VALUE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Value of Psychology

Value of Psychology

The method by which a person can seek to be successful in the varied areas of their life, can be pin pointed to how well a person is aware of them self. To be more specific, the person needs to have an understanding of self-awareness and the connection it has to success.

Because psychology exerts such a profound influence on society--shaping cultural views of normality, maturity and sexuality--it is important that we acknowledge and understand its implicit value system. But by the end of the l9th century, the newer scientific, rationalistic tradition arose in opposition. Psychology sought to break all ties with its philosophical roots and to be the objective, empirical and value-free science of human nature. We thought we had found a philosophically neutral psychology; but rather, say Leahey, we had merely substituted the values of scientism.

An ethical psychologist, it is said, must be neutral and unbiased. But is a neutral psychology possible? A well-known psychology historian, Thomas Leahey, argues persuasively that psychology has never been neutral, and that it has always been grounded in a system of values.

And even though it seeks protection under the mantle of science, Leahey explains, psychology is a discipline which is rooted in philosophy.

Mead described a Polynesian paradise in which heterosexuality, homosexuality, and promiscuity were enjoyed without conflict; husbands and wives engaged in extramarital sex without jealousy or possessiveness; and children were raised communally by the village. Guilt, stress, existential angst, and achievement orientation did not pose social problems in this modern-day utopia.

Can modern psychology deal fairly with clients whose life philosophies conflict with that profession's values? Clients from a traditional religious background, (Andrews 2003) for example, might envision personal growth through roughly the following principles:

A valuing of self-restraint, with the potent awareness that man is inclined toward evil ...