Phenomenology and Psychological Research

Abstract

This volume represents a sustained statement about a phenomenological approach to psychological research along with original findings to compare with mainstream psychology. It is both a theoretical justification of a phenomenological and human scientific approach to psychological research and a presentation of findings in the areas of cognitive, clinical, and social psychology. Phenomenology and Psychological Research is further clarification of the phenomenological approach to psychological research along with examples of application in four different content areas: learning and thinking (both being examples of alternative approaches to cognitive processes), self-deception (clinical psychology), and criminal victimization (social psychology). As such, it gives the reader who is merely curious about the possibilities of phenomenological approaches a good opportunity to evaluate its fruitfulness, whereas those who are already sympathetic to the approach will find a greater articulation of the theory behind the procedures. Lastly, the reader will find in this study an example of a descriptive and qualitative approach to psychological research that claims to meet both phenomenological and human scientific criteria. It is one of the first books to make such a claim about psychological research.