Re-sizing Psychology in Public Policy and the Private Imagination

Mark Furlong

• Editorial: Palgrave Macmillan
• Año: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781137584298
• Categoría: Politics & International Relations
• Categoría: Public Policy

This book interrogates the current reputation of Psychology, both as an industry and as part of the academy. It disputes Psychology's claim to be a science, questions its claims to effectiveness and examines relationships with other disciplines and fields. Just as Psychology's role in the design of addictive gaming machines has been underplayed so too has the conservative aspect of its regulation of normality and pathology. The discipline of Psychology affects our understanding of identity and subjectivity to position the self as amoral and disconnected.This book questions this assumption and, more generally, the received status of Psychology.

© The Author(s) 2016

Mark FurlongRe-sizing Psychology in Public Policy and the Private Imagination10.1057/978-1-137-58429-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Mark Furlong¹

(1)

Bouverie Family Centre, La Trobe University, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia

End Abstract

1. (i)
   Representing Psychology

   Case Study 1: The Image of ‘the Psychologist’ in Crime Fiction
2. (ii)
   The purpose of the book
3. (iii)
   Biography, bias and subjectivity
4. (iv)
   Chapter-by-chapter summary

Representing Psychology

Unlike the pharmaceutical or legal industries, and unlike education or psychiatry, Psychology enjoys an enviable reputation. In part, this is due to Psychology’s opaque nature and murky perimeters. It is impossible to critique, or properly appreciate, a presence whose scale and shape, purpose and action is uncertain.

In this respect Psychology is definitely a tricky subject. Sharp images and strong associations tend to be cued when the term ‘Psychology’ is used, but it is not clear these word-pictures add-up. Is it a brand, the study of the deep psyche, a real science, a restrictive guild, a specific practice or is it a diverse and even inconsistent composite of practices? There is some confusion about the nature of the referent when the word Psychology is heard. It is not even clear how big or how small it is, or whether it should be dignified with a capital – Psychology – or normalized – psychology – as a commonplace.

The starting point of this text is that Psychology is not owned by psychologists, or the psychology industry, just as culture is not owned by anthropologists or society by sociologists. Much that concerns Psychology has been mystified and excised from public knowledge. It is argued that this phenomenon is related to the industry’s appropriation of the right to licence a particular version of Psychology. This version, or vision, of Psychology is presented as its only legitimate form, a claim that is imperialistic and contestable.

In fact, there are many different psychologies and many distinct definitions of psychologies. Mainstream Psychology privileges the study of behaviour and identifies Psychology with science and empirical knowledge (Colman 2015). This group eschews speculation and castigates those, especially their nominal colleagues, who see Psychology as concerned with the psyche. Outsiders, the public at large, tend to have a lived experience of Psychology that is inclusive of both positions. In this sense the identity of Psychology cannot be defined by insiders alone: identity is what we say we are, and what is said about us.

The first aim of the current project is to present to the reader eight ‘galleries’ – thematically organized viewing spaces, within which related images of Psychology are set out. These galleries, sequenced from Chaps. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, are curated to feature and highlight different styled images. The first looks at ‘myths and misunderstandings’, the second at ‘effectiveness, status and territory’ and so on. (A brief summary of each chapter is outlined later in this introduction). Several of these spaces are larger and more demanding, while others are easier to take in. Cumulatively, this engagement develops a kind of orthoimage – a representation that is made up of superimposed, corrected images. This composite is designed to approximate the real, that is to have something of a three-dimensional quality to further stretch the metaphor.

Being able to look at Psychology from different angles – to be able to look over and under, and from the back and front – enables judgments to be made from an outsider’s perspective. This complements what is presently available. Currently, it is possible, albeit with some effort, to access a seam of internal criticism. Kagan (2012), for example, is an insider, a distinguished professor, who argues the case for professional reform. There is also a school of internal protestors – the critical psychologists – with a tradition of opposition to mainstream thinking and practice. Examples include Fox and Prilleltensky 1997; Henriques et al. 1984 (1998); Parker 2015; Prilleltensky and Nelson 2002; Sloan 2000. The latter group have a diverse set of theoretical interests and an established, if not large, commercial position.

Typically, reformers and critics make their case to their professional peers. ¹ With one identified exception (Dineen 2001), these people have not set out to compromise their discipline’s standing in the eyes of the institutions and culture, which endow Psychology with its present status. Certainly, there are many insiders with a practical commitment to reform, but it is perhaps only outsiders, those with no investment in the Psychology enterprise, who are free to be truly disinterested. Whatever the factors may be that have allowed Psychology to generally evade scrutiny, what is clear is that Psychology currently plays an unquestioned, even authoritative, role in the eyes of policy makers, administrators and the lay public. Most likely, a majority of Western citizens think Psychology is sexy. That there is substantial esteem seems obvious, but what is the wellspring of this capital?

One source of this capital is that the industry has successfully marketed itself as scientific (Stein 2012). This has given the trade a badge of respect. Simultaneously, and quite perversely, psychology also enjoys a cachet of mystery. This second side to its status concerns a different kind of appeal. Humans tend to revere, and to fear, those who have the secret power of knowing what lies beneath appearance and behaviour. This is a kind of voodoo authority, a worrying but respected superiority that puts the ordinary citizen metaphorically, and occasionally literally, one-down ‘on the couch.’

‘The Psychologist’ has several identities in the public imagination. The following presents one example representation in crime fiction. ²

Case Study 1: The Image of ‘the Psychologist’ in Crime Fiction

Whether on the screen or on the page, in crime fiction ‘the psychologist’ is expected to offer in-depth interpretations. One popular author had his psychologist, a Dr. Viguier, offer the following analysis of the violent, but educated, villain of his story Irene:

In his desperation to prove just how clever he is, he overplays his hand. … It’s melodramatic. He tries too hard. And that could be useful to us. This killer is careful, but he’s so self-important that he runs the risk of making a mistake. He has the desperate need for approbation. And yet he is deeply solipsistic. That goes to the heart of, is the crux of his conflicted personality. (Lemaitre 2014: 226)

Later, when the pursuit has become more desperate, the villain manipulates the authorities by embedding clues about his methods and whereabouts within an obscure novel:

Viguier, an experienced Psychologist, skims the text, his eyes attentive to detail. He turns the pages at a steady rhythm as though driven by some unalterable momentum. He is not looking for the same things as others … (rather he interprets) how (the murderer) sees the world, how he refashions reality. He tries to discern the way in which (the murderer) has manipulated the facts to fit his vision of the world – not the world as it is, but as he would like it to be. (op cit.: 358)

This image of ‘the Psychologist’ as someone who can, quite literally, read between the lines piques the interest of crime fiction consumers. Being oriented within the ineffable is some talent; it resembles the seer and the soul-diviner, the confessor and the mystic. More than a high-end statistician or technology whizz, this person complements the deductive skills and technical knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes-type detective. This kind of Psychologist is knowingly connected to the unsaid and the symbolic.

In the European tradition the realm of the unsaid and the symbolic belongs to ‘Depth Psychology’, a tradition that is more generally referred to as the psychoanalytic perspective. Interestingly, this outlook is exactly what the modern Psychology industry has aggressively sought to archive as ‘that hokey stuff.’ That is, the Psychology establishment has set out to warehouse Depth Psychology as it is understood to be an embarrassing and now discredited early ancestor of scientific Psychology.

This dissociation is at odds with the public’s image of the Psychologist. Put simply, what is fascinating about the Psychologist to the crime fiction consumer is that this person recognizes that there is an unconscious and, to a degree that deserves reverence, is in touch with this realm. Some detectives in the larger crime fiction oeuvre, and in the tradition’s understanding of itself, also make this connection. The Lacanian commitment to honouring Edgar Allen Poe’s The Purloined Letter powerfully speaks to this nexus.

Provocatively, at the conclusion of Lemaitre’s Irene the murderer leaves a postscript for the devastated detective-hero. In this monologue the author pokes fun at the detective’s use of a Psychologist:

(I thought you were smarter so) I was somewhat surprised that you embraced the idea (of relying on a Psychologist). Once again, psychologist profilers have (had) their mettle (tested) and once again they have been found wanting.

Lemaitre is far too reflexive in his writing to allow the conventional portrayal of ‘the Psychologist’ to be left intact.

Aims and Readership

Involving some travel off the beaten track, the intention is to offer a tour of Psychology’s estate. Popular sites, such as sports Psychology and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), are included, but the tour is unofficial and has been designed to go beyond the sanctioned highlights as the plan is to also visit the edges of the estate and to inspect sites where there is uncertainty or even controversy. For example, large structures may have been built on shaky ground. Sometimes, if an observer looks with fresh eyes, unclear boundaries can be seen or a seedy history glimpsed. Mostly, what is inspected are the regular sights, but these will sometimes be seen from an unusual view in order to recognise what might otherwise be hidden in plain sight. Getting to this place of outlook might require tracking along a ridge line. Sometimes, it means coming very close to, or even getting right into, the detail.

The aim is to de-mystify Psychology. Practical purposes are served in so far as a de-fogging action is achieved. For example, might some psychological applications have a dark side, a purpose that is dubious or even disputable? Engaging with this question is more complex than answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to whether each national association has an ethics committee and a system for registering complaints. (There is a topical example of this problem discussed in Chap. 5 ‘Questionable Psychology’). If the task is to engage with the broader ethical it is necessary to come to grips with what is, not with what has been, what is intended or what is publicly announced. Being caught up in Psychology’s mystique does not lead to the development of a clear-sighted report card.

This overview has none of what Pierre Bourdieu dismissed as ‘the coquettish relationship (specialists) have with selected works’ (as quoted in Branson and Miller 1992: 39). Such dyadic relationships are characterized by an intense, narrow and exclusive preoccupation. For example, Jacques Lacan, the originator of a powerful school of psychoanalytic thought, is reputed to have insisted that it was necessary to write incomprehensibly in order not to be misunderstood. This is, of course, an elitist view.

The commitment is to present a text for non-specialists. Rather than requiring a for-experts-only knowledge of Psychology, critical theory, Foucault or any of the many psycho-therapeutic frameworks, what is presented is a structured and general review. This is not to say the material makes no demands. Some sections are more challenging, for example, Chaps. 2 and 7. Some are lighter, for example Chaps. 4 and 8. Every effort has been made to have the text accessible, yet to avoid repetition for those who might be familiar with the foreground material by approaching the content from an innovative direction. It is expected that an informed, externally referenced review of Psychology will be useful to a potentially broad group.

Policy makers, planners and managers in health, community services and education – those who have an interest in Psychology as employers and service evaluators – are likely to find a different class of information presented in the present exercise than has so far been available. This information is intended to offer a counterpoint to the claims put forward by industry groups, professional associations and others with more or less clear interests.

Under-graduate, graduate and post-graduate Psychology students will hopefully find the arguments and points of view developed in the book stimulating, perhaps to a degree even revelatory. For example, a case is made that there is little inter-disciplinary cross-referencing in many reference and specialist texts in Psychology. Critical ideas about, for example, the ideal of objectivity and the assumption that psychometric testing and psychological treatments are neutral have the potential to add value to the existing professional culture and the practice readiness of graduates.

Those with a background in social science and the humanities are also likely to find the text offers useful orientation. As noted above, there is a good deal of mystification in and around Psychology. Being better oriented in relation to Psychology as a whole, and therefore being able to position Psychology within a larger social and ideological context, is intended to be one of the dividends an engagement with the present text will occasion. This raises a larger possibility.

Nearly everyone is a user of Psychology. A large number of educational bodies use psychological testing to assess and screen students, employers increasingly use psychological testing in the recruitment process and, more ob...

Índice

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Myths and Misconceptions
• 3. Effectiveness, Status and Territory
• 4. Questionable Psychology
• 5. The General Critique
• 6. Normative Psychology
• 7. Governmentality: Foucault, the Process of Individualization and Psychology
• 8. Psychologising
• 9. Psychology Out of the Ames Room
• Backmatter