The previous chapter cited claims that research in social psychology resolves important issues concerning the significance of consciousness and people's explanation of their actions. This chapter provides some background to these issues. The chapter defines the disputed issues concerning explanations of behaviour, and outlines major theories dealing with these issues. This survey is shaped around three paradigms which have been dominant in the explanation of cognition and behaviour: the positivist, phenomenological and critical. Each of these paradigms articulates a particular theory of the causes of behaviour, and employs methods of explanation that reflect that theory. In psychological theory there are, of course, many shades of opinion that fall somewhere in between these three positions. But the point of this chapter is to present the major contrasting stances, and to give a clear picture of the different ways the central questions are tackled.

In social psychology, conclusions about these issues are ascribed to experimental evidence (an ascription evaluated in later chapters), but arguments concerning these three stances in general psychology draw on many different factors, including metaphysical assumptions as well as empirical developments. This chapter evaluates these various assumptions and findings. By clarifying the major assumptions, arguments and methodological issues that characterize the main approaches, the chapter also serves as a form of reference point for later chapters.