Chapter 14 Flashcards
Metaphor
In science, stands for an analogy from another area that helps to map a new, complex problem by making reference to a better understood problem.
Hidden racism
Advancing one’s own race by non-conspicuous biases against other groups (usually by ignoring their contribution).
Informed consent
Central principle in ethics, saying that people can only take part in a study after they have been informed of what will be involved and after they have explicitly and voluntarily agreed to participate.
Ethical code of conduct
Protocol that includes all the ethics-related conditions to which a study must adhere.
Psychologization
Word used with two different meanings referring to: (1) the fact that emotional ties and personal well-being have become important in primary social relations, or (2) the growing impact of psychology on the way people see themselves and interact with others.
Political values in psychology
- Psychologists are relatively left-wing or liberally oriented.
- Skepticism regarding religion.
- Much attention for stereotype thinking, healthcare, wellness, fairness.
- Perhaps less attention for more conservative themes (e.g. safety, criminality, immigration, the role of the family or religion).
- Less attention for themes that are uncomfortable or controversial for our left-wing values.
Characteristics of the new history of psychology
- Critical rather than ceremonial
- contextual rather than simply the history of ideas
- more inclusive, going beyond the study of “great men”
- tries to get inside the thought of a period to see issues at they appeared at the time
How has psychology influenced society?
- Psychology has contributed to the psychologization of society.
- Labels introduced by psychology have become social realities, because they influenced the way people saw themselves and others, and because society adapted itself to the new labels, despite the fact that they were to some extent arbitrary.
- Psychologists have tried to increase their power by making alliances with established groups, such as the natural sciences, and by extending their reach to new, upcoming groups (e.g. educationists). Because they were a stronghold in schools, psychologists became involved in manuals about how to raise children.
- Psychologists also tried to increase their power by creating new needs for which they claimed to have solutions (Illich). They also export these values to the rest of the world.
- Psychologists are not politically neutral, but promote liberal values. This decreases the help they can give to people with conservative values.
- Psychologists also tend to promote science in the ‘two cultures’ competition and have difficulty endorsing religion as a meaning provider.
Why was there an increased concern for ethical issues?
Two big social changes lie at the heart of this shift:
1. There was the acknowledgement that some experiments in the past were run despite knowing that they would harm the participants.
2. There was the increased probability that of legal action in case of a participant making a complaint.
