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The double soul of clinical psychology: a two faced methodology between monism and dualism
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The double soul of Clinical Psychology: a Two-faced Methodology between Monism and Dualism Symposium: Duality within Human Sciences Nicolò Gaj Catholic University of Milan Department of Psychology 14 TH CONGRESS OF LOGIC, METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE NANCY, JULY 19-26, 2011
Transcript of The double soul of clinical psychology: a two faced methodology between monism and dualism
The double soul of Clinical Psychology: a Two-faced
Methodology between Monism and Dualism
Symposium: Duality within Human Sciences
Nicolò GajCatholic University of MilanDepartment of Psychology
14TH CONGRESS OF LOGIC, METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
NANCY, JULY 19-26, 2011
What is clinical psychology?
Clinical psychology can be defined as an applied branch of psychology whose aim is to increase our comprehension of human behavior in order to limit pathological processes and to promote wellbeing (social, psychological).
Since it has been one of the first applied branch of psychology, it held an essential role in the definition of:
• Psychology’s boundaries (what is it?)• Psychology’s social significance (is it useful?)
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Two facets of ‘clinical’ in Medicine
Clinical
To remove a disease from a body/to make
oneself healthy
To take care of someone who
suffers (as a whole)
Curing Caring
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The incredible growth of medical technical innovations in 18° and 19° centuries created a gap between these two (traditionally strongly linked) dimensions.
Modern Medicine Clinical Psychology
Curing Caring
Correction of deficit approach
New medicine based on technical tools
Olistic/sistemic approach
Old medicine based on the observation of signs, context of life and
relation
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The object and the method of CP at a first glance
The object:• CP deals with the specificity of individuals and/or groups (subjective approach).
• CP is interested in contents, that permit to grasp the uniqueness of the object (semantic perspective).
CP as a human scienceThe method:• CP is a scientific discipline and must satisfy the criterion of objectivity, that is intersubjectivity (objective approach).
• CP is interested in processes, that permit to grasp the universality of mechanisms underlying a psychological event (syntactic perspective).
CP as a natural science 5
Clinical psychology: a natural or a human science?
• Professional CP ‘looks like’ a human science: the emphasis is on the specificity of the object (the individual that asks for a treatment). The aim is transforming (to lead S from state A to state B, i.e., from a pathological state to symptoms remission).
• Research CP ‘looks like’ a natural science: the emphasis is on the universality of the method (universal or probabilistic laws explaining mental events/behavior). The aim is describing (how S behaves or S’s mental states work in specified conditions). 6
Monistic vs Dualistic approachThis tension between professional practice and research indicates two CP’s methodological faces that especially deals with the conceiving of its object:Monistic (nomothetic)
face:what is interesting is the
universality of human facts
Mental events/behav
iors
Dualistic (idiographic) face:
what is interesting is the uniqueness of human
facts
Members of a class or category (i.e., expression of universal or
probabilistic-statistical
laws/processes)
Display of irriducible diversity (i.e., expression of the uniqueness of that
specific circumstance) 7
What are the methodological consequences
of this duality?CP struggles to find the right position between two horns of a dilemma: the more we gain in object’s details precision, the more we get far from a valid (intersubjective) method, and viceversa.Object’s details precision:
SubjectivismQualification
Objectivity of method:Objectivism
Quantification
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Are these two approaches really incompatible?
The nomothetic approach provides information about the processes concerning human behavior in general (considering very large groups of subjects).
When psychologists want to investigate the variability between subjects (why the behavior of that subject differs from what expected by her belonging to a specific group), the idiographic approach provides useful information.
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Two different interdependent levels of inquiry
Nomothetic approach (processes)
Idiographic approach (contents)
How does this single subject behave? Why her behavior differs
from what expected?
How does this subject
generally behave,
considering her belonging to that group?
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In conclusion
There is not incompatibility between the two levels: both are essential in order to provide reliable and useful information in clinical psychology, on the professional side as well as on the research side.
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