Abstract
Phenomenological psychology has been growing rapidly in popularity over the last 20 years. In this chapter, I outline the fundamentals of phenomenology and argue that it offers a powerful alternative to mainstream psychology, with considerable emancipatory potential. I do this by first discussing how the phenomenological focus on description of the things in their appearing allows us to attend closely to lived experience such that we prioritise the voices of our participants. And second, I show how an analysis of the lifeworld in phenomenology can be supplemented by social theoretical critique if we engage with ideas from hermeneutics.
References
Barritt, L., Beekman, T., Bleeker, H., & Mulderij, K. (1984). Analyzing phenomenological descriptions. Phenomenology and Pedagogy, 2, 1–17.
Bell, D. (1990). Husserl. London: Routledge.
Bhavnani, K.-K, Chua, P., & Collins, D. (2014). Critical approaches to qualitative research. In P. Leavy (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of qualitative research [Online]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199811755.013.014
Brentano, F. (1878/1995). Psychology from an empirical standpoint (T. Crane & J. Wolff, Ed. & Trans.). London: Routledge.
Cohen, M. Z., Kahn, D., & Steeves, R. H. (2000). Hermeneutic phenomenological research: A practical guide for nurse researchers. London: Sage.
Colaizzi, P. F. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. S. Valle & M. King (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48–71). New York: Oxford University Press.
Cosgrove, L., & McHugh, M. C. (2000). Speaking for ourselves: Feminist methods and community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 815–838.
Dahlberg, K., Drew, N., & Nyström, M. (2001). Reflective lifeworld research. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Davis, K. (1994). What’s in a voice? Methods and metaphors. Feminism & Psychology, 4(3), 353–361.
Descartes, R. (1641/2003). Meditations on first philosophy (D. M. Clarke, Trans.). London: Penguin.
Fischer, W. F. (1974). On the phenomenological mode of researching ‘being anxious’. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 4(2), 405–423.
Fitzsimons, S., & Fuller, R. (2002). Empowerment and its implications for clinical practice in mental health: A review. Journal of Mental Health, 11, 481–500.
Freeman, M. (1993). Rewriting the self: History, memory, narrative. London: Routledge.
Gadamer, H. (1975/1996). Truth and method. London: Sheed & Ward.
Giorgi, A. (1970). Psychology as a human science. New York: Harper & Row.
Giorgi, A. (1976). Phenomenology and the foundations of psychology. In J. K. Cole & W. J. Arnold (Eds.), Nebraska symposium on motivation 1975: Conceptual foundations of psychology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Giorgi, A. (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Husserlian approach. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Giorgi, A. (2011). IPA and science: A response to Jonathan Smith. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 42(2), 195–216.
Gurwitsch, A. (1974). Phenomenology and the theory of science (L. Embree, Ed.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Heidegger, E. (1927/1962). Being and time (J. Macquarrie & E. Robinson, 1962 text Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Husserl, E. (1900–1901/2001). Logical investigations (2nd ed., 2 Vols) (D. Moran, Ed.). London: Routledge.
Husserl, E. (1913/1931). Ideas: A general introduction to pure phenomenology (W. R. Boyce Gibson, Trans.). London: Allen & Unwin.
Husserl, E. (1936/1970). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology (D. Carr, Trans.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Ihde, D. (1986). Experimental phenomenology: An introduction. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological psychology: Theory, research and method. Basingstoke: Pearson Education.
Langdridge, D. (2008). Phenomenology and critical social psychology: Directions and debates in theory and research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3), 1126–1142.
Langdridge, D. (2009). Relating through difference: A critical narrative analysis. In L. Finlay & K. Evans (Eds.), Relational centred research for psychotherapists: Exploring meanings and experience (pp. 213–226). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Langdridge, D. (2013). Existential counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage.
McAdams, D. (1985). Power, intimacy and the life story: Personological inquiries into identity. New York: The Guilford Press.
McAdams, D. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. New York: The Guilford Press.
McHugh, M. (2014). Feminist qualitative research: Toward transformation of science and society. In P. Leavy (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of qualitative research [Online]. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199811755.013.014
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1942/1963). The structure of behaviour (A. Fisher, Trans.). Boston: Beacon Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945/1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). London: Routledge.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. London: Sage.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. New York: SUNY Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1970). Freud and philosophy: An essay on interpretation (D. Savage, Trans.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation theory: Discourse and the surplus of meaning. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1981). Hermeneutics and the human sciences (J. B. Thompson, Ed. & Trans.). Paris: Edition de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme/Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as another (K. Blamey, Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: Sage.
Sokolowski, R. (2000). Introduction to phenomenology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tavris, C. (1994). Reply to Brown and Gilligan. Feminism & Psychology, 4, 350–352.
Van Kaam, A. (1959). Phenomenal analysis: Exemplified in a study of the experience of ‘feeling really understood’. Journal of Individual Psychology, 15, 66–72.
Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Wertz, F. J. (1985). Method and findings in a phenomenological study of a complex life-event: Being criminally victimised. In A. Giorgi (Ed.), Phenomenology and psychological research. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Wharne, S., Langdridge, D., & Motzkau, J. (2012). Decision-making in mental health care: A phenomenological investigation of service users perspectives. The Humanistic Psychologist, 40(2), 153–165.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Langdridge, D. (2017). Phenomenology. In: Gough, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51018-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51018-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-51017-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51018-1
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)