What is the nature of social psychological science? What does a realist approach to human behaviour offer?

Originally published in 1991, this lucid introduction to the philosophy of social psychological science takes a new and original approach to the subject. The author repudiates traditional empiricist and hermeneutical accounts, advancing instead a "realist" philosophy of social psychological science that maintains objectivity while at the same time stressing the social dimensions of mind and action.

The author provides novel perspectives on the problems and potential of those...