Admirable Evasions : How Psychology Undermines Morality

Dalrymple presents this book for the layperson on disturbing psychological research that questions the ability of any consistent morality to be applied within persons, between persons, or at the social level, as well as the equal tendency for psychological findings to be used as moral excuses. The book takes a history of psychology approach at first, moving from intuitive conceptions of introspective knowledge to the traditions of Freudian psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and neuropsychological inference from studies of accidental brain damage. The middle of the book examines how modern psychology impacts the court system, popular exhortations to positive thinking and self-esteem, and the growing psychosocial model emphasizing integrated sociological understanding of individual pathology–particularly focusing on the current discourse on addiction as brain disease. The author ends by stressing how a physical science of psychology, interpreted in a certain way, gives troubling license for individuals to absolve themselves of responsibilities for problems in which, in fact, individual effort is a key component of recovery. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)