Social Psychology as History and as Traditional Science: An Appraisal
- 1 October 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Vol. 2 (4) , 392-403
- https://doi.org/10.1177/014616727600200412
Abstract
Gergen (1973) presented the thesis that social psychology is primarily an historical inquiry. The implications of his paper are very significant for the status of social psychology as a scien tific discipline. In defense of traditional science Schlenker (1974) presented a strong rebuttal, focussing on five major issues; the nature of theoretical abstractness, the search for regularity, open systems, the conditional nature of scientific propositions, and the uniqueness of events. The present paper considers the Gergen- Schlenker debate within the context of these five issues. The analyses indicate that Schlenker's rebuttal arguments are not de finitive, and that Gergen's thesis still awaits a decisive answer.Keywords
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