Science as Psychology
Sense-Making and Identity in Science Practice

Reveals the complexity and richness of rationality by demonstrating how social relationships, emotion, culture, and identity are implicated in the problem-solving practices of laboratory scientists.

Lisa M. Osbeck (Author), Nancy J. Nersessian (Author), Kareen R. Malone (Author), Wendy C. Newstetter (Author)

9780521882071, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2010

288 pages, 3 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

'In Science as Psychology, three psychologists and an expert in the philosophy and cognitive science of science have produced a valuable contribution that takes the field of psychology of science in fascinating new directions … provides fascinating data about sense-making and identity in scientific laboratories … the book contributes to a valuable trend to elevate the psychology of science to full partnership within science studies.' Paul Thagard, Metascience

Science as Psychology reveals the complexity and richness of rationality by demonstrating how social relationships, emotion, culture, and identity are implicated in the problem-solving practices of laboratory scientists. In this study, the authors gather and analyze interview and observational data from innovation-focused laboratories in the engineering sciences to show how the complex practices of laboratory research scientists provide rich psychological insights, and how a better understanding of science practice facilitates understanding of human beings more generally. The study focuses not on dismantling the rational core of scientific practice, but on illustrating how social, personal, and cognitive processes are intricately woven together in scientific thinking. The book is thus a contribution to science studies, the psychology of science, and general psychology.

1. Introduction: science and persons
2. Methods of study
3. The problem-solving person
4. The feeling person
5. The positioning person
6. The person negotiating cultural identities
7. The learning person
8. Epilogue: science as psychology: a tacit tradition and its implications.

Subject Areas: Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Psychology [JM]