Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What Is Psychology?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Outline of Theoretical Psychology

Abstract

The chapter focuses on ontological reflections regarding the nature of psychology as an academic discipline, profession, and cultural phenomenon. It also addresses the issue of the psychological object and subject matter and includes questions about what psychologists study or should study, the specific and unique characteristics of the psychological subject matter, and the complexity of the psychological object and event. It includes theoretical psychology’s traditional debate about the nature of the discipline in terms of discussing the crisis of psychology, and the problem of integration, fragmentation, and pluralism. The question is moved from “how do we integrate psychology?” to “why did integration never happen?” or “why has the mainstream not attended to this problem?” Internal (onto-epistemological) and external (cultural and political) reasons for the lack of attention to this problem are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.aaanet.org/sections/spa/

  2. 2.

    http://www.socphilpsych.org

  3. 3.

    http://www.asanet.org/sections/socialpsychology.cfm

References

  • Baha’i Faith. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 24, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.search.eb.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/eb/article-9001542

  • Baker, R. R., & Pickren, W. E. (2007). Psychology and the Department of Veterans Affairs: A historical analysis of training, research, practice, and advocacy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W. (2013). Global psychology. South African Journal of Psychology, 43(4), 391–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bickhard, M. H. (1992). Myths of science: Misconceptions of science in contemporary psychology. Theory & Psychology, 2(3), 321–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brock, A. C. (Ed.). (2006). Internationalizing the history of psychology. New York, NY: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bühler, K. (1978). Die Krise der Psychologie [The crisis of psychology]. Wien: Ullstein. (Original work published 1927).

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles, E. P. (2013). Issue Editor’s foreword. Review of General Psychology, 17(2), 124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the mind: How psychology found its language. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vos, J. (2012). Psychologisation in times of globalisation. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dilthey, W. (1957). Ideen über eine beschreibende und zergliedernde Psychologie [Ideas on a descriptive and analytical psychology]. In W. Dilthey (Ed.), Die geistige Welt: Einleitung in die Philosophie des Lebens (Gesammelte Schriften V. Band) [The mental world: Introduction to the philosophy of life (Collected writings: Volume 5)] (pp. 139–240). Stuttgart: Teubner. (Original work published 1894).

    Google Scholar 

  • Earp, B. D., & Everett, J. A. C. (2015, October 30). How to fix psychology’s replication crisis. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 62(9), B14+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&sw=w&u=yorku_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA434412924&asid=f8d610396b95a37fb3701716e69620b3

  • Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). London: Lane. (Original work published 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1997). Ethics: Subjectivity and truth (The essential works of Michel Foucault 1954–1984: Volume One) (P. Rabinow, Ed.; R. Hurley, Trans.). New York, NY: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedberg, D., & Gallese, V. (2007). Motion, emotion and empathy in esthetic experience. Trends in Cognitive Science, 11(5), 197–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fryer, D. (2008). Power from the people? Critical reflection on a conceptualization of power. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(2), 238–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geuter, U. (1992). The professionalization of psychology in Nazi Germany (R. J. Holmes, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  • Gieryn, T. F. (1983). Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science: Strains and interests in professional ideologies of scientists. American Sociological Review, 48(6), 781–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goertzen, J. R. (2008). On the possibility of unification: The reality and nature of the crisis in psychology. Theory & Psychology, 18(6), 829–852.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goertzen, J. R., & Smythe, W. E. (2010). Theorizing pluralism: An introduction. New Ideas in Psychology, 28(2), 199–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man (Revised and expanded). New York, NY: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, C. D. (2015). Why psychology isn’t unified, and probably never will be. Review of General Psychology, 19(3), 207–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, J. D. (2004). The disappearance of the social in American social psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacking, I. (1986). Making up people. In T. C. Heller, M. Sosna, & D. E. Wellbery (Eds.), Reconstructing individualism: Autonomy, individuality, and the self in Western thought (pp. 222–236). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacking, I. (1994). The looping effects of human kinds. In D. Sperber, D. Premack, & A. J. Premack (Eds.), Causal cognition: A multi-disciplinary approach (pp. 351–382). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacking, I. (2007). Natural kinds: Rosy dawn, scholastic twilight. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 82, 203–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henriques, G. (2011). A new unified theory of psychology. New York, NY: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holzkamp, K. (1983). Grundlegung der Psychologie [Laying the foundations for psychology]. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (1982). Dialectic of enlightenment. New York, NY: Continuum. (Original work published 1947).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornstein, G. A. (1992). The return of the repressed: Psychology’s problematic relations with psychoanalysis, 1909–1960. American Psychologist, 47(2), 254–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I. (1970). Metaphysical foundations of natural science. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill. (Original work published 1786).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, U., Yang, K.-S., & Hwang, K.-K. (2006). Indigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context. New York, NY: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kirschner, S. R. (2006). Psychology and pluralism: Toward the psychological studies. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 26(1–2), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, S. (1981). The nature and limits of psychological knowledge: Lessons of a century qua “science”. American Psychologist, 36(3), 257–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, S. (1993). “Psychology” or “the psychological studies”? American Psychologist, 48(8), 902–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maiers, W. (1988). Sechzig Jahre Krise der Psychologie [Sixty years of the crisis of psychology]. Forum Kritische Psychologie, 21, 23–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J., & Sugarman, J. (2009). Does interpretation in psychology differ from interpretation in natural science? Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 39(1), 19–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Open Science Collaboration. (2015). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science. Science, 349(6251), 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paranjpe, A. C. (1998). Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought. New York, NY: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, I. (1989). The crisis in modern social psychology: And how to end it. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich, E. S. (2009). Plastic fantastic: How the biggest fraud in physics shook the scientific world. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, G. (1996). Putting psychology in its place: An introduction from a critical historical perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieber, R. W., & Robinson, D. (Eds.). (2001). Wilhelm Wundt in history: The making of a scientific psychology. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. (1996a). Inventing our selves: Psychology, power, and personhood. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. (1996b). Power and subjectivity: Critical history and psychology. In C. F. Graumann & K. J. Gergen (Eds.), Historical dimensions of psychological discourse (pp. 103–124). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Simonsohn, U. (2012, July 5). The data detective/interviewer: E. Yong. Nature, 487, 18–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staats, A. W. (1996). Behavior and personality: Psychological behaviorism. New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staats, A. W. (1999). Unifying psychology requires new infrastructure, theory, method, and a research agenda. Review of General Psychology, 3(1), 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stam, H. J. (2015). The neurosciences and the search for a unified psychology: The science and esthetics of a single framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J. (Ed.). (2005). Unity in psychology: Possibility or pipedream? Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, R. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2001). Unified psychology. American Psychologist, 56(12), 1069–1079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugarman, J. (2009). Historical ontology and psychological description. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 29(1), 5–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo, T. (1999). Functions of knowledge in psychology. New Ideas in Psychology, 17(1), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo, T. (2005). The critique of psychology: From Kant to postcolonial theory. New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teo, T. (2010). Ontology and scientific explanation: Pluralism as an a priori condition of psychology. New Ideas in Psychology, 28(2), 235–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teo, T., & Febbraro, A. R. (2003). Ethnocentrism as a form of intuition in psychology. Theory and Psychology, 13(5), 673–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1997). The historical meaning of the crisis in psychology: A methodological investigation (R. Van der Veer, Trans.) In R. W. Rieber & J. Wollock (Eds.), The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky (Vol. 3): Problems of the theory and history of psychology (pp. 233–343). New York, NY: Plenum. (Original work written 1927).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, R., Teo, T., & Baydala, A. (2014). A critical history and philosophy of psychology: Diversity of context, thought, and practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh-Bowers, R. (2010). Some social-historical issues underlying psychology’s fragmentation. New Ideas in Psychology, 28(2), 244–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward, S. C. (2002). Modernizing the mind: Psychological knowledge and the remaking of society. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wieser, M. (2016). Psychology’s “crisis” and the need for reflection. A plea for modesty in psychological theorizing. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 50(3), 359–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willy, R. (1899). Die Krisis in der Psychologie [The crisis in psychology]. Leipzig: Reisland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanchar, S. C., & Slife, B. D. (1997). Pursuing unity in a fragmented psychology: Problems and prospects. Review of General Psychology, 1(3), 235–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zittoun, T., Gillespie, A., & Cornish, F. (2009). Fragmentation or differentiation: Questioning the crisis in psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 43(2), 104–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Thomas Teo

Authors
  1. Thomas Teo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Teo, T. (2018). What Is Psychology?. In: Outline of Theoretical Psychology. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59651-2_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation