The Social Constructionism Theory

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

In the modern business world, there exist a correlation between human resources’ psychological conditions and management. Management is about using limited resources to achieve certain goals, where people’s psychological features exist which will influence their behavior and performances (Leavitt, 1988). Thus, the purpose of studying management psychology is to get to know the people’s psychology and how it affects their activities and behavior (Arnold et al, 2010). Management psychology is defined as a part of psychology which studies people’s psychological features and their activities and behavior in the events of managing, organizing, planning and their overall joint activity (Leavitt, 1988). For this essay, a photo is given and an explanation of what is going on in the photo from a management psychology perspective is required. In order to provide a comprehensive answer, many theories need to be involved. From the photograph, some things can be clearly read whereas others are less obvious, thus an analysis based on management psychology theories are necessary. This essay will firstly discuss the given photograph by using social constructionism theory, where the article wrote by Emerson is referred to as an important literature. Secondly, Burke’s Panted is also used to analyse the given photograph, which provides another significant way to understand the roles of people involved in the activity. Finally there will be a conclusion to this essay.

Social Constructionism Theory

In general, social constructionism is a sociological theory of knowledge which takes how people develop their objects of consciousness or social phenomena in social contexts into consideration. A social construct is defined as a practice or concept which is the artifact of a particular group (Kelly, 1955). When something is said to be socially constructed, the focus is usually on its dependence on contingent variables of our social selves rather than any inherent quality that it possesses in itself (Shotter & Lannamann, 2002). There are some typical underlying assumptions associated which social constructionism is based on, which include knowledge, reality, and learning (Harré,2002). From the photograph, the first thing can be noticed is the woman is taking a gynaecological examination. The gynaecological examination is virtually unique in exposing the link between public and private behaviour. Most of the people have a common understanding of what happens during the gynaecological examination, which is when a doctor performs examinations of a woman’s genitals for medical purposes. It needs to be dressed that it is not normally the case that women show the private parts of their bodies to other social members and thus, as Emerson (2008) suggested, it is critical to discuss the social constructionism theory in order to explain what is going on in the photograph. When we look at the given photograph, inference is used to analyse what is taking place such as the hospital context and other noticeable things. For example, the woman is positioning herself with her buttocks down to the edge of the chair and her legs are in stirrups, these features indicate that some kind of pelvic examination is taking place in the given photograph. In Emerson (2008)’s article, she argues the medical definition and its counterthemes. In a medical condition, doctors and nurses need to guide patients through the gynaecological examination, both physically and psychologically. Patients need to be directed to accept the fact that it is for their own good and what the staff do is right for a medical purpose, rather than feeling embarrassed by the process or to resist the staff. Staffs are trained to have the knowledge to guide patient physically but in order to achieve a psychological comfort, Emerson (2008) suggested that many features including setting, language and costumes are required (Emerson, 2008). Firstly, the examination is required to take place in a medical environment such as in an examination room or a doctor’s office. Such environment will make patients to think less of sexual features but to accept it is a necessary medical process more comfortably. The hospital settings will constantly remind the patient that nobody takes the examination as an embarrassment; the staffs are only trying to do their jobs. The message that staff are trying to pass to the patients is "In the medical world the pelvic area is like any other part of the body; its privates and sexual connotations are left behind when you [the patient] enter the hospital" (Emerson, 2008, p78). Not only the patient is guided to do so, Emerson(2008) also argues that the staff is also required to act as they have every right to perform what they do. In such way the patient will believe the staff has the necessary knowledge and skills thus to be more convinced into the medical condition definition. The patient will sense the slightest doubt from the staff which will directly influence the patient’s psychological activities and make the examination more difficult (Emerson, 2008). Therefore, it is important for the staff to know what they are doing and act professionally and most importantly, to acknowledge the patient what will happen rather than giving patients any choices of how to process the examination. All the environment, staff behaviour and psychologically guiding settings suggested by Emerson (2008) are designed to avoid any possibility that the patient takes the gynaecological examination as a personal insult. Because what a patient has to go through during the gynaecological examination would certainly be inappropriate if without the particular environmental settings and psychological guiding. In the given photograph, white walls and medical equipment such as the special medical purposed chair can be observed, which indicate that a hospital environment is reasonably created. It can also be noticed that the place is a closed space, could be either an examination room or the doctor’s office. Thus as Emerson (2008) suggested, such an environment has to some extent successfully guided the patient’s psychological activities towards a desirable direction thus to protect the patient’s dignity.

However, Emerson (2008) also argued that if doctors are only trying to do their jobs but ignore the patient’s emotional responses, then the patient is not treated as a person. Many counterthemes which emphasis on this point have been raised for the gynaecological examination. It is argued that a patient’s corporation to the examination process can be achieved not only by "ordering" the patient, but also by "bargaining" with the patient. By using appropriate languages, the staff is able to treat the patient as a person as well as obtaining the patient’s corporation. According to Emerson (2008, p78): "the physician wants the patient to acknowledge the medical definition, cooperate with the procedures of the examination, and acknowledge his professional competence". By offering the patient necessary acknowledgement and attention, the examination process can be made more comfortable for both the patient and staff. Therefore, the balance between the strict medical implication and reality that the patient is a person needs to be carefully maintained. What a doctor or nurse says to the patient relates to the gynaecological examination will directly influence the medical definition. Such as "spread your legs" or "I am going to touch your vagina", such sentences will make the patient to think of sexual features and be embarrassed. Instead, the staff could say "let your knees fall apart" or "I am going to examine you now" which emphasis more on the necessary medical conditions to the patient. As suggested by Emerson (2008), the explicit technical terms are often used between the staff, but are often avoided when the contacts between staff and the patient come into place. By using the appropriate languages, the staff is able to help the patient to relax and to accept the medical procedure more comfortably. Also, according to Emerson (2008), patients may make the examination process difficult if they do not accept the procedure, take inappropriate actions such as asking too many questions or looking direct into the staff’s eyes. Such actions will create embarrassment between the staff and patient, thus to damage the medical definition. Therefore, in order to avoid such events to happen, often the staff will use his professional knowledge to explain the details of the examination procedure, or try to distract the patient from the examination. Emerson (2008) gave one example in her article of during a particular gynaecological examination: two doctors were there where one performed the medical tasks and the other one just kept talking to the patient. The patient completely ignored the medical procedures apart from answering to some medical questions occasionally. In the given photograph, it may be suggested that the staff is trying to take two roles to treat the patient as a person as well as under the medical definition. Moreover, it could be that the staff is trying to help the patient to relax by using professional knowledge or distraction. Thus from the photograph, we can say that the activity of a gynaecological examination is well constructed where the balance between medical definition and reality is well maintained. In the next section, Burke’s Panted will be discussed as it is also a useful tool for providing an in-depth explanation of the photograph.

Burke’s Pentad (Dramatism)

The dramatism is a critical technique which is developed by Kenneth Burke. He is interested in people’s motivations of doing particular activities. Burke sees the whole world as a big stage, every life is a drama and each person is an actor. Thus, in order to find out each actor’s motive, he set up a pentad which contains five questions (Burke, 1969):

Act: what is done? What is happening? What is the action?

Scene: where and when is the action taking place?

Agent: who is involved and to perform the act?

Agency: how the act is done? By what means do the agents perform the act?

Purpose: why does the act take place? What is the motive of the act?

Burke has suggested that while these five features on their own can be distinguished to use for partial analysis, they are bound together and have influences on each other as well. Each of the terms is not able to provide a full picture or a full sense on the single aspect. Burke’s Pentad has attracted much interest from the scientific aspects (Shearer, 2004). In this essay, we can use Burke’s Pentad to analyse the given photograph.

In the photograph, we can see there is a woman lying on the medical equipment with her legs in the stirrups, while a doctor is sitting next to her legs. The doctor is not doing anything, rather, seems the doctor is talking to the woman. From the position of the woman and the fact that a doctor is at presence, we could say that there is a gynaecological examination taking place. In terms of the scene, from the background of the photograph we may suggest that the examination is happening in a closed place, again, from the equipment and the woman’s custom, we may suggest that it is taking place in a hospital. However, from the photograph it is not possible to tell when the examination is happening. The agents involved in the examination are two people: the patient and the doctor. For the medical examination, these two agents are necessary to perform the task. During the examination, the doctor will use his/her professional knowledge to perform the required task under the medical definition, as well as treating the patient as a person by using appropriate languages and settings. The purpose of the examination could be various: some patients are doing it for regular checks and other are doing the examinations for necessary medical purposes. Together with the social constructionism, these theories have helped us to have a more clear and in-depth explanation of the given photograph.

Conclusion

In conclusion, by studying management psychology, we are able to understand people’s psychological activities which will influence their behaviour in a social context (Raskin, 2002). The gynaecological examination is a typical medical examination of which the procedure involves significant differences between public and private behaviour. Emerson (2008) has suggested the settings of the medical definition, and also how to treat the patient as a person by acting or speaking in an appropriate way. When the features are applied to the given photograph, the social constructionism suggests that from the environmental settings and what we could suggest from the photo, the staff and the patient has constructed and maintained a reasonably well balance between the medical definition and the reality. Furthermore, Burke’s Pentad has also offered a unique way to explain the given photograph. By asking five specific questions, the Pentad is able to provide a more in-depth explanation of the given photograph (Shearer, 2004). Therefore, it can be concluded that the organisation is to sustain the medical definitions. This is particular critical in the gynaecological examination as it may damage the patient’s dignity and make them to feel insulted without the medical definition.