New Science Social Psychology - Essay Example

Social Psychology Introduction: Before starting with the intended explanation of terms such as rationalism, scientific realism and the concept of authority, it is appropriate to first understand the generic definition of what social psychology is all about. The periphery of the subject includes a general definition: it is a discipline that uses scientific methods to understand as well as explain how the thought, feeling and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings. In order to understand social behaviour, there is a wide range of psychological terminologies including group behaviour, social perception, aggression, authority, obedience, realism, rationalism, prejudice, and so on. In order to understand the relationship between social perception, social behaviour and social influences of individuals, precise knowledge of these terms is essential. This paper looks briefly into an appropriate explanation of the terms ‘rationalism’ and ‘authority’, and attempts to provide a comparative study of the two terms with regard to an explanation of what is scientific realism and how a social perception or behaviour is developed on it. That is to say, the value of scientific realism (or social reality, to be more specific) can be accessed in terms of the relevance as well as influence of the concept of authority. Before going further into the comparative study, it is important first to understand the two terms clearly. Rationalism: The term ‘rationalism’ can be defined in a general way as any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification. Further, it encompasses a number of views with regard to validating the truth. In terms of social psychology, rationalism is a scientific way to find out the nature of social behaviour as well as social influence in relation with the validation of a social perception. Criticism of that rationalism is brought under the terminology of critical rationalism. This includes another important terminology - critical realism. Critical realism is a theory combining a general philosophy of science (or transcendental realism) with a philosophy of social science (or critical naturalism). Going a little further into the periphery of rationalism, it is strongly related to realism in the context of the definitive perspective of social sciences. Realism can also be assessed and validated by means of rationalistic discussion and argumentation that directs an individual to his development of social perception of a particular subject. Again, individual reality is associated with social reality, that is to say, the objectives of rationalism can reach to a commonly accepted truth or reality (or social reality) if the perceptions of individuals reach a collective or social perception. In this context, the understanding of that reality is significantly and effectively influenced by the concept of authority. Authority: The concept of authority is an important subject of research in a variety of empirical settings in social sciences. The idea of an authority can be developed in various ways, for instance, it can be the family (or parental authority), small groups (or informal authority of leadership), educational, organizational and bureaucratic authorities, political authority, and so on. The concept of authority can influence social perception of individuals to a great extent. For instance, it can have either positive or negative effect on individual as well as social perception of reality. In case of negative effect, validity of falsification is a common practice among individuals in a society if ill-trained individuals (in the name of authority) make careless observations and reach false conclusions. This can increase the number of mistaken individual ideas in the form of prejudice or even social aggression. As Small (2009) describes, the function of authority primarily is “to dictate knowledge, opinions and conduct…the reaction of the public upon authority is a source of safety and protection”, however, “the abuse of power is almost inevitable” (p. 340) due to the negative aspects of authority. Relationship between rationalism and authority: Coming now to a comparative analysis of the two terms, that is, rationalism and authority, the association between the two is very much evident. This can be examined by means of illustrating some other relevant terminologies in social psychology such as the concept of obedience to authority (Blass, 2000), the influence of ancient philosophers or charismatic leadership. Considering first the concept of obedience to authority, it is studied under the concept of legitimate authority. This form of authority is concerned with the legitimacy of formal rules and established laws of the state or society, which are generally written down and are often very complex. In this context, the aspect of legitimacy is closely related to the aspect of rationality. So it can also be labelled as rational-legal authority. By obedience to authority simply means here the submission to the legitimate source. The power of such rational-legal authority is mentioned in the written form of rules, that is, in constitutions. Constitutional authority is prevalent in almost all the countries across the world, where government officials are the sources of this form of authority. Coming to the second type of authority, that is, the influence of ancient philosophers, can be classified under the type of traditional authority, derived from long-established customs, habits and social structures. In this case, examples can be drawn from the various schools of theories and philosophies initiated by ancient philosophers. The schools of thought by Socrates, Aristotle, or Galileo are the best examples of this traditional authority. The right of hereditary monarchs to rule is another example of this authority. Then the factor of charismatic leadership forms another type, that is, charismatic authority. Here, the charisma of the individual or leader plays a significant role in the social perception of his followers. In all these cases, influence of the authority plays an important role in individual as well as social perception and behaviour of rationalism and social realism. Further, with regard to the understanding of social perception or rather rationalism, the issue of obedience to authority features a number of factors that increase obedience. It is important to note here that the dimension of obedience is specific to the legitimization of a social perception or generally speaking, the collectiveness of social perception and behaviour. In case of developing a common social perception of rationalism, commands from authority figures are more effective than from any volunteer. This is evidently applicable to all types of authority discussed above. For instance, social perception would increase characteristically if the experiments of rationalism are conducted at premier institutions or inspired by charismatic leadership. In any case, it is observed that people justify their social behaviour by assigning responsibility to the authority rather than themselves. Besides, obedience to authority plays its part crucially as people do not want to be rude or offend the authority by not accepting the social behaviour. Conclusion: It is evident now that rationalism or a scientific outlook is significant to develop a social perception or social behaviour within a larger community or a society. By rationalism, is understood the validation of a social perception or more specifically, a social reality as a source of knowledge or justification. The role of authority is crucial on the rationalistic formation of this social reality. Because, authority is a powerful tool that can affect the construction of that social reality in positive or negative way. This is the outcome of various important terminologies in social psychology including prejudice and aggression. One of the most important phenomena of authority is people’s obedience to it. Obedience can be developed for various authority types including traditional, rational-legitimate and charismatic. People’s obedience to authority can be increased or decreased depending upon the characteristic nature of the influence the authority imposes upon the public. In other words, authority can positively or adversely influence on the construction of rationalism in a society in the form of social perception and social behaviour. References: 1. Blass, T., 2000. Obedience to Authority: Current Perspectives on the Milgram Paradigm. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge. 2. Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T. and Lindzey, G., 2010. Handbook of Social Psychology. Volume 2. 5th edition. New Jersey: Wiley. 3. McDougall, W., 1994. An Introduction to Social Psychology. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers. 4. Musgrave, A., 1999. Essays on Realism and Rationalism. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 5. Small, A. W., 2009. An Introduction to the Study of Society. Warwickshire: Read Books. 6. Zecha, G., 1999. Critical Rationalism and Educational Discourse. Amserdam: Rodopi. Read More