Psychoanalysis and social psychology: historical connections and contemporary applications

Abstract

Abstract This special issue brings together contributions that draw attention to the historical connections between psychoanalysis and social psychology and that highlight the role that psychoanalytic ideas still have for social psychological practice. It draws attention to the long‐standing relationship psychoanalysis has had with social psychology, one that is obscured in most undergraduate textbooks. When the contribution of psychoanalysis to the development of social psychology is noted, it is often but as a curiosity, yet, many of the classical studies in social psychology that were concerned with the application of knowledge in the real world were profoundly influenced by psychoanalysis, and many of the founding figures in the discipline drew upon psychoanalytic ideas. This special issue focuses on how psychoanalysis influenced social psychology and what the consequences are for present‐day developments. This introduction sets the basis for the task our contributors address; focusing on the way historical resources can be brought to life and drawing out some implications for the way present‐day practice can be elaborated. The task of each contributor will be to help us remember this past relationship so that something new can be done with psychoanalysis in social psychology now. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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