Psychology and Experience

A thought-provoking study which evaluates the contrasting methods and philosophies of contemporary psychology.

Benjamin Bradley (Author)

9780521812641, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 2005

256 pages, 1 b/w illus.
22.9 x 1.9 x 15.2 cm, 0.55 kg

If personal experience is the basic raw material for psychology, why do all the major psychologies of the past century marginalise or deny it? In this thought-provoking new book Benjamin Bradley shows how our everyday experiences need to be at the core of the scientific discipline. He calls for a move away from attempts to reconcile the many contrasting and often opposing theories and philosophies of contemporary psychology, and instead puts forward a scholarly and exciting new vision for psychology which focuses on the 'here-and-now' and the importance of others as equals in teaching and research. He encourages the reader to reconsider the very basis of our understanding of what experience is. This uniquely inspiring and practical text will prove an invaluable resource for all those interested in teaching, learning and researching about the mind.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Learning from experience
3. From here to synchrony
4. What to make of coincidence
5. The topography of intersubjective space
6. The two axes of psychological explanation
7. Pictures of psychical change
8. Research among equals
9. Validating the curriculum
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social, group or collective psychology [JMH]