Critical Analysis of Contributions in Social Psychology

Critical Analysis of Contributions in Social Psychology

Choose 3 of the 8 suggested social psychologists, and write in 200 words (for each), about their significant contribution to social psychology. Then rank in accordance to most significance, and in 200 words justify why. Reference to published work desirable.

Assessment outline

The aim of this assessment is to review the contributions of a number of significant figures in the history of the discipline, assess what those contributions were, and rank those whom you judge which of those contributions, in your view, was the most significant. Eight individuals have been identified for you and students are to select three individuals and evaluate his/her contributions to psychology.

Key tasks

• Students are to select three (3), different contributors, from the list provided
• For each contributor, students are to write about a major contribution that the individual has made to the discipline. While full references are not required, some reference to the published work of the particular contributor is desirable (200 words per person)
• After writing about the major contributions, students are to rank the three individuals in terms of contribution and justify their ranking (200 words)
• Provide constructive feedback to 2 other students by replying to their online discussion posts (200 words).

There will be five components in your analysis, the analysis of one contribution for each of three contributors plus an analysis of the justification for the final ranking. The marking of the discussion posts will following the marking guide provided within this document, including commenting on the work of other students.

Note: There is no one correct ranking. The goal of the exercise is to make you analyze critically the contributions and provide reasons why you think that that person is relatively the best of the group. All of these contributors can be regarded as having done social psychology of the highest order. Try very hard not to arrive at a tied rank. The justification for the ranking may be based upon a number of factors from which you may wish to choose.

These may include but are not confined to:

• The coverage of the person’s contributions in a selection of introductory psychology texts
• The coverage of the contributions in introductory social psychology texts
• The number of citations that have been accorded the work of the individual
• Historical appraisals of the importance of the work
• What you believe may be the social/practical significance of the contributions
• What you believe to be the scientific quality of the work
• Its possible significance in building and forwarding the discipline

Contributors:

• Leon Festinger
• Robert Zajonc
• Solomon Asch
• Stanley Milgram
• Ellen Berscheid
• Alice Eagly
• William McGuire
• Susan Fiske