Social Cognition and Social Context: a New Reading of the Scientific Heritage of G.M. Andreeva

Abstract

Background. Studying the reception of the scientific heritage of G.M. Andreeva in social psychology and related disciplines is relevant due to the increasing attention to the psychology of uncertainty and transitive society. This attention is the result of the historical process of modernization, understood as a crisis transition from a traditional way of thinking and life to a modern one. Objective. The purpose of the article is to show the heuristic nature of the ideas proposed by G.M. Andreeva in modern psychology as well as to identify new directions for the study of social cognition as a process of constructing an image of the social world in a situation of social transformations. Study Participants. A meta-analysis of theoretical and empirical studies based on the approach of G.M. Andreeva is carried out. The sample was made up of representatives of various social groups of Russian society, which allows us to draw conclusions about the structure of the image of the world, constructed in everyday and mass consciousness under the influence of radical social transformations. Methods. Methods of historical and psychological hermeneutics and comparative analysis are used, as well as a complex of qualitative research methods. Results. The epistemological and conceptual principles of G.M. Andreeva’s scientific school of social psychology are revealed. These principles focus on the problems of social cognition. The ways of conceptualizing the social context (lifeworld, life space, social institutions) and the units of its description and analysis (cognitive, affective and behavioral) are highlighted. The system of categories for psychological analysis of contexts presented in the article (image of the social world — collective emotions — coping strategies) allows us to study the phenomenology and mechanisms of social cognition in a changing transitive society, as well as to set directions for further research on the topic. Conclusions. The relevance of the ideas and scientific forecasts of G.M. Andreeva has been proven. The ideas have received empirical confirmation in modern interdisciplinary research and provide a solid theoretical and methodological basis for the psychological understanding and explanation of social change.

Keywords

• modernization
• social change
• social psychology
• social cognition
• social context
• uncertainty principle