Case For Pragmatic psychology

by Fishman, Daniel B.

• ISBN13: 9780814726747
• ISBN10: 0814726747
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: New York University Press

Summary

Web SiteThe interested reader is urged to contact the author and join a Pragmatic Psychology Dialogue Group at the following web site: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~dfishman/ "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, author ofCommon Purpose: Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods to Rebuild America "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, editor ofClinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders "Daniel Fishman cuts through rhetoric with clear writing and a razor-sharp wit. The chapter on education is like the welcome beam of a lighthouse in a fog." --Maurice J. Elias, coauthor ofSocial Problem Solving: Interventions in the Schools "Fishman makes the case for a pragmatic psychology in unusually lucid and forceful prose. This book should be read not only by professional psychologists but by anyone interested in the future of mind-related science." --John Horgan, author ofThe End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age "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, author ofCosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity "As we try to steer a course through the public policy debates of the 21st century, Fishman's pragmatic psychology for enhancing human services provides a far-reaching new resource for meeting this challenge." --Pat Schroeder, President and CEO, Association of American Publishers. Former Congresswoman from Colorado. About the BookA 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 turn-of-the-century 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 psychologyucirc;a radical, pragmatic reinvention of psychology based on databases of rigorous, solution-focused case studies. InThe 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 ugrave;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-r

Author Biography

Daniel B. Fishman is Professor of Clinical and Organizational Psychology at Rutgers University.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	xiii	(2)
Foreword	xv	(4)
Donald R. Peterson
Preface	xix	(6)
Acknowledgments	xxv
Introduction: A Better Way to Help by Reinventing Psychology	1	(28)
Turning Mainstream Psychology Upside Down	1	(4)
The Emergence of the Pragmatic Paradigm from Postmodernism	5	(4)
Supporting the Beleaguered Practitioner	9	(12)
Two Faces of Psychology: "Nature" versus "Culture"	21	(3)
A Reader's Guide	24	(5)
I History	29	(44)
1 1600 to the Early 1960s: Psychology and Positivism--A Marriage Made in Enlightenment Heaven	31	(13)
Origins: 1600 to 1879	32	(4)
Pendulum Swings in History	36	(2)
Psychology Comes of Age: 1879 to the Early 1960s	38	(6)
2 The 1960s and Beyond: The Postmodern Invasion	44	(29)
Psychologists Proliferate	45	(1)
Psychological Topics Proliferate	46	(11)
Psychological Methods Proliferate	57	(16)
II Philosophy	73	(60)
3 "Postpositivism": Revolution within the Family	75	(18)
Targeted Hits	75	(5)
Expanding the Critique	80	(8)
The End of Science?	88	(5)
4 The Dialectic: Putting It All Together	93	(9)
The Players	94	(3)
Not So Fast	97	(1)
Boiling It Down to Three Paradigms	98	(4)
5 Transcending the Dialectic: The Emergence of Postmodern Pragmatism	102	(31)
The Family Tree	103	(6)
Pragmatists Weigh In	109	(15)
A Balinese Cockfight and Schizophrenia	124	(6)
On to the Case Study Method	130	(3)
III Method	133	(64)
6 The Pragmatic Case Study: Psychology's Tool for Enhancing Human Services	135	(18)
Addressing Psychosocial Problems	135	(2)
Measuring the Bottom Line: Program Evaluation	137	(9)
Collaborating with Clients: Community Psychology	146	(3)
"What Works and Why We Have So Little of It"	149	(4)
7 Nuts and Bolts: The Pragmatic Case Study Method	153	(44)
Let the Games Begin	154	(26)
Quality Control	180	(8)
Linking Frameworks	188	(2)
From Single Case to Database	190	(7)
IV Application	197	(84)
8 Psychology and Psychotherapy: From "House of Cards" to "House of Cases"	199	(46)
An End to Our "Era of Good Feeling"	200	(4)
The Battle	204	(13)
A Pragmatic Proposal	217	(20)
A Case in Point	237	(8)
9 Educational Reform: From "Culture Wars" and "Silver Bullets" to the Real Classroom	245	(36)
The Factory Model	246	(3)
The Combatants Square Off	249	(6)
Many Promising Reform Ideas	255	(6)
Ideas Are Cheap, Successful Cases Are Not	261	(20)
V Implications	281	(14)
10 Manifesto for a Pragmatic Psychology	283	(12)
Prologue: A Call for Pluralism	283	(2)
Pragmatists Unite! An Action Plan for Making Case-based Psychology a Reality	285	(4)
Vision: Staying in Touch with Our Roots	289	(3)
The Challenge Ahead	292	(3)
Notes	295	(44)
References	339	(22)
Index	361	(26)
About the Author	387