Cross-cultural psychology: A handmaiden to mainstream Western psychology

This paper argues that mainstream Western psychology, in adopting a natural science model, has abandoned its past philosophical legacies. Metaphysical concepts, such as will, purpose, consciousness, awareness, mind, etc., which give meaning to our lives have been jettisoned. Attention has been focused on overt, observable, measurable behaviours, which are investigated by sophisticated experimental methods aided by the use of complex statistical and mathematical models. Research appears to be guided more by its methodology than by its conceptual frameworks. Science has been replaced by scientism. The ecological validity of the findings of such studies has also been vigorously questioned. Cross-cultural research, which is concerned with investigating variant and invariant behaviours across cultures, has also fallen victim to the 'scientific' methods used in mainstream psychology, which become particularly evident in the use of psychometric testing and experimentation across cultures. It is argued that cross-cultural psychology needs to be indigenized if one is to arrive at a deeper understanding of culture and the manner in which it affects individuals, their lives and their behaviours.     

Explaining change in psychology: The road not taken

I wish to express sincere thanks to the following persons who have given me the benefit of their comments and criticisms: Anthony S. Bryk, Renford Bamreough, Simon Blackburn, David Bloor, Jeremy Butterfield, Edward Craig, Jerry A. Fodor, Robert P. Gordon, P.M.S. Hacker, David Hansen, D.W. Hamlyn, Philip W. Jackson, Anthony Kenny, Peggy J. Miller, and Robert J. Richards. In addition, I gratefully acknowledge the support I received from a Spencer Seed Grant, University of Chicago, which allowed me to go to England in the summer of 1985 and discuss a version of this work with colleagues. Finally, I owe thanks to Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction, University of Chicago, for various support services.     

A functional approach to the psychology of helping

In this paper a critical review of psychotherapy and counselling is undertaken and an alternative approach, basedon concepts from cognitive, accupational and social psychology is proposed to help people overcome their problems.     

Monocultural and cross-cultural indigenous approaches: The royal road to the development of a balanced global psychology

Comprehensive comparison and conceptual analysis of cross-cultural, cultural, and indigenous psychologies in terms of their aims and theoretical and methodological perspectives lead to the conclusion that the first two are special cases of the third. Two basic types of indigenous psychology are distinguished on the basis of conceptual analysis: monocultural indigenous psychologies (including monocultural cultural psychologies) and cross-cultural indigenous psychologies (including both cross-cultural psychology and cross-cultural cultural psychology). Corresponding to these two types of indigenous psychology are two basic ways to conduct indigenous research, namely, the monocultural indigenous approach and the cross-cultural indigenous approach. Both approaches require achievement of the condition of indigenous compatibility, which stresses the sufficient congruity of the researcher's theory, methods, and results with the studied psychological or behavioral phenomenon and/or its sociocultural context. Finally, several ways to integrate research findings obtained by the monocultural and cross-cultural indigenous approaches are delineated and discussed with respect to their function in creating an indigenously derived global psychology.     

A practical approach to school psychology

Exclusive use of the clinical model in school psychology is impractical. This is discussed in terms of incidence of adjustment problems, psychologist-student ratios, and undesirable side effects that have resulted from sole use of the clinical model. Reasons for implementing developmental and preventive mental health programs in the schools are discussed, and examples of such programs are presented. Some alternatives to the usual ways of handling the remediation of currently existing adjustment problems are suggested.     

A Buddhist contribution to the psychoanalytic psychology of self

The author attempts to integrate the concepts of self used in psychoanalytic theory with the understanding of the nature of self as explained within the Buddhist meditative tradition. He divides different concepts of self in psychoanalytic theory into three major levels of consciousness and abstraction: self as experience, representational self and self as system. The representational level is defined as consisting of unconscious organizing structures of interaction: the system level is a hierarchically higher organization of representations, while the experiential level consists of the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. He argues that for the sake of theoretical clarity these levels should be differentiated in discussions of self. He then describes the Buddhist psychology of self and tries to show how this perspective can enrich psychoanalytic understanding of the experiential self and of narcissism, which in Buddhist language would be described as clinging to (seeking or avoiding) images of self that arise in the mind. Last, he describes a model of therapeutic development using different levels of self and the interrelationship between them, showing how psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Buddhist insight meditation emphasize different levels of self using complementary rather than mutually exclusive methods.     

A cooperative approach to the internship in school psychology

The internship program in school psychology in Ohio involves the close and continuing cooperation of the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Inter-University Council on School Psychology, and field supervisors employed by local school districts. The roles of each are briefly discussed.     

The impetus to scientific psychology: A recurrent pattern

In the nineteenth century, the personal equation, which concerned individual differences in the accuracy of astronomical observations, provided an impetus to the development of experimental psychology. During the first decade of Wundt's laboratory, the measurement of the duration of mental acts received more experimental attention than any other subject. Twentieth century developments in theoretical physics have stimulated interest in the nature of mental operations and conceptual transformations, a topic which is currently receiving increased attention in psychology. It is suggested that the history of psychology may provide a useful data source for additional work in this area.