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RR 2006/405 Elsevier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories Compiled by J.E. Roeckelein Elsevier Amsterdam 2006 xii + 679 pp. ISBN 0 444 51750 2 £90; $143
Keywords Dictionaries, Psychology
Review DOI 10.1108/09504120610709402
There really is no end to the making of dictionaries of psychology. Every time I review one I think that surely the market must be saturated by now, but no, still publishers press on, finding new cracks to squeeze another one in through. This latest, based to a considerable extent on Roeckelein's previous dictionary (Roeckelein, 1998), attempts to differentiate itself from the rest of the throng by being centred on "psychological theories". This, of course, raises the question of what is a theory? Defining a theory is something that philosophers of science have been wrangling over for years - the literature survey for a general theory of theories would (and possibly has) provide a comfortable thesis for any philosopher to show off. Rockelein bypasses this by saying that a theory is anything that the authors have labelled as a principle, law, model, hypothesis, paradigm, effect, or doctrine. That is to say, rather than adopt Humpty Dumpty's "A theory is anything that I say is a theory" he has chosen "A theory is anything that anyone else has said is a theory", accepting, therefore, that some theories are stronger than others.
It also raises the question of what is psychology? Psychology...