Levels of Explanation in Social Psychology

In this original survey of the nature of explanation in social psychology, Willem Doise elaborates a novel conceptual framework, in order to provide a constructive way of integrating the diverse range of analysis offered in the field. Doise describes four levels of analysis: the intra-personal; the inter-personal; the positional; and the ideological. The levels thus defined overlap in many studies, and Doise uses this interconnection of levels of explanation - which he terms articulation - to put recent research in an exciting new perspective. The idea of articulation is applied, in particular, to three areas of research in experimental social psychology - social factors in cognitive development, social influence and intergroup relations - which are usually explained in terms of only one level of analysis, but which, as Doise convincingly demonstrates, can be enriched by also applying the other levels of explanation.Doise, Willem is the author of 'Levels of Explanation in Social Psychology', published 1986 under ISBN 9780521307482 and ISBN 0521307481.