Category: Psychology

Continuing my investigation of unity in psychology – whether it’s possible, why it’s not there already, what can be done about it – I’ve discovered another supporter of the institutional/organisational hypothesis of psychology’s woes.

Katzko (2004) points out that psychology is a ‘federation of sub-disciplines’ and that diversity is not problem, instead it is psychology’s disorganisation that needs addressing. Katzko (2002) argues that this type of disorganisation is actually created by a discontent about the methodological basis of psychology.

Continue reading “Unity: Disorganisation in Psychology”

A recent request by a researcher to help generate participants got me thinking about the rise of psychological research over the internet. The web can be tantalising for psychological researchers – access to millions upon millions of participants, reaching beyond the standard undergraduate pool to specialised groups, cheap online implementation and the resulting data already in electronic form. All these are acknowledged advantages but how many investigators are aware of some of the major pitfalls of online research? Birnbaum (2004) examines some of the problems researchers will face.

Continue reading “Rise of Psychological Research on the Internet”

The greatest enemy of unity, or even just some kind of organisation in psychology, is complacency. Hayes (2004) argues that Henriques’ attempt to (re)define psychology is essentially redundant as it won’t result in any practical benefits. Hayes points to how his own house (behaviour analysis) is apparently in good theoretical order and has no need of these over-arching meta-theories. Further he wants to say that there is no way of knowing what benefits will accrue from developing a unified view of psychology – apparently coherence has no proven benefit.

Continue reading “Unity’s Enemy: Complacency”

For me it’s very difficult to understand what psychology is really about and what it consists of. Everyone seems to have different ideas which are often mutually exclusive. Not only that but psychologists seem to make little effort to bridge the enormous gaps that have been obvious for decades, or even centuries. Formally, psychology is a disaster zone.

Continue reading “Unity: Psychology Defined”

While Sternberg & Grigorenko’s (2001) view is extremely attractive and practical, it is nevertheless a bottom-up approach that assumes that fixing the research process will also seal higher level theoretical fissures. Henriques’ (2003) contrasting, although not necessarily contradictory, view is that extra levels of explanation or insight are required to link together theoretical models from the top downwards. Henriques is not just aiming to unify psychology here, but also to unite the natural and social sciences. In his view, psychology provides just such a bridging point.

Continue reading “Unity: Gregg Henriques”

Since psychology’s split from philosophy around the turn of the last century, much talk has focussed on how the discipline should model itself on the natural sciences. Wilhelm Wundt, the godfather of experimental psychology thought psychology should look towards physics for its inspiration. Physics and psychology are, of course, very different disciplines, but, despite this, they do still have one common goal.

Continue reading “Unifying Psychology”

[Illustration by M H Evans]

William of Occam has a lot to answer for. Let me explain. Psychology bloggers are getting excited over recent research in biological psychiatry that integrates the environment into aetiological models of mental illness. While these developments are to be welcomed, they do come relatively late in the day, bearing in mind we’ve already got evidence for myriad environmental causes including urbanicity, child abuse, social class and so on.

Continue reading “Environmental Effects in Mental Illness Models”

I just finished Lauren Slater’s book: “Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological experiments of the Twentieth Century”. These included the work done by B. F. Skinner on operant conditioning, Darley & Latane on the ‘bystander effect’, Harry Harlow’s soft monkey without milk, Rosenhan’s two fingers to psychiatric diagnosis and of course Milgram’s explanation of the Holocaust: people are weak and obedient.

It made me wonder. What will be the great psychological experiments of the 21st Century? Will there be any?

Opening Skinner’s Box

It can be difficult to see aspects of your own identity clearly without a contrast. As an Englishman amongst the English it’s hard for me to understand many aspects of my own Englishness. In the same way, without comparing myself to other people, I can’t accurately fathom my own personality. And so travelling is not just a chance to relax, eat out and take in the sights, but it’s an opportunity to get some perspective.

Continue reading “Oslo, Norway”