Explaining people's behavior. How Critical Social Psychology improved the approach of Mainstream Social Psychology

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Psychology - Social Psychology, grade: 1,0, University of Auckland (Department of Social Sciences), language: English, abstract: The presented essay outlines the role of Critical Social Psychology within the context of Social Psychology in general and in comparison to Mainstream Social Psychology in particular. Therefore the following chapter contributes to the understanding of Mainstream Social Psychology, after the reader got an understanding of the origins and reasons for the field of Social Psychology in this introductory part. Based on the gained knowledge there, examples are pro-vided to deepen the knowledge of Mainstream Social Psychology. To draw a contrast, the following chapter concentrates on Critical Social Psychology, outlining differences on examples as well, which is the main part of this essay. Concerning the differences, the third chapter will form the rounding end of this essay and finally underline the importance of Critical Social Psychology, as well as the presence of Mainstream Social Psychology.