Psychology—Tensions between Objectivity and Subjectivity

The self is often defined in terms of its presentational appearances. This may easily end up in a denial of the internal aspects of the self, which is very often related to a tendency to avoid the tension between the internal and the external, but also between subjectivity and objectivity. In this paper this ambition is regarded in a historical perspective, in which Fichte and Hegel both represent attempts at abolishing the tension, whereas Kant and Kierkegaard represent the opposite. History shows that an eradication of the tension between subjectivity and objectivity implies a deterioration of psychology as well. Thus the conclusion is that psychology is primarily to be defined in terms of the tension between subjectivity and objectivity, which requires an accurate understanding and the inclusion of both of them.     

What is the Good Life? Positive Psychology and the Renaissance of Humanistic Psychology

Positive and humanistic psychology overlap in thematic content and theoretical presuppositions, yet positive psychology explicitly distances itself as a new movement, despite the fact that its literature implicitly references its extensive historical grounding within humanistic psychology. Consequently, humanistic psychologists both celebrate diffusion of humanistic ideas furthered by positive psychology, and resent its disavowal of the humanistic tradition. The undeniably close alignment of these two schools of thought is demonstrated in the embracing of eudaimonic, in contrast to hedonic, conceptions of happiness by positive psychology. Eudaimonic happiness cannot be purely value-free, nor can it be completely studied without using both nomethetic and idiographic (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) methods in addressing problems of value, which identifies positive psychology clearly as a humanistic approach, despite its protestations.     

Discursive Psychology and the “New Racism”

This paper addresses a range of theoretical issues which are the topic of recent social psychological and related research concerned with the “new racism.” We critically examine examples of such research in order to explore how analyst concerns with anti-racist political activism are surreptitiously privileged in explanations of social interaction, often at the expense of and in preference to the work of examining participants' own formulations of those same activities. Such work is contrasted with an ethnomethodologically-informed, discursive psychology which seeks to the explore how participants' talk is responsively oriented to foreclosing the same sort of critique implicitly made available in new racism research as a way for speakers to account for their own and others' activities within the controversy which that same body of research seeks to settle. More specifically, we examine how the rhetorical context of controversy surrounding race and racism is imminent to the situated activities whereby speakers provide for its relevance and not, as assumed in new racism research, some independent factor affecting that interaction. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of an episode of talk recorded in a social science interview having as its topic the nature of cross-cultural contact in which the participants take up the issue of racism as a way of managing the conflicting demands with which they are confronted in accounting for their involvement as Western expatriates living in the Middle East. Throughout our analysis of these materials, the issue of racism is approached for how it features as a participant concern, raised by speakers in the course of attending to the immediate situated interactional business in which they are engaged. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Changes in Psychology of Women and Psychology of Gender Textbooks (1975–2010)

In this section, four authors contributed their thoughts on how writing textbooks on the psychology of women and gender has changed over the last 35 years. The introduction summarizes common themes in these reflections: the explosion in research and theory about women and gender; increased inclusion of diversity and intersectionality; increased appreciation of the power of the social context and power itself; the challenge of keeping a feminist perspective; changes in the student population; and changes in the publishing industry. Some comments about the future of the field are included.     

Faith and Psychology: Integration or Separation?

This article describes the integration of spiritual and psychological issues as it pertains to a woman's coping with her husband's death. This case highlights the need to incorporate theological elements in any caregiving relationship, whether it be professional or otherwise. Finally, it challenges educational institutions to collaborate in working on the interface of faith and psychology.     

Putting “Positive” and “Psychology” In Perspective: The Role of Indian Psychology

Rao (this issue) offers a trenchant critique of the field of positive psychology. He clearly shows the way positive psychology, as it has been thus far considered, is clearly a product of a Westernized psychology. He goes further though and proposes that some of the limitations of positive psychology might be addressed by considering the insights of Indian indigenous psychology. In this commentary I suggest that these limitations of positive psychology can be fruitfully framed by considering the nature of the self and the nature of the positive or good that any understanding of positive psychology must presuppose.     

A Commentary on “Positive Psychology and Indian Psychology: In Need of Mutual Reinforcement”

For those who consider Indian Psychology (IP) a cause worthy of support, comparing IP with Positive Psychology (PP) is a compelling, but at first sight rather embarrassing exercise. Though these two approaches to psychology started roughly at the same time with similar-looking intentions, PP has made by now a major impact in terms of published papers, books and “name recognition”, while IP is still no more than a fringe phenomenon that is hardly on the map, even in India. K. Ramakrishna Rao’s analysis of the situation is as always impressive, but alternative perspectives are possible. To start, I agree of course with Prof. Ramakrishna Rao that these two new schools of psychology are similar in their intent of bringing some more “goodness” into mainstream psychology, but in my humble opinion, their similarity ends there. PP is a simple attempt at correcting mainstream psychology’s tendency to focus primarily on difficulties and negative emotional states. Beyond that, it doesn’t challenge the mainstream in any way. In spite of a not very successful attempt at internationalising itself (for an excellent critique see Christopher & Hickinbottom, 2008), it is still solidly American, and as a whole it fits perfectly and noiselessly within the existing discipline and its supporting culture.     

The Greatest Gift? Happiness,Governance and Psychology

Both in the UK and internationally, governments are setting out to measure well‐being, life satisfaction and happiness. Whilst this might seem to offer opportunities for psychology, their chosen method – self‐report questionnaires – is problematic. Happiness questionnaires are troubled by problems of definition, introspection, memory and insight; their population‐level summation is grossly inaccurate as a representation of everyday emotional experience; and both their reliability and their validity might be better accounted for as products of their ability to model, rather than to measure, psychological processes. Psychology therefore runs the risk of discrediting itself if it becomes too closely associated with these initiatives.     

Analytical Psychology and Science: Adversaries or Allies?

This article examines C. G. Jung's relationship to science as a paradigm and the relationship between the Jungian community and science. The impact of Jungian “isolation” in terms of academic dialogue, cross-theoretical influence, and absence from the public sphere is also discussed. The author examines how findings from science can enhance our functioning as analytic clinicians and improve our ability to communicate the wealth found in analytical psychology to a variety of audiences outside Jungian circles. Finally, research on analytic interaction and analytic theories of the mind/psyche is explored as well as general research that has implications for analytical psychology and psychoanalytic theory.     

Psychology and Culture: Back to the Future?

Psychology has a poor record in addressing cultural phenomena. One response is to turn to ancient concepts from local traditions and to use these as alternative analytic categories to explain behavior. However, there are problems with such an approach. These concepts will be read from the vantage point of the present and interpreted differently so as to propose different diagnoses (and solutions) for contemporary social problems. As an alternative, rather than using ancient resources as analytic categories in the explanation of behavior, we could instead examine how they are used as categories of practice as people actively make sense of their social context and themselves. Attending to such contemporary ‘lay’ usage (and the contestation it entails) allows for a more dynamic conception of cultural processes than is typical in psychology. More generally, I believe that it is possible to use our psychological constructs so that we can see the distinctive particularities of the phenomena before us in new and interesting ways, and in ways that respect their cultural specificity. This claim is illustrated through reference to recent work using the concept of social identity to illuminate aspects of Hindu pilgrimage.     

Spiritual Psychology and Psychotherapy: Is There Theoretical and Empirical Support?

This paper provides a meta-theoretical context for a spiritually oriented psychotherapy, namely Constructivism. It also presents some empirical and theoretical support for this Constructivist position which is consistent with cognitive psychology and concepts from both Western and Eastern traditions. It summarizes the work of Mahoney on Constructivism and integrates it with Personal Construct Psychology. It then provides the perceptual, theoretical, and empirical underpinnings for an integrative, holistically oriented clinical model that focuses on how clients construct their realities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the levels of therapeutic work that clients contract for, placing them in charge of their lives. The goal, for clients who chose the deepest path, is the philosophical understanding that they create the relative realities to which they respond, causing both their suffering and potential liberation. The ultimate choice is theirs, and not the therapist's.     

Psychology impaired?

This article comments on M.J. Layman and J.R. McNamara's (1997) article about remediation for ethics violations. The author addresses the practice of regarding ethical violation, and its subset, boundary violation, and its subset, sexual misconduct, as synonymous. When professional impairment (disability) is seen as equivalent to sexual misconduct, the resulting generalized confusion impedes much needed progress in critical areas. The profession awaits structured assistance from the American Psychological Association to clarify and provide leadership in policy development.     

Western Psychology and Muslim Psychology in Dialogue: Comparisons Between a Qura’nic Theory of Personality and Freud’s and Jung’s Ideas

In this paper, comparisons are made between a newly developed Qura’nic theory of personality and the Freudian and Jungian theories of the mind. Notable similarities were found between the Freudian id, ego, superego and neurosis and the Qura’nic nafs ammarah besoa’ (evil-commanding psyche), a’ql (intellect), al-nafs al-lawammah (the reproachful psyche) and al-nafs al-marid’a (the sick psyche), respectively. Noteworthy resemblances were detected also between the Jungian concepts collective unconscious, archetypes, Self and individuation and the Qura’nic constructs roh (spirit), al-asmaa’ (the names), qalb (heart), and al-nafs al-mutmainnah (the serene psyche), respectively. These parallels, as well as the departure points, between the models are thoroughly discussed and analyzed. The comparisons performed in this paper open new avenues for dialogue between western models of the psyche and their Muslim counterparts, a dialogue that can enrich both perspectives and advance the field of psychology.     

Where is Safeguarding in Sport Psychology Research and Practice?

Recent cases of sexual abuse of athletes have drawn significant concern amongst stakeholders in sport and the public at-large. The fact that the perpetrators in many cases of athlete abuse had numerous victims over the span of several years raises questions of who might have known or suspected that athletes were being harmed. Sexual abuse cases should serve as an impetus for all of us in sport psychology to interrogate our roles and responsibilities as consultants and researchers in the protection of athletes. We propose that future research in applied sport psychology and education of consultants address maltreatment and safeguarding.

Lay Summary: In the following article, we propose that more attention in the research and practice of sport psychology should be devoted to understanding maltreatment of athletes and ways to protect athletes from harm.     

Can Psychology Ethics Effectively Be Integrated into Introductory Psychology?

This study evaluated the integration of psychology ethics into an introductory psychology course. Students in two general psychology sections were exposed to an infusion of psychology ethics in teaching, research, and clinical practice, whereas students in two sections were exposed to traditional course content. Students completed a pre and post-test assessment including a psychology ethics questionnaire and open-ended responses to three ethics case studies. Students in the ethics group displayed a statistically significant increase in scores on both measures from pre to post-test. However, students in the traditional group showed no improvement in scores.     

The Future of Psychology： Evolutionary Approach to Scientific Psychology

＂Evolutionary psychology is an approach to psychology, in which knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology are put to use in research on the structure of the human mind＂ （Cosmides ＆ Tooby, 2001, p.1）. The approach can be used to study and to provide broad theoretical framing of nearly all of the issues and topics within the traditionally defined fields of psychology. The 19 papers included in this special issue on evolutionary psychology are written by leading scholars in the field and address topics that can be organized by the familiar divisions of cognitive, developmental, and social psychology.     

Education or Indoctrination? The Accuracy of Introductory Psychology Textbooks in Covering Controversial Topics and Urban Legends About Psychology

The introductory psychology class represents the first opportunity for the field to present new students with a comprehensive overview of psychological research. Writing introductory psychology textbooks is challenging given that authors need to cover many areas they themselves may not be intimately familiar with. This challenge is compounded by problems within the scholarly community in which controversial topics may be communicated in ideological terms within scholarly discourse. Psychological science has historically seen concerns raised about the mismatch between claims and data made about certain fields of knowledge, apprehensions that continue in the present “replication crisis.” The concern is that, although acting in good faith, introductory psychology textbook authors may unwittingly communicate information to readers that is factually untrue. Twenty-four leading introductory psychology textbooks were surveyed for their coverage of a number of controversial topics (e.g., media violence, narcissism epidemic, multiple intelligences) and scientific urban legends (e.g., Kitty Genovese, Mozart Effect) for their factual accuracy. Results indicated numerous errors of factual reporting across textbooks, particularly related to failing to inform students of the controversial nature of some research fields and repeating some scientific urban legends as if true. Recommendations are made for improving the accuracy of introductory textbooks.     

How Can Evolutionary Psychology Successfully Explain Personality and Individual Differences?

ABSTRACT— Although evolutionary psychology has been successful in explaining some species-typical and sex-differentiated adaptations, a large question that has largely eluded the field is this: How can the field successfully explain personality and individual differences? This article highlights some promising theoretical directions for tackling this question. These include life-history theory, costly signaling theory, environmental variability in fitness optima, frequency-dependent selection, mutation load, and flexibly contingent shifts in strategy according to environmental conditions. Tackling the explanatory question also requires progress on three fronts: (a) reframing some personality traits as forms of strategic individual differences; (b) providing a nonarbitrary, evolutionary-based formulation of environments as distributions and salience profiles of adaptive problems; and (c) identifying which strategies thrive and which falter in these differing problem-defined environments.