User:Hasu.korti/sandbox

Theoretical psychology is concerned with theoretical and philosophical aspects of the discipline of psychology. It is an interdisciplinary field involving psychologists specialising in, amongst others, cognitive, social, developmental, personality, clinical, perceptual, neurological, biological, evolutionary, historical, economic, political and critical psychology.

In the United States, one group focused on theoretical and philosophical issues in Psychology is The Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology (formerly known as The American Psychological Association, Division for Theory and Philosophy of Psychology or APA Division 24). This society regularly hosts symposia, lectures, roundtable discussion, and poster sessions at the annual APA conference. In Europe Laszlo Garai developed a theoretical psychology based on the methodological proposal of Kurt Lewin and the theory of Lev Vygotsky.

Theoretical Psychology
Theoretical psychology is a part of a society named, The Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. “The society encourages and facilitates informed exploration and discussion of psychological theories and issues in both their scientific and philosophical dimensions and interrelationships.” (Carter, 2013) This society is a part of the American Psychological Association known as Division 24. The main dimensions that are focused on in the society are the philosophical and metatheoretical dimensions of psychology. The society also has a journal called, The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. “Both of them are committed to representing and fostering diverse perspectives regarding ontological, epistemological, ethical, and critical issues within disciplinary psychology.” (Carter, 2013) There are many forms of research within this society as well. They include conceptual, speculative, theoretical, empirical, clinical, historical, literary, and cultural. It was in 1963 that The Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology were introduced into the APA as a division. Many different topics have been presented in the society’s Convention Program as well as its journal. “Some of these topics include the nature of the self and personhood, mind/brain and consciousness studies, moral psychology, philosophy of psychological science, and interpretive practices in psychology (including phenomenology, hermeneutics, cultural psychology, feminist theory, narrative psychology, and discourse analysis).” (Carter, 2013) The members of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology are very diverse by working in many different sectors of psychology as well as all over the world. They are very accomplished and have published many well known books and articles. Some of their articles are included in the society’s journal. The journal doesn’t just publish articles from members though. Being in its 27th year of publication, The Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology publishes articles from members and nonmembers alike. The society is very encouraging in bringing in more contributors to the journal as well as the society. As mentioned before the members of the society are very diverse in that they work in various fields of psychology and the society encourages new members to join from any discipline of psychology. “Division 24’s eclecticism is also evident in the varied scholarly background of some of those who have served as its President.” (Carter, 2013)

“The philosophical domains that are relevant to theoretical psychology are ontology, epistemology, ethics/practice, and aesthetics.” (Teo, 2009) Theoretical and philosophical psychology are focused on a few different theories. The three theories focused on are a single theory or concept, family of theories or concepts, or the theory and concepts of a specific individual. Academic work that focuses on theoretical or conceptual means and of a particular theory are called metatheoretical studies. These types of studies are considered a vital part of philosophical psychology. The editor for this journal would like to publish articles that reconstruction via historical deconstruction. “Good theory construction is rare and the development of an innovative theory in a journal article is difficult. The vision for the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is to publish the best, most significant, original, innovative, and unique ideas in theoretical and philosophical psychology.” (Teo, 2009) Although this is the view of the journal this does not mean that it is required. The reason for this being that they do not want to discourage new innovative and unique developments in theoretical psychology. Another reason that an editor of a theoretical and philosophical psychology journal can’t put a lot of restrictions on what the articles are about is because there are many different philosophical perspectives as well as theoretical approaches that have developed since the beginning of theoretical and philosophical psychology. This is also why journals in this realm accept members as well as articles from many different perspectives of theoretical and/or philosophical psychology. Because of all of these different factors, journals in theoretical and philosophical psychology do not focus only on distinct ideas or topics, but have a broad view over theoretical and philosophical psychology.

History
Edward M. Scott is considered to be the founder of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24). This in APA is called division 24. James E. Royce (1977) was one of the psychologists involved in the early founding of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24). James provided the intellectual impetus for the establishment of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24). In 1962 marks the founding of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24) as well as Marin Heidgger's publication of Being and Time. Rollo May took on most of the major responsibilities for Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24). Joseph Lyons was one of the key figures in the formal founding of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24). Joseph R. Royce played a role on the founding of Theoretical and Philosophical psychology (Division 24) and become part of the leader ship of Division 24 (Theoretical and Philosophical psychology). Lyons (1961) proposed that the name of Division 24 should be called Theoretical and Philosophical psychology, but the name was considered to long and inelegant. List of philosophical and theoretical issues in psychology is interesting because it gives insight into the state of discipline at the time the perspective framers of "Division of Philosophical psychology" ( History of Division 24 Theoretical and Philosophical psychology) because it anticipated to have continued writing, nearly 40 years late. The main members of the steering committee were "Joseph Lyons, James Royce, and Joseph Royce, Edward M. Scott, and E. Joseph Shobe, Jr. shoben." (History of Division 24 Theoretical and Philosophical psychology). James Royce along with the psychology department of Seattle University went and took on some of the financial burden of mailings-which was a significant problem. In 1980, "the name of Division 24 was officially changed form Division of Philosophical Psychology to Division of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology." (History of Division 24 Theoretical and Philosophical psychology). Amedeo P. Giorgi, determine the level of interest and commitment in graduate psychology program to see what type of graduate training was "available to the students in philosophical psychology". (History of Division 24 Theoretical and Philosophical psychology)

Findings and Implications
Because of its interdisciplinary approaches and influences, theoretical psychology holds major findings and implications throughout all branches of psychology. Theoretical psychology has been found to be viewed through a specific set of relevant philosophical lenses described as domains, listed as ontology, epistemology, ethics/practice, and aesthetics.

Domains
Ontology- In psychology, ontological reflections consist predominantly of two parts: they address the specific character of human mental life (composed of mind, soul, consciousness, subjectivity, behavior), discussing concepts and models for representing and understanding human subjectivity; they argue about theories of the human mind and the relationship between mind and body(Teo, 2009). These reflections also involve questions about the appropriate subject matter of the discipline and practice of psychology as it relates to other fields.

Epistemological Reflections- Concern the nature of knowledge and truth, the ways of achieving knowledge, and the meanings of knowledge and truth in psychology and its subdisciplines.

Ethical/ Practical reflections- Involves the quality of psychological practices and the meaning of ethics in psychology. It should also be noted that psychological practice is intertwined with epistemology and ontology. This assumes humans behave consistent with machines, with behavior emphasizing control and manipulation, and behavioral consequences reflected ethically (Teo, 2009).

Aesthetics- Takes account for the combination of mental aspects as thinking, feeling, and willing, and summarizes them as one sum compared to related individual portions.

Marxian Personality Psychology
A psychological sub-theory which gained traction from Marx’s philosophy of materialism and its applications to historical development and social relations of personality. This theory rejects nature or spirit as a principle involvement in regard to the self and personality, and instead turns its focus to production, a term for complex self advancement. (Rubinstein) developed four principles stemming from this philosophy to which they were consequently applied to personality psychology: (1) principle of objectivity: abstract mental interpretations referring to objects in the space and time of the world (2) principle of activity: mental thoughts develop in the activity for which they control (3) principle of historicity: mental states are derived from history, and (4) principle of sociality: characteristics are determined by a hierarchy of social interactions (L,G, 2012).

Hume
Relative to meaning of knowledge and its possibilities include contributions to theoretical psychology by David Hume and his insight on belief as a habit. The association of ideas create a reference to specific unjustifiable beliefs by growing accustom to the association between certain events and experiences; having persisting inclinations and beliefs, while lacking justifiable proof. This idea examples the natural process in which ideas become unified, and may or may not include rational principles, but instead is a measure of conviction in the belief of our experiences. The philosophical contributions of Hume prove especially relative in the findings and applications of theoretical psychology. Epistemology, the study of knowledge, connects with the history and development of psychology, with Hume’s in particular involving space and time,cause/effect, external objects, personal identity, and free will (Fieser, 2011)


 * Space- Ideas of space are altered based on what is known about our visual experiences of the three-dimensional world, and these observations are obtained based on the imagination and how we should perceive space.


 * Time- Suggests that we have lack a primary idea of definite time, and that our mind executes an indiscriminate range of operating speeds that doesn’t take in to account change.


 * Cause-Effect- Hume’s viewpoint argues that the connection between cause and effect is solidified by the mind and not a feature of the external world (Fieser, 2011), and that the relation between two repeated events produces habit that creates expectation of the connection.


 * External objects- Serves as a preexisting programming of the general mechanisms of the external world, and how humans should interact with it. This idea is counteracted with the idea that since perception of the external is disjoined, we have no valid recognition of the existence of external objects as more than ideas, as outlined in Treatise of Man.


 * Free Will- All behavior is of necessity, nothing is of uncaused willful action, and our actions have a constant union with our motives, tempers, and circumstances (Fieser, 2011)

Elements of theoretical psychology have also lent a framework of tasks to practicing psychology as a whole. Operating in conjunction with applied science and medical practice, the integration of psychological theories and methods with influencing philosophy, serves to interpret experiences, knowledge and actions of human beings as they may also relate to their environment (Martin, 2003); and the practice itself is an extension of emerging life developing interpretation. Analyzing through this lens has encouraged courses of individualizing and self examination, which has sought out to view behavior that deviates from “normal behavior”, and examine concerning behavior through dedicated institutions, that were previously overlooked. Through further theoretical personality analysis, social categorization developed as a means to explain how social situations unconsciously categorize identities and differences to represent the shaping of the conscious self through patterns of said social confrontations.