specialists of various profiles.

Such close attention to socio-psychological issues is caused by the needs of improving and stabilizing social relations at all levels of social stratification.

The so-called small theories that have a specific practical value are being developed: the socio-psychological characteristics of the management of the children's group, the psychology of business, the psychology of advertising, the psychology of the formation of public opinion, etc.

The combination of the words “social psychology” indicates a specific place that this discipline occupies in the system of scientific knowledge.

Having emerged at the junction of the sciences of psychology and sociology, social psychology still retains a special status. This leads to the fact that each of the "parent" disciplines includes it as an integral part.

This ambiguity of the discipline has many reasons.

One of them is the objective existence of such a class of facts of social life, which in themselves can be investigated only with the help of the combined efforts of two sciences: psychology and sociology.

Another reason for the dual position of social psychology is the very history of the formation of this discipline, which matured in the depths of both psychological and sociological knowledge, was born "at the crossroads" of two sciences.

All this creates difficulties both in determining the subject of social psychology and in identifying the range of its problems.

The needs of social development practice dictate the necessity of studying border issues.

Requests for social and psychological research in the conditions of the modern stage of development of society come from all spheres of public life, especially due to the fact that in each of them radical changes are taking place today.

Such requests come from the field of industrial production, various fields of education, the mass information system, the field of demographic policy, sports, the service sector, etc.

All this stimulates the intensive development of social psychology at the present stage. The need for this is exacerbated by two circumstances.

First, the fact that in the history of the existence of Soviet social psychology as an independent science there was a rather long break and a new stage in the revitalization of social and psychological research began only in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Secondly, social psychology is essentially a science that stands very close to social and political problems, and therefore it is possible to use its results by various social forces.

For social psychology, it is important to simultaneously solve two problems: the development of practical recommendations obtained in the course of applied research, the necessary practice; “Completion” of its own building as an integral system of scientific knowledge with the refinement of its subject, the development of special theories and special research methodology.

Starting the solution of these problems, it is necessary to outline the range of problems of social psychology in order to more strictly define tasks that can be solved by means of this discipline.

It is necessary to distinguish from the psychological perspective issues that are within the competence of social psychology.

Since psychological science in our country, in defining its subject, proceeds from the principle of activity, one can conditionally designate the specifics of social psychology as the study of patterns of behavior and activities of people caused by their inclusion in social groups, as well as psychological characteristics of these groups themselves.

The subject of social psychology is determined by the question: “What is this science studying as an independent, independent branch of knowledge?”

Psychology and sociology - "maternal" disciplines in relation to social psychology. At the same time, one cannot assume that social psychology is only a part of sociology and psychology.

The independence of this branch of scientific knowledge is due to the specifics of the subject of the study , which cannot be studied only within the framework of any one science.

There are several points of view on what is the subject of a study of social psychology.

Social psychology studies personality in a group, society, society.

Unlike general psychology, social psychology investigates not just the mental processes of an individual, but their specificity in connection with the system of social interactions.

From this point of view, the subject of the study is a person among people . If the individual characteristics of the subject are considered, it is only as a result of social development associated with upbringing and socialization.

A person is studied in all the diversity of his social connections: in the process of personal development throughout life, in the system of interaction at the interpersonal and formal levels, etc.

Particular attention is paid to the position of the individual in the group, team.

Social psychology studies social groups in society. These are primarily psychological characteristics of groups, problems of intragroup dynamics, intragroup relations, intergroup relations, etc.

A social group is considered as a functional unit that has integral psychological characteristics, such as group intelligence, group will, group decision, etc.

Various typologies of social groups are created, an increasing number of criteria for analysis are highlighted. A group is considered as a unique integrity, which cannot be understood only on the basis of a study of the subjects that make it up.

A group is more than a collection of members. It has its own characteristics that exist regardless of the individual characteristics of its constituent entities.

Social psychology studies the social psyche , or mass phenomena of the psyche .

There are various phenomena corresponding to this concept: the psychology of classes, social strata, mass moods, stereotypes and attitudes; public opinion and psychological climate, mass actions and group emotional states.

The socio-psychological aspect of traditions, morals, morals, etc. is studied. The psychological foundations of the unique semiotic systems created by humanity over the centuries are studied.

Most modern social psychologists believe that social psychology studies both personality and groups, and the social psyche, but in a specific context.

Social psychologist G. M. Andreeva defined the subject of social psychology as follows: social psychology studies the patterns of behavior, activities and communication of people, due to their inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of these groups themselves.

Within the framework of social psychology, several psychological schools can be distinguished: functionalism, behaviorism, humanistic psychology, cognitivism, and interactionism.

Functionalism (or functional psychology) arose under the influence of evolutionary theory in the biology of C. Darwin and the evolutionary theory of social Darwinism by G. Spencer .

G. Spencer believed that the basic law of social development is the law of survival of the fittest societies and social groups.

Representatives of functionalism ( D. Dewey, D. Angell, G. Kerr, and others) studied people and social groups from the point of view of their social adaptation — adaptation to difficult living conditions.

The main socio-psychological problem of functionalism is the problem of the most optimal conditions for the social adaptation of the subjects of social life.

Behaviorism (later neobiheviorizm) - behavioral psychology, studying the problems of patterns of behavior of man and animal ( I. V. Pavlov, V. M. Bekhterev, D. Watson, B. Skinner , etc.).

Behavior was viewed as an objective, observable reality that can be investigated under experimental conditions.

The central problem of behaviorism is the problem of learning, that is, the acquisition of individual experience through trial and error.

There are four laws of learning: the law of effect, the law of exercise, the law of readiness and the law of associative shift.

The psychoanalytic direction is associated with the name of Z. Freud . Investigated the problems of unconscious, irrational processes in the personality and in its behavior.

He believed that the central driving force of man is the aggregate of inclinations.

Some of the aspects of this direction were developed in the works of C. Jung and A. Adler.

Socio-psychological problems of direction : the conflict between man and society, manifested in the collision of man’s inclinations with social prohibitions; problem of sources of social activity of the individual.

Humanistic psychology ( G. Allport, A. Maslow, C. Rogers, and others) explored a person as a fully developing personality that seeks to realize their potential and achieve self-actualization, personal growth.

Every normal person has a tendency towards self-expression and self-realization.

Cognitivism interprets a person’s social behavior as a set of primarily cognitive processes and focuses on the process of human cognition of the world, comprehending the essence of phenomena by means of basic cognitive mental processes (memory, attention, etc.).

The problem of cognitivism is human decision making. Representatives of the cognitive school ( J. Piaget, J. Bruner, R. Atkinson, and others) paid special attention to the knowledge of the person and the ways of its formation.

Interactionism (later symbolic interactionism) investigated the problems of the social aspect of interaction between people in the process of activity and communication.

The basic idea of ​​interactionism: the person is always social and can not be formed outside of society.

Of particular importance was attached to communication as the exchange of symbols and the development of common meanings and meanings.

Most psychological schools can be distinguished only with a certain degree of conventionality, since they all examine a person in a group, society, and the world.

The whole set of methods of socio-psychological research can be divided into two large groups: research methods and methods of influence .

The latter refer to a specific area of ​​social psychology, to the “psychology of influence”.

Among the research methods distinguish between methods of collecting information and methods of its processing .

Data processing methods are often not highlighted in a special block, since most of them are not specific to a socio-psychological study.

Methods of collecting information : observation, reading documents (content analysis), surveys (questionnaires, interviews), tests (the most common sociometric test), experiment (laboratory, natural).

Observation is the “old” method of social psychology. The main problem is to ensure that certain specific classes of characteristics are fixed, so that the “reading” of the observation protocol is understandable to another researcher.

The study of documents is of great importance, since with the help of this method it is possible to analyze the products of human activity. A particular problem arises in connection with the fact that a researcher interprets a document, a person with his own individual psychological characteristics inherent to him. The most important role in the study of the document is the ability to understand the text.

To overcome the "subjectivity" (interpretation of the document by the researcher), a special technique is introduced, called the "content analysis".

This is a special method of analyzing a document when special “units” are highlighted in the text, and then the frequency of their use is calculated.

The method of content analysis makes sense to apply only in cases where the researcher is dealing with a large array of information.

Surveys - a common technique in social and psychological research.

Usually, critical comments on this method are expressed in bewilderment about how one can trust the information obtained from the direct answers of the subjects, essentially from their self-reports.

Among the types of surveys most common in social psychology are interviews and questionnaires . The main methodological problems are the design of the questionnaire. The first requirement here is the logic of construction.

Most often in social psychology apply personality tests , less often - group tests .

A test is a special kind of test in which the subject performs either a specially designed task or answers questions that are different from those of questionnaires or interviews. Questions in the tests are indirect.

The meaning of the subsequent processing is to use the “key” to match the received answers with certain parameters.

Experiment is one of the main methods of research in social psychology. There are two main types of experiment: laboratory and natural.

For both types, there are some general rules expressing the essence of the method, for example: arbitrary introduction of independent variables by the experimenter and control over them, the requirement to separate the control and experimental groups so that the measurement results can be comparable with a certain standard.