Realism and psychology : : collected essays / / edited by Nigel Mackay, Agnes Petocz.

• Superior document: Philosophy of history and culture ; v. 30
• TeilnehmendeR: Mackay, Nigel.; Petocz, Agnes.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill.; c2011.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Philosophy of history and culture ; v. 30; Philosophy of History and Culture 30.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (944 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This book is a collection of new, published and revised essays on the place and value of scientific realism in psychology. Through critical analyses of contemporary psychology, essays argue that the realist requirements of a properly scientific psychology are often misunderstood even in the discipline’s putatively scientific heart, with profound conceptual and empirical consequences. Against this, and in answer to recent calls to demonstrate the relevance of realism, the essays sketch the elements of a realist program: they discuss the recent history, development and principal features of a distinctive, thoroughgoing, realism for psychology: its theories, concepts, methods and applications. It thus aims to extend realism from philosophy to psychology, articulate a realist metatheory, clarify realism’s relevance, and promote its discussion.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / Nigel Mackay and Agnes Petocz -- Introduction / Nigel Mackay and Agnes Petocz -- The Nature and Context of Realism Realism and the state of theory in psychology / N. Mackay and A. Petocz -- Essays in realism: Analysis and discussion / N. Mackay and A. Petocz -- Anderson’s development of (situational) realism and its bearing on psychology today / F. J. Hibberd -- From Philosophy to Psychology The knower and the known / J. Anderson -- The concept of attitude / J. R. Maze -- Drives and consummatory actions / J. R. Maze -- Maze's direct realism and the character of cognition / J. Michell -- Critiques and Developments “Out there”, not “in here”: A Realist account of concepts / T. McMullen -- Representationism, realism and the redundancy of ‘mentalese’ / J. R. Maze -- Constructivism, direct realism and the nature of error / A. Rantzen -- Concept, class, and category in the tradition of Aristotle / J. P. Sutcliffe -- Normal science, pathological science and psychometrics / J. Michell -- Social constructionism, deconstructionism and some requirements of discourse / J. R. Maze -- Reply to Gergen / F. J. Hibberd -- On some accounts of meaning and their problems / N. Mackay -- Why psychology has neglected symbolism and what a realist approach can offer / A. Petocz -- A new psychology—the metaphysical and the mundane / P. Bell -- The place of qualitative research in psychology / J. Michell -- Science, meaning and the scientist-practitioner model of treatment / A. Petocz -- Addressing mental plurality: justification, objections and logical requirements of strongly partitive accounts of mind / S. Boag -- Rezoning pleasure: Drives and affects in personality theory / D. McIlwain -- A realist account of mental causation / S. Medlow -- Drive theory reconsidered (again!) / G. Newbery -- Afterword / Nigel Mackay and Agnes Petocz -- Index of Persons / Nigel Mackay and Agnes Petocz -- Subject index / Nigel Mackay and Agnes Petocz.