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Discursive Psychology

Definition

Discursive psychology is an approach that focuses on how people interact with one another and, in particular, on the role of psychological words and issues in that interaction.

The Development of Discursive Psychology

Discursive psychology emerged in the early 1990s, drawing on ideas from the subdisciplines of conversation analysis, rhetoric, and constructionism. Early work offered new ways of understanding topics in social psychology, such as memory, attribution, and attitudes. Studies showed how, for example, people manage issues of motive, intention, and morality in their descriptions of actions and events. To illustrate what is involved in this kind of research, consider this illustrative example from a rape trial (Witness is the victim of the alleged rape, Counsel is the legal counsel for the defense of the alleged rapist, ...

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