David Lane and Sarah Corrie
London: Routledge.
ISBN: 1-58391-886-8.
Pages: 272.
Price: Hardback £29.95.
Reviewed by Alison Whybrow
The Modern Scientist-Practitioner is a well thought out contribution relevant for any applied psychologist concerned with understanding the philosophical and pragmatic reality of their practice. The book will be particularly useful for anyone involved in the supervision of psychologists, whether they are experienced practitioners or practitioners in training working towards professional recognition. From a pragmatic perspective, the value of the scientist-practitioner model is underlined in the competitive world of delivering psychologically based services to clients. This excellent text is not a light read, it is challenging and addresses complex conceptual issues.The Modern Scientist-Practitioner provides a useful insight into the paradigms that inform areas of applied psychology other than those with which the reader may be familiar. The similarity between applied psychologies is apparent and the mindful way in which psychologists practice across the domains is brought to the fore.
Lane and Corrie challenge the prevalent scientist-practitioner model and present alternative examples of the scientist-practitioner from an interesting mix of theoretical, historical and applied psychological perspectives. They successfully redraw the boundaries of the debate to encompass the complexity that we face as applied psychologists.
In simplistic terms it’s argued that the concept of the science-practitioner model where empirical science informs practice in a linear, causal sequence is no longer viable. At the same time, there is a requirement for practice to be evidence based. The appreciation of the messy, complex issues that psychologists wrestle with as practitioners is clear and well presented.
Rather than dictate a new model of the scientist-practitioner, Lane and Corrie call for us to engage in critical reflection as psychologists. There are several reflective exercises throughout the first six chapters, and within the conclusion to engage us in reflection at a number of levels, encouraging us to develop a more personal understanding of ourselves as scientist-practitioners in our domain of psychological practice. We are encouraged to raise our awareness of why we do what we do to ensure that it remains appropriate, up to date with current thinking and, therefore, ethical.
Chapter 1 raises our awareness of the historical tensions between ‘pure knowledge’ and a more existential view. Here it is argued that the relationship between science and practice is alive, well and necessary, with the influence and inclusion of science in practice more subtle than that credited by the historical debate and the original scientist-practitioner model.
The underpinning philosophical frameworks of decision making are explored in Chapter 2, with the rational, logical basis of our decision making questioned and the phenomenological nature of our decisions in practice explored. A critical appraisal of our models of reason and decision making processes is called for, with our development as practitioners viewed as a lifelong journey.
Chapter 3 reviews arguments around the usefulness of case conceptualisation, and how this might be done in a creative, client centred way. A useful framework for case conceptualisation is discussed with examples. Chapter 4 explores the relationship between science and creativity. The reader is once again invited to reflect, this time on the origins of their own view of creativity and its inclusion or otherwise in their practice. The valuable point that models of new science have a firm partnership with creativity is made.
As part of this philosophical journey, Chapter 5 examines the concept of scientific knowledge. The view of science as neutral and of scientific findings as robust is questioned. The value of the empiricist scientific story is acknowledged, but only as one of the relevant factors that inform psychological practice. We are encouraged to identify and critique the paradigms on which our personal practice and the profession of psychology is based, and to use the concepts of falsification science to reflect on the factors we use to inform our choices and actions as practitioners. The world of science is presented as uncertain rather than certain.
This debate leads us to Chapter 6, which reviews our identity as scientist-practitioners. The social and political nature of our profession is exposed and the utility of the scientist as ‘expert’ discussed in relation to the realities of psychological practice. Rather than a single model of the scientist-practitioner, multiple scientist-practitioner identities are considered to exist and adopted by practitioners.
Chapters 7 through to 11 are invited contributions that explore the scientist-practitioner model in different areas of applied practice. Miller and Frederickson (Chapter 7) provide an insight into the challenges facing educational psychologists and useful models of practice are shared. They recognise that the complex systems approach to the current practice of Educational Psychologists challenges the basic requirements for scientific enquiry of replication and objectivity.
The scientist-practitioner in counselling psychology practice is reviewed by Bury and Strauss (Chapter 8). The individual nature of the therapeutic relationship is raised and the very individual nature of counselling work itself challenges an empirical view of the scientist-practitioner. Yet, the idea of knowing and of appropriately discerning practice is very much central to working in this field.
Haarbosch and Newey bring into sharp relief the pragmatic issues facing the scientist-practitioner in their chapter about working as an applied psychologist with young people who sexually offend (Chapter 9). This chapter, perhaps best highlights the limitations of ‘scientific’ knowledge and that it is the reciprocal nature of the relationship between science and practice that creates the body of knowledge which can be drawn on by others in the field. They usefully point to the potential scientific nature of our ‘intuition’ as practitioners, and note that supervision is essential to keep our intuition honed, based on sound factors and not as could equally be argued based on biases and heuristics that are not well founded and damaging.
Coaching psychology and the scientist practitioner model is reviewed in Chapter 10 (Cavanagh & Grant). A critique of the practice of coaching psychology is presented. There is an informative discussion about postmodernism and scientific truth and the useful perspective of individuals as complex adaptive systems is shared. The authors recognise an evidence based foundation for coaching psychology will assist in shifting this emerging applied area of psychology towards embracing the seemingly contradictory elements of rigour and the lived experience of practitioners and clients.
Kwiatkowski and Winter (Chapter 11) discuss the seemingly competing drivers of being right from a scientific perspective and being useful from a client perspective. Their historical overview asks us to consider that psychologists worked from a scientific-practitioner framework before experimental psychology came to the fore. A whole person approach sensitive to the social construction of reality is argued to be the perspective from which occupational psychologists practice.
The final contribution is a thoughtful chapter from Edward de Bono (Chapter 12), in which he discusses how we can think more effectively using parallel thinking techniques. De Bono argues that through thinking differently, we can assist ourselves and our clients design new ways forward, rather than getting stuck within our biases and prejudices, or stuck in the process of analysing the problem. Learning parallel thinking techniques is presented as useful self development in our work as scientistpractitioners.
The Modern Scientist-Practitioner takes the reader through challenging philosophical territory. The work of Corrie and Lane has been thoroughly researched and complex issues are well presented. We can be comforted by the fact that we can find an identity within the scientist-practitioner framework, but to do so requires critical reflection and continuous professional development to ensure that our work is informed, up-to-date and ethical.
The Modern Scientist-Practitioner does highlight the learning journey is life long, perhaps what it also highlights is that the journey can not begin early enough in the lifespan of the applied psychologist. Critical reflection on the paradigms that underpin our practice and our practice itself seem essential elements of our postgraduate and graduate development.