We are honored to host professor Paul Stenner from the Open University (UK), who will discuss the past and future of psychology as a discipline, arguing for a second-order psychology that builds on the cultural and historical pathways and is capable of observing the psychosocial life of Psychology itself.
We will meet in Infocentrum UK (Štúrova 9, 811 02 Staré Mesto) on Tuesday 14. 3. 2023. The talk will be held in English. The entrance is free, everybody is welcome to join us.
Title: Is Psychology dead? Should it be reborn?
Abstract: On one level, far from being in crisis or even dead, Psychology is thriving. Ever more undergraduate and postgraduate students opt to study Psychology, and ever more social and political issues are now expressed and discussed in a psychological register by an ever growing army of expert Psychologists. And yet, viewed from another angle, Psychology is a discipline in perpetual crisis, criticised for ‘psychologising’ complex issues by means of a controversial model of scientific practice that conceals the normative basis of its knowledge claims. In this presentation Professor Paul Stenner will reflect on the unique position of Psychology and – taking account of recent examples of crisis – argue the case for a Psychology of the ‘second-order’. Building on recent historical research with Graham Richards, a distinction will be made between Psychology (the discipline – spelled with a big P) and psychology (the subject matter, with small p). This distinction helps us to conceive of a second-order Psychology that is capable of observing the psychosocial life of Psychology itself, and also of following the cultural and historical pathways of psychology so often ignored by Psychology of the first-order.