Science as Psychology: Sense-Making and Identity in Science Practice

by Lisa M. Osbeck , Nancy J. Nersessian , Kareen R. Malone , Wendy C. Newstetter

• ISBN13: 9780521882071
• ISBN10: 0521882079
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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. 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 authors argue that this characterization addresses the integration problem in science studies - how to characterize the fluid entanglements of cognitive, affective, material, cultural and other dimensions of discovery and problem solving. The book is thus a contribution to science studies, the psychology of science and general psychology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction: Science and Persons	p. 1
Methods of Study	p. 31
The Problem-Solving Person	p. 52
The Feeling Person	p. 92
The Positioning Person	p. 120
The Person Negotiating Cultural Identities	p. 157
The Person Enacting Race	p. 162
The Person Enacting Gender	p. 179
The Learning Person	p. 195
Epilogue: Science as Psychology: A Tacit Tradition and Its Implications	p. 219
References	p. 249
Index	p. 271
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