- Topic: Historical Methods in Psychology
- Speaker: Prof. Geoffrey Blowers, Honorary Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Hong Kong; Former Associate Dean and Chairman of the Board of Social Sciences and Professor of Psychology, University of Hong Kong; BSc(Sheffield), MPhil (Sussex), PhD (HK)
- Time:15:30 - 17:00, 12 December (Wednesday)
- Venue: T2-102
- Language: English
Abstract of the talk:
Professor Blowers will briefly outline the range of historical methods available in Psychology and the assumptions enshrined in their differing uses. In recent years these methods have lost favour due to former required courses in “History and Issues in Psychology” being made optional or inessential in psychology curricula across the globe. Using an example from Kurt Danziger in his classic work Constructing The Subject, Professor Blowers will then show that an historical investigation of the attribution of knowledge claims leads us to a position where time honoured “Research Methods in Psychology” as less a matter of differing techniques than of differing social practices. As such they serve different purposes but change under shifting societal needs instead of by an appeal to independent scientific criteria.
Bio of Prof. Geoffrey Blowers :
Geoffrey Blowers, formerly Associate Dean and Chairman of the Board of Social Sciences and Professor of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong, has most recently been the Director of the Research Office at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. He will shortly assume the position of Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong College (HK).
