摘要
在美国,社会心理学领域内正经历着一场研究方法方面的革命。上世纪的各种革命曾给物理学、语言学和其它各学科领域带来深刻变化,当前这场研究方法革命真可与之媲美。它不但牵涉到研究方法上的转变,而且也带来了包含着观察方法方面的更深刻的变化。总的说来,这场革命意味着对处在具体环境中的人采取一种新的观点。本文将简要地介绍一下传统社会心理学的历史特点,然后进而论述本领域中的新方法。限于篇幅,只能作一简单扼要介绍。
A shift in focus on topics and research methodology in social psychology has been observed in recent years. The topic areas established during the last two decades include attitudes and attitude formation, attribution, attraction, and many others. The predominant research methodology in social psychology has been experimental. Though it is still the predominant methodology in psychology as a whole, increased interest in field methodology in social psychology has also been observed. This stems from efforts to integrate rigorous research with ordinary experience, and focuses on the formal description of the person in the social setting. There is parallel interest throughout the social sciences in documenting the structure and dynamics of ordinary phenomena. An example of the new approach is found in Jakobpvits and Gordon's (1978c and others) daily round social psychology, which aims to document the daily rounds of community members. Using the undergraduate social psychology classroom as a 'living laboratory', students of this approach take the role of natural history researchers, recording their conversations, daily activities, inner dialogue, relationships, and various involvements on the daily round. Thls objective, self-reflective data on the community will no doubt find many practical applications, and have a substantial impact on social psychology and related fields.
