Values in Psychological Science : Re-imagining Epistemic Priorities at a New Frontier

This book examines the role of values in psychology, beginning with an acknowledgment that values are an inevitable facet of science. The analysis places the researcher as the principal instrument of any science; while exploring the value of observing, imaginative sense-making, and perspective-taking as essential to both arts and sciences.

In this book, wide-ranging sources are utilized to seek alternatives to the science-value dichotomy and to move beyond unhelpful impasses between qualitative and quantitative methods. It urges new directions of impact for psychology through intra- and interdisciplinary collaboration in order to confront unprecedented global challenges, generate questions and articulate new possibilities for a sustainable future for humanity. The analysis places the researcher as the principal instrument of any science - an affordance and an ongoing form of demand. Foregrounding ''the personal'' also emphasizes continuity across arts and sciences; the interfaces of which contain the full range of resources for innovative thinking. The enduring relevance of observation, imaginative sense-making, and perspective-taking to psychology are explored. In emphasizing that ''the person'' and ''the personal'' reflect interconnected systems of various levels, the book calls for an appreciation and cultivation of these activities in the psychological scientific community.