PSYCHOLOGY (Systemic)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2690 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
von FOERSTER's Cybernetics of 2nd order and, later on MATURANA and VARELA's concepts of autopoiesis and organizational closure have deeply modified the stand and viewpoints of a number of psychologists.
Some of them now admit that they should be careful, lest they instill their own views into the psychological or psychopathological situation they have to consider, with a serious risk to distort it.
In effect, psychology's endeavor is “the evaluation of human systems by evaluatory human systems” (R. GLANVILLE, 1979, p.37)
Indeed, “The actions of an (experimenting) observer are actions involving control and communication between the observing and the observed system” (Ibid, p.37). We thus should speak of “a reflective and reflexive psychology”(Ibid)
A powerful movement of “systemic psychology” has surfaced in Argentina, possibly too exclusively related to the autopoietic model, not considering enough other systemic and cybernetic concepts and models that could be of interest in psychology.