Psychology as Metaphor [Paperback]

The view that the study of rhetoric and metaphor is crucial to understanding psychological discourse is explored in this lucidly argued book. The author scrutinizes a wide range of traditional psychological theory including neuropsychology and memory, childhood development, the IQ debate, accounts of emotion and descriptions of the mind to show how rhetorical strategies and the deployment of metaphor are central to the work of creating a convincing theoretical account.

The book explores the distinction between philosophy and rhetoric and offers an interdisciplinary analysis of theories of metaphor and language while pointing to future directions for research. Its theoretical breadth is matched by its wide-ranging treatmentThe view that the study of rhetoric and metaphor is crucial to understanding psychological discourse is explored in this lucidly argued book. The author scrutinizes a wide range of traditional psychological theory including neuropsychology and memory, childhood development, the IQ debate, accounts of emotion and descriptions of the mind to show how rhetorical strategies and the deployment of metaphor are central to the work of creating a convincing theoretical account.

The book explores the distinction between philosophy and rhetoric and offers an interdisciplinary analysis of theories of metaphor and language while pointing to future directions for research. Its theoretical breadth is matched by its wide-ranging treatment`The project of the book is to initiate an inquiry into the textual and rhetorical construction of psychology; therefore, the presentation is explicitly cast as a preliminary exploration of possible sites for further investigation. This exploration takes the form of a series of case studies examining familiar domains of the psychological literature: memory, development, emotion, IQ, mind... The observations made - particularly concerning the use of lÃç