Descriptive Psychology – Page 2

Between Linguistic Necessity and Indeterminacy: Assessing Gergen’s (2008) Critique of Psychological Explanation

By Davood Gozli | 08/07/201919/08/2023 by Davood Gozli

In a recent article, Kenneth Gergen (2018) offers a summary of his work on (and against) empirical research in psychology. The article is clearly written, and there are many positive things one could say about it. However, I will focus primarily on points with which I disagree. Gergen and I share common “enemies,” but I am not yet as pessimistic as he is with regard to psychology as a scientific, truth-seeking enterprise. In this article,…

Culture Descriptive Psychology

Remaining at One’s Post

By Davood Gozli | 21/06/201921/06/2019 by Davood Gozli

Hachikō (1923-1935) was a Japanese Akita dog remembered and celebrated for his outstanding expression of loyalty. He developed the habit of picking up his master, Hidesaburō Ueno, every day at the train station after Ueno returned from work. When Ueno died, Hachi continued to wait for him at the station for the following nine years until Hachi himself died (Wikipedia). There is a statue of Hachikō near the Shibuya Station in Tokyo, and there are movies made about him. Hachi…

Descriptive Psychology metaphysics Popular Culture

No Longer Chance

By Davood Gozli | 04/06/201904/06/2019 by Davood Gozli

Alain Badiou on Love. Badiou takes the recognition of difference to be an essential feature of love, the recognition of two different subjects, different points of view on reality, and the subsequent construction of a new reality based on that difference. Such a difference is, in every case, new. That is why love that is real is always of interest to the whole of humanity, however humble, however hidden, that love might seem on the…

Descriptive Psychology Writing

Mammen: Choice Category

By Davood Gozli | 08/02/201828/05/2019 by Davood Gozli

What is a Choice Category within Jens Mammen’s framework? In my understanding, a Choice Category is tied to two other concepts. On one hand, it is tied to the concept of identity and, on the other hand, it is tied to self-reference. You could think of identity and self-reference as two sides of the same coin. And that coin is the category of Choice (Mammen, 2016). “… two people are perceiving one and the same object through…

Descriptive Psychology history of psychology philosophical psychology William James

You Do not Stand Alone

By Davood Gozli | 21/06/201712/11/2018 by Davood Gozli

Reflections on: Natsoulas, T. (2005). The Varieties of Religious Experience considered from the perspective of James’s account of the stream of consciousness. In R. D. Ellis & N. Newton (Eds.), Consciousness & Emotion: Agency, Conscious Choice, and Selective Perception (pp. 303-325). John Benjamins Publishing. In a brief address, published in Psychological Review in 1943, E. L. Thorndike attempts to acknowledge the contributions of William James to psychology. On the first page of the article, he claims that the…