The Psychology Book (75 page)

1978
In his zone of proximal

development theory, Lev

Vygotsky puts forward the idea

The goal is not

Society begins to

that learning is fundamentally

to advance

use new phrases and

a socially mediated activity.

knowledge, but

visions to describe a

to be “in the know.”

collective common sense
.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 239

See also:
Friedrich Herbart 24–25 ■ Kurt Lewin 218–23 ■ Solomon Asch 224–27 ■ Lev Vygotsky 270

I
n the late 1960s, some social communicate within a community. because “the goal is not to advance psychologists, known as the

They are, in effect, a collective

knowledge, but to be in the know;”

social constructivists, argued

“common sense”—a shared version

to be an active participant in the

that the voice of ordinary people

of reality—that is built through the

collective circuit. The process

was being lost from psychological

mass media, science, religion, and

allows the unfamiliar to become

research. The concern was that

interaction between social groups.

familiar, and paves the way for

individuals were wrongly being

To test his theory, Moscovici

science to become common sense.

portrayed as merely perceiving

looked at how the concepts of

In this way, social representations

their social worlds rather than

psychoanalytic theory had been

provide a framework for groups of

actually constructing them. In

absorbed within France since

people to make sense of the world.

order to counteract these worrying

World War II. He studied mass-

They also affect how people treat

trends, social psychologist Serge

market publications and conducted

each other within societies.

Moscovici conducted a piece of

interviews, searching for evidence

Whenever there is debate over a

research that became a classic

of the type of information that had

controversial social issue—such

study of the way people absorb

been floating around the collective

as whether it should be legal for

ideas and understand their world.

consciousness. He discovered that

homosexuals to adopt children—

In his study,
Psychoanalysis:

psychoanalytic theory had trickled

the impact and importance of social

its image and its public
, published

down both in the form of “high

representations becomes apparent.

in France in 1961, Moscovici

culture” and as popular common

Moscovici insists that social

explored the belief that all thought

sense: people thought about and

representations are genuine forms

and understanding is based on the

discussed complex psychoanalytic

of knowledge in their own right,

workings of “social representations.”

concepts in a way that seemed

not diluted versions of higher-level

These are the many concepts,

quite normal, but on the whole they

information. In fact, he makes it

statements, and explanations

were using simplified versions.

clear that these everyday thoughts

that are created in the course

(rather than the more abstract,

of everyday interactions and

Molding common sense

scientific versions) are significant,

communications between people.

The translation of difficult concepts

because “shared representations

They allow us to orientate ourselves

into accessible and more easily

are there to set up and build a

in our social and material worlds

transmissible language is not

common ‘reality,’ a common

and provide us with the means to

problematic, Moscovici contends,

sense which becomes ‘normal’.” ■

Serge Moscovici

Born Srul Hersh Moskovitch to a

In 1949, he gained a degree in

Jewish family in Braila, Romania,

psychology, then a PhD under

Serge Moscovici attended school

the supervision of Daniel

in Bucharest, but was expelled

Lagache, with the support of

due to anti-Semitic laws. After

a refugee grant. He co-founded

surviving the violent pogrom

the European Laboratory of

of 1941, in which hundreds of

Social Psychology in 1965, and

Jewish people were tortured

as a professor of psychology has

and murdered, he and his father

taught in prestigious universities

moved constantly around the

across the US and Europe.

country. He learned French during

World War II, and co-founded an

Key works

art journal,
Da
, which was banned

due to censorship laws. In 1947,

1961
Psychoanalysis

he left Romania and traveled via

1976
Social Influence and Social

“displaced persons” camps until

Change

he reached France a year later.

1981
The Age of the Crowd

240

WE ARE

BY NATURE

SOCIAL BEINGS

WILLIAM GLASSER (1925– )

achieving greater happiness and

CONTEXT

W
illiam Glasser openly

rejected conventional

fulfilment through personal choice,

psychiatry and the use

responsibility, and transformation.

APPROACH

of medication, claiming that most

In 1965, he developed Reality

Choice Theory

of the mental and psychological

Therapy, a cognitive-behavioral,

BEFORE

problems that people experience

problem-solving approach to

c.350 BCE
Greek philosopher

are actually on a spectrum of

treatment that encourages clients

Aristotle says we are driven by

healthy human experience, and

to seek what they really want in

three things: sensual appetite,

can be improved through changes

the present moment, and to assess

anger, and
boulesis
, the rational

in behavior. His ideas focus on

whether or not the behaviors

desire for what is beneficial.

1943
Clark L. Hull says that

all human behavior comes

We are, by nature,

from four primary drives:

social beings.

hunger, thirst, sex, and the

avoidance of pain.

1973
US scientist William T.

Powers develops perceptual

When our close

Love
and
belonging

control theory (PCT), which

interpersonal relationships

are among our greatest

suggests that our behavior is

are troubled we

non-survival needs.

how we control our perceptions

become
unhappy
.

in order to keep them close to

internally fixed reference levels.

AFTER

2000
US psychiatrist Peter

Breggin publishes
Reclaiming

Extreme unhappiness

We can treat psychological

can result in

problems by
repairing

our Children
, criticizing the

symptoms that are

interpersonal

use of psychiatric drugs as

commonly associated

relationships
; psychiatric

“cures” for troubled children.

with
mental illness
.

drugs are unnecessary.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 241

See also:
Emil Kraepelin 31 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ David Rosenhan 328–29 ■

Clark L. Hull 335

that they have chosen are bringing

them closer to or further away from

achieving their goals.

Choice Theory

Over decades of practicing Reality

Therapy, Glasser realized that his

entire approach was based on the

idea of people actively identifying

what they want to do in order to

be fulfilled, and this led him to

William Glasser

develop Choice Theory. This theory

holds that we are all motivated to

William Glasser was born

in Cleveland, Ohio, in

act in ways that increase pleasure

Interpersonal strife
with those close

1925. Originally trained as

and decrease pain—we want to

to us leads to rifts and resentments that

a chemical engineer, he

think and behave in ways that will

produce symptoms of mental illness;

attended medical school in

make us feel better. All pleasure

these problems are, in fact, the logical

Cleveland and trained in

and pain, he says, derives from our

consequences of troubled relationships.

psychiatry in Los Angeles.

efforts to satisfy five genetically

He began practicing in 1957.

encoded needs: survival, love and

someone to listen to what we say;

Through the writings on

belonging, power, freedom, and fun.

to feel free, we must feel free from

perceptual control theory

Any behavior that satisfies one of

the control of others; and while it is

(PCT) by William T. Powers,

these is pleasurable, and any that

possible to have fun on our own, it

Glasser was introduced to

fails to do so is a source of pain,

is much easier with other people.

control theory systems. In

and ultimately, he explains, it is

For these reasons, he argues, “we

1967, Glasser founded the

only through human relationships

are, by nature, social beings.”

Institute for Reality Therapy

that we can satisfy these needs.

Glasser emphasizes that lasting

in California (later renamed

When we are struggling to survive,

psychological problems are usually

the William Glasser Institute),

which trains students in

the help of another makes us feel

caused by problems in our personal

Choice Theory. His approach

good; in order to feel love and

relationships (rather than signifying

is taught in more than 28

belonging, we need at least one

a biochemical abnormality in the

countries, and he has written

good relationship; to sense even