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The Crisis in Psychological Science and the Need for a Person-Oriented Approach

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Social Philosophy of Science for the Social Sciences

Part of the book series: Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences ((THHSS))

Abstract

The purpose of the present chapter is to discuss whether psychological science today is in a state of crisis, and if so how that crisis is to be characterized. Three aspects of a possible crisis are discussed: a replicability crisis, a normativity crisis, and a validity crisis. It is argued that the present crisis goes deeper than being merely a replicability crisis. There are also signs of a normativity crisis, due to a social incentive system that is not conducive to scientific progress, and a validity crisis due to a variable-oriented approach that is not suitable to the scientific problems that need to be solved. Whereas the normativity crisis requires changes in the social incentive system operating in the scientific community, the validity crisis requires a change of paradigm from a variable-oriented to a more person-oriented approach. These questions are illustrated with examples from the field of psychotherapy research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Lars-Gunnar Lundh

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  1. Lars-Gunnar Lundh
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Correspondence to Lars-Gunnar Lundh .

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  1. Department of Communication and Psychology, Centre of Cultural Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Jaan Valsiner

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Lundh, LG. (2019). The Crisis in Psychological Science and the Need for a Person-Oriented Approach. In: Valsiner, J. (eds) Social Philosophy of Science for the Social Sciences. Theory and History in the Human and Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33099-6_12

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