Description

From selfhelp to medication therapy and cognitive neuroscience this book traces the uses and limits of psychology Offering a systematic exploration of the ways in which psychology is used in contemporary society it refines our understanding of the extent of the field In addition to conceptual analysis of how science truth biology mind and meaning intersect and interact in the mind sciences A Suspicious Science draws from history and anthropology to articulate an interdisciplinary multilevel form of psychology that may serve to orient the field The book synthesizes debates in psychology and philosophy concerning methodology and the nature of explanation with debates about its practical context as a human science Ultimately it suggests psychology provides us myths and rituals that ground a particular sense of meaning and motivation in our lives By aligning cultural emotional and philosophical uses of psychology this book clarifies a synoptic humanistic model of the mind within the human sciences