___. . _ _. __-___ m_-.- i ‘.I ‘I .. Thinking Clearly about Psychology Volume 1: Matters of Public Interest ! j I _ 1 I Edited by Dante Cicchetti and William M. Grove Essays in honor of Paul E. Meehl . . . ; : 4 t University of Minnesota Press Minneapolk Oxford What’s Wrong with Psychology Anyway? David T. Lykken When I was an u&ergraduate at Minnesota in 1949, the most exciting course I took was Clinical Psychology, open to seniors and graduate students and taught by the dynamic young star of the psychology faculty, Paul Everett Meehl. In 1956. back at Minnesota after a postdoctoral year in England, the first course I ever tried to teach was that same one; Meehl, now Chair of the Department. wanted more time for other pursuits. Like most new professors of my acquain- tance, I was innocent of either training or experience in college teaching, and I shall never forget the trepidation with which I took over what had been (but, alas, did not long remain) the most popular course in the psychology curriculum. Years later, Paul asked me to contribute a few lectures to a new graduate course he had created called Philosophical Psychology. Sitting in class that first year, I experienced again the magic of a master teacher at work. Meehl’s varied and extraordinary gifts coalesce in the classroom- the penetrating intellect, as- tonishing erudition, the nearly infallible memory, the wit and intellectual enthu- siasm, the conjurer’s ability to pluck the perfect illustration from thin air . . . I recall one class that ended late while Paul finished explaining some abstruse philosophical concept called the Ramsey Sentence. I have long since forgotten what a Ramsey Sentence is, and I doubt if fifty people in the world besides Paul and, perhaps, Ramsey himself think the concept is exciting. But Meehl had those students on the edge of their seats, unwilling to leave until they had it whole. The present paper is a distillation of the three lectures I have been contributing to Paul’s Philosophical Psychology. I offer it here in fond respect for the man who has been my teacher and friend for nearly forty years. I shall argue the following theses: (I) Psychology isn’t doing very well as a scientific discipline and something seems to be wrong somewhere. 3 Lykken, D.T. (1991) What's Wrong with Psychology Anyway?. In D.Cicchetti and W.M. Grove. (Eds.). Thinking Clearly about Psychology. Volume 1: Matters of Public Interest. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 0-8166-19182.