Choosing and Evaluating Approaches to Change

Abstract

Throughout this volume, I have referred in various ways to prosocial and antisocial individual and societal changes because one aspect of the contribution psychologists make is to define and facilitate prosocial change. To make decisions about what constitutes prosocial change and how to accomplish it, we are faced with building on people’s commonalities while also respecting their uniqueness and the consequent differences and conflicts between them. Another particularly salient issue for psychologists and others who act as social change agents is whether we consider ourselves separate from or part of our theories and approaches, i.e., the processes we are studying and trying to manipulate. Consequently, a final aspect of our task is to identify the special character of our expert knowledge and how to best use it.