The Assumptions in Your Hammer

Abstract

The dominant meta-theories of psychology, with their assumptions of parts and stasis and linear cause-effect relationships, have actually produced exactly the kinds of tools that a culture needs. It turns out that methods embody meta-theoretical assumptions. Methods are like the tools that a culture gives people to use to reach their goals. Sheldon White provided a clear explanation of the ways in which paradigms divide researchers into scientific clubs, with their own windows and methods. Students can understand that marbles provide a very different fabric for the foundation of the universe than do webs. Students typically think that it is a good, even obvious, idea to move toward a view that acknowledges that development happens across the lifespan, can include gains and losses, involves potential for improvement at any age, can go in different directions, and is embedded in history.

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