The Case for Pragmatic Psychology

by Daniel Fishman

Overview

The best method is the one that works: “Should be read not only by professional psychologists but by anyone interested in the future of mind-related science.” —John Horgan, author of The End of Science
 
A cursory survey of the field of psychology reveals raging debate among psychologists about the methods, goals, and significance of the discipline—psychology’s own version of the science wars. The previous unification of the discipline has given way to a proliferation of competing approaches, a postmodern carnival of theories and methods that calls into question the positivist psychological tradition.
 
Bridging the gap between the traditional and the novel, Daniel B. Fishman proposes an invigorated, hybrid model for the practice of psychology–a radical, pragmatic reinvention of psychology based on databases of rigorous, solution-focused case studies. In The Case for Pragmatic Psychology, Fishman demonstrates how pragmatism returns psychology to a focus on contextualized knowledge about particular individuals, groups, organizations, and communities in specific situations, sensitive to the complexities and ambiguities of the real world. Fishman fleshes out his theory by applying pragmatic psychology to two contemporary psychosocial dilemmas —the controversies surrounding the “psychotherapy crisis” generated by the growth of managed care, and the heated culture wars over educational reform.
 
Moving with ease from the theoretical to the nuts and bolts of actual psychological intervention programs, Fishman proffers a strong argument for a new kind of psychology with far-reaching implications for enhancing human services and restructuring public policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479872275
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Series:	Early American Places
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Daniel B. Fishman is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University. He is the author and editor of numerous articles and books, including Paradigms in Behavior Therapy, The Human Side of Corporate Competitiveness, and A Cost-Effective Methodology for Community Mental Health Centers.

Table of Contents

	List of Figures and Tables	xiii
	Foreword	xv
	Preface	xix
	Acknowledgments	xxv
	Introduction: A Better Way to Help by Reinventing Psychology	1
	Turning Mainstream Psychology Upside Down	1
	The Emergence of the Pragmatic Paradigm from Postmodernism	5
	Supporting the Beleaguered Practitioner	9
	Two Faces of Psychology: "Nature" versus "Culture"	21
	A Reader's Guide	24
I	History	29
1	1600 to the Early 1960s: Psychology and Positivism--A Marriage Made in Enlightenment Heaven	31
	Origins: 1600 to 1879	32
	Pendulum Swings in History	36
	Psychology Comes of Age: 1879 to the Early 1960s	38
2	The 1960s and Beyond: The Postmodern Invasion	44
	Psychologists Proliferate	45
	Psychological Topics Proliferate	46
	Psychological Methods Proliferate	57
II	Philosophy	73
3	"Postpositivism": Revolution within the Family	75
	Targeted Hits	75
	Expanding the Critique	80
	The End of Science?	88
4	The Dialectic: Putting It All Together	93
	The Players	94
	Not So Fast	97
	Boiling It Down to Three Paradigms	98
5	Transcending the Dialectic: The Emergence of Postmodern Pragmatism	102
	The Family Tree	103
	Pragmatists Weigh In	109
	A Balinese Cockfight and Schizophrenia	124
	On to the Case Study Method	130
III	Method	133
6	The Pragmatic Case Study: Psychology's Tool for Enhancing Human Services	135
	Addressing Psychosocial Problems	135
	Measuring the Bottom Line: Program Evaluation	137
	Collaborating with Clients: Community Psychology	146
	"What Works and Why We Have So Little of It"	149
7	Nuts and Bolts: The Pragmatic Case Study Method	153
	Let the Games Begin	154
	Quality Control	180
	Linking Frameworks	188
	From Single Case to Database	190
IV	Application	197
8	Psychology and Psychotherapy: From "House of Cards" to "House of Cases"	199
	An End to Our "Era of Good Feeling"	200
	The Battle	204
	A Pragmatic Proposal	217
	A Case in Point	237
9	Educational Reform: From "Culture Wars" and "Silver Bullets" to the Real Classroom	245
	The Factory Model	246
	The Combatants Square Off	249
	Many Promising Reform Ideas	255
	Ideas Are Cheap, Successful Cases Are Not	261
V	Implications	281
10	Manifesto for a Pragmatic Psychology	283
	Prologue: A Call for Pluralism	283
	Pragmatists Unite! An Action Plan for Making Case-based Psychology a Reality	285
	Vision: Staying in Touch with Our Roots	289
	The Challenge Ahead	292
	Notes	295
	References	339
	Index	361
	About the Author	387

What People are Saying About This

Louis A. Sass

This remarkable book offers both a diagnosis and a cure for the ills of much of contemporary psychology. With amazing clarity, Fishman reviews major developments in the history and philosophy of science, from the enlightenment to post-modernism; and he marshals the arguments for a pragmatic alternative - a psychology that is practical not in spite of but precisely because of its refusal to deny the role of context and meaning in human life. This book is lucid and wise, scholarly as well as eminently useful. It should have a profound impact on clinical, educational, social, organizational, and other areas of applied and professional psychology.
— Louis A. Sass, author of Madness and Modernism

Editorial Reviews

"Fishman creates. . .a new paradigm for advancing clinical science. Every mental health professional aspiring to be accountable and a scientist practitioner in their work should be aware of the ideas in this readable and entertaining book."

David H. Barlow

"Daniel Fishman cuts through rhetoric with clear writing and razor-sharp wit. The chapter on education is like the welcome beam of a lighthouse in a fog. . . . Fishman's historical perspective provides vital illumination."

Maurice J. Elias

"At long last, a tightly reasoned, thoroughly grounded treatise showing that complex social programs can be understood far more profoundly and usefully than past mindsets have allowed."

Lisbeth B. Schorr

"The breadth of this work is astonishing. . . . At the same time, it is a work which speaks directly to the most passionate commitments of both the spirit and the discipline."

Yvonna S. Lincoln

"Fishman's liberating insights will free his readers to set aside the intellectual quandaries that plague philosophers and psychologists at the end of the 20th century, and turn back with confidence to the practice of their work."

Stephen Toulmin

"Fishman makes the case for a pragmatic psychology in unusually lucid and forceful prose. This book chould be read not only by professional psychologists but by anyone interested in the future of mind-related science."

John Horgan