From Scientific Psychology to the Study of Persons: A Psychologist’s Memoir

121 Pages·2021·1.196 MB·English

by  Jack Martin

From Scientific Psychology to
the Study of Persons
This is a critical, personalized approach to reframing the discipline of psy-
chology through a singular narrative in the form of a memoir written by a
successful research psychologist.
In this book we follow Martin’s unique career, which has allowed him
to understand and adopt different perspectives and ways of approaching
psychology, from working in applied areas like educational and counseling
psychology to more specialized areas like theory and history of psychology.
His journey through and within the field describes his movement away from
scientifically based psychology, which views teachings and interventions to
be primarily underwritten by hard scientific evidence. Martin exposes the
flaws in this approach and highlights the importance of focusing on the study
of persons in their life contexts over the use of aggregated group results to
ensure that the discipline survives and flourishes.
This is an impactful and universally applicable book with valuable insights
for students and scholars of psychology today, particularly those studying
history of psychology, theoretical psychology, and philosophical psychology.
Jack Martin is a Fellow of the Canadian and American Psychological
Associations, former President of the Society for Theoretical and Philo-
sophical Psychology (STPP), and recipient of the STPP’s Award for
Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Theoretical and Philosophical
Psychology.
Advances in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology
Series Editor
Brent D. Slife
Brigham Young University
Editorial Board
Scott Churchill Jeffrey Reber
University of Dallas West Georgia University
Blaine Fowers Frank Richardson
University of Miami University of Texas
Mark Freeman
Kate Slaney
College of Holy Cross
Simon Fraser University
James Lamiell
Georgetown University Jeff Sugarman
Simon Fraser University
Jack Martin
Simon Fraser University Thomas Teo
Mary Beth Morrissey York University
Fordham University
The Hidden Worldviews of Psychology’s Theory, Research, and Practice
Brent D. Slife, Kari A. O’Grady, and Russell D. Kosits
On Hijacking Science
Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology
Edwin E. Gantt and Richard N. Williams
Situating Qualitative Methods in Psychological Science
Brian Schiff
Hermeneutic Moral Realism in Psychology
Theory and Practice
Brent D. Slife and Stephen Yanchar
A Humanities Approach to the Psychology of Personhood
Jeff Sugarman and Jack Martin
Subjectivity in Psychology in the Era of Social Justice
Bethany Morris, Chase O’Gwin, Sebastienne Grant, Sakenya McDonald
The Ethical Visions of Psychotherapy
Kevin Smith
Therapeutic Ethics in Context and in Dialogue
Kevin Smith
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Embodiment
Understanding Human Being
Nancy K. Dess
From Scientific Psychology to the Study of Persons
A Psychologist’s Memoir
Jack Martin
https :/ /ww w .rou tledg e .com /psyc holog y /s er ies/ TP P
From Scientific Psychology to
the Study of Persons
A Psychologist’s Memoir
Jack Martin
First published 2021
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2021 Jack Martin
The right of Jack Martin to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-55012-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-55294-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09285-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
FOR WYN

Contents
Series Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 My Life in Psychology: An Introduction 1
2 Early Life and Education: Questions and Ambivalences 13
3 My First Academic Appointment: Survival and Credibility 27
4 Academic Success and Personal Dissonance: My Theoretical Turn 38
5 Finding a Home: In Full Pursuit of Persons 60
6 Retrospective: Reaching for a Psychology of Persons 85
Index 103

Series Foreword
Brent D. Slife, Editor
Psychologists need to face the facts. Their commitment to empiricism for
answering disciplinary questions does not prevent pivotal questions from
arising that cannot be evaluated exclusively through empirical methods,
hence the title of this series: Advances in Theoretical and Philosophical
Psychology. Such moral questions as, “What is the nature of a good life?” are
crucial to psychotherapists but are not answerable through empirical meth-
ods alone. And what of the methods themselves? Many have worried that
our current psychological means of investigation are not adequate for fully
understanding the person (e.g., Schiff, 2019). How do we address this con-
cern through empirical methods without running headlong into the dilemma
of methods investigating themselves? Such questions are in some sense
philosophical, to be sure, but the discipline of psychology cannot advance
even its own empirical agenda without addressing questions like these in
defensible ways.
How then should the discipline of psychology deal with such distinctly
theoretical questions? We could leave the answers exclusively to professional
philosophers, but this option would mean that the conceptual foundations of
the discipline, including the conceptual framework of empiricism itself, are
left to scholars who are outside the discipline. As undoubtedly helpful as
philosophers are and would be, this situation would mean that the people
doing the actual psychological work, psychologists themselves, are divorced
from the people who formulate and re-formulate the conceptual foundations
of that work. This division of labor would not seem to serve the long-term
viability of the discipline.
Instead, the founders of psychology—thinkers such as Wundt, Freud, and
James—recognized the importance of psychologists in formulating their own
foundations. These parents of psychology not only did their own theorizing,
in cooperation with many other disciplines; they realized the significance
of psychologists continuously re-examining these theories and philosophies.
This re-examination process allowed for the people most directly involved