Concerns how knowledge derived knowledge derived from psychological research can be used to regulate or control people’s behaviour. Although, psychological knowledge can be used to benefit society or an individual, it can have certain social and moral implications as it can involve/imply direct behaviour manipulation.
The implications for social control can be obvious in a clinical setting because psychological therapies such as drug treatments for mental health issues concern altering behaviour so an individual can integrate better into society. However, some psychological knowledge has less obvious social control implications. Behaviourism, for example, is an approach in psychology that assumes that behaviour can be directly manipulated by environmental influences. Operant conditioning is a behavioural theory that describes behaviour as being a product of its consequences, reward or punishment. This may sound innocuous, (Not harmful/offensive), but ultimately it can be considered a form of social control as it has the potential to directly alter behaviour of one person by another.