Since its inception, experimental social psychology has arguably been of two minds about the nature and role of theory. Contemporary social psychology's experimental approach has been strongly informed by the “nomological-deductive” approach of Carl Hempel in tandem with the “hypothetico-deducive” approach of Karl Popper. Social psychology's commitment to this hybrid model of science has produced at least two serious obstacles to more fruitful theorizing about human experience: the problem of situational specificity, and the manifest impossibility of formulating meaningful general laws (...) of human social behavior. It is argued that a social psychology based on the search for this kind of lawfulness, under the auspices of either a strict or loose interpretation of the largely Hempelian model, is ultimately unworkable. An alternative approach to social psychology that is attentive both to the need for understanding individual situations and behaviors and to the need for generalized understanding of actual human behaviors is offered. This approach is grounded in the hermeneutic tradition. (shrink)

Since its inception, experimental social psychology has arguably been of two minds about the nature and role of theory. Contemporary social psychology's experimental approach has been strongly informed by the “nomological-deductive” approach of Carl Hempel in tandem with the “hypothetico-deducive” approach of Karl Popper. Social psychology's commitment to this hybrid model of science has produced at least two serious obstacles to more fruitful theorizing about human experience: the problem of situational specificity, and the manifest impossibility of formulating meaningful general laws (...) of human social behavior. It is argued that a social psychology based on the search for this kind of lawfulness, under the auspices of either a strict or loose interpretation of the largely Hempelian model, is ultimately unworkable. An alternative approach to social psychology that is attentive both to the need for understanding individual situations and behaviors and to the need for generalized understanding of actual human behaviors is offered. This approach is grounded in the hermeneutic tradition. (shrink)

Reviews the book, The transformation of psychology: Influences of 19th century philosophy, technology, and natural science, edited by Christopher D. Green, Marlene Shore, and Thomas Teo . Many historians of psychology have noted that at the end of the 18th century, most leading thinkers felt strongly that by the vary nature of its subject matter psychology could never attain the level of natural science. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, an almost complete reversal of this position had occurred (...) and scientific psychology had become a pervasive feature of the intellectual and academic landscape. In this thoughtfully assembled volume, authors undertake to examine both how this change occurred and how it occurred so quickly. They examine a wide variety of areas of study that helped render psychology scientific. This anthology is a very welcome addition to the scholarly endeavor of critically re-examining the history or our discipline. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Reviews the book, The disorder of things: Metaphysical foundations of the disunity of science by John Dupré . The book is carefully woven around two central and interrelated theses. First is the denial that "science constitutes, or could ever come to constitute, a single, unified project," and the second is an "assertion of the extreme diversity of the contents of the world." Ultimately, Dupré wishes to contend that the second of his theses "shows the inevitability of the first." Overall, Dupré (...) seeks to refute "one particularly notorious founding metaphor of modern science, the idea that the universe should be considered as a gigantic machine." In order to accomplish such a daunting task, he engages the reader in a lengthy and critical examination of three of the philosophical theses most closely associated with the mechanistic metaphor: Essentialism, Reductionism, and Determinism. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Provides short reviews of 6 books on topics that include 19th century influences on psychology, intelligence of emotions, Jerome Bruner’s contributions to psychology, truth, the development of ideas in 19th century America, and evolutionary psychology. 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Reviews the book, Pathology and the postmodern: Mental illness as discourse and experience by Dwight Fee . This provocative collection of short essays, edited and assembled by Dwight Fee, constitutes yet another useful addition to SAGE Publications’ Inquiries in Social Construction series . Including the work of such postmodern and social constructionist thinkers as Kenneth Gergen, Mark Freeman, Vivian Burr, Jane Ussher, Simon Gottschalk, Steven Sabat and Rom Harré, this anthology sets out to explore the relationship between mental distress and (...) specific cultural, economic, and historical contexts and trends. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Notes that much debate in contemporary psychology has been centered on the nature and scope of rationality and rational discourse. This paper seeks to elucidate 2 philosophical approaches that have come to occupy a central position in this debate: modernism and postmodernism. It will be argued that, although proceeding from antithetical assumptions concerning the proper grounding for philosophical and psychological endeavor, both modernism and postmodernism ultimately fall prey to epistemological skepticism and moral nihilism. The work of the French phenomenologist E. (...) Levinas is offered as a possible alternative to this problem, an alternative that seeks to ground rationality in ethical obligation. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Examines the assumption of hedonism that lies at the core of many social constructionist accounts of human interaction, and illustrates how it precludes an adequate understanding of agency, morality, and intimacy. The implications of such a hedonism are discussed, and a possible alternative to this hedonism which would allow for a more adequate account of agency, morality, and intimacy is briefly explored. It is argued that if social constructionism is going to come to grips with morality and agency it must (...) abandon explanations that invoke the necessary causation of metaphysical abstractions such as hedonism. In order to successfully accomplish this task, social constructionist accounts of human motivation and action must take into account the moral obligation to others that is intimately associated with becoming a person. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Much theorizing about altruism has been undertaken within a naturalistic and deterministic sociobiological framework that has sought to explain altruistic action in terms of underlying genetic selfishness. Recently, however, social constructionist thinkers have developed an alternative to such theorizing which suggests that human action arises out of fundamentally open-ended and malleable social relationships. This paper intends to show, however, that a reductive egoism is nonetheless still at work in such accounts, typically taking the form of an underlying concern for matters (...) of personal status and social recognition. As a response, this paper will briefly outline the work of the French phenomenologists Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Emmanuel Levinas as an example of non-reductive and fundamentally Other-oriented alternatives to both sociobiological and social constructionist accounts of altruistic action. (shrink)

Perspectives on the relationship between psychology and religion have run the gamut from integration to mutual suspicion to open hostility. Despite increasing calls for greater sensitivity to the issues surrounding the psychological study of religion, significant conceptual and methodological problems remain. We propose that the pluralistic philosophy of William James provides not only an example of how a radically empirical psychology might be formulated, but also how such an approach allows for a serious psychological investigation of religion and religious experience. (...) We argue that James offers an important corrective to the reductive approaches all-too-common in the study of religion and religious experience by allowing for the possibility that theistic understandings may be taken more seriously in psychological research and theorizing. (shrink)

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Series Editor's Foreword -- Preface: A 'Science' of Psychology: The Enduring Aspiration -- Introduction: Science, Scientism, and Psychology -- 1 Epistemology and the Boundaries Between Phenomena and Conventions -- 2 Hayek and Hempel on the Nature, Role, and Limitations of Science -- 3 On Scientism in Psychology: Some Observations of Historical Relevance -- 4 Why Science Needs Intuition -- 5 Scientism and Saturation: Evolutionary Psychology, Human Experience, and the (...) Phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion -- 6 Psychotherapy and Scientism -- 7 Science and Society: Effects, Reactions, and a Call for Reformation -- 8 Beyond Scientism: Reaches in Psychology Toward a Science of Consciousness -- Index. (shrink)

Explores the theoretical and ethical implications inherent in Freudian psychoanalysis, Rogerian client-centered therapy, and Existentialist psychotherapy, under the premise that these are essentially ideologically motivated utopian statements. Because each of these 3 traditions privileges an idyllic conception of mental health and well-being, achievable only through strict adherence to restrictive codes of prescribed beliefs and behaviors, they ultimately reduce human freedom and possibility. In contrast to these traditional approaches, an alternative which seeks to radically reunderstand psychotherapeutic theory and practice in light (...) of writings of the French philosopher E. Levinas is explored. In this alternative approach, psychotherapeutic praxis is seen to break from its absorption in an imaginary order so as to fulfill an ethical obligation to "dwell-with" an Other in the here-and-now immediacy of their suffering. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Reviews the book, The mismeasure of desire: The science, theory, and ethics of sexual orientation by Edward Stein . It would hardly be overstating the matter to say that perhaps the single most hotly debated issue in both psychology and contemporary American culture is the nature and origins of human sexual desires. In opposition to the currently more widely accepted thesis that sexual orientation is determined at birth, philosopher and educator Edward Stein argues in this new book that much of (...) what we think we know about the origins of sexual desire is probably misguided and incomplete. Carefully examining a broad range of research on sexual orientation, Stein suggests that many of the most frequently cited findings are deeply flawed—not only methodologically but also in light of certain unquestioned philosophical assumptions and cultural stereotypes. Although the arguments in Stein’s book are more than a little likely to create controversy, and, indeed, some may well be found to be specious, his book is nonetheless a very welcome infusion of thoughtful philosophical and psychological thinking into the all-too-often muddled arena of contemporary academic and political debate. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Reviews the book, The mind's we: Contextualism in cognitive psychology by Diane Gillespie . In this text the author has both expanded on several of the key insights previously outlined in the critical literature and provided a congenial introductory text for the newcomer; a text to serve as a conceptual bridge between traditional cognitive psychological approaches and their newly emergent contextualist alternatives. As stated in her preface, Gillespie's purpose in preparing this book was to "bring together the work of psychologists (...) who are interested in telling the contextualist story of cognition" and to "reveal and strengthen their insights and perspectives" . Given the philosophical range and theoretical diversity of those interested in telling such a story, the task is certainly a formidable one, but it is nonetheless one that she accomplishes with a commendable degree of elegance. Gillespie clearly articulates the diverse work of a large number of psychological theorists into a coherent and meaningful account that will do much toward imposing order on a field that is, by its very nature, somewhat scattered and contentious. Each of the book's six chapters proceeds carefully through a detailed and representative historical and conceptual analysis of traditional mechanistic approaches to human cognition prior to advancing their contextualist critiques and alternatives. Through a systematic analysis of the manner in which this "contextualist story" has arisen within the mechanistic milieu of traditional scientific psychology, she is able to clarify both the implications and relative merits and liabilities of two, quite often antithetical, conceptualizations of human cognitive phenomena. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

Provides short reviews of 6 books on topics that include 19th century influences on psychology, intelligence of emotions, Jerome Bruner’s contributions to psychology, truth, the development of ideas in 19th century America, and evolutionary psychology. 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Reviews the book, Readings in the philosophy of social science, edited by Michael Martin and Lee C. McIntyre . This is a large and comprehensive anthology in the philosophy of the social sciences. It offers not only well-selected readings but also three specially commissioned articles by Michael Martin, Daniel Little, and Alison Wylie. The book is divided into eight major sections that address topics such as: Prediction, Reductionism, Interpretation and Meaning, Rationality, Objectivity and Values, Individualism and Holism, and Functional Explanation. (...) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)