Discursive Psychology

Discursive psychology was established in the United Kingdom by the end of the 1980s, mainly in response to the dominant cognitivist approach in social psychology. While it borrowed notions from poststructuralism and sociology of science, it is most akin to conversation analysis. Discursive psychologists are interested in how participants do psychology in their talk rather than use the psychological thesaurus themselves as a start point for the analysis. This article discusses three current emphases in research: managing mind/world relationships, institutional talk, and analysis of online interaction. Discursive psychology is further developing its relationship with conversation analysis through the emerging areas of epistemics-in-action research and participants' practical psychology in institutional interaction.