Why study Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology

I expect that this will be covered either in the editorial or one of the earlier articles.

The position is the one that Dai Jones has developed writing in our books, and that I teach to in the current year three module.

Even if Psychology were a natural science there would still be good reasons for studying historical and conceptual issues.

• Interest - historical gossip, who did what to whom and how it affects the academic discipline.
• Understanding - Why did theory (x) being and why did it drop out of fashion.
• Learning past lessons - There are lots of examples of poor psychology, how can we avoid that in future,
• Critical understanding - Trying to understand psychology in its social context.

Different reasons for studying history need different types of historical writing.

However if psychology is not a natural science, because of the reflexivity issue (what psychologists say about human psychology directly and indirectly changes human psychology) then it becomes more important to study historical and conceptual issues.

There are also a bunch of reasons to do with current psychology and a need to understand how things have reached this position.

• In 2013 the Clinical Division of the BPS published a position paper highly critical of DSM V. (http://dcp.bps.org.uk/dcp/the_dcp/news/dcp-position-statement-on-classification.cfm)
• In the UK professional psychology is overseen by the Health Professions Council
• What are the relationships between psychology and health professions, how might these impact upon psychology?

There is an historical precedent, with the way that psychotherapists lobbied to become part of the medical profession in the 1910s, this had several impacts on the discipline and on the practice of psychotherapy in the USA.

• Upon formation of the Coalition the current government set up the 'Nudge Unit' using insights from psychology to change people's behaviour without recourse to legislation.
• Seligman the founder of positive psychology has met the PM. Positive psychology techniques have been used by the Nudge Unit.
• What networks does psychology as a discipline tie into, how might this affect the discipline?

Psychology has long tried to have influence with government, and some of things psychologists do seem to tie into this, but also governments (mis)use psychological findings a process which needs to be critically interogated.

• The American Psychological Association excuses psychologists working with the CIA and US military from normal ethical processes. "Enhanced interrogations" normally have a psychologist present.
• How have ethical codes developed and why are they important?
• What is the relationship between psychology and the military? 

Psychology has long had relationships with the military, from the Great War forwards. The military often have protected budgets and can be a good source of research funding.

• Cohen (1992) suggests Psychology studies are chronically underpowered.
• Straightforward replications are hardly ever published.
• Fraud in published psychology papers threatens our attempts to be taken seriously (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/13/scientific-research-fraud-bad-practice)
• The credibility of psychology has also been undermined by a recent US supreme court ruling. (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201304/can-video-games-cause-violence
• Why are we so bad at quantitative methods when part of the way that, some, define psychology as a science is by the methods being used. 

I argue that part of the reason for this is the mechanical way that methods in psychology are understood, arguably a lingering affect of methodological behaviourism.

Historical understanding helps to open up these questions, and in addition helps to tie psychology back into its philosophical background.