Further Critical Reflections on the Notion of a “Population Psychology”
2024
Further Critical Reflections on Population Psychology
publication
Evidence: moderate
Author Information
Author(s): James T. Lamiell
Primary Institution: Georgetown University
Hypothesis
Can population-level research be considered a branch of psychological science?
Conclusion
Population-level studies do not provide knowledge about individuals and should not be classified as psychological knowledge.
Supporting Evidence
- Population-level research cannot validly be interpreted as knowledge about individual-level doings.
- The term 'psycho-demography' better captures the nature of population-level studies than 'population psychology'.
- Knowledge produced by population-level studies is fundamentally demographic in nature.
Takeaway
This study argues that research on groups of people can't tell us about individual behaviors or thoughts, so we shouldn't call it psychology.
Limitations
The article does not provide empirical data or specific studies to support its claims.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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