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Psychoanalytic research is becoming increasingly present in psychoanalytic journals and books, at psychoanalytic conferences, and in courses in psychoanalytic institutes. Psychoanalytic ideas have long been of interest to social psychologists, and a wide range of research is conducted in social psychology that has direct relevance to the field of psychoanalysis (see Westen, 1998). Nonetheless, some psychoanalytic readers might wonder how social psychology research is relevant to psychoanalysis. This is how.
Psychoanalytic theories have been the topics of research for social psychologists for well over fifty years. Social psychologists have conducted research on the relationship between attitudes, defense mechanisms, and behavior (Katz, 1960; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, 1999), attachment theory (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2002), unconscious thought (Westen, 1998), decision making (Gottdiener, Murawski, & Kucharski, 2008), transference (Andersen & Burke, 1998), and much more. A considerable amount of social psychology research has expanded psychoanalytic theories and tested psychoanalytic concepts in novel ways. Social psychology is, therefore, directly relevant to psychoanalysis, especially when it comes to conducting basic psychoanalytic research rather than clinical psychoanalytic research.
As research takes on a more prominent role in courses in psychoanalytic journals and books, in courses in psychoanalytic institutes, and in research training programs such as those sponsored by The International Psychoanalytic Association and the Yale Child Study Center/Anna Freud Centre, it is important for new psychoanalytic researchers who are interested in conducting social-psychological psychoanalytic research to have good resources to help them learn to conduct that research well. Where can beginning psychoanalytic researchers turn in order to learn social-psychological research methods? They can turn to Dana Dunn's book Research Methods for Social Psychology.