SOCS0039: Critical Review of the Field Essay – Assessment Brief (2000 words, 70% of
overall grade)
The purpose of this second year module is to provide an introduction to the field of social
psychology through coverage of primary topics of study (i.e., weekly lecture topics). As a
result, you have encountered many of the field’s key theories and research studies, and
should now have an appreciation of the different perspectives in social psychology and their
conceptual and methodological contributions. This essay is your opportunity to reflect upon
what you have learned, and what, as a result, you think social psychology can contribute to
understanding real world issues. Seminars in Week 8 have been designed to help you
complete this assignment.
Question: How do existing social psychological theories and research studies contribute to
understanding one of the following social phenomena, and how could this contribution be
strengthened in the future
The Black Lives Matter movement (Using material from Weeks 3, 7 and one other
week)
The COVID-19 pandemic (Using material from Weeks 2, 9 and one other week)
The experiences of marginalised populations (Using material from Weeks 4, 6 and
one other week)
Guidance:
This assignment involves one overall question, which is really made up of two sub_xfffe_questions or parts:
I. The first part of the question asks you to consider the existing work in social
psychology that can be used to understand the social phenomenon you
have chosen. Beyond the requirement above that you should draw upon the
material from the weeks specified for the phenomenon, it is up to you which
theories and research studies you make use of in your work. Your work
should include a combination of theory and empirical evidence because the
question has asked you about “theories and research studies”. Depending on
what your answer to the question is, you may rely more heavily on theories
OR research studies in your work. You might find it helpful to compare and
contrast different theories and research studies in answering this part of the
question.
Here are two examples of summary arguments you could make as part of
your answer to the first part of the essay question:
Example 1: Social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961) can be used to
understand the experiences of marginalised populations and, specifically,
how they resist stigmatising representations. In particular, in Howarth’s
(2002) study of young people growing up in Brixton… [more detail here].
However, it has been suggested that theoretical and empirical contributions
of social representations theory show that this approach has not reached its
‘critical potential’ (Howarth, 2006). Relatedly, it can be suggested that
although the theory and related studies help us to understand the
experiences of marginalised populations, they tell us relatively little about
how these experiences could be improved going forward.
Example 2: The elaborated social identity model (see e.g. Stott et al., 2020)
can be used to understand the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
Specifically, the idea that crowds are comprised of ingroups and outgroups is
a useful way to think about how the events at the BLM protests are a product
of police-protester interactions…
Although some social psychologists have documented clear evidence of
institutionalised racism (Scott et al., 2017), studies that have used implicit
association tests have come to mixed conclusions about stereotyping of
different racialised groups within the police force (Correll et al., 2014). This
may be due to the use of implicit association tests in much of the literature on
racial bias. These tests only reflect cognitive associations rather than a
person’s actual attitudes…[discuss the measurement in more detail, provide
empirical evidence to support statements, and offer specific suggestions for
alternative methods here].
II. The second part of the question asks you to think about ideas for developing
theories and research in social psychology so that in the future it is better
placed to understand the social phenomenon you are writing about. It is up
to you how you organise your ideas here, but they should follow logically
from the arguments you have made about existing theories and research
studies. For example, if you argued that social representations theory doesn’t
help to change stigmatising representations of marginalised populations (per
Example 1), you might want to focus your answer in the second part of your
work on how you propose this could be done. Here are some more examples
of how you might answer part two of the question.
Example 3: Given the fact that existing research and theory in social
psychology on interventions can be used to understand why some measures
to stop the spread of the virus during the COVID-19 pandemic have been
effective, and others have not, the focus of future work on this topic could
take a different direction. For example, one interesting avenue for research
could be on looking at the trends identified in initial research on
individualism/collectivism and COVID-19. One way to do this… [you could
propose a new study].
Example 4: Building upon Phoenix’s (2022) recent article, I would suggest that
the field of social psychology needs to expand its somewhat limited
understanding of intergroup conflict. It also needs to consider
intersectionality if it is to properly understand the etiology of the BLM
movement and to contribute to social justice (which is the goal of
many scholars in the field, particularly those taking a ‘collectivist’ (Hodgetts
et al., 2020) approach). Specifically, intersectionality theory could be used
to… [you could propose an extension to theory].
Good essays will:
Use a combination of theories and research studies to develop your argument;
Evaluate the theories and research studies that you draw upon, rather than simply
describing or summarising them;
Use theories and/or research studies from both the majority and minority world.
The best essays will also:
Demonstrate an independent perspective, particularly with regards to social
psychology’s purpose and remit (e.g. whether social psychologists should foster
social change, and how they might do this. Note: Your perspective is yours – and is
likely to be shared by some social psychologists but would be criticised by others!
Remember the debates here, and try to position your ideas within them).
Consider how the contribution of social psychology is related to or different from
contributions from other fields (e.g. sociology) or other areas in psychology.
Finally, all students should remember to:
Read the mark scheme for this assignment, which specifically assesses your
argument, analysis and understanding and your use of sources and evidence. This
means that you will be awarded marks for how analytical and well-evidenced your
essay is.
The mark scheme for this assignment can be found in the Module Handbook. You will be
assessed according to the following criteria: (i) argument, analysis, and understanding; (ii)
sources and evidence; (iii) written communication; and (iv) presentation and academic
referencing.
Any questions, please contact the Module Leader.
