[L1] - The Power of Definitions Flashcards
The importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach
Real-world problems do not care about discipline boundaries.
Hence, effectively solving such problems typically requires more than a single disciple - perhaps we could use a discipline called “real-world problem solving”, if one existed.
What is the Ivory Tower?
It’s a metaphor relating to the pursuit of a “pure” form of research, conducted by experts in an Ivory Tower.
How do we escape that desire, and ground science to a greater extent in reality - and ensure it has a greater relevance for society.
Scientists can communicate their findings to society via articles, books, etc.,
What kick-started a wave of public critiques of science in 2013?
An article published in The Economist entitled “How Science Goes Wrong” in 2013 kicked off a domino effect of similar critiques relating to science’s loss of focus on real-world applicability.
What did Hutmacher highlight as the current crises in Psychology - and what improvements have we seen in relation to these issues?
- The Replication Crisis (reports should be procedural, replicable – often not the case)
- The Conceptual Ambiguity in Psychology (What do concepts mean specifically? How are we using them – to ensure the transferability of findings)
- Improvements in modern scientific practice:
o Pre-registered studies (to avoid post-hoc bias)
o More replications (independent controls)
o More transparency (open data, peer reviews)
o More diversity in research (qualitative, philosophical psychology, psychiatry)
o More permanent research positions (at least in the Netherlands – greater freedom to follow your scientific principles without fear of losing your position)
What were Tim’s and Storm’s positions on science in the video “Storm”?
Tim/Scientific [derision – focused on what’s been shown] (alternative medicine has either not been proved to work or proved not to work – no such thing as an aura/star signs/psychics/mediums – people claiming to do these are lying – faith is the denial of observation – every mystery ever solved has been shown not to be magic – tiny insignificant bit of carbon; but science allows him to live twice as long as his ancestors could – “we may as well be ten minutes back in time for all the chance you’d change your mind”)
Storm/Spiritual [clichés – focused on what has not been shown/explained/the mysteries] (you can’t know anything; knowledge is merely opinion – human body is a mystery/science can’t explain the soul – pharmaceutical companies are immoral, herbs can solve it – science cannot explain prayer/psychics etc.)
Is there only one reality – the one discovered by science? Or also a subjective one?
—————————————
Tim’s Position:
○ Alternative medicine that works is called medicine
○ Psychics = scam
○ If you come with evidence, I will change my mind
○ Life is full of mysteries but there are answers out there
○ Every mystery ever solved turned out to be not magic.
○ Life is short and insignificant, and science made it last longer
Storm’s Position:
○ Knowledge is merely opinion
○ Science cannot explain a soul, prayer, psychics, auras
○ Pharma companies → natural medical alternative
○ Tim is closed minded, as he blindly believes science
Some powerful opposing definitions (what is the implication of defining these concepts in a certain way?)
o Normalcy vs. Madness (mental disorder – psychology v. psychiatry)
o Madness vs. Badness (mental disorder vs. crime) – arguing criminal responsibility.
o Health vs. Illness (what does insurance cover?)
o Treatment vs. Enhancement
o Free Will vs. Determination
o Depression vs. Grief (How long before grief becomes depression?
Recently, prolonged grief disorder has been added to the DSM5-TR)
o Climate Change vs. Simulations (defining)
o Female Gender vs. Male Gender
An example from the supermarket on the importance of understanding how science is working/being carried out
80% of food companies’ health claims were rejected as not having sufficient scientific evidence (Alie de Boer – less than 1% of these claims were grounded in science)
Meta-analyses are preferrable over a single study on the benefits/harm associated with a given food product.
It is important to understand the psychological, sociological and philosophical elements of how science is carried out – to better understand how science is working.
Nietsche’s (1887) perspective on the Power of Definitions
- “It troubles me greatly that unspeakably more depends upon what things are called, than on what they are”
- “The arbitrary names given to things gradually, across generations, changes or determines how that thing is perceived”
-“Creating new names is sufficient to - in the long run - create new things”
Korten’s perspective on the Power of Definitions
I’ve come to realize that most academic disciplines (even those that claim to be strictly objective) operate within a particular story frame (a shared cultural lens) - and that lens serves to discipline the discipline.
Like any cultural lens, however, it can be self-limiting (economics is a prime example).
The initial codification of homosexuality
Homosexuality was viewed as a psychiatric disorder in our recent history – and the shared cultural lens of the time /discipline meant that many people didn’t question this perspective.
Homosexuality had existed throughout human history, but the term wasn’t really codified until the late 1800s by von Krafft-Ebing. Some cultures may have understood it without needing a term for it (i.e., different terms of love used by the Greeks). In Christianity it was deemed a sin/prosecutable. It was considered a crime for a time.
von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) was a German-Austrian psychiatrist who, in Psychopathia Sexualis, argued to see homosexuality as a pathology instead.
Freud was against treating homosexuality – not because of moral opposition but because he believed it couldn’t be changed (he argued that we all have a homoerotic phase, but that some do not adequately develop through it)
The history of homosexuality in the DSM
● DSM-I (1952) homosexuality in the “sexual deviation” category, subcategory of
“sociopathic personality disturbances”; intrinsic relationship between a subject’s conscience structure and sexual object preference
● DSM-II (1968): still labelled a mental disorder, though no longer “sociopathic”
● DSM-III (1980): ego-dystonic sexual orientation/homosexuality; sexual orientation at
odds with one’s self-image (people who are “suffering” because of homosexuality)
● DSM-III-R (1987): ego-dystonic sexual homosexuality removed
● DSM-IV (1994): sexual disorder not otherwise specified (gender identity disorder - is the name stigmatizing?)
● DSM-5 (2013): Discussions around including ‘gender dysphoria’ - which was opposed by WHO.
The therapies of the time and their perspectives on “treating” homosexuality
- Group Therapy: The group discussions typically focused on the
expression of affect, fantasies, recollections of parent-child and parent-parent relationships, other early childhood experiences, and dream analysis. As the patients begins to form heterosexual contacts, they should be supported. The group then attacks the
defensive rationalizations of those who support homosexuality. - Psychoanalytic Treatment: Here, homosexuality was conceptualized as a problem based on
both oedipal conflicts and a craving for an oral symbiotic object relationship with the
mother. - Hypnotherapy: Hypnotic suggestions were first sexually neutral, but later suggestions included attraction to females and repulsion by males. These strong suggestions of change was considered one of the most effective methods of the time.
- Aversive Conditioning: Sought to change sexual fantasies which keep reinforcing wishes, and extinguish anxiety associated with heterosexual relationships. An unpleasant
stimulus (electric shock) is paired with undesirable behaviors such as sexual arousal in response to a same-sex stimulus. - Covert Sensitization: An aversive conditioning procedure without shock or nausea-inducement. The patient is given deep-muscle relaxation training, and informed that his problem is essentially
centered around learned, maladaptive behavior patterns, and that through a process of associating unpleasant feelings and sensations with the deviant stimulus this formerly pleasant stimulus will become less appealing. - Brain Surgery: Stereotaxic
ablations of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus or ‘sex center.’ This resulted in ‘a distinct and sustained reduction in sexual drive … with the
complete abolition of homosexual tendencies…”.
Electrodes were implanted in the septal area of the patient’s brain and electrical stimulation was provided while he viewed movies which included heterosexual intercourse. After several such treatments the patient reported increased interest in and sexual arousal by females. He had successful intercourse with a prostitute who was provided by the therapists.
What did Barlow (1973) conclude about homosexuality?
In his review, he suggested that there was an agreement amongst therapists that there is an importance in facilitating/instigating heterosexuality.
He is still an influential figure – who wrote an importance textbook – and now agrees he was wrong, but says that it was “just what people believed at the time”.
Some argue that this research should be retracted/deleted, Barlow disagreed.
The changing of the tides for homosexuality
The American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees wrote a recommendation in 1973
that homosexuality should be deleted as a mental disorder from the DSM.
This was on the basis of a new definition of mental disorders [mental disorders must be “associated with
either subjective distress or generalized impaired social effectiveness” (Friedman et al., 1976, p.
58)]
The above article was co-written by R. L. Spitzer, who Schleim referred to as
the ‘father of the DSM-III.
Spitzer’s compromise was a definition, namely that a
psychiatric disorder involves distress, social occupational dysfunction, or both. Once
psychiatrists accepted the scientific data indicating that many cases of homosexuality involve
neither subjective distress nor dysfunction, and accepted Spitzer’s definition of disorder, they
were able to agree on disclassification in spite of having different opinions about the desirability
of variation in sexual orientation!
Preliminary Conclusions for Lecture 1
Scientific findings are (also) subject to definitions and preconditions of investigation.
This does not make them arbitrary, but emphasizes the relativity and fallibility of scientific knowledge.
The examples illustrated that an uncritical appraisal of scientific knowledge can lead to negative social consequences!
Awareness of the power of definitions plays a role in the prevention of such negative consequences.
