Psychology aims to understand human cognition and behavior, which necessitates making use of sociological-political theories. Social Dominance Theory (SDT) is one of the psychological theories that try to explain the individual-society relationship from a broad perspective. Yet, this theory has its shortcomings too. In an attempt to contribute to a well-grounded theory for psychological research, the paper at hand will discuss the shortcomings of SDT. The main discussion concerns following appropriate logic while making assumptions, and proper interpretation of historical and evolutionary data: it is suggested that no single theory, including SDT, is capable of embracing such a wide subject and SDT can be utilized only in some aspects of this subject.

Impairment in social functioning is the fundament of almost all diagnoses of psychopathology. Intensive research has been performed associating clinical disorders with social dysfunctioning. As a result, psychopathology nowadays is not only defined by symptoms, but also by the level of impairment. To measure social functioning in patients with a clinical disorder, a large diversity of instruments has been designed. This paper describes which disorders have the highest negative influence on social functioning and aims to provide an overview of instruments that can be used to measure social (dys)functioning. Finally several implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are proposed.

Psychology aims to understand human cognition and behavior, which necessitates making use of sociological-political theories. Social Dominance Theory (SDT) is one of the psychological theories that try to explain the individual-society relationship from a broad perspective. Yet, this theory has its shortcomings too. In an attempt to contribute to a well-grounded theory for psychological research, the paper at hand will discuss the shortcomings of SDT. The main discussion concerns following appropriate logic while making assumptions, and proper interpretation of historical and evolutionary data: it is suggested that no single theory, including SDT, is capable of embracing such a wide subject and SDT can be utilized only in some aspects of this subject.